Dying to Self

[Gift of Grace]

I am a shy, introverted christian. I believe God led me to the church I am attending. I love it there. I love praising God, I love learning about God, I want to be filled to over flowing with the Holy Spirit every day. I believe God as sent me to this church to grow and mature. So I attend church regularly. Sometimes I don't want to because I go alone and I feel self concious. But I go anyway. I became a member and I joyfully tithe. I am going to a small womens bible study. I love the study. It is so uplifting and informative. The women are all nice. When we are there we are asked to pray out loud for one women. For a shy, introvert this is painful. I am very intimate with my Lord and Savior. I talk to him all the time. But this praying makes me not want to go to the bible study. I also want to have a servant's heart. So I have volunteered for a few things. We have a clothing the Homeless ministry and I go on Saturdays for a few hours and sort clothes. I love it. I am usually by myself. But even when one or two women come by I don't mind that either. The other is manning an information table after one church service. This will be hard for me. I love the ministry it represents and this is where the need was so I took it. So my problem is I am uncomfortable alot. I know this is a self-centered problem. I need to die to self. I think that in time I will get more comfortable and that will make me happy. This has already started in that I don't get as upset and I get over it faster. However getting used to something is not the same thing as dying to self. How do I learn this lesson?

Edited October 17, 2007 by Gift of Grace

[Guest]

It sounds like you are already on the right road!

You mentioned going to Bible study and other activities even when you aren't comfortable. That is good! One of the problems I had as a young believer was getting past the "I don't feel like it today" thing. It sounds like you know enough to do what's right and that's a good thing. Now the hard part: do the right thing no matter how you feel about it. The flesh wants what it wants, and it will kick and scream when it doesn't get what it wants. This is something we all have to deal with everyday. I still deal with it too, although not as often as I did. It gets easier as the Lord brings the emotions into line as we obey in what we know Jesus wants us to do.

One suggestion: Ask the Lord to grant you the grace and strength to do His will, and help you die to self and live for Him. You'll find that as you obey over time the "feelings" will start to line up with doing the Lord's will. You are starting something new and that's always a little strange at first, but keep on doing it and things will begin to change.

[Carol R]

Hi,

Nice to meet you.

You know God has a habit of taking us of our comfort zone, I kniow hes done it to me over the years.

The praying out loud, why not start with a very short prayer, and I mean very short you will be amazed and ask God to put the words into your mouth.

I dont know if this will help you at all. But you obviously love the Lord and that is wonderful.

God Bless you.

[kat8585]

I've had the same problem for many years. I can pray forever in my own closet, but praying out loud in a group, I cringe. I have done it, when I couldn't get out of it, but I wanted to crawl in a hole, and my prayer wasn't what it should have been.

[GloryToGod!]

I also don't do well praying in a group of people. I am shy, quiet, and soft spoken.

Much of the time I am praying out loud people say they can't hear me. It's

embarassing!!! But in my quiet time with the Lord those are my golden moments of the day.

Kathy

[Guest Thief In Paradise]

I just really really need a someone to confess my sin to. I pray about it and I confess out loud alone to God but I feel that its not enough, and I think the spirit is leading me to confess to someone. If this is a place I can do that just reply yes or no and I'll stop by later to see. I just really need to get some things off my chest. Or if there is another forum were stuff like this is done. I just really need to do it and I couldn't think of any other place to start then on the ever anonymous internet. Please help me. I don't think I can make it much longer with all this on my heart. I hope that this is the kind of place were I can finally find some piece. PLH

[Trusting Jesus]

I don't know why it is so hard to pray out loud. I guess I feel as if I am on a stage and everyone is just waiting for me to stumble. Well, that's just wrong. Our prayers are to God and if we stumble through them, well, He understands. You sound as if you are doing everything you can to overcome your shyness, I commend you! Maybe you could talk to the leader of your group and tell her about your shyness. She may have some suggestions for you, or maybe can adjust things a bit so you don't feel pushed into praying out loud since you aren't ready. I think you will find that everyone has some worries about praying out loud, but it just takes doing it a few times to feel more confident.

Thief in Paradise:

Welcome to the Worthy Boards. You should start a new thread, though, rather than putting your concerns here. If you go to the Worthy Welcome and post 10 times (you can say hi to people for instance) then you can get the posts fast. Then probably this forum would be the one to post into.

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Nathele