How to Overcome the Fear of Preaching (or Preaching Nerves)
Do you have a fear of preaching? Or maybe you wouldn’t say it’s a fear, but your nerves are on edge. You are not alone.
Public speaking is commonly listed as one of the greatest fears that people have.
All eyes are on you.
You are vulnerable.
You are exposed.
Your every word is critiqued.
Or worse, you could be ignored.
What if they laugh at you?
What if they don’t like you?
What if they think you are boring?
What if you don’t look good?
It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of a crowd and bare your soul.
I almost didn’t become a pastor because of my fear of preaching. I begged God to let me do anything but preach. God said, “No.”
Nerves when preaching can be expected. Everyone experiences it. But when you are too nervous all the time, your problem isn’t nerves.
Your problem is that you are too self-centered.
You are too focused on what others think of you.
You are too focused on how you will look.
You are too focused on your message.
You are too worried that people either will or won’t come back because of you.
You are too focused on whether or not people will think you are interesting, smart, good-looking, or entertaining.
Do you see the problem? Preaching has become all about you.
So if you’re like me and you struggle with this, what should you do?
Take the focus off of yourself. If your ministry is all about you, you have a bigger problem than being nervous about preaching.
It is time to flip your perspective. Don’t think about yourself. Think about God.
What does God want to say? Will God be honored? Will God be glorified? Will God be pleased?
It’s no longer your sermon. Preaching was never supposed to be about you anyway. Give the sermon back to God.
Then, think about the audience God entrusted to you to hear his message.
What does the audience need to hear? How could they benefit from God’s message? How might they be encouraged? How could God’s Word change their lives? What do they need to be reminded of?
Preaching is not about you. Preaching is about God’s message communicated to his people. You are just the messenger.
When preaching becomes all about God and people, and not about you, you’ll worry less and preach better.
As John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Your nerves and your fear of preaching will diminish as you focus less on yourself and more on Jesus.
Give the sermon back to God. It was never yours to begin with.
Just watch and see what God does when you stop thinking so much about yourself.
Thanks for the reminder. We all struggle with this. We all need to be reminded. Thank you.
Your welcome!
Thanks for this Brandon.
First step – Give it back to God
Second Step – Know you material well enough that it’s not a sermon it’s a part of who you are.
Third Step – Go enjoy yourself, if you’re not enjoying yourself your people never won’t either.
Great advice Peter. I especially think the “enjoy yourself” aspect can be easily missed by many pastors. Preaching is not what we have to do, it’s what we get to do!
Hi m8,
Even being out witnessing and handing out Gospel booklets can be a little bit nervy and rejection can get to you. So I really asked the Lord, to help me with not being fearful, and then realised these people are going to Hell and they don’t even know it! So I ask God to direct my steps to who, where, when if it’s a witnessing opportunity and wow! Watch God make the openings, it’s really cool!
The Lord set up an amazing opportunity a couple days ago, where He showed me to pray for this lady, she had faith too, for a couple of medical issues she had experienced. If I hadn’t prayed earlier for God to move and prepare the way, I don’t believe this would’ve happened, and the Lord specifically showed me where to park the car (I met this person on the way back to my vehicle!) So He is in control, if we let Him and trust Him.
It showed me, how much God loves people! and why we should be available to Him through His Holy Spirit to able to reach the people scattered around us.
He sees what we can’t see and hears what we can’t hear, He knows the hearts of us all. That’s why we need to trust Him and He loves you very much! God bless you heaps!
Wow! I deal with this all the time and never really considered that I was simply being prideful. Thank you for this post. I have some evaluating to do.
Your welcome Wendell. Realizing this definitely has changed my perspective and helped me work at keeping my pride in check.
very awesome passage!
hi my name is Mark and im 12 im doing my first sermon on Wednesday for my youth this definitely helped
I’m having a hard time with being in this position help me help myself. this is what I was called for but I have to grow in it. Please give me some advance I really need
If you need some help growing as a preacher, I have a few books and also a video course that can help you with the basics. I’m biased, but I would recommend checking them out and seeing if it seems right for you. But I might be able to help more if I knew exactly where you are struggling the most.
Hi, I’m having a hard time dealing with my calling. It’s not easy at all but i’m at boarder line please help me with what i’m going thru it’s not easy. Just don’t no how to deal with the negative. help me to get pass that stage
Hey Kathy, thanks for being so honest. What specifically about your calling are you struggling with? I might be able to help or at least point you in the right direction.
I fear of speaking in public while am about to preach the gospel 😪😥
Hi. God has shown me preaching and being elevated. He has shown me pregnant. He has given me visions and comes to me showing me. It scares me as I am not a speaker. I could be doing anything and scriptures start flowing through me. It scares me. I don’t know what to do about it. I get up to speak and everything leaves me. Every word that the Lord has given and I am standing there and don’t know what to to do or say. How can I get past this? I have done trainings and groups teaching but yet I have so much trouble getting in front of the church. I have prayed and prayed. I keep getting the same visions. I am sweating now as I am writing this to you.
Hey Nichole, fear of public speaking is totally normal. Unfortunately, one of the best ways to overcome the fear speaking (besides what I wrote about in this article) is to speak more often. The more you do it, the more comfortable you get. So I would suggest starting small and taking advantage of any small opportunities you have to stand up to share. And if speaking on stage isn’t your thing, maybe start sharing in smaller groups or Bible studies first. Start small and grow into the opportunities that God brings you. Hope that helps.
And practice practice practice at home or your church before you stand in front of this remember we’re just a vessel this is GODS message jump on in brothers and sisters the water is fine 🙏🏻
im 15 and i absolutely want to be a preacher but when im trying to read things i wrote ii get scared and im afraid i might mess up
Same
I’m blessed ☺️👼
Good
I’m scared to death I just want to preach Gods word where people will understand it cause I have trouble getting my point across
hi im 15 and do not have a problem when it comes to school public speaking but I am totally afraid of preaching.
This was really helpful thank you so much
Your welcome
I want to know if truly am call by God to a full or part time pastors or preacher
My problem is fear especially when am called to lead for praise.because I usually feel like am not good in praise or I sing slowly and also I don’t know how to animate like other singers.that’s what happened to me each time am called to lead in my church
I am sorry for that
Wow this went beyond what I was expecting, thank you for sharing! So helpful
Your welcome
Am so much impress, but my challenge is about the fear issue, sometimes when am giving space to minister, for me clambing the alter to preach all my system will change as if people would laugh at me, after the ministration the fear will vanish from me. It do occur each time am giving the chance again to preach. What can do about it?
I,like your prayers.
Preaching is not about us,rather it’s about God
Give him a few days to go back to you later tonight or tomorrow night and I think we should get himcakeur
I have preached three devotional sermons so far over the past year and a half. I was nervous each time. I recall my heart beating fast the day of preaching. I took a small piece of Xanax to call my heart rate and respirations. My pastor says I have a gift he wants to cultivate.
Tonight I am preaching on Psalm 115:1 and it is a powerful sermon, my wife tells me. For only having 15 minutes, the sermons need to be concise. I’m recently dealing with an injury and have severe pain, so I’m taking a small piece of Tramadol before we arrive tonight. My wife and I teach together on Wednesdays for grades 1-3. It helps that I teach before preaching. It warms up my voice and keeps me in the teaching/preaching mode.
I’ve dealt with anxiety for most of my life and it’s not pleasant to deal with. Your advice is very well received and helps me to remember preaching is not about me; it’s about God and His glory. Thank you brother.
Thank you so much for letting me know that preaching is not all about me but all about God.
More grace
Thanks i appreciate
Thanks i appreciate
Leave a comment… thanks í ½í¹
Thank you🙏
Thank you so much for posting this message! I needed to hear this so badly! I am a lay pastor but have a fear of talking in front of large groups of people and this just hit home!
Yo he predicado siempre lo he echo con menos nervios pero dejé cerca de 2 años de no predicar, solamente estuve predicando en grupo pequeño y luego me dieron privilegios para subir en púlpito pues para 150 personas pero esta vez me dio mucho nervios me concentré más a mis nervios que mi predica después mi esposo dijo la prédica estuvo bueno pero tenía muchos nervios . Y ahora estoy pensando mucho hasta le estoy pidiendo perdón tanto a Dios que no lo hice bien por mis nervios 😟 necesito ayuda ..