FAQ: How Do I Overcome My Fear to Share My Faith?
I was asked this question the other day: “It can be quite scary to share your faith. Do you have tips for anyone who wants to, but is scared by what people may think of you?”
It can be quite daunting at times to share your faith, but it doesn’t have to be. As someone who shares their faith often, there are times I get scared too!
Fear is a natural emotion, but it doesn’t have to be a normal behaviour.
I have learned to overcome any fear by saying a simple statement to myself: “It is the Creator of the Universe that sends me, and He promises to be with me” — how good is that! The God that created me also sends me, and then I go.
I have committed to always doing these 3 things:
Pray and ask God for boldness.
Listen for the Holy Spirit prompts as I go about my day.
Jump at the opportunities that present themselves
I’ve had to learn to jump. Let me explain, it’s something that has come with experience, time, and my own self-awareness. You know those times when you feel a little disappointing ‘pang’ in your heart because you just didn’t have the courage to open your mouth and say something? Or the racing heartbeat that after a while settles down to normal pace and you think to yourself ‘phew’, it was lucky that moment passed! I’ve got better at recognizing my excuses and being aware that those moments were for a reason and that it was God prompting me to do something. Every time I miss the opportunity, I ask God for forgiveness and ask Him for another chance.
Every time I hear myself saying “Is that really you God?” or having one of those moments of panic where I try and talk myself out of it — I stop myself and just go! That way my thoughts don’t have time to talk me out of action. It gets easier the more you do it. Plus, a little bit of nervousness never hurt anyone 😉
I thank God for the nervousness because it reminds me that I am relying on Him instead of myself and thinking that I have all the answers.
Every person you talk to is different and every situation requires the Holy Spirit to guide you — when you forget that, you take over, and honestly, when it’s just us talking (without the Holy Spirit) we make a bit of a hash job.
Sometimes I say to the person, “Excuse me. I just know God wants me to talk to you about Him and I’m a bit nervous — have you been asking God some questions lately?”
When you put all the weight of the conversation back onto God, you can smile, relax, enjoy yourself, and expect that when you open your mouth something understandable will come out.
If you do find yourself a blubbering bumbling mess, just take a big breath, have a laugh, go red (if you’re like me I go red in the face sometimes), ‘calm the farm’, and just carry on! 😜
