Running

[shane00]

This is kinda hard to talk about, but here it goes. In my religion we believe that you are called by God to preach. I have had that feeling in my soul for about 7 or 8 years now. I go to church for a while then i get that feeling that God is telling me that he has blessed me and now he wants me to preach his word. I always get scared when i get that feeling. I always end up running from what is believe is my calling. I can't talk to my mom and dad even though they are the same religion as me. My dad is even a pastor of a different church, but i feel weird talking to them about it. I feel i am not in God's will when i don't do what he wants. It is also hard for me to accept what i feel God called me to do because i am only 19. I know age should not matter, but it still does. I am afraid that me running in and out of church because of what i feel will leave me out of the will of God. Another thing confirming what i feel is another person in my church came to me and told me that i shouldn't be afraid of what God called me to do. They said they knew what i was called to do but they wouldn't tell me what it was. Deep down i know what it is though. Please help me do the right thing. Thanks.

[Ann]

Hello Shane
Before I can give you a really good answer I need to know a bit about what you believe and what your church believes. (sometimes those can be two different things, can't they?)
Have you asked Jesus into your heart to be your own personal Savior? Do you and does your church believe that we have all sinned, that the consequnces of sin is death and eternal seperation from God and punishment in hell and the only answer to sin is the blood of Jesus Christ? Let's start there, post back to me and let's see if I can be some help to you. It's kind of like swimming. It would be foolish to talk a lot about preaching until you have the basics of salvation just like it would be to try diving off the high board if you could not swim back to the side of the pool. So before we get into a discussion on preaching I need to know what you really believe and know.

A strong personal walk with Jesus is essential for anyone wanting to be in any aspect of ministry.

[shane00]

Yes my church does beieve that you need to ask God for salvation. My religion is Pentacostal if you know about that denomination. The way we believe is that you get saved then you start seeking the Holy Ghost (speaking with another tongue). If you have any more questions just post them and i will try my best to answer them. (Hope this answers your question lol)

[Ann]

Hello again Shane
Yes I am familiar with several Pentacostal denominations and their doctrines. You did not comment on your own personal experience of Salvation, baptism in the Holy Spirit, etc. so I'll answer based on someone having experienced this. If you have not yet then that is the place to start.

Beyond that it is a matter of growing in the Lord. That comes in prayer and in spending time studying His word. Prayer is not all asking for things nor is it all speaking in your prayer language (tongues). It is also being straight out honest with the Lord. telling Him you believe that He has called you and that it scares you almost witless. Telling Him the only thing that scares you more than walking in this calling is to not walk in it and miss out on pleasing Him. Talk it all out with Him. You know He knows it anyway.

Ask Him to show you anything that is blocking you from being free in Him and then correct it. I'm not saying you are or would do any of these things but when a person does not feel good about their lifestyle, about what they did on a date, about what they said and how they said it talking with friends, about the places they hang out or the people they hang out with that makes it a lot harder to feel good about ministering God's word. Other things that can throw up hinderences are the music one listens to, TV shows one watches and the stuff that gets into one's mind and spirit from them, even some things in video and computer games. You certainly do not have to be a shut away stick in the mud but you do need to be clean and pure for Jesus. And if there has been stuff that made you less so you know that you can come to Jesus and ask cleansing and forgiveness through His blood. It's not a one time thing is it. We need His cleansing every day to keep us walking where we need to be.

Sometimes there have been things in our life experience that make us feel unworthy or impossible. Jesus can handle those as well. But He is a gentleman and will not push in uninvited. So we have to ask Him.

When it comes right down to it sometimes the best way to get over the fear of preaching is to preach. To ask your pastor or your dad if you can share your testimony or share something briefly from the Bible. Ask for maybe 10 min. in a Sunday night or week night service. Give yourself a week or two for preparation. Pray and ask Jesus to love and help the people through you. Ask Him to help you be more aware of Him and of His ministering to them than you are of your self. Study what you are going to talk about but spend time praising Him as part of your preparation too. Remember Psalm 50 God inhabits the praises of His people.

Two things that helped me a lot are
1. Knowing that it is not me at all but Jesus who does anything good that possibly will happen. He knows exactly what the people need and He is very willing to supply their needs. If you are the one who is ministering He will supply their needs through you and He will do what He needs to do to make you an able and appropriate vessel. He won't cheat someone out of a blessing or a correction or a healing or salvation because of who is preaching.
2. You are like a pipe. Something for the water of life to flow through. The pipe needs to be clean but Jesus can handle that too, as His word and as His cleansing bolld flows through you the force of the flow will scrub the pipe and polish it. Just stay connected. If you get disconnected ask Him to hook you up to Himself again.

Remember this was His idea in the first place and He is the one who is responsible for the results.

[Shane00]

Thanks for your time and help. I really can relate to what you have told me. That really helped me. Thanks. When you pray send out a special prayer for me. All prayers are welcome.

[Ann]

Shane I came across this post again while saving some files efoere the bd purge and felt to pray for you. How are things going?