#308: Mentoring Moment: Believe the Impossible

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.

And today CJ's going to share some encouragement just based on this theme of believing the impossible. You know, right now we're in the midst of the Christmas season and so CJ has some encouragement for you today.

Yeah. So, you know, being that this is the Advent time, as we look forward, forward to, you know, the birth of our Savior, it's, it's always neat to, to meditate upon passages in, in the, in that season. So in Luke chapter one, we see two different people that I want to look at briefly. And yet we have one angel that came to both of them. So two people, one angel. And both stories are that the angel presents an impossible scenario to each of them. And what I want us to focus on ultimately is the response of each of them to this angel. So the first guy, the first person is, is the priest Zechariah, who would become the father of John the Baptist. And so I want to just read a few verses just to give you a little understanding of this. Zechariah the priest. And it says that one day Zechariah actually. Let me go. Go. Before that, he was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife Elizabeth was also from the priestly line of Aaron. So you have this history with both sides of the family here. Both.

Zechariah and Elizabeth, they were from priestly lines, religious families. And so Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord's commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive. And they were both, listen to this now, very old. Now, we don't know the exact age of Zechariah and Elizabeth, but if I was to guess, I'm thinking probably 70s when it says very old and it could have been older. I don't think they're probably going to beat Abraham and Sarah, you know, on that one. But I think they were at least in their 60s or 70s. So it says that one day Zechariah was serving God in the temple, doing his thing, going through his duties. For his order was on duty that week. As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord. And Burn incense. Now, while the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside praying. So he is at the temple and in Jerusalem, right? He didn't live in Jerusalem, but his. His order was on duty. And he was serving that whole week in Jerusalem in the temple. And so while Zechariah was in the sanctuary, Listen to this. Now. An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. But the angel said, don't be afraid, Zechariah. God has heard your pray. Your wife Elizabeth will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness. And it goes on where Gabriel describes what John's going to do.

And so obviously, this alone is something that Zechariah or any priest doesn't expect to happen. Every day he's serving, he's going through his motions, he's doing his duty. And all of a sudden, an angel, let alone.

Gabriel, comes along and tells him what's going to happen. Presents the impossible. You and your wife are going to have a son.

Even in this old age. Now, I want to just pause briefly and say that many of you here may have been around the block for a while. You've been in this writing thing. You have been in the publishing sector, you have written blog after blog. You have done social media posts. You have gone through all of the motions of writing and honing your craft, and yet years and years have gone by, and you say, where's my book? Why haven't I got a book? Why haven't I birthed a book yet? And I just want to say today that for many of you, for many of us that have been been around the block, we've been through the motions. We've just kind of. We're here putting ourselves, sitting in the seat, ready to write, ready to go through the motions.

Do we expect something miraculous to happen? Do we expect an interruption, so to speak, by God, through an angel, through somebody we hear in terms of a message, a sermon, something we see just out of the blue online. Are we prepared to be interrupted? Now, obviously here, Zechariah wasn't really prepared. It says he was sort of overwhelmed. Like, what is going on here? You know, I just kind of wanted to get in here and burn my incense and get out, all in a day's work. But here he gets interrupted. And so for some of you, you might be in that place where you need an interruption. You need an encounter from the Lord, you need to hear something that jolts you out of your place because you've been going through the motions. You've been serving faithfully for years and years, just like Zechariah had. He was righteous. He and Elizabeth did what was righteous in God's eyes. But I want you to listen to his response. Now, after Gabriel presented everything that was going to happen, listen to what Zechariah said. He said to the angel, how can I be sure that this is going to happen? In other words, I need a sign. I need you to give me a sign. This isn't good enough, what you've said here. It's fine, it sounds wonderful. But I need a sign. And now listen to what, what Gabriel says. He says, then the angel. And by the way, we didn't know at that, at this, until this point, that it was Gabriel. Then the angel said, I am Gabriel. And there's an exclamation point after that, which means he was. He was sort of like, listen up, pal.

I'm not just any angel. I'm Gabriel. I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news. But now, since you didn't believe what I said, in other words, you needed a sign. You weren't just going to trust me. You're going to be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time. So there's one response. Here's Zechariah, a righteous man, a religious man, a guy who's been down the road of priestly duty, and yet he still doubts the angel. Okay, now I want you to listen to a second story here. And that is a little 15 year old, most likely virgin girl named Mary who had no real religious experience like Zechariah. But I want you to listen to her story. In the sixth month. So six months later, the same angel presents himself to another person, which I found out is about 110 miles separated between Zechariah and Mary. And Mary happened to be a relative of, of Elizabeth. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, greetings, favored woman. The Lord is with you.

Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. So she was sort of like, this doesn't happen to me every day either. Just like Zechariah. Don't be afraid, Mary. The angels told her, for you have found favor with God, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He goes on to explain what Jesus is going to do, just like Gabriel explained to Zechariah what John was going to do. Now, Mary does question, but she doesn't. Her question is valid, like, well, I'm a virgin, you know, I mean, how's this going to happen? I'm just kind of curious. So she's not doubting, but she's just really curious to know how this is going to work. Now, at that point, Gabriel then goes on to explain, well, this is how it's going to work. You're going to, you know, conceive a child through the Holy Spirit. So it's going to be holy, it's going to be set apart. So he explains all that, just like she needs. Well, listen to her response. Now, after all this, Mary responded, I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true. And then the angel left her. Didn't have to cause Mary to go mute that day, like Zechariah.

She basically said, after all of this, okay, I'm the Lord's servant. This is a 15 year old and we don't know our exact age. I'm just guessing, based on the cultural norms of that day, and a woman being prepared for marriage.

15 years old, a virgin.

Inexperienced when it comes to the religious duties of a priest.

Whole different ball game here. And yet she simply says, based on what she knows and hears from the angel, may it happen just as you've said. Now, what I want to present to you today is many of us that have been around the block, we may question, we may not first take the Lord, take the Lord's word.

Seriously. We may question, we may need more proof. What I want to present, and this is for all of us, because we all find ourselves being like Zechariah at times. Could we come to this retreat this weekend? Like Mary in her response to say whatever you want to do, Lord, I'm your servant. I am ready and willing to write the words or organize the words or whatever process you're undertaking this weekend, may it happen just as you desire. Now, it's not that maybe we heard from Gabriel or any other angel leading up to this writing retreat, but do you believe that God wants to do the impossible through you? That you have long doubted, you have not believed that your book's going to become a reality. You have not believed that you could sit down and consistently write Words that will glorify the Lord. You have been blocked. You have felt roadblocks. You have felt like there's a million distractions during this season, which there is, by the way. And yet here you find yourselves faithfully positioning yourself just like Zechariah did in that temple, ready to write, ready to serve, ready to see something happen.

But would you allow space for God to break in? Would you allow him to do the impossible? Share something that is a vision, that he plants a seed in your mind that says, wow, could this really happen? Could this really be the beginning? Okay, that's really what happened with both Zechariah and Mary. They were told they were given seeds of what would happen. It's not just that the snap of a fingers. John and Jesus were right there. Like, here you go, here's your full grown sons. No, there was a seed planted. There was a vision. This is what's going to happen. It's going to say it's going to happen. Just as I've said. Gabriel said, just as the words that God gave me, I've shared with you all that's going to take place. Could it be the Lord wants to plant a seed in you today, in your heart and mind, that becomes one day that book or that vision, that dream that God put on your heart, whether it's now or years ago, could it be that the Lord wants to do the impossible? Yeah.

And you can substitute that. Like for those of you that already have a book, do you believe that your book will sell? You know, some of you are, are, you know, stuck there. You don't believe that your book's gonna sell or that you're. You can be good at. Marketing is a skill. You can learn this, you know, and so whether it's getting that book birthed or birthing it to many, many, many people, right through marketing, do you believe that God can do this through you?

Yeah. And each one of you are in a different spot. You have a different story, and yet we have the same God.

Amen.

And with these two people, we have the same God through the same angel that gave them something to ponder, to wrap their minds around, something that became great through John, through Jesus. We serve that same Jesus today. And in a lot of ways, you and I are like a John the Baptist, paving the way, allowing people to see I'm not Jesus, but I must decrease so that Jesus must increase in my writing. And so let this be the start of something that you. You allow God room to do the impossible. Are you willing to believe for the impossible.

Yeah.

Even though you, you came here today expecting just to go through the motions, you just expected to light the incense, serve your priestly duty for the week and then just be gone? No. The Lord wants to break in. I don't know how, I don't know when, I can't tell you all those details, but could you show up like a 15 year old servant girl with dreams and wide eyed looking at the world around her and saying, I have a life ahead of me that God wants to work through and I was just given a dream and a vision that blows me away, but I'm willing to do whatever and be whatever God wants me to be. Are you willing to be that person here this weekend?

Yeah. That childlike faith. Because as we know, the longer we go through life, the easier it is to become disillusioned, to become a little bit like, you know, doubting. And, you know, this didn't happen the last time. And why should I try to market my books again? Why should I try to finish this book? You know, it's easy, right? You know, and Zachariah was on the other end of Mary. And yet we can all, no matter what age, have that childlike faith. And when CJ was reading this, you know, the Gabriel said, for you have found favor with God and you will conceive and give birth. I was just thinking of all of you that are being, being prepared right now to conceive a book idea, right? To give birth to new books, to conceive a marketing idea, to give birth to new book sales. Amen. And I just want to say right now, like I got chills when he was reading that because God just gave me this picture of all of you and you know that God is with you right now and his favor is able to rest upon you. Will you believe? Will you be open to what God has for you and not get sick, stuck in your old ways, not get stuck thinking you have to do it a certain way. Be willing to conceive what God has for you. And it may mean it will look different than every other author out there. Mary conceived her son in a different way than anyone had ever conceived before. All right, I'm starting to preach here, but preach preacher.

I think sometimes we're just scared to do something different or, oh, but Shelly doesn't teach it that way. That's okay. Let God conceive something different through you. When I wrote that book, broken crayons still color, I didn't want to write it. I mean, God conceived that idea. You know, in me. And I had to, you know, do the work, then to birth it in cooperation with him, to birth it into the world. But that book has blessed so many people. I mean, I get testimonies all the time. Will you be willing to conceive something with that book? I was like, God, I already wrote all these testimonies in other books. Why do I need to write another book? Right? But God knew, and it was his idea. And even though I put it off for a year, you know, I eventually obeyed. And so what are you willing to allow God to conceive in you today?

Yeah. And with each one of you, it's unique, just like it had never happened before until Mary to conceive a child as a virgin.

God is conceiving something in you that's never been done before in the history of mankind. Why? Because there's never been another one of you. You have a unique story. You have unique experiences. You have a unique writing style. You have something that will minister to specific people around the world. And that's beautiful. You know, there's no flower in this world that's just like another flower. And think of all the flowers around the world. There's no bug exactly the same way. Everything's just so unique. There's always a little difference somehow, some way. And with us humans who are created in the image of God Almighty, God's birthing something unique through you. And it could be that that big seed is conceived this weekend. We don't know. Mary didn't know.

Just be prepared.

She's just preparing herself for marriage and Joseph and all that. All of a sudden, her world was rocked. Your world might be rocked this weekend. Don't underestimate what God wants to do. When you plant yourself in this spot.

And we all have the same Holy Spirit, you might look at other authors and think, man, you know, how are they doing this? And how are. You know, you know, as Christians, as Kingdom writers, we all have the same Holy Spirit. So I don't have something different than what you have. You know, we all have access to that same Holy Spirit. And so be willing, be ready, and be open for what God wants to do in your writing and your publishing and in your marketing. So, cj, why don't you close us in prayer?

Oh, Father, we just thank you so much for these stories that we can dive into, that.

We thank you for this Advent season that helps us usher in and prepare our hearts for the birth of our Lord and to celebrate what that means. Light bursting into the dark world that we live in. We thank you so much, Lord, for each one of these Kingdom writers. I pray you would help them believe the imposs. I pray you break into each of their writing worlds in a unique way, a fresh way that they were totally unexpecting. And I just. I pray that you would do something so powerful that it lives on long beyond what they would conceive in their own eyes. I pray that books would be birthed. I pray that marketing plans would be birthed. I pray that words would be organized. I pray that new ideas would be conceived that weren't even a thought before coming into this virtual writing retreat. So we just thank you for what you're going to do, Lord. We want to believe for the impossible in our writing and the ways that we glorify you through that. That avenue. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen.

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, 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.