Overcoming Fear

Some of you probably have read our recent update about how both my husband and I have felt great conviction to share the Gospel more broadley and rapidly. I wanted to use this post to go into detail of what I feel keeps us from walking in obedience. Like most things about God and his commands, they all require faith on our part. We need faith to believe in Him and His salvation, faith to wait on His instruction and direction in our lives, faith when we get on our knees crying out for His help. We also need faith when we go out and share with others. Faith is required when we walk up to an individual being intent on bringing our conversation full swing to a conversation about Life, His Life. When that time comes in the conversation where a door begins to open for me to share I often times would feel my palms sweat, my throat tighten, and words misplaced in my mind. It was like all of a sudden I was afraid that they would cut my head off if they did not receive what I was about to share. Where does this fear come from? After all, it is just the simple action of sharing our hearts and lives to a lost individual. What is even worse is when you feel these same feelings after having shared multiple times and those feelings continue to show up every time. As one who learns best through experience, I decided that this problem with fear needed to go, especially if I was going to walk out in full obedience of His Great Commission, meaning I was going to share with all around me and not choose who I felt comfortable sharing with. I was, at all costs including experiencing fear, going to obey Him. So I began sharing with whoever would carry on a conversation with me, and in my poor Chinese skills too! I soon learned that if you offer them the opportunity to hear you out, you will get rejected, but if you share with them giving them no opportunity to refuse, then after hearing you speak for a little while they begin to have a growing interest in what you are sharing. The best way to share the Gospel is to share the Gospel...meaning, don't beat around the bush, don't make friends with them in order to one day share, but start your friendship with sharing. Ask what do they know about Jesus? Then tell them what you know.. and what you know happens to be a whole lot more then they do, which is wonderful so share all that you know. If we step out in faith, He is faithful to His Word and He shows up. I have not yet experienced Him not showing up when I shared His Truth, which is comforting. I still get a little anxious right before I start to share, but I really feel that the more I share, the more I learn what works, what doesn't, and how to become more sensitive to His leading while I share. If I can remind myself that the enemy is there discouraging us to open our mouths and putting that fear over us, then I can simply reject that fear and choose, despite how I feel, comfortable or not, to obey Him. Our faith is put into action when we share with another soul that He loves them too. It cements our belief that He does exist and that He does live within us, for if we did not believe that than how could we share. "But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." Hebrews 10:38