#369: Mentoring Moment: Inconceivable

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, our theme is Inconceivable. Inconceivable. So, C.J. why don't you share some encouragement with us today on that theme and what you sense that God has given you to share today?

Yeah, well, like I said, you know, it's right along the lines of what Karen, you know, had mentioned. And I want to just briefly mention four women that we read about in scripture who were facing inconceivable odds. You know, sometimes you even think about a team in sports. Now, it's inconceivable that they're going to beat that other team, you know, and somehow, some way, it happens. But we're talking about four women, four of several examples. We could name more.

Who are facing inconceivable odds. But these four that I want to look at quickly with a few scripture references are Sarah, Rebecca, Hannah, and Mary. They all conceived against all odds. Each required God's supernatural intervention. And that's really key right there. International.

Supernatural intervention in order to conceive and birth a child. And what I want to say just right off the bat is that.

You and I are endeavoring to do things that are inconceivable in our flesh. They really are. I mean, you and I are endeavoring to write words that outlast us, that make an impact far beyond what we can imagine.

We are dealing with the same concept now. No, it's not the birthing of a physical child.

But it is birthing something that can make an impact.

In a way that you and I can't even conceive. We can't conceive it on our own. In other words, it's impossible to do it on our own without God's intervention. And so when we come to this time where we're endeavoring to write words, to put our butts in chairs, to sit down and write words, that's. That's something the enemy doesn't want. And he's going to do everything possible to prevent those words from being written, those words from being birthed, those books from being birthed. And so the first person is Sarah. And of course, you know, we. We know the story of Sarah and Abraham. God promised that they were. They were going to conceive a child. And.

And that that child was going to be blessed and eventually Abraham's seed was going to outnumber the stars and the, the, the, the sky. I mean, huge promise. One problem, they, they were both really old and, and it just was inconceivable. They had already given up long, long ago on that whole idea. And yet here we read in Genesis 21:1 and 2, the Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age.

And this, this happened at just the time that's key right there. It happened just the time when God had said that it would.

And.

I want to say too, that.

That God has a timing for your book. God has a timing for who gets a hold of your, your words. And it may not just be a book. It may be a social media post, it may be a blog post, it may be something that you've written that he has conceived inside you that's then birthed out into the world. There is a timing for that, just like what happened here with Sarah. The next person I want to look at is. Is actually the wife of the son that Abraham and Sarah had. And so it followed, followed right down the line. Rebecca had difficulty getting pregnant. But listen to these words in Genesis 25:21, Isaac, Abraham and Sarah's son. That was inconceivable at one time. Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was unable to have children. And it says, the Lord answered Isaac's prayer and Rebecca became pregnant with twins. Let me ask you, Kingdom writer, what are you pleading with God for today, like Isaac, what are you pleading for that would be impossible without his intervention, would be absolutely inconceivable without his touch, his supernatural intervention, his touch in your life, what are you pleading for? And we could probably look up that word plead in the Hebrew and find that it's a pretty intense word. But what I want to ask is that our pleading is something that God doesn't take lightly. And so what are you pleading for? That. That you have longed to see, but so far you haven't yet. But God is calling you to keep pleading. And then the next person I want to look at is Hannah. And of course, Hannah, if you know the story, eventually had Samuel. But it says here in 1st Samuel 1, 10 and 11.

Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow. O Lord of heaven's armies, if you will look down on my sorrow and answer my prayer and give Me, a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime. And as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut. And it goes on. And it says, when Elkanah, and that's Hannah's husband and Elkanah had a couple wives, and the other wife was able to have multiple children, and Hannah wasn't. And then to top it all off, the other. The other gal, the other wife actually was taunting. Imagine being taunted, you know, yeah, you can't have kids, you know, and like that. That would. That would be. That would require everything in me not to slap that other person, by the way. But when Elkanah slept with Hannah, the Lord remembered her plea. And in due time, she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel. For she said, I asked the Lord for him. Says she was in deep anguish.

What are you and I in deep anguish for this morning? What is it that maybe you've even given up on that you want that. That the Lord might want to resurrect inside you, might want to conceive inside you. You've given up? Hannah hadn't given up. Now she. She was in deep anguish, and she was pleading. She wanted this.

And the Lord blessed her. And then finally. I want to. Want to just quickly look at Mary. Mary was a different situation here.

Mary would eventually have natural children.

Conceived between her and. And Joseph, her husband. But not the first one. The first one was inconceivable. It was. It was not done in human flesh. It was. It was done. It would. We might call it the Immaculate Conception, right? And some of us know this term the Immaculate Reception. That was a play that Franco Harris made in the 1970s. Franco just passed away here recently, but he. He. He grabbed a ball before it hit the ground and ran all the way to the end zone for the touchdown. They call that the Immaculate Reception. And here we have the Immaculate Conception, something that only God could do, impregnating Mary by the Holy Spirit. And Mary at first, was a little perplexed. Okay, how's this going to happen? Great question.

But. But that in Luke 1:30, 31, it says, don't be afraid, Mary, the angel told her, for you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. And it goes on to say, the angel replied, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby will be born. That will be born, will be Holy and he will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35.

I'm of the belief that God is still overshadowing people today by His Holy Spirit, that it didn't just come in this form of impregnating Mary. Now, of course, that will never happen again. It never happened before. It'll never happen again. Why? Because it took a perfect, spotless.

Sinless sacrifice to take care of your sin and my sin. And that happened. And yet I believe that God's still overshadowing his children, and in our case, his Kingdom writers, in order for them to birth something that they thought impossible at one time, they thought inconceivable.

And I just want to close by saying this same God who supernaturally touches the empty places in our lives in order to conceive something that blesses the world is still doing it. He wants to touch those empty places that have in your mind, long run, long grown, barren, including the words and the flow and the ideas and the ability to publish and market your book. And not just that, the impact that it makes on the world, the impact that it makes on those who receive your books. Our books will bless the world only. And I, I submit to this, our books will only bless the world and it in a deep way. If they're conceived by God. If they're conceived by God. You and I have a different calling as Kingdom writers than.

Than. Than writers who aren't believers. That's, that's why we have this Christian Book Academy. It's because we believe God's calling us to right words that impact people in a supernatural, eternal way, not just a quick, entertaining read. Now, many of you are going to write books that are just quick, entertaining reads, but they're going to have something deeper in them. They're going to have an anointing in them that bless others that many times people might not even be able to put words to. It's just inconceivable. It's like, well, what just happened? And before they even know it, they've been touched by God through your book, through your words. And so I want to ask you here this morning, what is it that seems inconceivable right now in your eyes that God is wanting to conceive and him get the credit for? In all of these women.

At the end of the day, God gets the glory. God gets the credit, because it wouldn't have happened otherwise. But here's the neat thing. They all played a key role. They were all vehicles of housing this blessing that went on to bless the world. They also were pleading. And they all have different circumstances. Sarah. I mean, her initial response was laughter. Right? Like, yeah, right. You know.

You. You look at here, here, the next one, you know, a husband is pleading on behalf of his wife, Rebecca. So it's a husband here that's pleading.

Hannah was in deep anguish. She was tired of being taunted. She was tired of her situation. And so she pleaded in anguish. She went to the temple and. And pleaded. And then with Mary.

She was just willing. God approached her and said, you're a woman who's been highly favored. I want to bless you. I want to bless the world through you. Are you willing?

And. And she was willing. And I want to ask all of us, are we willing to be a vehicle that God wants to bless the world through? Because he's ready to do it.

Yeah. That's so good. And I just think that sometimes we just need that little nudge again to move from the natural to the supernatural in our thinking. Right. It's so easy to get into the weeds, especially when you're writing, you're publishing, you're marketing. There's so many things, right? There's always things. And so, cj, why don't you go ahead and just pray for all of us regarding this topic of just expanding our mind to what God wants to do.

Father, I just. I thank you for those things that are going to be conceived through these Kingdom writers, through people that willingly put themselves in a position to hear from you, and people who endeavor to make an impact through this calling of writing.

It's difficult. We know it is. All of us have experienced the pushback. We've all experienced the spiritual attack.

And yet we. We find ourselves here on this January 27th, first day of virtual writing retreat. And we believe you got us here. We believe that you somehow moved on our behalf to bring us here. And I just want to pray that every person here, and even those who are going to watch the recording that couldn't make it in person, but they're watching the recording. I just pray that you would birth things in and through them that ultimately bless the world a hundredfold.

That there would be things that would happen, God ideas that are birthed in. In and through us, that we fall to our knees and have nothing but worship for you and thanks and gratitude because of what you've done.

We read these stories in Scripture of inconceivable things happening.

Becoming reality, and we know that that's still possible today in numerous ways. Even besides having a physical child, there are all kinds of Things being birthed that bless the world. And I just pray, Lord, that with each person they would fulfill the calling you have on their life to, to be a blessing and a willing vehicle that you use. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. And as C.J. was praying, I was looking down on my desk and from a program I was part of, they sent us this sticker. It just says unlimited impact. Now, this is not a Christian program. It's not a spiritual, it's not based on scripture. But as I was looking down on that, I was thinking, you know, so many times we see, see with our human minds the limited impact and potential that we have. You might think, I don't know how to do this technology or I don't have a big audience or how am I supposed to reach new readers? Like, I don't even know where to start. And yet with God, all things are possible and there is a potential for unlimited impact. Can I get an amen? We get so many times stuck in our limited box of what we can do right, or of what we have. And yet God wants to expand your mind right now. He wants to conceive something in you. He wants to give you a God idea. Conceive a God idea. He wants to conceive a book idea that will take off. I never imagined in a million years that our book Broken Crayons Still Color would be helping pay our bills today. Like, I mean, it sells so well. Like it's a big part of our income. I never imagined God conceived that idea in me. And it is continuing to bless people, not only us and our income, but I mean, we get emails all the time and so open your minds, come out of the box. And I'm preaching to myself today. Need to come out of those boxes and say, okay, God, in my own strength and my own resources, there is limits. There are limits. But with you, there is an unlimited impact. And I want to move, I want to flow in that. And I give that to you today. All right? So I hope that blessed you those just the message that CJ had on inconceivable and that you will just continue to flow in what the Spirit has for you, what God has for you. And when you find yourself getting frustrated, when you find yourself getting overwhelmed, when you find yourself feeling fearful, when you find yourself looking at the numbers and thinking it's not working, remind yourself, I need to flow back into the inconceivable. What is it God wants to do and not what can I do in my own strength all right, thank you so much for that encouragement, cj and we just pray that it blessed you all. Would you like more? If you are enjoying this podcast, but want more, I have something exciting to share with you. We have released what's called a private podcast. So a private podcast you will not find by searching an apple. You have to know specifically how to subscribe to it. It's more private and exclusive and it just can be more relaxed behind the scenes. And my new private podcast is called Hits Blitz and it's wisdom for writers that you're going to learn from my 18 plus years of experience in publishing and online marketing so that you can move forward in God's call to write. I am best known for injecting energy and enthusiasm into everything I do and inspiring those around me to take action. So I encourage you to listen in to this exclusive private podcast. It is free, 100% free. You don't have to pay for it. And be prepared to be inspired by my next Hits Blitz. So you can sign up@trainingauthors.com hits blitz and if you have any other writing friends that you think could benefit from it, definitely share it with them. They can go to the same link trainingauthors.com hits blitz to get access. Again, this is a private podcast, so you cannot get access to it any other way. It's completely free. All you have to do is sign up and then you'll get all the information on how to add it to your podcast player of choice. So I can't wait for you to join me over there. I share a lot of things behind the scenes and more content just in a real time basis. So it's more like chatting with a friend or following some someone on stories on social media. Except you don't have to get caught up in any of the algorithms. You'll just have this in your podcast player and be able to listen in wherever you're at, whatever you're doing. Some of the listeners told me this week that they were listening while waiting in the Target parking lot, while brushing their teeth. You can fit this into the pockets of time that you have, so I hope you'll join me. Come over to trainingauthors.com forward/hits bullets.

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.