Who’s In Charge?

By: Riley Kish, age 14

  2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

 There is one main objective that keeps most people from evangelizing. Fear. Fear can take a person set on evangelizing, destroy their passion, and numb their mind to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  

  I am sure you are familiar with some of the fears Christians, and all humans really, struggle with.

Fear of what people think.

We are so scared of what people will think. For some of us, it is an obsession. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in how we think others will judge us, that it can get depressing. The truth is, as Christians, the only opinion that matters is God’s. After all, in Matthew 6, Jesus warns against worrying about anything, and says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Are we seeking the kingdom of God, or the worthless opinions of people? Are we going to worry about what people think about, or where they are going to spend eternity?

Fear of rejection.

When I go to evangelize, I always worry about people’s reactions. What if they say no? What if they tell me to take a hike? What if I am not making a difference? The thing is, if we don’t even try, they may never hear and we will never know how they would have reacted. Even if they react rudely, we obeyed God. Everything after that is up to Him.

Fear of not knowing what to say.

What if we are evangelizing to someone, and they ask a question we don’t know the answer to? Or if we freeze up? The best thing to do is to always be honest. Admit that you don’t know all of the answers and just do your best. Answer them as well as you can and recommend the Bible or invite them to church. Luke 12:11-12 says, “Do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” The Holy Spirit will give us the words to say.  Isn’t that encouraging?

The bottom line is, fear is not from God. If it isn’t from God, that means it is from Satan. Satan will do anything to keep you from spreading God’s love. Each victory for God is a loss for him. So why are we listening to Satan? God tells us not to fear and that he will give us the words to say. When we give in to fear, we aren’t trusting God and are like Peter walking on water with Jesus. As long as we look to God, we will not sink but the moment we look at the waves and storms of life, we will be swallowed by the waters of fear. We can’t allow fear to hold us back from doing God’s will. It’s time to choose who is in charge; fear or God.