#278: Don't be hatin: Allowing God to build momentum on our small beginnings

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.

Welcome to this mentor moment. My name is Shelly Hitz.

And I'm CJ Hitz.

And we're your mentors and author coaches Inside Christian Book Academy, where we help you write words that outlive you, publish books that fulfill your calling and reach more readers with your message. And so today, this message is titled don't be hating.

Don't be hating. Shelly.

Yeah, CJ came up with this, and we're gonna talk about allowing God to build momentum on our small beginnings.

Yeah, and I want to just start off by sharing a story about my small beginnings as a runner. Just as an illustration, you know, I picked up running in 2008 after reading a book by a guy named Dean Carnassus. And again, that's just one example of how, as writers and authors, we can impact people. I mean, I took up the sport of running after reading this book, and I'll never forget, I had these grand visions that I was also going to one day run the Western States 100 mile race that Dean talks about and.

In colorful ways. And I just remember doing a couple 50k trail races, those are 31 mile races, to sort of get my feet wet, so to speak, into the ultra scene. And I realized very quickly that it was going to be difficult. But I'll never forget, you know, I started off with my running and there was one day when I said, shelly, I'm gonna have you meet me out at Litzenburg Park. This is when we lived in Findlay, Ohio. I am gonna run all the way out there, the whole six miles.

Yeah.

And I just remember being, you know, excited and, you know, I was a little bit scared as well because I knew I had to run along a fairly busy highway and then one that didn't have a huge shoulder, and I had to run sort of in the. The dirt and the grass part of the way. But somehow, someway, I made it out there safely. And Shelly's waiting. She's kind of set up a little bit of a picnic. We were gonna have a picnic out there. And I just remember, you know, getting out there and falling down and just laying down and on that, that, that summer grass and just being so grateful and so satisfied with a six mile run. It's funny I mean, now I look at my running, I think, man, I run six to eight miles just as a, as a regular easy run.

I know, like, he's like, oh, it's just a really short, easy, easy run.

It's just a quick six miles. But it's all in perspective based on your experience. But what I've learned is no matter where we're at on the pendulum, on the spectrum, we shouldn't despise these small beginnings. And we're going to really get into this with a verse we're going to read from scripture today. But basically, you know, we're going to be in Zechariah and so we're going to look at a little verse tucked away in Zechariah, chapter 4, verse 10. But after coming out of an 80 year Babylonian exile and having glorious, you know, having seen the glorious temple or heard stories about the glorious temple that King Solomon built, it was actually reduced to rubble and it was now time for God's people to rebuild a new temple where Yahweh would reside and be worshiped. But to the younger generation, this was a huge milestone as they began working on this new temple. But to the old timers who saw or heard first hand stories about the glory and the splendor of the previous temple, this latest addition paled in comparison. I mean, you can almost hear the chatter among the seasoned veterans, things like, oh, I miss the good old days, or they just don't make them like they used to. Or they might have even said, you call that a temple? You know, just sort of this condescension as they recall the glory of Solomon's first temple. And so God had a message for Zechariah, this prophet tucked away toward the end of the Old Testament.

He had a message for Zechariah to pass along to both young and old alike. And here are the words that we find in Zechariah 4:10. In the first part of that verse, it says, do not despise these small beginnings regarding the, the construction of this new temple, this, this, this new thing going on. Do not despise these small beginnings. For the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel's hands. Zerubbabel, of course, was, was the, the governor. He was the one that was sort of the next in line in the kingly descent of the family line from David. And yet he was anything but a king. He was simply serving as an area governor because they were just trying to rebuild a society again. After being in exile.

So, sure, this latest temple 2.0 seemed modest compared to the previous version 1.0, but God still wanted them to celebrate the fact that that construction had begun, progress was now being made, and a hopeful momentum was now set in motion. So Zechariah, for all of us is an invitation to surrender our expectations of what our books so we're talking about specifically for us here today. It's an invitation for us to surrender our expectations of what our books have to look like and the process that we go through to finish them. And it's also moving on from the good old days and looking forward to what God has ahead. So he does have good plans for us. He has a different process than maybe what we expected in the beginning, but it's a process that's geared to help us grow, even as writers and authors. And so we hear all kinds of naysayers also on both sides, you know, the outside. And also inside our heads, we've got all kinds of naysayers. So some of these naysayers saying things like, who are you to be writing a book? Or, oh, man, my writing isn't as good as so and so, or maybe I should just quit this writing thing. You know, this is just simply too overwhelming for me to finish. I've got enough things on my plate. And over and over there's this broken record of naysayers both inside our heads. But. But even maybe some things that other people are saying that are critical of us, or maybe they're pointing fingers at us, you know, these people that were rebuilding the temple. And we even see this going back into Nehemiah, when Nehemiah brought a cohort of people to help rebuild the walls that had been restored, destroyed around the city, there were naysayers, there were people trying to stop the work. Why are you doing this? It's not going to work, work out. It's not going to be finished. It's, you know, you're wasting your time. And we hear this kind of stuff regarding our books as well. And one of the worst lies. See if you can relate to this one. One of the worst lies that we can believe is that what we're writing is insignificant and it's not going to matter in the end. And so we think, well, why am I wasting my time? Why am I even doing this thing? Who was I to think I could actually be a writer, that people would want to actually read my books? And so what we want to say together here today is that we rebuke that lie in Jesus Name that lie that says you're insignificant, your writings are insignificant, that it's not going to matter. We rebuke that because God has you doing what you're doing for a reason. He didn't just plop that idea into your mind or plant that seed in you for it just to go away. Now, of course, we do have to take action. That's what we talk about. We talk about that all the time in our Christian Book Academy. This, but in the chair that we actually have to sit down and write. It's hard work. It's blood, sweat and tears. But we have enough obstacles in our way, let alone believing some of these lies that the naysayers and some of our own.

Broken record inside our own heads.

Yeah. And I just want to let you know, like, they're the same things. Like, we recently had, you know, a group of new members join Christian Book Academy. If you're new here, we are so excited to have you in our online writing family. But they were asking for prayer about these very same things, and CJ didn't even see that, you know, necessarily. But, you know, these exact same things are coming to them. Oh, is this even from God? It's just so overwhelming, you know, And I just feel like maybe I should quit or, you know, it goes really smoothly one day and the next day, you know, so much resistance and, you know, you know, is this even something I'm supposed to do? And so I just want to tell you the. The enemy doesn't have any new tricks. He uses the same things over and over and over. And these are lies from the enemy. He only speaks lies. Right. His native language is lies, the Bible says. And so know, first of all, that you're not alone and know that it's a lie and that God has come to deliver a message through you, and he will help you to cross that finish line.

Yeah. So, you know, our books and writings, they may not look like much, you know, to us at times, but it's still hallowed ground that we've set aside to bring glory to the Lord.

Yeah.

And so that's what we mean by don't. Don't be hating. Don't be despising those small beginnings. As the Lord instructed Zechariah to tell the people that were beginning that construction on Temple 2.0. Why were they constructing that temple? Well, God called them to. He's essentially saying, you're going to create a. Build a temple that I can reside in, fill up, allow my glory to fill, and you're going to Come and worship. And we're doing this with our books. Our books are hallowed ground. Our books are a form of worship. Our books are the creativity that God has given us. And so it's hallowed ground. And they may not look like much. You may have just barely finished the introduction, or if you're like me, sometimes you write the introduction last. But you may have just scribbled a few words and you think, man, can this even be accomplished? I feel so far from that finish line. But one sentence at a time.

Strung it together with other sentences, makes a paragraph. A paragraph will eventually make a section. A section eventually makes that chapter. And pretty soon you look and you're like, oh my, I can't believe it. I've got three chapters finished. You begin to develop that momentum. You can just imagine. No, this new temple didn't look the same as the splendor and the glory of the old one. But here's the thing. It was still going to be a place that housed the same incredible glory, the Lord God Almighty. So whether it's rebuilding a temple or working on our books, we can rejoice with the Lord to see the work begin. We can also rejoice in knowing that the same God who resided in a temple made of stones, get this now, he now resides in these bodies of ours, as First Corinthians 6:19 says, thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus.

Amen.

Isn't that incredible? I mean, here these people were laboring to build a physical temple made of stones that, by the way, would eventually be demolished again by the Romans. And so all these temples have been destroyed in a physical sense. But God instituted a new way, a new temple that he would be housed in. And we carry his glory everywhere we go with these bodies. It's incredible. It's mind blowing really. But this is the new system that he set up. And so with the help of God, each of us can watch the momentum build with our small beginnings. And that's what we want to leave you with today. That don't despise, don't get on. Don't beat yourself up. Oh, I've been on chapter one for, for a month now. I can't finish. You're doing the work. You're endeavoring to set aside time. You're setting those one hour, two hour, three hour blocks of time and you're saying, I'm going to put rear end in the chair and I'm gonna write, with God's help, I'm going to finish this. And there's, there's One other scripture that I want. I want you just to go back a few verses now. A few verses, because this is a verse that we all think of when we actually think of zechariah. It's Zechariah 4, 6. And so listen to this.

If I can pull it up here.

All right.

And I just want to say that we. Our motto around Christian Book Academy is celebrate every word. So you can celebrate every single word that is written as a result of you stepping out in obedience. You know, it's not a race. You will get there at the pace of God's grace.

Yeah. So just four verses back. Here's what God said through Zechariah. Then he said to me, this is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel. It is not by force nor by strength, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Heaven's armies. Not by strength nor by power, as some translations say, but by my strength, says the Lord, or by my spirit, says the Lord. And the essence of that is, okay, whether this 2.0 temple pales in comparison to 1.0 with Solomon and all of the glory that it had in terms of the way it looked, God is essentially saying, first of all, it doesn't even matter because I'm the one. It's by my power. And some of you might be putting too much pressure on yourself in your book. You're like, oh, I've got to do it this way. And if it doesn't get done this way, then it's going to be horrible. And what you're doing is you're taking on that yourself. Instead of saying, it's by God's spirit that this is going to be finished. It's by God's spirit that this is going to get into the right hands at the right time. It is by God's spirit that. That the book is going to be finished one way, shape or form. It's not by my own strength alone. This is what sets us apart as Kingdom writers. This is why we say we are priestly pens in the hands of the author of life. He's the one doing this supernatural work that we know is going to bear fruit that perhaps lasts into eternity. And so it's not just us. God was reiterating here. He's saying, don't despise your small beginnings, but a few verses before, he's like, by the way, this is my work being done through you. This is how it's going to get done. And so don't be hating, but rejoice in whatever work is getting done. And you might even have little rewards, little ways that you reward yourself. Like, oh man, I finished a chapter. I'm going to go get a massage or I'm going to treat myself. Maybe my husband or my wife will go out and we can enjoy our favorite restaurant, whatever it might be. And so we want to encourage you just to hang in there and say, lord, with your help, this book is going to get finished. But in the meantime, I'm not going to be a naysayer. I'm not going to add to all the voices that perhaps are there. And so Shelley, would you just close us in prayer as we, as we close out this episode.

So Lord, I just pray that you would first of all just lift any burden, any.

Lies of the enemy or, you know, any cloud of darkness that has descended over each one of us. I just pray you would lift it right now in Jesus name. Just like a fog clears and the sun begins to shine through. I pray that your presence and your spirit will begin to shine through in each of these Kingdom writers hearts and minds, that their mind would begin to clear of any of the.

Rubble and just the stuff that has gathered in their minds. And I just pray, God, that you would help them to see it is not by their strength, it's not by because of their talent, but it's because of your spirit that this will be accomplished. Whether it's writing the book, publishing the book, marketing the book, that it is by your spirit and your spirit alone. And Lord, we just pray that we would go at the grace, the pace of your grace. And Lord, that we would learn to celebrate every word, that we would learn to rejoice that the work has been started, that we would not always be just focusing on. It's not finished, it's not finished, it's not finished. But that we would enjoy the process of co creating.

With you, of writing with you as like you're our co author and that we would just enjoy the process of spending that time with you. And I just pray for breakthrough right now for each person listening and we pray this in Jesus powerful name. Amen.

Amen.

All right, so we pray that this encouraged you and that you get some more writing done or whatever work God has called you to today. And we will see you next time.

Love you guys.

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.

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