TeaTime Devotional September 11th, 2025

Written by: Tiwana Dennis

You Don’t Have the Right to Remain Silent

Scripture: Acts 18: 9-19 NLT

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, “Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent! For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to you.”

Testify:

Legally, we all have the right to remain silent. Let me be clear when I say, that don’t apply to God! When God gives you a word to speak, you better speak! I know first-hand what it is to stay silent out of fear. Fear that I will sound crazy, fear that no one wants to hear what I have to say and fear that I didn’t hear the instruction clearly. Moving past that fear is something I must work on every day because the consequence of disobedience is too high of a price to pay.

Edify:

In this scripture we hear what Jesus told Paul directly. Paul was in Corinth teaching the word of God and he became discouraged; many people didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Paul told the Jews ‘If you don’t want to listen to the teachings of Christ, that’s on you, I’ll go preach to the Gentiles. One night the Lord spoke to him in a vision. God told him not to be afraid, to speak out and not be silent. God gave Paul a command, and he obeyed. He stayed in Corinth for 1.5 years teaching the word. He was without fear because he knew his God would protect him from any hurt harm or danger. Even when the Jews dragged him into court to persecute him for his teachings, God had the last say. As Paul began to speak to defend himself, the governor of judgement (Gaillio) said this is foolishness, get out of my courtroom! Case dismissed, charges dropped!  When we speak up and represent God, he will show up and defend us against our enemies.

Apply: 

Think about the times when you have been prompted to speak up and you did. Think about the times when you didn’t speak up. Identity what was different between the two and what you felt during both scenarios. Spend some time with God to better understand the difference.