#413 Mentoring Moment: Lost and Found

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 Lost and Found, and CJ Is going to share with us some encouragement for you as Kingdom writers.

Yeah, and so, you know, there's lots of different ways that we could look at Lost and Found, but the very specific way that I want to look at that phrase today, it was inspired by a story in 2nd Kings 22 and 23, and it has to do with King Josiah. As you might know, there were lots of kings, both in Israel and Judah, and the majority of these kings were evil. At least they did evil in the Lord's sight. But King Josiah was one of those that. That was righteous and sought the Lord. And, you know, it says in 2nd Kings 22 that King Josiah took the throne at eight years old through a myriad of circumstances. And it says that in the. The 18th year of his reign, he was 26 at that point. It says that he had sent his high priest, Hilkiah to check on some things regarding paying workers around the temple and, you know, just. Just essentially shoring up the books, probably. And in. In the process of Hilkiah going and checking on those things, it says that Hilkiah found the Book of Allah. He found the writings of Moses, the things that were given directly through Moses from God to the people.

And it was. If you read that verse, when Hilkiah says he found the law, it has an exclamation point behind it. He was excited. You can just sense this excitement at finding this lost at this point. It was like an artifact. The people had not been obeying the law, they had not been following, was completely lost. And now here it is found. And so Hilkiah brings this news back, and it says that.

When. When King Josiah began to hear the words of the law, it says that he tore his clothes in despair upon hearing the law read. He was deeply moved. It impacted him. And he realized the people had not been living according to the law. And so what does he do? He takes action. He sent a delegation to the temple to inquire of the Lord very specifically. And I love this, because he sent this delegation and he received a response from a prophet named Huldah. Now, it was a woman, and she and her husband were in charge of sort of the.

Not the costumes, but but there's another word for it, just the garb, you know, that goes with the, the temple garments and those types of things. But I love that, you know, there's, there's all of these incredible in, in a man dominated world at that time. I love that in the Bible, all through scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, there are these snippets of how the Lord uses women in very key ways. And it just shows you that God uses both men and women in so many unique ways. And though that society was a very male dominated, dominated society, it was a woman who delivered the prophecy that eventually led to King Josiah making some really key reforms. And it says that, you know, basically she told him, this is what the Lord says.

Yes, the Lord is angry and punishment is coming.

But it will come. Listen to this now. It'll come after you die. Now I just want to say right there that.

You know, you and I might be tempted just to cash it in. You know what? We're saved. We know the Lord. We just kind of ride out life.

You know, love our neighbors, just kind of, kind of ride the wave into eternity.

And yet each of you are here. You're here for a reason. You're here at this virtual writing retreat for a specific reason. You endeavor to finish what God called you to do. You have a burning desire to finish this book, to finish whatever it is that God has put on your heart. You know, there's resistance. And in many of you, this thing has been lost. It's been lost like an artifact for years. And now as, as, as, as it's beginning to rise in you, that new wave is, is forming in you. That, that, that desire to press forward and renew what you started before that had been lost. And you know, King Josiah could have just said, you know what? Okay, we're good. You know what good news? Like, none of this punishment and judgment is going to happen until I'm gone. So you guys handle it. You know, you're good. You know, you do your thing and I'll just kind of write out retirement here. He's 26 years old.

And it says what he did was he did not cash things in. He actually moved forward with making changes and reforms. Why? Because he wanted the people to be obedient to the Lord no matter what was coming. He wanted to start something. And in verse 18 of, of 2nd Kings 22, it says.

That, that this gal hold us says, but go to the King of Judah who sent you to seek the Lord and tell him, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, concerning the message you have just heard. You were sorry and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I said against this city and its people, that this land would be cursed and become desolate. You tore your clothing in despair and wept before me in repentance. And I have indeed heard you, says the Lord. So I will not send the promised disaster until after you have died and been buried in peace. You will not see this disaster I am going to bring on this city.

And so, just if you want to read more about these reforms, you could just read all of chapter 22nd Kings, chapter 23. It lists them out and it is extensive. This is a picture of true repentance that Josiah was demonstrating on behalf of the people. Now, he didn't have, you know, his conscience wouldn't let him do otherwise, but let's just say that he could have just wrote out his kingship and said, we're, we're fine. We're not going to receive this punishment. It's going to come after me after we're dead.

He worked tirelessly to bring reform so that a people all around him that were under his jurisdiction would know the Lord would fear, the Lord would honor the Lord. And it all started with a book that had been lost and was found.

What could happen if your book gets finished and somehow gets into the hands of someone and that book begins a reforming process in that person? What could happen? What's the extent of what could happen if. If someone that's lost gets a hold of a book that they never even knew existed, a book that you wrote, and God uses that in powerful ways. Just a couple points here. Josiah chose to lead his people toward obedience with the time he had remaining after discovering the law and its regulations that hadn't been followed before that. You and I have a choice. We can continue.

In pursuing this goal of writing this book because we know that God is going to use that in powerful ways. That's the whole reason that he's called us to write it. It's the whole reason that we're pushing ahead. We're fighting the resistance. We're saying, okay, I don't feel like it today, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm going to be obedient.

And you might say that this lost book or this scroll was a catalyst to inspire and motivate Josiah to bring about reform and revival throughout the land.

Josiah could have done nothing and simply lived out his days knowing the judgment in exile wouldn't come until after he died. But instead, he chose to do.

What he could in leading the people back to God. Isn't that what you and I are doing?

You and I are choosing to help lead others back to God.

People who have been lost, people who have a chance to be found. And it could happen through a book. A book that leads to repentance, that leads to reform, that leads to a whole life turning a whole different direction. All because you said, I'm not going to cash it in. I'm going to keep writing. I don't care if it's three sentences a day.

In five years, that book's going to be done. And of course, all of us would hope that. That we finish sooner than that. But the point is, is that we're chipping away one virtual writing retreat at a time, one.

Afternoon writing session at a time that you set aside in your calendar. So I want to encourage you just like Josiah did. He took action.

His heart was cut to the core.

He decided, I'm not just going to sit back and enjoy retirement. I'm going to move forward in the call in the life that I have, the years I have remaining for such a time as this, to live in a way that leads people back to the Lord. And that's what we can do as well. And so I just want to encourage each of you, as you. As you sit with, that you have a chance to. To be a part of what God's doing in and through your book, your story. That book's going to be found by someone, and it's going to lead to reform and repentance.

Yeah. So good. I wanted to be shouting in the background. Yes. Rise up, Kingdom writers. That's what I feel. I just feel like for such a time as this, the enemy comes with distractions. Why do you think he works so hard to distract us? Because he knows that God is at work. And he knows that whether it's the work in your heart that will happen as you write or the work that happens as you release those words into the world, and people read those words and are changed because the Holy Spirit is embedded in your book. Sometimes it's not even the words that you write. It's that you've been praying over this book. Every day as you write, you're praying for those who will get the book. And when they open the book, it may not be one word you write that influences their life, but it could just be the spirit falls on them because you've been praying, Rise up, Kingdom writers. But also, CJ Was talking about how Josiah. Oh, I feel Like, I could start preaching how Josiah humbled himself. And it says in 22, so second kings 22:19, because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before the Lord. C.J. and I are doing the Bible recap plan this year, reading back through the Bible chronologically. If you've never done that, I highly encourage it, every Kingdom writer to read through the entire Bible at least once in your lifetime. So you really have a good understanding of. Of the big picture, right, that we want to study, but we also want to see the big picture. Well, as we're. We just finished the Old Testament, as we were reading, it's like again and again and again. It says when people humble themselves, God moved. And I was at a prayer conference this last week, and a quote that I wrote down, it says, God has one weakness. Do you know what his weakness is? Humble people who turn to him with their whole heart. That's God's weakness, right? And I also heard it said that humility is our weapon. And it's like so many times the world shouts at us, you gotta have your platform. You gotta show that you're good at this. You gotta do this, this, this, and the pride, right? The Lord says, kingdom writers, if you just humble yourself before me, watch and see what I will do. Amen. So, cj, why don't you pray for us?

Oh, Father, thank you so much for. Well, first of all, just allowing each of us to go from lost to found to being sons and daughters in your household.

But I also just thank you for this story tucked away in the the Old Testament, about an old dusty scroll being found and leading to.

Repentance, humility.

And King Josiah's infamous reforms. He got to work and.

Things changed. And I just thank you for this. I want to pray, Lord, that people all over this world would find our books in the most unexpected ways. And that that would lead to something powerful in terms of an encounter with you.

Perhaps even like Shelley shared with that story of the Muslim in Iraq that saw Jesus's reflection in the Tigris river and heard Jesus speaking to him. And I believe Muslims all over this world are seeing similar visions because Jesus can encounter people that way. He knocked Saul off his horse, and Saul eventually became Paul. You know, it was an abrupt interruption. And I pray, Lord, that you would abruptly interrupt people all over this world and draw them to Jesus. And we thank you that you're using tools.

Even like our books.

As humbly as that. That is to say, oh, could you use my book? My little old book, my old dusty book, and I want to pray that our books would get into the right hands at the right time. I pray that today and tomorrow would be.

Major.

Efforts toward completing the books. No matter what each person is in their process. I pray that today and tomorrow would serve as.

Thank you. 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 of piece 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.