“A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great” (PV 18:16)

Your natural gift, even your God given talent, gives you an opportunity to meet great people in the world. These are people in authority who can really help and promote you. Thank God for an ‘open door’. But you need more than an interview. Passing thru this open door, face to face with this ‘great’ person, you need to say the right words, to make an everlasting impression on him or her. Like Joseph standing before Pharaoh, you need to be prepared to give him an ‘answer of peace’ (Gen 41:16; KJ). It is an impatient mistake to trust God only partially. Many pray to God for an open door. But when God opens that door, they trust themselves to pass thru it by their wisdom and power. That is sin. In the future you will regret that genuine but lost opportunity. Do it God’s way!

Like Esther, I fast and pray for each official or unofficial ‘interview’ I have with people. When I meet with people, even the ‘small’ people, I see them as ‘great’. I pray that, according to His promise, the Holy Spirit will supply His words in my heart and in my mouth. I never trust myself to speak. In the past, each time I trusted my wisdom, I spoke either too much, or too little, or, because of ‘nerves’, I spoke some nonsense. I regret my words. Long ago I gave up on myself as a speaker. My ministry as a pastor is in Nigeria. In the natural, it is very hard. This is so because English is not my primary language. To be a woman preacher, to be a white woman doing ministry in Africa, this work will be almost impossible for me, if not for God. That is why I am so grateful to my Comforter and Friend, the Holy Spirit. He strengthens my heart so that persecution, discrimination and rejection do not ‘pain’ me. I see them but I do not ‘feel’ them. This is the protection of the Holy Spirit. I testify to it! The Spirit supplies His words to me so that men may reject them today, but not forever. God prepares for me a table of wonderful words ‘in the midst of my enemies’ (Ps 23:5). The looks of my hungry, angry and jealous enemies cannot quench my appetite for the reading and preaching of the Word of God. In the natural I am quite shy. But under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I have nothing to fear. I want to please God and so, I boldly speak His Words!

God is faithful. God answers prayers! I always pray that He gives me His words to speak, to preach, to teach or to rebuke the rebellious. He plants His words in my heart and when I open my mouth, I hear myself speak mysteries and divine wisdom. I marvel at what I say. I am impressed at my words. I never regret my words spoken under anointing and before ‘royalty’. God’s Words prepare my heart and lead my mouth. I am so happy for this privilege to be a speaker for my Lord, Jesus Christ! This is the promise of our Lord. I always apply it when it is time for me to stand and speak, be it before friends or enemies: “On My account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matt 10:18-20)

This promise of the Holy Spirit to supply words in my mouth includes speaking to my husband too. I honor him as my king. I never take our marriage for granted because it is the gift of God. I have to give an account to God for my work as a wife and helper to my husband, who is a man of God. This is not an easy work! I observed that my husband forgets my personal (fleshly) words, no matter how sweet, romantic or poetic. But I’ve discovered over the years that he does not forget the words I spoke to him under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. What God supplies, He preserves and multiplies! My husband remembers my anointed words; he quotes them and he incorporates them into his own vocabulary. When he preaches, from time to time, I hear myself in his sermon. This is an extraordinary privilege. By the power of the Word of God and the Holy Ghost working in both of us, we are coming to a greater unity of the Spirit. Little by little I have observed that, though we have different gifts, we now think alike, speak alike and make decisions in the same way. We can safely and joyfully predict one another in the freedom we have found in Christ. This unity of the Spirit is vital to keep and improve any Christian relationship. But it is especially so in a marriage between believers when they do ministry together. This planting of the same seeds in both of our hearts is called ‘the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified!’ (Is 61:3)

Child of God, I encourage you to pray and trust God for the supply of His words in your heart and mouth! It will change you to become like Jesus! It will change your spouse and all around you. Free and fruitful, stand up and speak! People will listen! ‘Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you!’ (Is 60:1) Glory to God!