Are you

           a good

                  person?

          if so.....

        are you

      good enough

         to get to

         Heaven?

      Click here to

         find out...

Overcoming Fear

TERRORISM:  the planned, organized use of fear as a weapon. 

Satan attacks us with fear of witnessing, because when we witness we torment him.  When we witness we change the size of hell!  You are either going to torment the devil or he is going to torment you.  The choice is yours.

"For God has not given us the Spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind." (2 Tim.1:7)   Fear is a Spirit sent by the forces of hell.

We need the courage of David, who ran toward Goliath saying, “You come to me with a sword, a spear and with a shield.  But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of armies of Israel, whom you have defied!”

When the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, the immediate result was that the fearful disciples became fearless. They were empowered to be witnesses . They didn't stay in the Upper Room. They went out and headed in the direction of the unsaved.

It really isn’t hard to witness, if you know what you want to achieve.  It isn’t the big deal the devil makes you think it is. As you make witnessing a regular thing, it will come to you more naturally.  In fact, it will come to you supernaturally, because you will have the help of God. 

The best way to learn to swim is to get into the water, then once you figure out that it isn’t that difficult, you will get back into the water with less fear. The best way to overcome your fears is to face them head on. The more you share your faith, the easier it will become.

The prison doors of fear can be opened with very simple keys. Fear in witnessing can usually be categorized three ways:

Fear of Rejection

Some people would make great soul winner except for one small thing—they can’t stand rejection.  Why should we be surprised when we are rejected or offended?  Even Jesus was rejected.

“Marvel not if the world hates you.”

"If you live a godly life, you will be persecuted.'

 Jesus said, “they hated me, they’ll hate you, too.”

 Matt. 8:34—And behold, the whole town went out to meet Jesus; and as soon as they saw Him they begged Him to depart from their locality.  (This is after the demons were cast out of men and into the pigs.)

Fear of man is compromising with the enemy. Christians need to have the guts to make an uncompromising stand for the Gospel and shake off the shackles of fear of rejection.

'The fear of man brings a snare, but the Lord has delivered us from the snare of the fowler .'

“I tell you whoever acknowledges me before men, the son of man will acknowledge him before the angels of God.  But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.”

'The Lord is on my side, I will not fear, what can man do unto me?"

What is it that you have access to that will help you cast out your fears when it comes to witnessing? We have access to God's love and the Bible tells us "perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18).

Learn to kick the dust off of your feet and go to the next unsaved person, go back to the drawing board. Let any attempts by the enemy to discourage you, encourage you.  They are actually a compliment to your potential in God. “He seeks to hinder the word of God." (1 Thes. 2:18)

William Gurnall, the author of, The Christian in Complete Armour said: "We fear men so much, because we fear God so little. One fear causes another."

Why do we get so nervous about pleasing people?  If I’m going to worry about anything at all, I am going to worry about pleasing God. If Jesus commanded me to go, then I will get nervous about not going.

If you were to be given $1,000 for every person you witnessed to, could you deal with your "fear of man "problem?"

Fear of Not Knowing What to Say

Some Christians abstain from witnessing because they're afraid they won't be able to answer tough questions which may be thrown their way during a soul winning conversation. A funny thing happens when you start witnessing, it will cause you to dig deep into God’s Word.

“…in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.  For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.”  Luke 21:13-15

Many believers worry that they don't know enough about the Bible to witness. While it's true, you should "study to show yourself approved a workman that needs no be ashamed," as Paul said, however, remember this, people don't really care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

If you have a genuine love for Jesus and a genuine love for people, that is 90% of it. How eloquent you sound doesn’t matter.

Also, take the time to look at the fears of the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 2:1-4). He said that when he reached out to the Corinthians with the Gospel he didn't have "excellency of speech or of wisdom."

Remember that the he Holy Spirit can take something you say, even if it said stuttering or mumbling and tweek it so it is exactly what they need to hear.

Fear that People Won’t Want to Get Saved

If you think people don’t want to get saved, you won’t witness much and even when you do, you will do it in fear and not faith.

This is in direct opposition to what Jesus said in John 4:35, “Open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for the harvest. We will only do what we believe.  Do you believe that the harvest is plentiful?  Do you believe that God wants to use you to spread the gospel?  Do you believe that God can use you? 

But, remember, the devil is a liar.  Jesus said that the devil is the father of all lies and that there is not truth in him.  So, if the devil says that it is difficult to witness, that means it must be easy.  If the devil tells you that no one wants to get saved, that means there must be a lot of people who want to get saved.  If the devil tells you that you can’t, then that means you can.

Every time you venture out of the barracks to do battle, you will first battle with fear.  When you size up someone before you approach them to give them a tract or witness to them you will hear a voice say, “Are you kidding!  Look at the guy…and you think you are going to give him a tract?  Look at the guy…and you think you are going to give him a tract?  As soon as you open your mouth, he’s going to rip your ears off.  He will humiliate you.  No, you shouldn’t do this.  Don’t be a food, go back to the barracks where you will be safe.”

So many times we hold back from sharing our faith with friends, co-workers and acquaintances because they don’t appear to NEED Jesus. They all look happy and content. Nowhere is that more the excuse than for Christians in Hollywood. And yet it couldn’t be further from the truth. Hollywood stars are a good example of this.  If you think celebrities are happy and content, just watch shows like A & E’s Biography.

 Close

As soon as you start talking the fear will leave and the power of God will hit you.  The anointing of God will come upon you. Face your fear and the death of your fear will be certain. 

We have to make a decision that we aren’t going to say, “no” we are going to “go”.  If anybody is going to say “no” it will be the sinner, not us. Fear is not going to stop us.

Rev. 21:8  is a scripture that motivates me to push past fear:“But the fearful, the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderer, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.”

Faith, not feelings,  has got to be the engine to the Gospel train.