#170: Prayer for Finishing Your First Draft

Let's pray for strength to finish your first draft. And you're getting close to finishing your first draft, but maybe fear is creeping in. What if it's not good enough? What if nobody reads it? What will people think of me? Will they think that I'm prideful or arrogant because I've done this? But God doesn't call us to perfection. And we're not accountable to what other people think of us. We're only accountable to God and what he's called us to. All we have to do is just take that next step, step of obedience. He's called us to obedience and to follow him. So you've come this far, and he will give you the strength to cross the finish line. So we want to pray for you now as you complete your first draft. Cj, why don't you pray for us?

Yeah. For this, sure. We're looking at Galatians 6, 9, where Paul says, let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time. We will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. That's right, Father. We come to you with this. Finishing our first draft again, there. There's just a time where we may feel tired, we may feel like we're running on empty. We need a fresh infilling of your spirit, of the fuel that comes from you, Lord, in order to finish this first draft. And it's a significant step. When we finish, we're certainly not finished with the book, but the first draft is such a milestone. And I pray, Lord, for those who are getting tired, I pray you give them fresh energy, strength, renewed vision, renewed enthusiasm. And, Lord, I pray that each one would press forward, that not one kingdom writer would give up before they finish what you've called them to. Lord, we are asking for new strength today, knowing that we can't dredge any of this up on our own. We have to have your fueling, Lord, and so would you give us what we need to carry on this task. And, Lord, what a privilege it is to be able to make it to this point of finishing the first draft. We can take a deep breath before we move on to the next step. In Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. And C.J. and I didn't even talk about the scriptures and the pictures that I have. Like, I, We. I didn't. I did that on purpose. Like, I did want to just be influenced. And it just goes so well with what the picture I saw. I feel like God as I was praying for you, those of you to finish Your first draft, I saw a picture of a mountain, and CJ and I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and we have hiked many mountains. C.J. more than me. But I have finished quite a few 14 or like 14,000 foot mountains where we hike all the way to the top. And then guess what? When you get to the summit, you have to come all the way back down. Unless you're on Pikes Peak and you take the train.

But I saw this picture for you. You have been climbing and you've been hiking and you're at the summit of the mountain. You finished your first draft, and it is so exciting. And we love to celebrate with you. We actually send you a package in the mail. Like when you're in Christian Book Academy and you finish your first draft, we love to celebrate with you. And like C.J. said, it's okay. Now I gotta come back down.

I'm only halfway.

But what we do when we are on the top of a mountain is we'll stop, we'll rest, we'll take in the views, we'll enjoy it. We'll take some time off from the laboring of the hiking, right? We'll stop, we'll enjoy the views. Because how many of you cannot get views like that almost anywhere else? Unless you're in a plane or something else? But it's incredible. And then we'll eat lunch, we'll eat food, we'll refuel, we'll have water.

And.

Then we get the motivation to come back down. So I want to encourage all of you. It's a huge. It's a huge accomplishment. Take time to rest, to celebrate, to refuel, like C.J. said, and then continue the journey. So let me pray for you, God. Thank you so much for everyone who is working on finishing their first draft. They're getting so close to the summit, to that goal that they've had, and they're almost there. Lord, we pray that you would get them to that finish line of getting to the summit. And we pray also that you would. You would take away any discouragement, Lord, in Jesus name, that there's still so much, much further to go. I pray that they would stop, they would rest, they would celebrate, they would take in the views, they would refuel, they would do the things they need. And then, Lord, that you would give them the strength, the motivation, the energy they need to finish the journey. And I will say, when I'm hiking a 14er, the way back down is a lot easier than the way up. And that's typically how it works, is when just getting that first draft done is the biggest accomplishment. And then it's a little bit easier downhill. We'll reach some point points where it's challenging. But I just pray for each person, Lord, to. To really just celebrate and to be able to cross that finish line of finishing their first draft. And we pray this in Jesus name, amen.