Sunday Inspiration: Strength for Speakers

Welcome to “Sunday Inspiration,” a bi-weekly devotional for those seeking spiritual encouragement in the pursuit of their passions. Each post comes from an outside resource (as referenced). I hope these posts will inspire and motivate you in your life and career in addition to our weekly original blog posts. Enjoy!

“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.” Isa 40:31 NKJV

Describing the emotions evoked in having to address an audience, a respected writer says:

“Public speaking is listed as [our] number-one fear, before death at number five, and loneliness, which weighs in at number seven. That means that most of us are less afraid of dying alone than of making fools of ourselves in front of others. Fear is a powerful motivator…There is the fear of being seen as exceptional and different; the fear of the unknown; the fear of being a fraud; the fear of forgetting everything you were going to say; the fear of being at risk publicly; and the fear of being up there alone. They all come together for most of us in public speaking.”

In The Bible on Leadership, author Lorin Woolfe writes: “Leadership takes an almost bottomless supply of verbal energy; working the phones, staying focused on your message, repeating the same mantra until you can’t stand the sound of your own voice—and then repeating it some more, because just when you start to become bored witless with the message, it’s probably starting to seep in.”

If you do a lot of teaching, preaching, or public speaking, you’re probably smiling and saying “Amen!”

The fact is, you can’t fill an empty bucket from a dry well. In order to keep giving out you must keep your batteries charged spiritually, emotionally, and physically. And the Bible tells you how: “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Source: https://www.jentezenfranklin.org/daily-devotions/strength-for-speakers