#404: Mentoring Moment: Open Door

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.

And today, CJ is going to share an encouragement based on the theme open door. So, cj, why don't you share with us?

Yeah, so the scripture that I want to look at or at least focus on, I'm going to read four different translations of it because it kind of gives us that different flavor in each. Each translation. And the tr. The. The verse that we're looking at is First Corinthians 16, 8, and 9. And I have to give a little credit to one of our members, Mary. I'm not sure if she's here with us today, but she had reminded me of this scripture a little while back, and it's just kind of been, you know, how something just sort of percolates inside you. And I thought, man, this is just so relevant to where we're at. So, so let me. Let me read the. The new living translation first. It says here, and this is Paul writing to the Corinthians his first letter. He says, in the meantime, and he's sort of closing here, closing out the letter. In the meantime, I will be staying here at Ephesus. So he's writing the letter from Ephesus until the festival of Pentecost. There is a wide open door for a great work here, although many oppose me. And so that's the new living translation. Let me read the niv But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me. And then the new King James Version. But I will tarry in. In Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. I like how. How you get that word adversary in this rendering. And then finally, I want to read from the message, Eugene Peterson's message translation. He says, for the present, I'm staying right here in Ephesus. A huge door of opportunity for good work has opened up here. And I like how he. He. He mentions regarding the opposition. He says there is also mushrooming opposition. And you can just almost picture this, you know, nuclear bomb, you know, going off in this mushroom cloud.

Happening, you know, in terms of the opposition to what Paul was doing there. So I read Those to say, you know, we have open doors, but we also have opposition that goes along with that. And so we can all get behind an open door. How many of you raise your hand if you can get behind an open door, a wide open door of opportunity where that God opens to you, you know, makes me think, those of you that are familiar with football, it makes me think of an offensive line in a football game creating a huge hole in the. For the running back to walk through or to run through. And you know, I've heard TV commentators before, you know, say, man, you could have driven a semi truck through that hole that the line opened up, you know, and it's like any of a. They almost make you think, well, you know, even though I'm not an NFL running back, even I could have went through that hole and gained some yards, right? So there's just this wide open opportunity.

You know, some of you can think of those open doors that you've had through the years.

That you just looked at it and said, man, I mean, that's a no brainer to walk through. It's like the Lord just opening this up to me.

When I think of another example of an open door. How many of you remember in Acts when Peter was imprisoned and in the middle of the night the angel woke him up, opened the jail cell door, the guards were asleep, where they were put into a deep sleep by the Lord. And, and Peter just walks out this open door, walks out out of the jail. And so that was literally an open jail cell door that God was opening for Peter. So I want to say that there's some doors in life that God opens to us that are just too obvious not to walk through.

We want to hang around where God's hand is obviously at work, especially if we can play an effective role in it with our call to write. And every one of us are here because we sense a call from the Lord to write. We're attending to that, we're putting ourselves in a chair and we're saying, okay, Lord, what do you want to do with this writing thing? And then he begins opening doors, or he's already opened doors for you, now it's just a matter of walking through. But how about the second part of this verse, the last part? What about the opposition and the adversary part? Well, we can get a little more flavor for this by looking a chapter earlier in 1 Corinthians 15:32. And I'm just going to read the first part of that verse. It says, Paul says, and what value was there in Fighting wild beasts, those people of Ephesus, if there be no resurrection of the dead. And so you have Paul referring to the Ephesians as wild beasts. Now, to get a little more flavor, you got to go to Acts to read the actual story of what happened. And this is where the mushrooming cloud of opposition is, is seen in full.

Full, full spectrum. Acts, chapter 19, 23, 41. We're not going to read the story. I'm just going to give you a quick little summary of this. But basically, Paul's in Ephesus along with companions. And there's a silversmith named Demetrius that basically stirred up a riot in Ephesus by accusing Paul and his companions of trying to make their God Artemis irrelevant and diminishing its influence. Now, this wouldn't have mattered so much except for this little thing of income. You see, Demetrius was stirring up the crowd saying, you know, this Paul character and his, you know, his companions, they're coming here preaching this message and they're going to make our God Artemis irrelevant. And so he's also talking to his local crews and saying, man, we're going to be out of business because our, we're not going to have anybody that wants our idols anymore that we make. And so there was a threat of business and livelihood. And how many know that when, when you threaten somebody's business and livelihood, you're essentially.

Putting, putting a target on your back. And so you've got this whole thing happening again. If you want to read that whole story, it's in Acts, chapter 19. But there's this riot happening and yet Paul wants to stay there for some reason. Why would Paul or any of us want to hang around a place where there's mushrooming opposition? Well, let's suggest two reasons. Number one, Paul considered it a privilege to suffer for Christ. How do we know this? Philippians 1:29 says this, for you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ, but also the privilege for suffering for him. And so we know that Paul considered it a privilege. It's almost like he leaned into that opposition, like, bring it on, because the greater the opposition, the greater my blessing, the greater the privilege to do this for the Lord. So that's one reason why Paul would want to hang, hang around a place of opposition. But number two, how many know that opposition is a sign that the work or writing that we're doing could possibly be effective? I would actually even argue that the more fruitful and effective our work for the Lord, the fiercer the opposition. How many of you have faced what seems like fierce opposition to your writing journey. How many of you can sit there and say, my goodness, there's one thing after another that pops up. I want to submit to you. If you find yourself in that place that you are actually in very good company, you're in the company of the Apostle Paul. You're in the company of any martyr throughout history that was doing something for the Lord and they got either killed for it or punished for it or imprisoned for it. Now, many of us haven't had to experience that kind of persecution. But what I want to say is you're facing some kind of opposition and it feels like a mushroom cloud that you're in right now. It feels like a nuclear bomb is going off. But I would argue that the more fruitful work you're doing for the Lord, the more fierce the opposition.

Paul is such a good model for us as kingdom writers. We need not be discouraged when we face opposition from an enemy and a world opposed to our kingdom message.

Perhaps we can even form a muscle memory response. I want you just to think of this an automatic response of considering it a privilege, just like he says in Philippians 1:29, considering it a privilege and a blessing when opposition arises.

And then finally, as priestly pens in the hands of the author of life, let's continue being on the lookout for those wide open doors of opportunity. And as we walk through those open doors of opportunity that Paul is referring to, we're going to possibly see opposition come behind that. Paul was ready to stay in. In Ephesus there was more good work to do and he's writing this to the Corinthians. And I just love how we can see different angles of this. You know, whether you read the full story in Acts where you get these little bits and pieces like from a chapter earlier or perhaps even another letter, you go to the, the Ephesians, you know the, his letter to the Ephesians, which is one of the most powerful little letters that you could read regarding your, your what we have in Christ and the grace that is offered to us. But as a kingdom writer, just know this, God is going to open and close doors. Today we're focusing on a wide open door of opportunity. How many would agree that we live in a world where there's a wide open door for the Gospel to run swiftly through our words and the ways that we frame those words, non fiction fiction, whatever it might be. But how many know that there is opposition to that message that you're writing? That's why you're facing it today. And when you're in the. You're in a good place with the CBA community because we all are in the same boat. None of us get out of here without facing that opposition. None of us get out of here without sitting in that chair and saying, oh, man, why do I feel.

Attacked right now? Why do I feel distracted right now? Why all of a sudden do I have 22 things that I'm reminded to do? Well, it's because there's an enemy that will do anything and everything to put up a roadblock to you making progress. And so that's my message for you today. I want to just read that original verse one more time for you. First Corinthians, chapter 16, 8 and 9. Paul says, in the meantime, I will be staying here at Ephesus until the festival of Pentecost. There is a wide open door for a great work here, although many oppose me. And so we can even say that there's a wide open door, although many oppose me. If we could fill in the rest of that, we might say, although many oppose me, I will continue. Every single one of you. You will continue in the strength of the Lord. So that's my challenge to you today as you go into this virtual writing retreat.

Yes. And the truth is, we will all face it, some stronger than others at different seasons. It comes, you know, stronger, but know that you're not alone. And someone just posted in our community that she was feeling just, you know, exhaustion after her, you know, publishing and launching her book. It's like, that's normal. It's called the post launch blues, you know, And I think being part of a community like this, it's like CJ saying, hey, guys, this is normal. This is normal. We all will face this. And actually, the more we're. We're going into enemy territory, the more we're pushing forward into what God has for us and his strength, not our own, in the direction he leads us, the stronger the. Because we're on the front lines. Kingdom writers, you know, you're out there and you can't see it. You're just in your little writing nook. You're in your little corner, but you're out there on those front lines, and the enemy's, like, trying to push you back, right? But we have that shield of faith that puts out the fiery darts of the enemy. We have the blood of Jesus. We have, you know, the armor, the complete armor. And we have each other. God has not created you to be writing in isolation. And, Diane, one of our New members. She just posted in the group. She's like, I've been enjoying the wonderful support of this community of Christian writers. The support, the progress pod groups, the trainings have all been very meaningful. And she says, we have each other, which takes away the feeling of being on this journey alone. Kudos to the CBA and everyone involved. And I just want to remind you all today, you are not alone. That's why we have these times together. We have our war room prayer meetings every month. And, you know, last, our last meeting, Shirley said she even like weeks later, she's like, I'm still on cloud nine from the war room prayer meeting. And God gave her a God idea for her book project. So if you're not taking advantage of that, join us, Come, get involved, post in the community. Join a progress pod. You are not alone. Yes, there will be resistance. Will it be easy? No. Will it be worth it? 100%. So, CJ, pray over us and pray that God would give us the strength, the wisdom, the energy to keep moving forward, even in the midst of all of the resistance.

Yeah. So, Father, we come together and we, we call upon you, Lord, for your strength and your power, the ability to overcome every ounce of opposition that comes our way. I pray for each one of these Kingdom writers, Lord, and what you have in mind for them. I pray that you would continue to open up the door wide, that they would look and say, whoa, I, I, I, I'd be crazy not to walk through there. That's, that's obvious, you know, and, and that they would see those obvious open doors. I just pray you put a shield around each of these Kingdom writers as they endeavor to write words that last perhaps even into eternity. And I just ask, Lord, that their words would reach the right people at the right time, whether it be through a blog post, a social media post, a book, all the forms of, of how our words can impact people. Whatever anyone's working on today, I pray that they would not worry about tomorrow, but they would just set their, their, their gaze upon you today and what you have for them today. And.

I just pray, Lord, that the enemy would be extinguished in every part of their journey today. And we, we give you the glory and the honor for the breakthroughs. I pray that any depression and oppression be lifted right now in Jesus name that the, the, the clouds would part and that everyone here would have just a beautiful day of clarity in writing for you. 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 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.