Shyness

Anything that hinders you from glorifying or worshiping God and serving Him or that keeps you from communicating effectively with your brethren is an evil spirit. This is exactly what shyness does. It serves no good purpose. Shyness is not to be confused with humility or modesty. These are two completely different things. Anyone who has never been shy may not understand those that are. And they may not understand this post. People will misread you when your actions are governed by shyness. They will think you are rude or uninterested in them. They will not want to be around you because they will think you are weird, mysterious, or just plain boring.

Shyness is fear and pride, two well known evil spirits. Fear of criticism, failure, attention, etc. Pride in that one is worried what others think. Shyness is also being ashamed. And if you are too shy to praise and worship God, you are possibly ashamed of Him. You may be more worried about what others are thinking of YOU than you are of pleasing your LORD.

People that are very shy are bound by the devil and are generally unhappy. They feel trapped and want to be freed. Most do not want to be shy.

And being that it is an evil spirit, I believe, we must cast it out and pray for the Lord to deliver us from its grasp. It is a characteristic that MUST be overcome to be able to move further in the Lord. You will be hindered from growing optimally spiritually if you do not overcome this. I also believe that when one is filled with the Holy Ghost, shyness begins to fade and will eventually be eradicated.

I know what I am speaking of from experience. I was cripplingly shy when I was younger. And I was all of the things I wrote of above. But the Lord filled me and revealed to me that He did not want me that way and He helped me to overcome it. I could not be an effective servant for Him with that kind of fear in my heart. He can't use a coward.