#199: Self Doubt: Am I Qualified? (Breakthrough Series)

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelli Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters foreign.

Hey, Kingdom writers, this is Shelly Hitz. Welcome to the Breakthrough series. So this is going to be a series of 12 episodes that we're going to dive in deep to the obstacles that you face as a Christian writer. We covered all of these topics in our online prayer meeting episode and now we're going to dive deep into some practical things and some scriptures that that can really help you. So I hope you enjoy this series. We did record it live on Facebook and so you may hear us say, you know, comment here or we're gonna have some Q and A at the end. But just know that you can always join us live over on our Facebook page, Christian Book Academy. And we also wanted to provide this on our podcast so that you can listen to these as many times as you want to help you receive Breakthrough. As a Kingdom writer, have you as a writer ever struggled with self doubt or unworthiness? Have you ever asked yourself the questions, am I qualified to write a book or who am I to publish a book? We are in our breakthrough series. Some of you joined us live for our online prayer meeting, and that's still available on our Facebook page, on our YouTube channel and podcasts. But today we are going to dive into the topic of self doubt. And what makes this training series different than a lot of training that you'll hear for writers is that we are sharing specifically from a Christian perspective. So we're bringing in the dynamite of prayer and scripture scriptures to really help you break through these obstacles. Amen. If you're here live with us on Facebook, let us know in the comments. We would love to interact with you throughout. We're also going to have a Q and A time at the end and a chance to interact with you. So we're really excited to be with you here again today. And CJ's just going to kick it off and. And we're going to dive right into the topic.

Yeah. So I want to just start off with a scripture that came to mind, you know, as we were kind of preparing for this topic of self doubt, unworthiness, just that whole. That whole thing. And it's First Corinthians, chapter one, verses 27 through 29. And it says instead, God chose the things the World considers food in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. And so that really just sets the stage for what we're looking at here when we realize that this is all God, that He's the one that actually even first called us. He's given us the privilege to join him in this kingdom, work on this planet that we live on. And so when we realize that from the beginning, I think it's going to help us with this whole topic and perhaps overcome this obstacle, seeing that breakthrough, you know, in your life, in my life, Shelley. You know, all of us have dealt with these topics that we're going to talk about in the Breakthrough series. And so we're all in it together.

Yeah. And you know, what God was just reminding me is these strongholds of self doubt or unworthiness, really, the root can come back to identity. So a focus on ourselves, a focus on our own abilities instead of a focus on God and who he is and his abilities. And a scripture that came to mind that I love is Acts 4, 4, 13. And basically, when Jesus was here on the earth, he chose the unqualified.

Right? The disciples, they were unqualified. They hadn't finished the schooling for all of the things that normally the religious leaders and Pharisees went through. They were dropouts. Basically, he chose the unqualified. And in Acts 4, this is from NIV, it says when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Now, some of us may have degrees, we may have English degrees, we may have qualifications. But I want to tell you, no matter who you are or what your degrees or what your qualifications, qualifications, the time that you spend with Jesus will make a bigger difference in your writing than anything else you can do.

Yeah.

Can I get an amen? And people will notice. People will take note. Wow. Something is different about her. Something is different about Him. Wow. This is really deep. Wow. That really touched me. Or I cried when I read that. And so I really encourage you to really hook in into Christ. I think you were going to share some examples.

Yeah. Many of you are familiar with the Olympics, but you may not be completely familiar with the qualification standards for the Olympics here in the U.S. for example, we have what's called the Olympic Trials. There's a number of events in track and field.

You know, all across the board. And not only do you have to place top three in the Olympic trials to even have a shot at the Olympics, but you actually have to have the Olympic qualifying time standard. So, for example, if the top three people in the US.

Did not have the actual Olympic standard that the Olympic Committee has laid down, then the US Wouldn't represent in that particular race. So, for example, the marathon, or maybe the mile, whatever it might be, you have to at least have the standard, even not just qualify by placing top three in the trials race, but to actually have the standard. So that's why, you know, you always congratulate folks that have the. The otc, the Olympic trials qualifier. I mean, it's a big deal. Anybody that's even made it to the trials, like, for example, the marathon, they had to hit a time just to hit the trials. And what. What I want to say in this illustration is just that you and I actually have the standard in Christ. And if he's called you, then, then he is going to equip you and give you what you need to complete the race. Not just the race, but the championship race. We're talking the race of life. You know, God has qualified you by placing you in Christ. If you indeed have given your heart to Christ, you are in Christ. And he does everything in us. Okay? It's the Holy Spirit in us. He promised us the Holy Spirit. And so all this work is being done as we keep our focus on Christ. And so I just want to affirm that you do have the standard. I have the standard. Shelley has the standard that we need in Christ. As Christian writers, it's just a matter of having that refined. Of course we're all going to improve. Yeah, but you are worthy, okay? And if God has called you to this, he is going to give you what you need to complete the work that he's begun in you.

Yes. And so, you know, we also have a podcast, episodes called Filled and Skilled. And so we do believe that you're going to continue to be skilled as a writer and you're going to continue to grow in that. But many of you are just halted. You're stopped right in your tracks right now because you don't believe you're qualified. You don't believe that you have what it takes to. To be a writer. And we just want to tell you right now that Jesus smashes through all of that. He chooses the unqualified so that he can get the glory, so that he can be the one that gets the credit. Amen.

And, you know, I'm learning, like, I don't have to defend myself. You know, I don't really have a qualification to be writing books or to be mentoring writers. My experience. But God has called me to do it.

Yeah.

How many of you feel that writing is a calling to you? You're compelled by God to write. It's a calling. God has given you a gift, and he has given you something amazing. And I just know that there's so many of you that are just stuck because you just don't think you're good enough or you think you're not qualified. But we want to tell you, God is able to do it. You know, when God called Moses, Moses said, who am I to lead the Israelites? You know, this was in Exodus, chapter three, verses 11 and 14. And Moses, like, who am I to lead the Israelites? And what was God's response? I am the I am. So when you're saying I am qualified, that I am, that's God. I am. I am the I am. And God did miracles through Moses, and he wants to do miracles through you, through your writing. He wants to. He wants. He just. He just wants you to be willing.

Right?

He just wants you to say, I am willing to be willing. If you're willing, just let us know in the comments. Say, I am willing. I am willing to allow God. This is a calling on my life. It's something God's gifted me to do. And I am willing to allow his spirit to flow through me.

Yeah. And, you know, Shelley mentioned Moses, while another great example in Scripture is this guy named Gideon. And you can read the whole story of Gideon in Judges, chapters six through eight. But, you know, God approached Gideon and know through. Through an angel. And I love how right away the angel, he found Gideon at the bottom of this wine press. And what was he doing? Well, he was threshing wheat. So he was basically hiding. You never thresh wheat at the bottom of a winepress. But he was hiding along with a lot of other people. They were hiding from these Midianites who had taken over the land. And, you know, God was finally going to answer the prayers and the cries of his people after seven years of being basically just overrun by the Midianites. And that was a result of their sin and a lot of the consequences of worshiping, you know, idols and all of that. But this angel approaches Gideon and this is what he says. I mean, right away he finds Gideon hiding. But he says.

Mighty hero, the Lord is with you. I mean, mighty hero. I mean, here's Gideon and eventually says, gideon, you're going to lead an army. And of course, Gideon had a number of excuses. And the basic excuse was, how can this be? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh. Not just that, but I'm the least in my whole family. Even in that weak tribe, I'm the least of my whole family within the weak tribe. So basically, Gideon was not somebody that you would normally choose right from the beginning. And here's the thing. When you read the rest of this story, Gideon started off with 32,000 men, fighting men who were ready to go to battle. And what did God do? He whittled that 32,000 all the way down to get this 300, not 3,300. And they eventually won a great battle. You read that in Judges and all that to say that Gideon was a prime example. Someone not worthy, not qualified. Yeah, except in God, he was worthy. He was qualified. And that's what you read, that God delivered the Israelites a mighty victory and set them on a right path again. And that's what God does with us. You know, he takes the credit. We can look back on our lives and see all this trail of fingerprints of God and see that he brought us to the place that we're in right now. And if he's called you, he is saying to you right now, mighty hero. Mighty hero. Mighty hero. That's how much God believes in us. As a matter of fact, God believes in you. God believes in me more than we believe in ourselves. Okay? And I'm here to assure you that in Christ, you have the standard. You are qualified. You've already attained the standard. You just have to go about getting busy with the writing and the things that God's called you to do. And God's going to do the rest.

Yeah. In Ephesians 3:20, it's one of my favorite verses. It says, God is able to do immeasurably more than we can even think or imagine. You know, God did that for Gideon, like Gideon, Moses, you know, all these. You know, they couldn't have even imagined what was coming.

And.

And I just believe something is coming for you right now in your writing. And if you're willing to receive it, just put out your hands and say, I receive it. I receive the more, the immeasurably more than what I can think or imagine from God. He has so much more for you. There is more that's what God keeps saying to me. He's like, shelly, there is more. Not just for me, not just for C.J. and I, but for you. And we just want to keep saying that, telling you keep pressing into God. There is treasures, there are riches, there is more. I get excited. Can you tell?

And we just wanted to kind of close with this is our key scripture today. So the lie is, I'm not qualified. I'm not good enough. Who am I? So that's the lie, the truth, you know, John 8. 32 says, then you will know the truth and the truth will set you what? The truth will set you free. And so if you have been held back by self doubt or any of this unworthiness, the truth is what will set you free. That truth comes from God's word. So we're going to share with you a truth that you can repeat over and over. You might want to memorize this scripture. You might want to put it on your mirror with a dry erase marker, put a sticky note, do whatever you need to do to keep repeating this, repeating this, repeating this. And the scripture that we chose for this is second Corinthians 4. Seven from the NIV. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God, not from us. And I just believe right now that if you're struggling with self doubt or unworthiness, it's probably because you're looking at that jar of clay. You're focused on the jar of clay and you're not focused on the power that is inside. That comes from the spirit of God that lives in you, from Christ, that lives in you, from God that created you, that created writing, that gave you that gift of writing. And so we have this treasure so that we can show that the all surpassing power is from God.

Yeah.

Any success that I've had, any books that I finished, all glory to God. It's not about me. I'm just the jar of clay, you know, and so that is the truth. And the image God kept bringing back to me was of a father, son. And they're called Team Hoyt and CJ and I, we love Team Hoyt, don't we?

Yeah. Dick and Rick Hoyt.

Yeah. So Dick is the father, Rick is the son, and Rick, I'm not sure. Was he born with cerebral palsy? Yeah, I think he was born with cerebral palsy and, you know, is very restricted physically. He cannot walk and he actually cannot talk, but he's learned to use like one of those things on his head. To speak. I think he actually.

He was fully there.

Yeah, mentally he was fully there.

You know, couldn't get it out and couldn't walk and uses. Use his arms because of the cerebral palsy. But very similar to Stephen Hawking. I think Stephen Hawking had a. A cerebral palsy, if I get them mixed up, Cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis.

But the story is that Dick, the father, ended up pushing Rick, the son, in a wheelchair in just some local 5k race. And through his little, you know, his head and his little, you know, device, he told his dad, I don't feel handicapped.

When we run. Yeah, I knew I was gonna cry. He says, I don't feel handicapped when we run. And God has shown me that over and over, that I am like the son, Rick. And he is my loving father, Dick, and he is the one. He's pushing me in that wheelchair. And then, you know, they went on to do triathlons and. And Dick would pull him. He would have a rope and he would pull him in a raft while they were doing the swimming portion. He had a special bike with a seat for him in the front during the biking part and during the running, he'd be pushing him. And I'm gonna link. I put a link to a video and if you want a good cry, just watch that video. I watched it before we came on live and oh, my gosh.

Watching them cross the finish line together.

Rick could have never done it on his own. And it's a picture kingdom writers of, you know, trying to do it in our own strength of us trying to accomplish something of value, of trying to finish this book and write this thing that's going to impact lives on our own. We have to do it together with the Father. We have to realize it's not about our own abilities. It's not about our own worthiness. It is about God. And he is able to push you across the finish line. He's able to give you every word, every paragraph, every idea, every book he's able to provide, every dollar you need, every follower, every buyer, every reader, every review. If you believe this, just type Amen in the comments.

Preach. Preach.

Is not about us. It is about what God wants to do through us. And so CJ's gonna close us in prayer today.

Yeah. And one more quote. We've probably heard this quote many times through the years quote by Mark Batterson that says, you know, God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies.

The called Amen.

And that is. Is something good to remember that he's going to qualify you if he's called you, he's going to give you the tools that you need. And so let's just come to him in prayer. Let's just call on Daddy.

Yeah.

Lord, we just thank you so much for each and every one of these Kingdom writers. We thank you, Lord, for the work that you are going to accomplish through each and every one of them, both fiction and nonfiction. We thank you, Lord, that there is something different about a Christian author, about a Kingdom writer that is doing something that is far bigger than themselves. They are joining a movement of people that go down through the centuries. And we are joining you in the work that you've been doing now for centuries. And we thank you. We thank you, Lord, that you've called us. We thank you that you have a message to speak through us, to write through us. And so, Lord, I ask that you would equip and empower each and every Kingdom writer that's not only watching this live and going to be listening to the recorded podcast, as well as those who watch the replay. Lord, we ask that you would just drive away self doubt.

Yes.

That you would drive away unnecessary feelings of unworthiness. And I'm not good enough. And Lord, we ask that you'd replace it with a holy confidence, not out of ourselves, but a confidence in what you are going to do through us, to know that you are the one empowering us. It's about God in jars of clay working through us. And so have your way. And we are going to give you the glory for anything that's accomplished. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

You know, and just thinking about jars of clay, like right now, we're in this little corner of our condo with this big stack of, like, paper reams so our computer can be up here. There's a phone over here and one over. It's nothing really fancy, but God is using us to reach you, and we're being obedient. And so if you have any questions or comments for us, we're willing to stay on live a few more minutes and just answer any other questions. This is really the kickoff of our breakthrough series. And if you've been enjoying this breakthrough series, I ended up creating a free PDF for you. And it's actually I need to look because I forget that I don't have the title memorized yet. It's called 5 Practical Tips for Christian Writers to Break Through Writer's Block. And so these are some of the best things that I have learned over my years of writer coaching and mentoring writers. And you can download that for free@trainingauthors.com breakthrough and so we would love to be able to send you the link to download that. So you just go over to trainingauthors.com breakthrough and let us know in the comments. What is your takeaway from today's training? What stuck out to you? What scripture? What did God say to you? We would love to hear your feedback and not seeing any questions. So I think we're gonna go ahead and close down for today. But thank you so much for being here and we look forward to seeing you next time. If you're here live with us, we will be back Friday at 3pm Eastern. So every Wednesday and Friday over the next around five and a half weeks, we will be here live at 3pm Eastern. Or there may be a couple recordings when we're out of town. But we're gonna really just keep addressing these obstacles one by one by one by one until there is no obstacle left.

And God gave me this picture last year that it's like a dam where a dam, you know, is holding back water. And typically this is a good thing, you know, in our culture, like if it would, the dam would burst open, it could cause flooding and a lot of death or destruction. But what God was showing me last year is that there's many of you, that there is like this dam of stinking thinking of mindset, issues of spiritual battle of strongholds. And so that's why we created this breakthrough series is to help you, with the power of God, break through that dam and allow the water to flow in your writing and to really see you move forward. And so we're really excited to do this and we will see you next time.

Bye, guys.

Bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.