I am sitting here at my computer screen, staring at a blank page. I am here because I wish to write a devotional, but the longer I sit and stare at the screen, the more I realize that I have no idea what I should write!
I hear this happens to writers. I believe they call it “writer’s block”. But what do you do when you only have a limited amount of time to write, you are required to produce a devotional, and you end up with this affliction?
As I think about all of this, I am reminded of a Bible text: “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.“ (Luke 12:11-12 NIV). In other words, when we are on mission for the Lord, we don’t have to worry about what we will say. All we need to do is to surrender our tongues to the Lord! We need to rely on God’s Spirit!
An author friend, one of my Nugget writers, recently wrote about how she, as a teen, surrendered her tongue to the Lord. She told Him that if He would supply the words, she would supply the tongue. And it worked!
Beautiful!
But what about the written word? Does this text apply to my “writer’s block” as well?
As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I have learned that there are two expressive modalities: The spoken and the written. Could it be that if I surrender my keyboard to Him, the Holy Spirit will supply the words? He will show me what I should write? Even today, on a day where I stare at a blank computer page without a single creative idea?
As I think about all of this, I remember one of my favorite Bible texts: “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joint and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of man’s heart.” (Heb. 4:12) In other words, there is no Bible text that has only one, narrow meaning. God is able to make each and every part of His Word meaningful for whatever circumstances or mindsets we find ourselves in, if we just open our heart to hear His voice.
And what this text in Luke is speaking to me right now is that the Holy Spirit’s ability to supply words isn’t limited to the spoken language! It applies to the written as well! Taking this a step further, I can say to the Lord, “I will supply the fingers on the keyboard, if You will supply the words!”
And if He is able to supply words for the written language as well as the spoken, than what about the non-verbal?
Much of the message that we communicate in any situation is not communicated with words at all! It is communicated through our tone of voice, our body language, our expressions, and our actions.
For example, if I say to my teenagers, “Which one of you would like to help me with the dishes?”, and one of them replies, with tremendous hesitation, “I will”, and then runs upstairs and locks himself in the bathroom, what am I more likely to believe? His words that tell me he wants to do the dishes? Or the fact that he hesitated before responding and then disappeared?
I don’t know about you, but I would believe his tone and his actions!
So, is it possible that our text in Luke indicates that if we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us, our actions, our expressions, and our body language will speak for the Lord as well?
Taking this a step farther, I can then say to the Lord, “I will supply the body, if You will supply the actions!” And when I do this, my every reaction, my every deed, my every smile will preach a much more powerful sermon than my mouth could ever form!
To summarize, then, these precious words of Luke 12, if we surrender every part of our being to the Holy Spirit, if we, in each and every situation, say to the Lord, “Here is my mouth, fingers, body, mind, soul and spirit. Use it to Your glory!”, then everything we do will be a powerful sermon, a potent witness!
Wow. My page is no longer blank. In fact, I’m pushing 800 words at the moment. You see, when I sat down at this computer this morning without even a single devotional idea, I prayed that the Holy Spirit would flow through my fingers to the keyboard, and that His Words would appear on the screen. Now I can rest assured, as I close up this document, that there is someone out there who really needs to hear this message today!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org, with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org.