#262: Pray Hard, Work Hard: A Jumpstart for 2021

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 Shelley 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.

Today in our training and encouragement, CJ Just wanted to share something that has been on his heart. So do you want to go ahead and let us know what the title of this training is, C.J. and go ahead and start sharing with us?

Yeah. So the title would be Pray hard, Work hard. And, you know, it comes from a quote that I recently came across, which.

Read it to you, Pray like it depends on God.

But work like it depends on you. And it just really hit me that.

You know, we've. We've experienced something, you know, in the last year, coming up on a year in March, knows when this whole Covid stuff hit and our worlds were sort of turned upside down.

Of course, we endured.

A lot of turmoil across our country politically, and it's still going on. And it just seems to me that if we were to look at 2020.

You know, our pastor recently put it in. Put it in an interesting way. He was like, you know, it's as if 2020 was a torn ACL.

Yeah.

And what we're hoping to do, though, is bounce back as strong and as healthy as ever in 2021. That's all of our hopes, of course, and as we look to the Lord for our ultimate hope. But I was thinking to myself, you know, 2020 was a distraction for a lot of us. I think that there.

Was just a fog that came over a lot of people. I think we could probably even say that within our group Christian book academ that, you know, we kept hearing many stories. It's just I can't seem to get into a writing flow. My creativity just seems stifled. I'm constantly distracted. I can't keep my eyes off the news or, you know, all the statistics regarding Covid and, you know, politically. And there's just a myriad of things that could easily have taken us away. And let's just say that 2020 was sort of like a get out of jail free card. You know, we could just say, okay, 2020, it's behind us, but now we're in 2021. We're 13 days now into 2021. And what I want to encourage all of us to do in this academy is to pray as if it depends on God, but to continue writing and working hard at the writing craft as if it depends on you. And I don't mean that in a striving way, like out of your own effort. What I'm saying is, is that God's called each and every one of us to produce something I believe in 2021. Now, we don't know when Jesus is coming back. He could come back in 2021, or it could be the year 2521, when we're long buried in fertilizing daffodils for a little while.

But what I want to say is I want to go to second Thessalonians, and I want to use the example that Paul gave to encourage all of us to do the same for 2021. Now, if you know anything about two Thessalonians, you know that Paul wrote it in order to correct some miscommunication from his first letter. You see, it seems that many people that read his first letter started fixating on, oh, Jesus is coming back. So I might as well just quit working. I might as well just, you know, kind of sit around and wait and maybe gossip a little bit and kind of share, you know, what have you heard out of the news circles? And, you know, and it became this thing where Paul had to write a whole second letter to really correct that idea that you're not to just sit around and do nothing. Like, I didn't say I had a date that Jesus was coming back. I mean, if we want to get technical, Jesus doesn't even know the date that. That he's coming back based on what he said. Only my Father, you know, knows the time, the date, and the hour. But Paul was essentially saying, yeah, Jesus is coming back, but work hard in the process. And so I want to read a couple verses to you from Second Thessalonians. And the first one comes from Second Thessalonians 1, verse 11. And it says, so keep on praying. So we keep on praying for you. This meaning Paul, Silas, and Timothy and the rest of the believers. So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish. Keep that word in mind. Accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. What are the good things that God has already called you and I to do? What are the good things he wants us to write that are going to impact people in one way, shape, or form through our writing in 2021 and beyond? So that's the first verse I want to share. The second verse comes from chapter three of second Thessalonians. And this is kind of, you know, hit hitting home a little bit more. You know, it's. It's few more convicting words. Paul was sort of scolding the Thessalonians in a way. And I think in the same way he could be scolding some of us. I know that this is a message I'm preaching to myself because I have found myself guilty of being distracted and paying too much attention to the news and what's going on today and just getting caught up with the talking heads of the day instead of keeping our eyes focused, fixed, as Hebrews says, on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

And I just want to jump in and say there is a difference between condemnation and conviction.

Yeah.

So when Paul is saying this, sometimes that word scolding, it might make you feel more like condemnation, like I've done something wrong. And yet there's a difference. Conviction comes with love and grace from the Holy Spirit. Condemnation comes from the enemy. And so, you know, God, though, is inviting us into more. And that's where there's that conviction that. That tug in our hearts, like, oh, I feel like there's more for me. There's a. There's a greater purpose than what I'm living right now.

Yeah. Amen. So this one is second Thessalonians, chapter three, starting in verse 11. And it says, yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people's business. Verse 12. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. Verse 13. As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good. So again, Paul is admonishing. He is saying, okay, yes, Jesus is coming back. We don't know when. And I'm sure that when Paul wrote those words, he couldn't imagine that Jesus wouldn't have returned by 2021. But for some reason, Jesus is tarrying, and there are things that need to happen. And yet he says that. As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good. That speaks to us as writers. What have we been called to do? We're called to hone our craft of writing and to share things with a world that, as we've said many times over, need to hear your words that God gives you. God has birthed things through you that specific people around this world are waiting to hear. They're waiting to read whether it's through your book, your social media channels, your blog posts, whatever it might be, your writing is going to impact specific people that God has in mind.

The other thing, too, that I want you to think about is what God does in your heart as you write that he's also impacting you. And as you take those steps of obedience, sometimes there's just incredible things that happen just between you and God in that writing process. And so there's things that are happening here and things that are happening here, but things are happening when you take those steps of obedience.

Yeah. And so the verse that I actually want to wind down with actually comes from First Thessalonians. So again, Paul's first letter. We read from Paul's second letter, which was sort of to help clear the air and set people right from, you know, misunderstanding what he meant in the first letter. But he said something in that first letter that I think is it goes right along with what we've read in those verses. And it's first Thessalonians, and it's. It's chapter four, verse 11. It's kind of interesting. You know, we read second Thessalonians 1, 11, 3, 11, and now first Thessalonians 4, 11. So I don't know if the 11 is something going on there, but listen to these words. And these words, I think are going to even be more familiar with. With. With this.

Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Okay, so, you know, I just believe many of us as Kingdom writers, we may never have this huge following of people, this. This army of millions that us on social media. Our books may not make it to the New York Times bestseller list. Our blog posts may not have half a million views.

Or whatever. Whatever it might be. Here's what I believe we as Kingdom writers can be. When it says make it your goal to live a quiet life, you know what that reminds me of? You think about the impact of a stealth bomber that the military uses in war. A stealth bomber is quiet. You have no idea that it's arrived. And, well, essentially you're gone before you even knew it happened. Okay? This. This is what happens. And I don't mean to, you know, encourage war and all that, but I'm putting things in a graphic way to say we're in a spiritual battle here. And I believe that you and I, as Kingdom writers are like stealth bombers that could wreak havoc on the kingdom of darkness in 2021. Let's just say we got a pass for 2020. Yeah, we had a myriad of distractions. It was a torn ACL that we are now recovering from. 2020 is behind us now, folks. And what I want to encourage us all to consider is in 2021, what can you accomplish with the Lord's help? What can you set about to doing that God has already put on your heart? He actually even put that on your heart before 2020. It didn't get done in 2020. Many of us were distracted. We might even say, okay, yeah, that was my excuse. Covid, political turmoil, you name it. Could off the news, creativity gone, you name it. We're in 2021 now. God is calling you to still complete the project that he put on your heart. I don't know what that is. I don't know what it's going to entail. It's going to be books, it's going to be blog posts, it's going to be social media posts. Writing takes all kinds of different forms. But what I'm saying is you and I are like stealth bombers that he wants to use in 2021. You don't have to have a big audience. You don't have to have this huge following. All you have to do is place yourself in the hands of a powerful God that provides the power behind the stealth bomber. And I even just read today that in the end, if you actually read in second Thessalonians and you read the whole three chapter, it'll take you 10 to 15 minutes. There's a point in there where it says there's going to come a day when, when Jesus comes back, it's his breath, just his breath, that's going to basically win the battle. All these armies getting together, everyone rallying, saying, we're going to defeat you. And you know what Jesus does?

You're done. Game over.

Yeah.

That's when the kingdom will officially start. In terms of him taking his rightful place in the new kingdom, what I want to say is, you and I are just vessels. We're stealth bombers that can be used by God. But he provides that breath that's going to overcome our enemies. And they don't stand a chance. They're going to be incinerated. The enemy knows this. This is why he tries to distract us so much. He knows the power behind all this. I'm saying to myself, I've watched too many YouTube videos. I'm thankful I don't have a TV that's plugged into cable. I'd be watching the news networks, but I get my little news clips through YouTube. There's always, you know, based on what you've been watching, it'll show you the latest hot clip today of a three or five minute news clip. I watch those things and I'm distracted. I'm like, oh man, this is what happened today. And I want to say this month of January, I just decided to cut off my social media. Now I haven't been on Facebook for over two and a half years. In terms of my own personal account, it was just too much noise. It was too distracting. I am on Instagram, I'm on Twitter. I don't do a ton on there, but I do enough to where it's distracting at times. I just decided January is going to be what I call dry January. Some people that drink alcohol, they give up alcohol in January. They call it dry January. I give up social media.

In January and let me tell you, I'm 13 days in and I'm telling you, I already sense a clarity and a fresh air. That is great. Now does that mean that I'm going to stay off social media for good? I don't know. But all I know is that the Lord is looking for us to be focused. He's looking for us to put our butts in our chairs, as we like to say butts in chairs, and begin to write. 15 minutes, take a break. 30 minutes, take a break. But to be consistent, how many know that when you're consistent day after day, week after week, month after month, my goodness, look at the words that you've written with his help, are we going to commit to live quiet lives but wreak havoc on the kingdom of darkness in 2021? That's my challenge to me, that's my challenge to you, is to say 2020's hindsight, hindsight, 2020, it's now 2021. It's now time to accomplish the things all the good, as we read in second Thessalonians, accomplish all the good that your faith has called you to do, that God has put on your heart. No more excuses, no more I'm going to get caught up in the news all the time, or oh, this and that. We do our work quietly but powerfully with the Lord's help. And nobody even has to know that we're writing these words that are little thorns over and over in the kingdom of darkness and constant distractions to what the enemy wants to do. Don't you want to be a distraction to the enemy in 2021? Don't you want to set your gaze upon the Lord Jesus and have him accomplish through you things that are wrecking balls against. Against the kingdom of darkness. That's my prayer. That's my challenge to me. To you as well.

Yeah. And one of the things God has just been saying to me as well is just to keep praying the serenity prayer. So God help me accept the things I cannot change. How many of you know, there's a lot of things right now in our world that we cannot change, but help me to change the things I can, which is exactly what CJ Is talking about, and the wisdom to know the difference. So how many of you need to be praying that on a minute by minute basis? You know, it's like, I have been praying that prayer so often in this last year helped me to accept the things I cannot change, change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. And then I keep asking the Lord, what is my role in this? Because sometimes our role is prayer. Sometimes our role is to actually provide a resource like our Living Colors membership with coloring pages. Someone just told me this week, she said, these coloring pages have been such a blessing to me and have had. Have literally lowered my stress as I've been homeschooling my grandson this year, you know, and it's just like, oh, God, I know God asked us to do that, you know, and so what is your role in this? What is it that God has called you to do? Because you know, what we are all called, we all have a purpose. And there is something in the kingdom of God that he has created you to do. So that was one thing. But then the Lord has just been showing me that there is a lot of heavy emotions. There is a lot of heavy stuff. And so, you know, we need to be praying, processing our emotions. So not just the Pollyanna, you know, everything's okay, and I'm just going to be rah, rah, no process. If you could read my journals, if you could hear the prayers that I pray, you know, I utter to God. It's like, you know, processing emotions with God. And there's many ways to do that. I recommend the Switch app by Carolyn Leaf. It's very in depth, but it has transformed my life over this last year. It's a five step process, process, you know, even just as simple. Before we start recording, I was telling Deborah Butterfield about breathing. You know, God has given us breathing. It's the only automatic thing in our body we can control. You can use your breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing has been proven through research to reduce cortisol, which is the Stress hormone. And when you breathe out longer than you breathe in, it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, you, your rest and digest system. So you can just start breathing to help process things. You know, I like to take baths, Epsom salt, lavender baths. I like to move my body, you know, and there are so many different ways, but how are you processing what you are taking in? And then also like what CJ said, how are you setting boundaries to what you are taking in? The Lord just showed me today there was two apps on my phone that I needed to remove and they were occupying a majority of my time. And then if I need them, I'll just reinstall them and then I'll delete, reinstall if I need them, you know. But you know, what is it that he, he has for you to manage your emotions and manage your energy? Because as creative creatives, our energy can get sucked so quickly. But one thing that we can do to manage our energy is to move our bodies, to walk, to get out. And energy begets energy, which just means energy creates more energy. So if we stay lethargic, if we stay inside, if we stay not moving, we are going to feel more depressed, more lethargic, but if we just start to move even just a little bit. And so I think I had sent it out to all of you, but we do have a free challenge, if you haven't heard of it yet, called momentum, just encouraging you to move 15 minutes a day, maybe get out and walk and you can sign up for free at a live inactivewellness.com momentum. We're already getting people that are telling us the difference it has made for them just to start moving 15 minutes a day. So those are just some things to consider as well that, you know, sometimes it's not just white knuckling and pushing through to do the work. We need to recognize our emotions, we need to process them and then also manage our energy going forward. Yeah. So cj, why don't you go ahead and just pray for all of us. Pray for, for each one of us, of what God has called each one of us to do. And that he would show us what we need to do to take those next steps and to get out of any funk that we might be in or to move forward into the next thing that he has for us.

Father, we thank you so much for the Christian Book Academy. This army of kingdom writers that couldn't be used by you in such powerful ways. An army of stealth bombers against the kingdom of darkness. I ask Lord that You would allow us to break free from the things that have distracted us, the things that have hindered our progress on the projects and the things that you've called us to complete, the things that will impact real people.

Both in the United States and around the world. We ask specifically, Lord, that you would show us those areas where we become distracted and give us the courage to. And help us to be obedient. If you're calling us to fast from those things or cut them off completely, whatever it might be. Each of us has things that.

Have served to hold us back from all that you have for us, Lord.

Stifling creativity.

Putting us in a bit of a fog. I pray that each of us would attain a level of clarity that we just know beyond a shadow of a doubt what you're calling us to do and that we set about doing it. And I pray that as we live these quiet lives, as Paul instructs the Thessalonians to do, to work hard and to live a quiet life, I pray that just because it's a quiet life doesn't mean it's not a powerful, impactful life. And I pray that you would use each of us in such powerful ways as we are obedient to your call. And I pray that 2021 would be such a powerful year of productivity and it doesn't have to just be published books. It can be so many things that writing takes the shape of. I pray that we would just write words that need to be read and that you've called us to put down. And I pray that each of us would. Would chip away at the things that you've called us to do. And that as we do that, it just again, it's like a wrecking ball against the kingdom of darkness. And we thank you for this, this army of writers that, that you have assembled, Lord, for a reason, for a purpose.

And.

And that in 2021, we'll give you the glory for any that continue to join this army. And we'll give you the glory for everything that is accomplished by those currently in this army of writers. And so we pray that the kingdom of light would just overwhelm the kingdom of darkness through our writing. And we'll give you all the glory and the honor. Lord, we know without your breath, yes, our enemies still stand. It takes your breath to knock them down. And yet you use us. You choose to use us for some reason. And we thank you for that. We thank you that we can be a part of this grand kingdom building. And thank you, Lord. May this today Bear much fruit. And anyone that needs to hear or see it, we ask this in Jesus, wonderful name.

Amen. Yeah. When C.J. was saying that and pray that this impacts anyone, I almost got that picture of, like, when a battery in a car has gone dead. What's the first thing you typically do?

Well, first thing I do is start looking around at somebody else that might have some jumper cables and a car to help me.

A jump start. Right. And right now I'm praying that this is like us putting jumper cables and giving you a jump start in the spirit, that God's spirit is giving you a jumpstart, is bringing you back to life. It's like, okay, yeah, this is time. Let's get driving again. Let's get going again. We've sat in the garage for a little bit too long now. Some of you haven't had that problem. Some of you have kept going. And I've, you know, some of you have finished first drafts and you're getting ready to launch, and we've heard about those things, but for some of you, it has been a struggle. And so we pray that, that, that is there for you. And then we have our virtual writing retreat coming up that can also be a jumpstart for you. It's going to be January 22nd and 23rd, two powerful days where we come together. You get some spiritual encouragement, you get practical advice, but then we also spend chunks of time writing and working and whatever it is, whatever project you're working on, like I said, I have like a first draft kind of, kind of first draft done. Really, really, really messy first draft that I hopeful, hopefully will be working on during that time. So I'm excited about that. But put it on your calendar. Come to the productivity parties on Thursdays with Deborah Butterfield. You know, use our Facebook book, Facebook group. You know, we have a prayer post every week. Post on their prayer requests and use the group, you know, for your advantage. And so we are so grateful for all of you, and we are going to go ahead and close it out and. But don't Forget, put the 22nd, 23rd on your calendar. Virtual writing retreat. They are always amazing, always great times to come together, and we can't wait to do that with you all. And I hope you have a great rest of your day.

Pretty hard work hard.

That's right.

Love you guys.

All right, bye. 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.