Going Public: How to Beat Your Stage Fright in 5 Steps

I leaned forward and tried to breathe normally, hoping the air might somehow stop the panic that mixed with adrenaline in my stomach and crawled out to my fingers to make them tremble.

I’d been doing so well leading up to the presentation, my first public speaking engagement. The talk I was about to give was called Fear Warrior Boot Camp, and it was to be all about facing and conquering fear. I figured I better avoid being a hypocrite by applying the tips I was set to share with an audience.

Those techniques had helped in the days leading up to my presentation. I was the calmest I’ve ever been before the prospect of public speaking (which I’d only done for much shorter duration before).

But there I sat, five minutes until show time, listening to the keynote speaker of the conference close her talk. In mere minutes, I was supposed to lead a breakout session, standing up in front of forty people to pretend I was a professional speaker who had something important to say.

And I was helplessly careening into the bundle of nerves that had marked every attempt of public speaking I had ever made.

But then God showed up. He allowed me to experience the truth of what I was about to tell a room full of people—that it IS possible to not only fight, but actually conquer our fears.

Want to know how I tasted victory that day and how you can do the same? Here are five steps that spell defeat for stage fright:

5 STEPS TO BEAT STAGE FRIGHT

1. Ask Why

Ask yourself why you’re about to get up in front of people. Is it to further your own interests or so people will be impressed with you? If you’re doing this public speaking, performing, or whatever it may be, for your own glory, then you’ll never defeat your fear.

If you’re doing it for God’s purposes and for His glory, then freedom from stage fright is yours!

2. Remember Why

At the root of stage fright is a sneaky little sin that’s a master of disguise—pride. Whether you want to call it people-pleasing tendencies or something else, the basis for that terror that grips you when you’re under the spotlight is concern for how you appear, what people think of you, fear of humiliation or embarrassment, and so on.

All of these concerns are about you and maintaining the image you want to have of yourself. All of these fears are about pride.

As Christians, everything we do should be for the glory of God, not for ourselves (Col. 3:23). Your public speaking or performing should be for Him, not you.

If you are doing this for the Lord, then you have the single most important key to conquering your stage fright at your fingertips. You simply need to shift your focus to God and His purpose for your speaking or performance.

The more you look at God, the less you will focus on yourself. The less you think about yourself, the more your fears and worries will disappear.

If God has called you to face your stage fright and do this public speaking or performance for His purpose, then rest assured He has fully equipped you for the task. Be aware success might not look like our idea of perfection or self-glorification, but it will look exactly like He planned.

So if you’re doing this for God, you have nothing to fear. His plan will be accomplished.

You cannot mess this up unless you focus on your own glory instead of His.

3. Pray

Prayer is an essential part for winning the battle to get your focus on God instead of yourself. Talk to Him before you’re scared, when you’re scared, and whether you ever get scared or not. In your prayers, make an effort to get the focus off yourself.

Praying that God will remove your fear is great, and you should do that at least once. But you will get even farther toward your goal by focusing the bulk of your prayer times on God’s glory in what you’re about to do.

Pray for the people who are going to be at the event. Pray that God would prepare their hearts to hear what He wants them to. Pray that He would use you to bless and minister to the audience. And pray that He would use you to His glory and for His purpose, even if that means you have to look like a fool.

The more you sincerely pray along these lines, the more you will focus on God and your fear will melt away. After all, God promises us His peace if we turn to Him in prayer (Phil. 4:6-7).

I can attest to the fact that the more I delve into prayer when I’m afraid, the more God’s peace replaces my fear, because He’s drawing me nearer to Him and giving me His eternal perspective.

Also, ask others to pray for you. As I battled stage fright in those moments before my public speaking, I remembered others were praying for me and could feel the prayers of those saints. I knew specific friends and family members were praying for me right then, and I was bolstered by that knowledge and by knowing that God uses prayer in mighty ways (Acts 4:31).

4. Remember the Truth

A moment like facing your stage fright is what we need to prepare for in advance. We need to memorize verses of Scripture that remind us of God’s many promises and reasons why we don’t need to fear. He is with us, He has won this battle, He won’t let us be shaken, etc. Memorize fear-fighting verses in advance so you can run them through your mind, over and over again, until fear admits defeat.

If memorizing isn’t your forte, keep fear-fighting Scripture verses written on index cards that you can take with you wherever you go. Or at the very least, bring them with you to speaking events so you can get a big dose of courage before the big moment.

Remembering and trusting the truth found in Scripture will give you victory over your stage fright.

5. Listen to the Truth

In those final minutes before I had to get up to speak, the Lord gave me a special gift. He had two singers perform a duet of a song about fear. Or, rather, it was about the freedom we have from fear through the peace and power of our God. That song was the help I needed to smash truth through the wall fear was building around my heart.

God uses music in amazing ways to access our hearts at a deep level. That was the case for me in that moment. The truth of the lyrics (which were straight out of Scripture) was carried through my mind to my soul, where I needed to hear it most.

Many performers and athletes are known to listen to music before a show or game—music they pick because it gets them in the right mood or prompts the right emotion for what they need to do. This technique works for Fear Warriors, too.

I suggest you build a Fear Warrior Playlist—whether it’s on paper or on a smartphone or MP3 player—of songs that help you fight fear. These can be old hymns, praise songs, or contemporary hits on Christian radio. So long as the song speaks the truth about God and fear, it can powerfully remind you of the truth when you’re facing stage fright.

Free from Fright

After this first speaking engagement several years ago, I’ve had the privilege to continue public speaking for the Lord. Each time I do an event or give a talk, if I am faithful to seek God’s glory and believe His truth, He gives me victory against stage fright.

I’m confident that soon, I will be able to share with others that I used to have stage fright, because, through the power of Christ, I will have put to death all traces of that fear.

May you soon be able to say the same!

Do you have stage fright? Has God enabled you to overcome a fear in your life? Please share!

Photos by DESIGNECOLOGIST, Kane Reinholdtsen, Matthias Wagner, and Marcos Luiz Photograph on Unsplash. Original graphics designed by Jerusha Agen.