Last month I shared my top five tips for Christian writers. Today, I’d like to talk more about the tip that made the top of that list – preparing spiritually. How do we prepare spiritually?
1. Prayer.
We talk about prayer. We sing about prayer. We go to prayer meetings. We pray in groups. Yet the big question remains, are we incorporating prayer into every aspect of our lives? When we sit down to write, are we asking God to guide the process? When we edit, are we including Him in the decision of what scenes to cut? Let’s set aside our to-do lists for a moment and ask God to guide and direct our every move. When we read the words “Pray without ceasing” in , we think it is an impossible request, but it isn’t written for God’s benefit. Although he enjoys hearing from us, it is written for our benefit. We will benefit directly from the time we spend in prayer. Prayer will give us greater peace, greater joy, and better quality work. Don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself. When the words won’t flow – pray. When something seems off – pray. When the words flow freely – pray with thanksgiving. Whatever you do, remember to pray.
2. Bible reading.
Prayer is our way of communicating with God. Our Bible is God’s way of communicating with us. If our Bibles are closed, we cannot expect to grow closer to God or to know His will for us. When we spend time in His word, our relationship with Him will grow. When our relationship with Him grows, our writing gets better. We want our writing to glorify God, but it cannot do that if we don’t know God. We need to get to know Him. And to do that, we must read His word. His word is clear and direct and easy to understand. Spend time in it. Study, and learn how to rightly divide the word of truth according to the command in . Let’s keep picking up our Bibles. We should never need to dust our Bibles.
3. Fellowship.
I know. Authors are often introverts. We don’t want to get together with anyone. We’d rather spend time with our pets and our intimate circle of family and friends. Yet fellowship with our fellow Christians is important. If we don’t have church families, we need them. We need the connection of a local church, not just any church, a church that can be our home. A church that teaches God’s word. A church that reads from God’s word. Find that church, pray about it. God will direct you to where you need to be. Once you have a home church, make friends. We need to hold each other accountable and if we aren’t spending time with other Christians then who is going to admonish us when we mess up or encourage us to continue in our Christian walks? Find a local church and get some much needed fellowship. Yes, it is hard to start, but once you have those connections, they will grow and become a part of your intimate circle of friends and family, and then it becomes much easier.
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