“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)

11 days ago you received a revelation penned by yours truly based on these very verses. In that DWOD, I was led to write these words:

“You will notice that Jesus makes two distinct promises:

#1. The HOLY SPIRIT will teach you. (Can you think of a better substitute teacher?)

#2. He will teach you AT THAT TIME.”

I also asked you to share how this promise had come true in your life. In response to the six responses, I wrote: “You have blessed me incredibly with your contributions.”

What I did not tell you at the time was that I was facing a test even as I was composing the DWOD.

The test was whether I would indeed trust the Holy Spirit to do the very thing He promises in these verses in real life, my life, 10 days down the road.

You see, I had just received an invitation from our local newspaper, the St. Catharines Standard.

The City Editor, Erica Bajer, wanted to launch “Niagara Conversations”, a series of discussions/debates involving her paper’s reporters and local leaders in a number of areas.

What better area to begin with than faith? And who better to represent the Standard than their resident atheist Grant Lafleche?

When they asked Grant to name his preferred victim, I mean opponent, he promptly thought of, you guessed it, one Jeeva Sam.

In addition to being an award-winning journalist, Grant had developed a reputation for ripping apart the religious with precisely aimed Hitch-Slaps (a la Christopher Hitchens) in “The Grant Rant.”

Yes, it was that Grant Lafleche who wanted to engage me in a “discussion.”

Having just authored the aforementioned article, did I really have any choice but to accept the invitation?

No sooner had I agreed than this headline appeared: “Pastor, atheist to debate the heart of Christmas.”

It was too late to back off. I really had no choice but to rely on the Holy Spirit to keep His promise.

Well, guess what, He did last night. The dreaded debate was in reality a civil discussion in which I was able to convey the message that without Christ there is no Christmas.

(You can watch the discussion in its entirety here)

At one point, I heard myself make the following statement:
“You cannot take Christ out of Christmas by saying “Happy Holidays”; neither can you put Christ into Christmas by saying “Merry Christmas.” Because Christ is already there.  Christ-mas.” 

Trust me when I say that those words did not come from my brain. It was the Holy Spirit who gave them to me, just as Jesus promised.

I did indeed come to realize that You Don’t Need to Know What to Say.

Thank You, Holy Spirit!