Fear is a powerful emotion. It can stop you in your tracks, keep you too paralyzed to make a decision. It can prevent you from taking a wrong path, but it can also keep you from choosing the right one. It’s all too easy to allow fear to keep you from obeying God, especially when He is calling you into ministry. If you want to be used by God, it’s time to face those fears!
Fear of the Unknown
One of the biggest reasons women fail to get involved with ministry is fear of the unknown. Even when they find an area of ministry they are interested in, many hesitate because they just aren’t sure. They may have never served in this way before.
Stepping out of your comfort zone is hard, but the rewards are worth it. To overcome this fear, take out some time to check out the ministry area of your choice.
Visit a women’s shelter and talk to the director or other staff. Attend an informational meeting on prison ministry. Just taking one small step can help you overcome the fear of the unknown.
Fear of Failure
Perhaps you are already involved in ministry, quietly working in your small corner. You now feel God calling you to do more. Maybe the leader of your ministry is leaving or a new position has opened up. You feel God tugging on your heart to volunteer, but you are afraid. What if you can’t do the job? What if you FAIL?
Fear of failure is scary to many women. It puts them out there for all of the world to see that they may not measure up. It feels like they are on a stage with the spotlight turned on and everyone watching, hold their breaths. No one likes to feel as if they are on display. The truth is that it’s not about you. If God is calling you to step up, He will equip you. You don’t have to do anything in your own power. Just use His.
Fear of the Undesirable
When you were a young Christian, did you ever fail to pray for God’s will because you were afraid He would make you do something you didn’t want to do? Maybe you were afraid to pray about being used by God because you thought it would mean packing up and moving to a foreign mission field.
What if He wants you to work in prison ministry or volunteer in a homeless shelter? There’s no way you could help out in the inner-city with druggies, drunks or other lost souls. The third fear that often keeps us from ministry is fear of being called to do something we don’t want to do.
But God isn’t like that. He doesn’t take pleasure in making us miserable. If He calls you to an area of ministry, He will use your strengths and abilities and even your interests and desires to move in that area.
It’s time to overcome our fears and trust God to lead us into ministry where we can make a difference. Just think of all we are missing out on because we let fear control us instead of God.
What fears are keeping you from getting involved in ministry? What steps are you going to take to overcome them?
