For God has not Given us a Spirit of Fear
For God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear
By JoJo Tabares
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” -2 Timothy 1:7 KJV
Fear in speaking with others is timidity or what we call shyness. According to Webster’s dictionary, shyness means “sensitive and hesitant in dealing with others”. This is not the spirit of power that should be present inside the Christian for we know that with the Lord all things are possible and, if the Lord is for us, who can be against us?
Research shows that 87% of what we do all day is communication related. Maybe that is why the Bible speaks about communication skills hundreds of times. The Father gives each of us a mission in life and something to say that someone needs to hear. He also tells us to go out and share the Good News. God doesn’t say this lightly knowing that some are born with confidence and some are born with shyness! He tells us this because He has put within each one of us the tools needed to stand up and share with His children each in our own way.
Many people mistakenly think that shyness is a character trait or a personality flaw. It is not. For the most part, it is the result of not being comfortable or experienced with certain aspects of communication for some period of time. The longer a person has experienced himself as shy, the stronger its hold over him. Communication is actually a set of skills that can be learned and must be practiced to reach mastery. Anyone and everyone can learn them. Not everyone will have the same aptitude, but all can learn to be comfortable and confident enough in order to complete the work the Lord has given them in their life!
The challenge is to find the appropriate key to unlock and let go of the shyness within. I liken learning communication skills to swimming because the analogy is fairly accurate. When teaching a young child to swim, a common technique is to throw them into the ocean or pool. The child is supposed to use instincts to get to the other side as they are carefully watched over by their parent. The idea is that when they get to the other side, they realize that they didn’t drown and actually accomplished the goal. Unfortunately, that method works only about half the time! The other half of the time it goes like this: The child is petrified! They are thrown into the water and panic sets in. Instinctively they thrash about and somehow make it to the other side. Instead of feeling relieved and excited that they accomplished their goal of swimming, they are now terrified of water and they vow never to do that again!
So it is with speech classes.
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2 comments
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True JoJo. Communication can be learned. I used to be “shy” and awkward. No one would suspect it now. Good post.
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I know many people that fall into this category. Love the article!