#291: Into the Depths

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's topic is Intimate into the depths. And C.J. is going to share some encouragement with you as Kingdom writers that you can take into your writing and your marketing, whatever phase you're at on the Kingdom Writers path. And so, C.J. why don't you share what you have for today?

Yeah. So, you know, this is really twofold. It's. It's for us as believers in Christ, but it's also a challenge for us at the end in terms of just being a Kingdom writer. And so I want to read the scripture here from Colossians 1, 13 and 14, and then we'll move into how the rest of it connects to that. But it says, and this is the new living translation for he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, transferred us into the kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. And so that's why we're Kingdom Writers. We're not just writers today. We are Kingdom writers because we've been purchased for something that's even a higher calling than even the books that Stephen King is writing or. Or, you know, whoever that's just entertaining for. For the most part, we are called to something even deeper. Now, that doesn't mean that you're writing Jesus every. Every other sentence, you know, in your. In your writing, and you can be.

Writing secular books, but it's the heart with which you're writing, and it's being led by the Holy Spirit. As a Christian yourself, you know, as a person who's keeping your eyes, Seek first the kingdom of God and, you know, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Right. And so it about who you are as the writer.

Yeah. So many of you have read C.S. lewis, and I want to read something from his book Miracles. And in his classic book Miracles, C.S. lewis gives us a wonderful illustration of Christ representing a pearl diver. And this pearl diver is in search of a hidden treasure. You know, it's a beautiful passage that I think all of our ears need to hear. And not only that, C.S. lewis can be a great springboard for our own creativity in our writing today and tomorrow. You just think about the talent that that man had. But he was again in the hands. He was a Priestly pen in the hands of God. And I want you to listen to this quote from Miracles. I love this description, Jesus almost representing a pearl diver. One may think of a diver first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in midair, then gone with a splash, vanishing, rushing down through the green and warm water into black and cold water, down through increasing pressure into the deep deathlike region of ooze and slime and old decay, then up again, back to the color and light, his lungs almost bursting, till suddenly he breaks the surface again, holding in his hand the dripping precious thing he went down to recover. He and it are both colored now that they have come up into the light. Down below where it lay colorless in the dark. He lost his color, too. And that's again from Miracles. But I read that description of this pearl diver who is going down to the depths to find that colorful treasure, to bring it back to the surface, to bring it back to the light. Can you believe that you and I are that dripping precious thing that Jesus went down to recover? You and I? If you're like me. It's a thought that seems beyond what this little finite mind of mine can even conceive.

We've become quite comfortable here in our region of ooze and slime and old decay. So comfortable that we forget that we're created for much, much more. The Son of God volunteered to descend into the depths of darkness in order to bring us into his glorious light.

So not only is this pearl diver the one who retrieves us, but his very life. Listen to this. Now his very life becomes the currency used in order to purchase us for. For display in the Father's Kingdom collection. You and I are now on display as transformed, as newly polished, so to speak. You know, we were in this ooze, this mud.

This filth. And Jesus brings us to the surface, washes us off, polishes us. And now we're on display for a lost world to see. I can just imagine this great pearl diver, Jesus, regaling the angels in heaven with stories from some of his deep dives. Listen to a few possible examples. Quote, I found this one in the depths of despair and depression. Here's another one. This beauty was pulled from the sea of drug and alcohol addiction.

And then yet another. A shark tried to snatch this one away from me, but I eventually got her to safety. I got a few scars to prove it, but you should see the shark, at least what's left of him.

And I want to say to all of us, perhaps even now, the angels are on edge.

The edge of their seats, hearing him tell your story even as we speak. And I want to just leave you with a couple reflection questions.

How does it feel to know how valuable you are to the pearl diver.

And his father? I want you just to think about that. How, how does it make you feel in terms of how valuable you really are that the pearl diver would go down to the depths to pull you out of that ooze and that, that decay and that death like region that C.S. lewis describes. But here's the real question. I want you to meditate on the rest of this day and even into tomorrow.

As the, into the depths theme. As a kingdom writer, can you find creative ways to weave in your story, your personal story? Going in, going from the kingdom of darkness, as Colossians says, to the kingdom of light with your readers? Again, how can we, in these days that we're living in today? And again, as we said in the beginning, it doesn't mean that we, we have to, you know, write about Jesus, every sentence. But how can you weave in your story.

In your writings, no matter what you're writing, fiction, nonfiction, even a cookbook for that matter, how can you share with a lost world that needs to hear your personal story of how you've been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and then transferred over to where you're now on display in the kingdom of light? We can do this. This is what sets us apart as Kingdom writers. We share our story of going from that dark depth to being brought up to the light by the great pearl giver. And so think about that in your own writing. Think about how to creatively weave that in. And it could be as simple as sharing a brief testimony in one of your chapters. It could be a whole novel that weaves your story in, but people don't even realize it till they get to the end of the story that somehow you've been weaving in your personal story of God's rescue in your life. But I want to submit to you today that we are.

Kingdom writers. And that's different than just being a writer that's out to just entertain. We are people that have a grand opportunity to display this glory of the great pearl giver, the great pearl diver, and his father and the Holy Spirit. They're working through us as we yield ourselves to them reaching this lost world. It's almost as if we're now going down and being support for this great pearl diver as he ascends the depths to bring up these pearls that you and I were once one of those.

As well, and it will look different for every single one of us. We were recently interviewing one of our speakers for the Kingdom writers Conference and Dr. Tim Riordan, and he was just sharing with us how he writes under a pen name, a fiction series. And it's not, they're not Christian books, they're not Jesus books, you know, but he weaves in themes of God's love and he had a reader recently reach out to him and was like, wow, I was just so, you know, overwhelmed by, you know, just, you know, the, the love of, you know, of God and this and that. And he was able to have this conversation with her. And you know, he said the, the, the goal for those books is to plant seeds, right? Is to reach people that aren't already Christians and are already in the world. So I mean, it can look different for every single one of you. And maybe it means that it's not even in your book, but maybe sometimes in your social media post you talk about how you struggled with anxiety and even as you are an author in all of this and then you know, how, you know, you've been dealing with that. And so, I mean, there's so many ways that God can use you. Recently, actually last year, about 18 months ago, when Covid hit, God led me to create coloring pages that could help people just to, you know, calm down and, you know, that sort of thing and sharing the gospel in creative ways, even through coloring pages. Right. And so, I mean, it can be in so many different ways and it can just be a one to one conversation. You know, in our recent mini marketing messages workshop, we've talked about, you know, building those bridges and building those connections. It may, it may, may not be a public post, it may not be publicly in your book, but maybe you have a one on one conversation with someone and you start sharing something. So you know, we're just going to give you a minute and just pray and ask the Lord, like, is there something he is leading you to do? And like I said, it can look different for every single one of you. And you know, we're just going to give you a minute and if you want, you know, you're writers, so if you want, just begin journaling and you know, journaling out your prayer. If you want, we're just going to give you a minute, we're going to go quiet and just ask the Lord.

Sam.

If you want, you can follow through with that even deeper look later. And if you're here live and want to share in the comments anything that God spoke to you you know, I was even just praying and asking the Lord, lord, is there something you want me to do? I mean, I'm. God has, you know, led me to share a lot of my story, so that's my personal journey. We're all different. CJ tends to be a little more private, and that's okay. You know, we all are different in the ways that we share, but I just sense that the Lord wants me, especially in this season, potentially, to share a little bit more about some of the anxiety that I have experienced and how God has, you know, helped to. To bring me through that, right from the darkness to the light to healing and peace and. And that sort of thing. And so we'll see what happens. I know that there's a book that I have eventually that I would love to write about that, but we'll see what happens. But go ahead and share in the comments anything that you felt like God spoke to you. And, cj, why don't you go ahead and just close us in some prayer?

Father, again, we thank you for this time. We thank you for each person here. I just pray that you would even just give them.

Glimpses of. Of what could happen when their story is. Is lifted up and offered to a hurting world. I pray, Lord, that you would also just.

Show us creative ways that we can continue to share how we have been in darkness and. And now you brought us into the light. I pray that each of us, Lord, would be a light.

I pray that you would help each person today to. To come along into the depths. And that can actually mean different things. You know, I even just think of, you know, when Jesus said, cast, you know, let's go out into deeper water, you know, where.

He asked them to then cast the net, and they caught a huge amount of fish after they had given up. And I just pray, Lord, that if anybody here has been on the verge of giving up or has felt weary, I pray that they would take you upon your word and move out into deeper water and to take you at your word to say, okay, well, if you say so, Lord, I'll do that. And, Lord, would you bring.

Such a catch of fish? Or we might even say such a catch of words that people would just be overwhelmed, just like Peter was in the boat of, I'm just not even worthy. But thank you, Lord. Thank you for doing this and blessing me and that we would also take the challenge to be fishers of men and women. And I pray that many men and women would come into the kingdom because of the words that you've used through these Kingdom writers as a bait, as a description of such a good God that they just want some of this themselves. And that our words would be enticing, that our words would whet appetites, so to speak. And so would you do this, Lord? Would you do what we can't? Would you multiply our words like the loaves and the fishes to feed people? Would you have your way, Lord, in ways that we just can't? We come to the end of ourselves, but at that point it's the beginning of endless resources in your storehouse. And so, Lord, would you just have your way today as we go into the depths in our own unique ways. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer have 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 to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.