I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 18th of March, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Isaiah 50:4:

 "The Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak…"

Then we go to the Gospel of Matthew 10:19, Jesus says: 

"But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you
in that hour what you should speak; …" 

Maybe this morning you are facing a week where you have to give a report to the management in your company, maybe you have to give a speech at school or at university and you are very nervous about it. That is quite understandable. I know exactly how you feel, but the Lord says in Psalm 81:10: 

"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." 

Many times when I have to stand on a platform in front of thousands of people, I can be quite honest with you, I hit a blank, I get nervous, and I am not sure what to say. I look out and I see desperate souls looking for answers. I don't have them, but Jesus does. It is at that time that I normally get on my knees. If you know me well, you have seen it, and then I pray the prayer that I am encouraging you to pray before you have to speak to that management meeting or that school assembly. This is what you will say - it is found in Psalm 19:14:

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

You see, as soon as you pray that prayer, the emphasis is now on the Lord and not the crowds that are standing before you. Often I have felt that I am standing next to myself and I am hearing the words of the Lord speaking and it is not me. It's a weird feeling and I am not into positive thinking or anything like that. I really believe it is the Holy Spirit. Robert Murray M'Cheyne, a young Scotsman, who died at the age of 29 years old, was responsible for starting a massive revival in Dundee, Scotland, and he said, "Rather than being an instrument of the Lord, all I was, was an adoring spectator."

Jesus bless you and goodbye.