Overcoming Nervousness in the Pulpit
I asked our readers what was the most important question that they face in their pulpit work. The question asked most was “how do I overcome nervousness.” This was an interesting question. One reason for my own interest in this question is that I always feel a bit of nervousness before commencing to preach. I have heard that many preachers and public speakers face the same issue. Even great preachers have to fight this problem. So what do these preachers do to step over this problem?
One quote that immediately comes to mind is from Mark Twain who said: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” So come with me as I seek to help you deal with this roadblock that need not stop you from preaching the gospel.
The first thing you should do is Pray. If God can raise Jesus from the dead then certainly that same God can help you to work through any of your fear issues. After praying in the beginning, I would also encourage you to keep in a prayerful attitude all the way through the sermon prep and presentation process.
The next thing that One should do to overcome nerves is to Prepare. Preachers should exegete the scripture adequately. They should also exegete the congregation to verify that the real needs of the congregation are addressed. Finally, they must be in tune with the Holy Spirit to ensure that God is behind the whole sermon preparation process. Yes adequate preparation is the first step to overcoming the stifling fear that many preachers will feel.
Secondly, preachers can do to overcome fear in the pulpit is to Practice. This is something that many preachers neglect to do. You have put together your sermon, but you also need to practice “out loud” your sermon. Go over the whole thing. And ensure that you know what you are to do in the sermon.
Finally, preachers can overcome the butterflies by Proceeding. Here I mean “go head on and preach.” One thing that I notice in my own preaching is that as soon as I get up to preach, the fear dissipates. As I think about what I am trying to do, I lose the inhibitions that come when you are thinking about yourself. So I would encourage you to get on up and preach and then think about what you are preaching and not your fear.
There you have it, if you wish to beat out fear, pray, prepare, practice, and proceed. Then you will be well on the way to preaching effective sermons.
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Once again you’ve done well in addressing issues that we as preachers of the gospel face. From my humble position, I, hope and pray that I never lose the fear or butterflies. I want to submit in reverence to God and the leading of His Holy Spirit. Please don’t misunderstand me because I’m not saying to be unprepared, but, what I’m saying is that we are God’s instruments and we must realize that we’re not lecturing but proclaiming the Word of the Living God. There’s nothing worse then being unprepared but equally worse is when we don’t give room for the Spirit of God because we want to make a point. We must remember that the Word of God is alive and living and therefore wants to breathe on us. It’s the foolishness of preaching that saves us and not some academic lecture.
I agree with your statement. LOL…if you don’t have any fear then you probably don’t know what you are about to do…
Please keep commenting…
am a young university student am born again and loves preaching. i must admit that this site has realy taught me alot i thank God for you i recommend it to all upcoming and experienced preachers.