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“I don’t have the words when it comes to sharing the gospel. I feel like I freeze up or my tongue just crawls down my throat in a desperate attempt to shy from its responsibility to speak. I’m worried I don’t know what to say. What if I look stupid?”

I’ve had many Christians share their anxiety with me about sharing the gospel with people. It’s a daunting task, no doubt. You have to open yourself up in faith to someone who doesn’t have the same saving faith that you do. But the biggest concern I hear is, “I just don’t know what to say.”

That’s a valid concern. Many times in talking to people about Jesus I have no words to say. But somehow, in asking the Holy Spirit to give me words and give me wisdom, it just happens. Words have come to me in sharing the gospel, and it’s usually different every time. The only thing I can say that I believe the Truth of the Bible:

Romans 8:26
“Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.”

1 Corinthians 1:27
“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

In our finite, temporary, weak minds, we have nothing to offer when it comes to wisdom and speaking to others about the gospel. But the Spirit of God gives us strength. He uses our foolishness and our weakness for his divine purpose and good. It’s in the times of weakness and lack of speech when God’s power truly comes into play. Our weakness is replaced by His strength. Our foolishness is replaced by His wisdom. Our shame becomes God’s glory.

Nothing in us is able to accurately convey what God has done in us. That’s why God makes us able:

2 Corinthians 3:4-6
“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be minsters of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

We are all called to share the gospel, be “ministers” of the new covenant, which is Jesus crucified and raised for our redemption and justification. To act on our calling, we, in turn, call upon God. We aren’t sufficient to save anyone, but He is. He gives us the grace to preach the gospel with effectiveness and clarity.

I’m glad I can’t do it on my own. It makes me need Jesus.

Noteworthy posts of the day:
- Perry Noble’s “How to Prepare a Message,” part four
- An older post by Matt Chandler on “Pursuit.”