#396: Mentoring Moment: Commissioned

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.

Our theme today is commission. So, CJ share with us your encouragement on this topic.

Yeah. So my inspiration this morning is from First Chronicles chapter 28. And we're gonna kind of move through that, and I want to pause in a few spots along the way. And these are basically David's final instructions. It's. It's kind of like his. His last hurrah. You know, he's. He's giving inst. Actions to the leaders, but specifically to Solomon, his son, who's going to take his place on the throne. And so let me just start, and then we can just pause a couple times along the way. So Starting in verse 1, 1st Chronicles 28, it says, David summoned all the officials of Israel to Jerusalem. The leaders of the tribes, the commanders of the army divisions.

The other generals and captains, the overseers of the royal property and livestock, the palace officials, the mighty men, and all the other brave warriors in the kingdom.

And by the way, I consider all of you brave warriors in the kingdom.

David rose to his feet and said, and by the way, that. That's pretty significant right there, because you have to understand that David is aging at this point. He doesn't have much longer. For him to stand on his feet would have meant that he was pretty serious about what he was going to say. It was a sign of respect, and do I have your attention? And so it says, David rose to his feet and said, my brothers and my people.

It was my desire to build a temple where the Ark of the Lord's covenant, God's footstool, could rest permanently. I made necessary preparations for building it. But God said to me, you must not build a temple to honor my name, for you are a warrior and have shed much blood. Yet the Lord, the God of Israel, has chosen me from among all my father's family to be king over Israel forever. For he has chosen the tribe of Judah to rule. And from among the families of Judah, he chose my father's family. And from among my father's sons, the Lord was pleased to make me king over all Israel and from among my sons, for the Lord has given me many. He chose Solomon to succeed me on the throne of Israel and to rule over the Lord's kingdom. He said to me, Your son Solomon will build the temple and its courtyards. For I have chosen him as my son and I will be his father. And if he continues to obey my commands and regulations as he does now, I will make his kingdom last forever.

So now, with God as our witness, and, and I want to really strongly emphasize this to all of us as well.

With God as our witness, I believe he's commissioning every single one of us. Because we're here, we feel a call toward this thing called writing. And so with God as our witness, and in light of all Israel, the Lord's assembly, I give you this charge.

And that's a strong word, by the way, charge. Anytime you're charging someone, he says, be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, so that you may continue to possess this good land and leave it to your children as a permanent inheritance. Now he turns over to Solomon. You can just imagine him now looking Solomon in the eyes, he says, and solomon, my son.

Learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. That is so key right there. Right from the get go, he says, everything's going to spring out of the intimate relationship you have with God. Everything else, worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. So he's talking about heart, he's talking about mind. We read those words of Jesus, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, every ounce of you. In order for this to succeed in it, in order for this to to move forward, it has to spring from that relationship with God. And I, I believe that's the same with our writing. Any good writing, we're going to do that, endures it. Spring that foundation, that soil of that intimacy with the Lord. And so.

He says, for the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, he's still talking to Solomon here. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. So take this seriously. And I want to say we need to all take this call of writing seriously. We need to. If we have received a vision from the Lord, a calling from the Lord to write words that endure, to write words that outlive us. I think we can all agree we need to take that seriously. The Lord has chosen you to build a temple as his sanctuary. Be strong and do the work. The Lord has called you to write a book or write a blog post or write a social media poster, whatever it might be. He's called you to write words that impact others. Be strong, do the work. And then, and I think we'd all agree it takes work. It takes putting our rear ends in the chair. It's not easy. It doesn't just come. You've got to be intentional. It takes work. And then David gave gave Solomon the plans for the temple and its surroundings, including the entry room, the storerooms, the upstairs rooms, the inner rooms, and the inner sanctuary, which was the place of atonement. David also gave Solomon all the plans he had in mind for the courtyards of the Lord's temple, the outside rooms, the treasuries, the rooms for the gifts dedicated to the Lord. The king also gave Solomon the instructions concerning the work of the various divisions of priests and Levites in the temple of the Lord. And he gave specifications to the items in the temple that were to be used for worship. David gave instructions regarding how much gold and silver should be used to make the items needed for service. He told Solomon the amount of gold needed for the gold lampstands and lamps and the amount of silver for the silver lampstands and the lamps, depending on how each would be used. He designated the amount of gold for the table on which the bread of the presence would be placed and the amount of silver for other tables. David also designated the amount of gold for the solid gold meat hooks used to handle the sacrificial meat, for the basins, pitchers and dishes, as well as the amount of silver for every dish. He designated the amount of refined gold for the altar of incense. Finally, he gave him a plan for the Lord's chariot, the gold cherubim whose wings were stretched out over the ark of the Lord's covenant. Now listen to this. He says, every part of this plan.

Was given to me in writing from the hand of the Lord. Every part of this. Now I just believe we live now in this age of being given the Holy Spirit. We're all indwelled with the Holy Spirit, those of us that call upon the Lord as our Savior, those of us that are born again believers. We have been indwelled with this Holy Spirit now that writes in and through us, gives us these plans for these books, these ideas to encourage other people. And I love that. It was almost like David was saying something very unique here. Though David told Solomon he was given everything in writing from the hand of God. That probably was news to a lot of these leaders. That was probably something new.

It might have even reminded them of Moses being given the commandments from the very finger of God, writing those commandments on the stone tablets. And then David continued, be strong and courageous and Speaking of Moses, you remember Moses didn't get to cross over into that promised land. He led them as far as as he could. And the Lord says, you're not going to be the one to lead my people into the promised land. Instead, it's going to be Joshua, the one that has served underneath you. Joshua will carry my people across the Jordan into the promised land. And we almost have this same idea here. It's almost like an allusion to Moses and Joshua, this David now commissioning Solomon. And in the same way, isn't it interesting that David says those same words that God said to Joshua, Be strong and courageous and do the work. Again, that were that phrase, do the work. That's why we're here, right? That's why we put ourselves in the chair each week. That's why we set aside two hour blocks or one hour blocks or a whole half a day, you know, whatever it might be. We're doing the work. And it says, don't be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord God, my God is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work related to the temple of the Lord is finished correctly. I love that he will see to it. I want to tell you, Kingdom writer, that the God that resides in you will help see to it. Now he's calling you to join him in this partnership. It's a partnership. It's a team effort between you and the Lord. But the Lord will see to it. If it was all up to us, I think many of us would have caved in by now. But the Lord will see to it that the work is done correctly. However he wants that book to be written, he is seeing to it. And I love that that same God is with us in our writing. And it says the various divisions of priests and Levites will serve in the temple of God. Others with skills of every kind will volunteer. And the officials in the entire nation will are at your command. You can almost just see at this point. Now David hands those scrolls to his son. Solomon gives him a serious look, a look that might say, I'm charging you, Solomon. I'm giving you this work to do. I had it on my heart to do this. But you're the one that God says is going to carry out these plans. And I want us to just picture this seriousness, this solemness of Jesus.

Commissioning each of us as Kingdom writers to say, here are the plans, Shelley, Here are the plans, Lana, that I have for your book. Here are the plans. Robin, take these seriously. I will be with you. I will help you. I will see to it that the plans are carried out correctly. But you've got to be willing to set aside that time, and not just time to write, but that time to commune with me, to be intimate with me, to get to know me, to. To cry out to me. That's what we're talking about. You can just sense this in David. It all springs forth from that intimacy of knowing that same God. If he might be saying something to Solomon in those words, he might be saying, do you want to know the secret to my success? All these years, son, it's been my relationship with God. Is it a perfect relationship? No. All you have to do is read David's story to realize he wasn't perfect. But the thing was, he kept coming back to the Lord, that he was a magnet back to the Lord's heart. He was tender. And that has to be a reflection of us. We've got to be tender. We've got to be a magnet back to the Lord. And out of that's going to spring some words that impact others. Kingdom writer, he's commissioning you today. Take it seriously. Have fun. Of course. But look at this as a call. You've been given a call. And what a privilege. Isn't it a privilege that we get to sit here as Kingdom writers? We get to sit here and say, wow, I have been called to write perhaps a book that impacts tens, hundreds, thousands of people. And that's our commission this morning. So think about that as you're going through your day and into tomorrow as well.

Yeah, that's so good. And I think that, you know, I've just been doing a lot of work lately of just. Just understanding all of you better, your needs. You know, we've taken surveys and I've just been doing a lot of work and hiring people to help me with it. And one of the things that I just really want to communicate well is that you don't have to do this alone. So you are definitely commissioned by God. You don't have to do it alone. And one of the things that sets us apart as Christian Book Academy than other writing memberships or programs, even other Christian writing programs, is that we help you partner with God. It's not just I'm a Christian and I'm a writer, but we help you really, like, partner with God and to move forward in that. And so I just really encourage you to first of all, take off any pressure in Jesus name. This is not up to you. You are not doing this alone. Kingdom Writers, God is with you. He has equipped you with His Holy Spirit and with everything that you need. The whole reason he blessed Solomon with so much gold, with so resources, so he could build the temple. Right. He equipped him for the task he had. And someone had mentioned that, I think it was Shirley, that she calculated the value of gold that CJ described. And if she recalls it correctly, it's about $1 billion.

In our currencies. But God will give you what you need. And then we are encouraging you to partner with God, so to incorporate him in every part. That's why we encourage you to have business meetings with God, to have prayer teams to be praying and asking the Lord for wisdom and insight and God ideas for your books, for your marketing. And so we are just thrilled to be on this journey with you. And we are commissioned to. C.J. has his assignment. I have my assignment from the Lord. And we are depending on him as well. Cannot do it in our own strength. Amen. I think, like, I just feel this crushing pressure every time I feel like I have to do it in my own strength. And yet CJ often reminds me, Shelly, it's not a pressure, it's a privilege. And I think that's such a good reminder for all of us today that have been commissioned. You have a story to tell. You have a message to get out. And it doesn't need to be a pressure that's from the enemy. In Jesus name pressure, be gone and receive God's equipping his Holy Spirit and everything that he has provided for you to help you do what he's called you to do. And realize this is a privilege. And so, cj, why don't you pray for us?

Father, we thank you for commissioning each of us in the work that you've called us to do.

It's a work that we know faces resistance. We know there's opposition to the words that you are calling us to write. And yet I want to pray that you would bring breakthrough in every single one of these Kingdom writers, that they would break through to accomplish all that you have in mind. And you've promised us that you're. You're with us, that you never forsake us.

That you are helping us complete the work. He who began a good work in you will. Will be faithful to complete it. And part of that work you're doing in and through us, we know, is. Is the writing that you've gifted us with. And so I just pray, Lord, that whatever each of these Kingdom writers is working on today and into tomorrow would glorify you, but that they would accomplish everything that you desire. And thank you that each one is here and positioned to do the work to partner with you in seeing that completed. And we just, we considered a privilege to be commissioned by you, the King of the Universe here, David was, was the king commissioning his son. And we also, as sons and daughters, are being commissioned by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And I pray that each of us would have a, a seriousness.

That we, we always consider that what a privilege that is, not everyone's being given that right now. And what a privilege it is to just stand with you and right with you. And so we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. So good.

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.