How to Share Your Faith When Fear Holds You Back

It happens to the best of us. It can be a scary thing to share our faith. It can be risky to open our lives to the possibility that God may be asking us to be the answer to the prayers we’ve been praying… for our neighbors or coworkers or even family members to know God.

And yet, despite our fears, despite our excuses, God has commissioned us to go! He has called you and me to be ambassadors who bring peace. Vessels that explain salvation. Hands that heal and love and care.

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…'” Matthew 28:18-19 NKJV

We are all commissioned to go, to carry the message of the gospel into the lives of the people around us. It can be a terrifying proposition—and for some, it may seem like a weighty obligation.

Is Your Life Messy?

You might struggle with imposter syndrome, fighting the voices that taunt you, saying, “Who are you to tell anyone about Jesus?” You look around at your messy life—the mounds of unfolded laundry, the kids squabbling in the bedroom, or a marriage that is teetering—and you hold back from sharing your faith, waiting for life to straighten out.

Trust me, if you wait until your life is perfect to share Jesus with someone, you’ll be waiting a long time. As the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”

God wants to work in and through your life now. Even if it’s messy. Even if you’re struggling, press in, press on, and don’t wait to share your faith.

Are You Overwhelmed?

Or, maybe you hesitate from reaching out because you feel like you can’t handle one more thing on your plate. You’re already overwhelmed with life, and you hold back, knowing it may require time or energy to follow through.

Maybe we’re overthinking this. Maybe we need to remind ourselves that we’re not in this alone.

The Father Draws People to Himself

“‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…'” John 6:44

There are no “cold calls” or conversations in the Kingdom of God. God desires all men to be saved. He wants everyone to experience His wonderful love and mercy. (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

The One who commissions you and me to “go” is working beside us, drawing people to Himself. Even more than you want to see your spouse saved, your son’s life turned around, or your prayers answered for revival in your city, God wants it. He’s busy pulling all the pieces together.

Years ago, as my husband and I were training for the mission field, we came to understand that when you go into a new place—for us, a foreign country; for you, a family gathering or a neighborhood block party—God is already there. He is already at work!

Our role, as He sends us forth into the harvest fields, is to listen and discern what the Lord is already doing and then work in harmony with Him.

We Are Never Alone

As Jesus told the early disciples when He commissioned them to go to the nations, we’re not going alone.

“‘… and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'” Matthew 28:10

God is with us, ever beside us—in every phone call, every outreach, every exchange. Knowing this changes everything. It takes the pressure off.

We don’t have to go into a family gathering or a city meeting—or a nation, for that matter—as the “man with the plan.” Rather, we go in to discover what God is doing, and work in tandem with the Holy Spirit.

God is Already at Work

The next family gathering or block party you attend, be encouraged to share your faith. The Lord is sending you, but He is also with you. He is inviting you to labor alongside Him in the harvest.

“Then He said to them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'” Luke 10:2