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What to Do When Fear Keeps You From Speaking Up · Daily Devotions for Busy Lives

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  Track 1: Think of the last time you almost said something and
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  didn't. A word of encouragement, maybe, or a question you'd
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  wanted to ask. You ran the odds in your head and decided it
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  would go badly, so you stayed quiet. Most of us do that a
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  dozen times a day, at least. We stay silent because we're sure
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  speaking up will cost us more than it gives. The truth was, a
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  researcher has been measuring that exact calculation for years,
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  and she found we get it wrong almost every time. We'll come
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  back to what she found, but first, welcome to Daily
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  Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger. Years ago, I had a
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  strong sense I ought to go see somebody in the hospital. I knew
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  this person wasn't a follower of Jesus. I knew I should go, and I
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  had time to go. I told myself I'd go in the morning. They died
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  during the night. I still don't know what I would have said, but
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  I would have shared the gospel. I know I never said it. Here's
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  what I had to settle afterward, and I want you to settle it, too,
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  because I'd hate for you to hear my story and draw the wrong
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  conclusion. Whether that person is with the Lord today was never
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  really in my hands. Deuteronomy says the secret things belong to
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  God, and I believe that. He does work in places I'm not standing
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  in. But what was in my hands was a drive across town, and I
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  didn't make it. Most Christians have experienced a version of
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  that. Maybe not quite as serious, but still important. The
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  conversation at work where you had something to say, and you
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  let it pass. The encouragement you composed in your head, and
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  you never delivered. And here's the fear that usually wins.
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  You're afraid of botching it, of picking wrong words, and making
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  the moment worse than the silent was. That comes from caring, by
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  the way. You care enough to make sure you say the right thing.
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  Paul wrote to a young man tempted to keep his mouth shut
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  instead of speaking out. It's in 2 Timothy 1.7.
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  I know this verse gets quoted often, but verse 6, right before
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  it, tells Timothy to fan into flames a spiritual gift God gave
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  to him. Verse 8, right after it, says, So verse 7 lands in the
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  middle of an argument about opening your mouth. Then look at
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  where Paul is when he writes it. He's in prison. And verse 15 of
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  that same chapter says,
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  So Paul knows what speaking costs. He was paying for it
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  while he wrote the sentence. Now take the three things Paul says
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  God did give instead. The word for that last one appears
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  nowhere else in the New Testament. It means a mind
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  that's governed. Sound judgment. The older translations give it
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  as a sound mind. Then look at what that list is for. Power is
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  the nerve to open your mouth, and love is what keeps the word
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  pointed at the person. gift goes straight at the thing you're
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  afraid of. The governed mind is what gets the wording right. So
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  the exact fear you've got is the one God equipped you against. He
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  gave the prompt, and in the same breath, he gave the sound mind
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  that handles how it comes out, didn't give you that fear of
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  speaking up. Her name was Vanessa Bonds, a social
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  psychologist at Cornell. She studies the moment we decide
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  whether to speak, and the numbers keep coming back the
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  same. We overestimate how badly it will go, and we underestimate
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  the good that comes from saying it. We brace for the awkwardness
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  or the rejection, and we forget that people are usually more
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  glad to be spoken to than we imagine. Bonds found something
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  else about how we say it. People badly overrate how well a
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  message lands in writing, and her work found that asking
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  face-to-face beats email by more than anybody predicts. So the
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  fear in your chest that says, keep it in, is running the odds
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  wrong. It's a bad forecaster. You can say the thing kindly and
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  leave the of the other person to God. Put her finding next to
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  Paul's. A researcher spent years proving that our fear about
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  speaking is unreliable. Paul told Timothy 2,000 years earlier
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  that the fear was never the gift, and he listed the sound mind as
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  the thing God handed over instead. Here's today's
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  challenge. Think of the prompt you've been ignoring. One name
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  and one thing you've been meaning to say. Then go say it
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  in person this week before Sunday. Say it kindly, and then
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  stop talking because the reaction belongs to them and God.
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  person beats anything you type by a margin nobody, I believe,
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  would consider. And one more thing from me to you. Don't wait
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  until morning. Father, Paul told a timid young man that the fear
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  in him never came from you, and he listed out what he did. Thank
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  you that the sound mind is your gift and never our achievement.
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  For everybody listening with a name on their heart and a reason
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  to put it off, give them the nerve to go today. Help us say
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  it kindly and leave the rest with you. In Jesus' name, amen.
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  If you need prayer today, I'd love to hear from you. You can
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  leave me a voicemail at dailydevotionsforbusylives.com
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  slash voicemail. I listen to every single one, and it would
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  be an honor to bring your name before the Lord. Thanks for
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  joining me on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, Paul
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  listed the sound mind among God's gifts, which means the
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  wording's covered. Go say it this week, and don't wait until
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  morning. Come back next time for more encouragement to help you
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  live grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a
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  great day.