#178: Prayer for Self-Publishing

Getting to that point where now it's time to click publish. Let's pray for confidence as you self publish. Self publishing can feel overwhelming. There's so many decisions to make. But God has opened doors for writers to share their messages like never before. When we first started publishing our books in 2008, hardly anybody was self publishing. There were so many myths about it, like you had to buy a thousand books and have boxes in your garage or, or you know, that it was less than traditional publishing. It's not that way anymore. And you can have a really high quality book. You can self publish and even earn an income. We do that with our books. And it's amazing what opportunities are available for you as writers. But CJ and I, we have published now over 70 books, so we know that feeling. It never gets old. But we would encourage you if God has called you to write, He. He will make a way for you to publish. And he will provide the finances, he will provide the way. And we're also excited for all of you that will traditionally publish. But we specifically teach self publishing, so that's what we'll be praying for today. Cj, why don't you pray for us as we self publish our books?

Yeah. So two different scriptures here. Deuteronomy 32, verse 3, and this is actually in the King James Version, because that word publish happens to be in this Scripture. And these are words of Moses. It says, because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. And I just love that. I will publish the name of the Lord. That's what we're doing. Essentially. We were publishing the name of the Lord in our books. And then Matthew 5, 15, and 16, most of these are coming, by the way, from the new living translation. But Matthew 5, 15 and 16 says, no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way. And we might think of our books in this way. Let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. Notice it doesn't say so that people will give you lots of likes so that people will think that you're all that in a bag of chips. No, we're publishing these things with the express purpose of the Lord shining in and through our lives. These good deeds, those words, good deeds can be our books. Those are things that the Lord has helped us with. And so, Father, we are wanting to publish the name of the Lord through Our books. We want to ascribe greatness to you, Lord, to our great God. And we want our books to go out shining like lights in this dark world so that everyone would praise you, our heavenly Father and Father, would you allow our books to. As we hit that publish button, that place where we are sending these words out into the world, would you allow those words to serve as light that then turns around and shines back upon you? And would people be drawn to you because of the words that you've inspired us to write? You've taken us through all of these stages. These books have been a work of blood, sweat and tears. They've been labors. They have been hard delivery, so to speak. And yet we can say as we hit that publish button that you, Lord, are to be glorified. You are to receive the glory and the honor. And so we, we thank you for the publishing of these books that we've worked so hard on. But you've given us the fuel and the aid along the way to do. And so we lift this up in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. So the picture that God gave me is that your book being published into the world is. I got a picture of a stork carrying a baby and delivering your book baby to the world and are like a messenger with a special delivery. And I feel like the stork is like the Holy Spirit. Right? It's like delivering your message to exactly those who need it. Your book baby. How many of you have given birth to a book baby already? Maybe you're working on your second, third, fourth book, but it never gets old. And storks also, I looked this up. They're migratory birds that often travel thousands of miles, facing many challenges along the way. This is a journey. This is a journey that we're taking with God and entrusting our book baby to him and trusting him to deliver it to the right person at the right time with the right message. CJ and I always pray that because we've published over 70 books, we always pray that God, that the right person at the right time would get the right book that they need and your Holy Spirit would impact their life. Let me pray for you as you all get to that point of pressing publish and overcoming the challenges and obstacles to have that spiritual special messenger, the Holy Spirit, with a special delivery. Your book baby. Lord, we thank you so much. We thank you that it is so exciting. It never gets old celebrating someone who's press published their book is now out into the world, able to impact lives and just like that picture of a stork delivering a baby. We just ask, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would deliver our book baby to the right person at the right time with the right message to impact them exactly what they need. And at that time, we thank you, Lord, that you're able to do this. You're able to do exceedingly, abundantly, far more than we can think or imagine, which is Ephesians 3:20. And you're able to open doors, books are door openers. As we take this step of faith to click publish. Even with all of the doubts, even with all of the challenges, even with all of the things that you can use these books in incredible ways and open doors that we could have never dreamed imaginable. And we pray this in Jesus name, amen. A lot of times people call CJ and I book doulas or midwives, because we're helping to birth your books into the world. And yeah, I'll take that title and I want to help you. I want you to be the next one to click publish on your book.