#426 Mentoring Moment: First Love

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.

So today, CJ is going to share some encouragement on first love and what that really means for us as writers.

Yeah, so, you know, if there's one thing that we've learned over the course of the writing life, it's that each person really needs to have a passion for writing. You know, so first love is really the theme, but you could also double it. You know, double the theme as a passion for writing. You know, this passion is going to be fueled by the God that we desire to partner with in order to write lasting words of impact. After all, the Kingdom writer, that's you and I, is one who's gifted and called by God. And that's what sets us apart from just an ordinary secular writer. We believe no matter what we write, we might actually be writing on a secular topic, but we're doing it fueled by the God who has called us and to be a light. And so the prophet Jeremiah describes our calling with these words. And this really even relates to what you said, Doc. Jeremiah 20, verse 9 says this, but if I say I'll never mention the Lord or speak in his name. His word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones. I am worn out trying to hold it in. I can't do it. And that's the new living translation. And you know, you and I can. We relate to this today.

Are the words inside you like a fire in your bones? Until you're able to get those words onto paper, how many of you have ever felt that you just felt something burning inside you until you get that out? We once heard the. The Bible teacher Beth Moore say, impression without expression equals depression. In other words, you're impressed with something by God. But unless you can express that, whether it's sharing with others or getting it out in. In a blog or a social media post or. Or in your book, you become depressed. You know, you just kind of will almost. It's like something's dying inside you or the. The thing you were impressed with sort of begins to rotate inside you. It needs to get out. It needs to be fed upon, it needs to be shared with others. And so that's what we're meaning here, is that we have these words in us that God's implanted in us, and they can be like a fire in our bones. But like many things in life, sometimes our passion and the fire can grow dim. How many can relate to this? Somewhere along the way, we forget about the love that we once had for the craft of writing.

Instead, we become focused on the destination or the finished product and become impatient when things aren't lining up the way we want. How many of you have felt that lately, man, things just aren't going well. Or maybe one trial after another, one setback. Oh, I had to push my, my project off another month. And we get frustrated and, and I think that that frustration is a good thing because. Shows us that there's something that's missing. There's something that's not happening the way we, we believe God intended it to. But it could also be the process that God is taking us through in order to mature us. Some of you may have heard the. Of the classic book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It's Bird by Bird. Some instructions on writing and life. I want you to listen to this. Lamotte describes the students that she has the opportunity to teach in a writing class. One thing becomes clear as she's trying to impart her writing knowledge to her students.

All they seem to be interested in is how to get published.

They ask her about agents and sending manuscripts to publishers. She says, quote, the problem that comes up over and over again is that these people want to be published. They kind of want to write, but they really want to be published.

True.

And how many of us can relate to this sometimes, you know, we, we've lost that passion for writing. We just want it to be over with. We want to push that publish button. We want to get that into people's hands. There's sort of a little bit of pride that comes with that, like, wow, somebody's holding up my book and taking a picture with it. And that's my book. I wrote that, you know, and we, we want that destination. But along the way, we come to this point where we just kind of want to write. And I think that that can be a problem for us. It can be where that, that dimming comes in of that passion.

If you and I only kind of want to write, we're probably not going to last very long in this writing thing.

Yeah.

But as Kingdom writers, the bigger question is going to be, does my writing passion flow from my deep and intimate relationship with Jesus? And that's the question right there. As a Kingdom writer, that's what sets us apart. We have to have this relationship with Jesus. And from there, that river of writing begins to flow. He's the source. He's the source of that river. He's the source of that, that. That movement that. That comes in and gains momentum into the form of a river. And so in the book of Revelation, one of the churches Jesus addresses is in Ephesus. He recognizes their hard work.

Their patient endurance, and several other positives that he mentions in the description of this church. But he has one primary complaint against this notable church. And some of you know where I'm going with this, he says. Revelation 2. 4. He says, But I have this complaint against you. And how many are grateful that God will air his complaints against us because he wants the best for us? It's not because he's a complainer. It's not because he's trying to be a nag. He wants the best for us. And he knows nothing is going to. To be the best in our lives unless our lives flow from that source. He says, but I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other.

As you did at first. It's just. It's just really simple. You've done all these good things, Ephesus. I'm proud of you. You've. You've done some nice work. You've got a passion for this and that. But. But there's one little thing here.

You don't love me quite like you did at first. And then as a result, you're not loving each other like you did at first. Oh, how these words must.

Must have cut straight to the heart of these believers. But let me say this. This morning, these words of our Lord should also stop us in our tracks today.

True kingdom writing that has the potential to impact others.

Must begin with our own personal love for Jesus and others. It has to start there. That has to be our source. That's what sets us apart as a kingdom writer. That's why we call this Academy Christian Book Academy. We believe that these books impact people in greater ways, deeper ways than any other book on the planet. Why? It's not because we're better. It's because everyone on this planet is longing for a deep spiritual filling. They just don't know it's Jesus yet. Many people don't realize it's in. In Christ. And so I just have a couple questions for you as you're thinking this through today. This whole theme of first love today and into tomorrow is, where am I in my love for Jesus and for others? Where am I if I'm really honest. Where am I? And I want you to really take some time. It may be part of this virtual writing retreat where you spend the first hour just saying, oh, Lord, restore my love, that passion that I once had.

Because then it's going to leak into a passion for your craft of writing as well. You're going to, you're going to enjoy that so much more because you're going to see in vivid colors and, and, and, and it's going to be like going from regular TV to HD. Right. You know, and, and there's probably something 22 times more advanced that I don't know about because we don't watch a ton of tv. But, but listen to this. Here's another question. My. What fuels my passion to write words that impact others? What fuels my passion to write words that truly will impact others? Am I just writing for writing sake to get something done, to just push that publish button? Or do I want to write something in partnership with God that will impact people far beyond what I. What, what I could do by myself.

Something that I could only do with the help and out of the first love that comes in my relationship with Christ Kingdom writer. This is our source of fuel. We cannot move further or get very far in our books and our impact with those books without that first love. And so I encourage you to just to evaluate where you're at today into tomorrow and that you'll write from that standpoint, that you'll say, oh, Lord, refresh me, reinvigorate me, rekindle the fire in the bones that. That really comes from that true relationship with you and leaks out onto the paper in those words that bleed emotion, that bleed a love for, for Jesus. And I believe others are going to see that. They're going to know this is a person that spent time with Jesus. This is a person that has gone to the source. And your writing is going to take off. My writing is going to take off all of us. And so let that encourage you today.

Yeah. And as C.J. was talking, I was thinking about just patience, because I'm one of those people. I just want to get done. Oh, and lately the Lord's been saying, shelly, it's, you need to be patient. And I'm like, I have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is patience. Why am I struggling with this? But we have to. We have to die to our flesh every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Amen. And our culture tells us we need to go faster. And I mean, I just did a workshop on productivity. So, you know, but, you know, God, sometimes it just takes time for him to. To do the things he's doing in our hearts and our books and our businesses and our lives. All the things. And he was just reminding me, Shelly, the. The most important things take time in our lives. Relationships, you know, just all the things, you know, and just with our business, I get impatient sometimes. I'm like, but, God, I've been doing this for so long, you know, it feels like so long. It's 20 years, but it's like, you know, it's like 20 years is like a drop in the bucket to God, right? And so I want to encourage you, too, like, when you're sensing that. I just want to get it done. I just want to get it done. I just want to get it done. Like, stop and evaluate. Where is that voice coming from? And I did that this last week, and I realized. And I've talked about this before, it was my inner slave driver. And I haven't had that voice come back for a while, but it's like. It's the voice that pushes me. You got to go faster. You got to do more. You're not doing enough, you know, why aren't you. Why aren't you here yet? You know, and da, da, da, da, da. And it's like, it's. It's that, you know, I. I say I'm a redeemed workaholic, and for some of you, it could be the voice of shame, you know? You know, and. And so it's like, it can be on either side of, like, you need to do more or you're not doing enough, you know, and, you know, and all the things. But anyways, evaluate, like, where is that voice coming from? And then I saw this. It was in a secular group, but I loved it. He said his inner critic was talking to him so loudly that he just visualized cutting out the vocal cords of his inner critic.

And I said, jesus, cut out the vocal cords of the enemy of my inner slave driver in Jesus name, so that I am not listening to these words anymore, you know, And I actually wrote that down in my prayer closet because I'm just. I'm like, no, in Jesus name, no. I am not going back there. I am not living under this. You know, you got to do more. Harder, harder, harder. You know, I'm not living under that anymore. So I just wanted to share that because that recently happened to me. And if that is what you sense of, like, you just gotta get the book finished, like, then you don't enjoy the process either. We want to enjoy the process. Enjoy creating with God, co creating with him. Enjoy your writing times instead of just thinking, like, I gotta get it done, I gotta get done. Have your tea, you know, have your candle, have some soft music playing or whatever, you know, whatever, you know, really makes you happy. Maybe you go out and you buy some fresh flowers and you set them in your writing desk area. I did that for a while because it just made me so happy and it just brought so much joy. Trader Joe's has some really affordable ones if you have one in your area. But maybe you just splurge and you just say, I'm going to have something beautiful, or you have a piece of artwork or whatever it is. But enjoy the process and realize that anything worth having in life will take time. It's like a farmer. They don't plant a seed and expect it to yield a harvest next week, right? They know there's a process. They know there's a time. And you are all in a process, some faster, some slower. And for some of you, you need to get going. Like, you. You've. You've been just sitting still, you know, and for you, it's like you. You do need to get going. But then for some of you, it's like a little bit of, like, okay to pull back. And I need to be more patient of, like, asking the Lord for his patience, not trying to just strive and do more. So, cj, why don't you pray for us in this whole area?

Yeah. Father, we thank you so much that you've called us to this writing life. We just thank you, Lord, that we even have the privilege of writing words that impact others on a deep level, even an eternal level. And I just want to ask, Lord, that you would.

Light a fire in each of us that burns brightly for you. May we fall in love with you. And may that. That love leak into the lives of others in a fresh way as we stay close to you, as we interact with you, as we converse with you, seek you fervently. I pray that that love would grow in each of our hearts. We live in a world where there's a lot of things that could cause that love to grow dim. And we even read that in. In the end times, the love of many will grow cold.

Right?

And I ask, Lord, that that would not be true of us, that we would resist that by. By coming to you intentionally and saying, oh, Lord, we need you. We. We. We need you to inject us with something fresh, something we don't have on our own be our fuel, Lord, and the source from which any good lasting writing occurs. And I'm praying, Lord, that each one of these Kingdom writers, today and into tomorrow, would experience.

A fresh love for you that really just fuels today and tomorrow. Any of the writing that they do, organization, planning, anything that they're doing, where they're endeavoring to make progress and move forward, I pray they be able to do that out of a newness, almost a newness. I don't care if they've been walking with you for 52 years or 22 years. We're asking for a single person here and that they're writing and anything would flow from that. So we thank you, Lord, that you've called us to this. And I pray that even out of that we'd find a new passion for the. The craft and the processing of. Of stringing words together into sentences, paragraphs, chapters, whatever it may be. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. So good and just so grateful for all of you and what you're doing and how God is.

A powerful way. So how many of you feel blessed by that encouragement that you feel like you feel a little more ready to write?

Cj, Lena was asking what the question was earlier on that you like in the middle. You asked a question.

You asked one at the end too, but.

It could be. Can you relate to feeling this way?

Are the words inside you like fire?

Maybe this one.

Or yet. Does my writing passion flow from my deep and intimate relationship with Jesus? That could be it. That. That was close to the middle.

Yeah. Does my writing passion flow from my deep, an intimate relationship with Jesus? Yeah. So good. So what we're going to do next is we're going to have a time of being able to. To pray together. And CJ and I will pray and.

We will start off praying and then we will put you in. In breakout sessions and just really be able to see what. What is God going to do through this time? And so.

If you don't want to go to a breakout room, you do not have to, but we encourage you to do it because it is just a time to really connect with other Kingdom writers and a time that you can really just get to know some other people. But you're also welcome to stay in this room during that time and then have your own time with the Lord. So we encourage you to have a paper pen out, do some journaling, do some prayer if you stay in the room. All right, so C.J. and I are going to start with Some corporate prayer and then we'll go into the breakout rooms.

Yeah, Father, again we just, we pray for this time even in these breakout rooms. We just pray that your spirit would lead, would guide that you know, new relationships, acquaintances can be formed. And we thank you so much for this community. We thank you for what you're doing even through all of the progress pods. And we're just asking, Lord, that more and more people would be able to connect in, in the progress pods, that they would find a place that really resonates with them and they're able to.

As the name suggests, make progress and to have accountability, to really find other like minded people that just share.

In that, that same desire, you know, to write lasting words of impact and so have your way, Lord, in, in these breakout times here this morning. And I just pray there just be a, a blessing for each person that that takes part.

Yeah, Lord, we just thank you for today. We thank you for your life and your love. And we just pray, Father, for a fresh filling for each one of us of your love that you would bring us back to our first love. And the picture that God gave me just now is like a heart balloon that has been, the, the air has slowly leaked out of it and that God wants to refill you with his holy spirit with, with air in that balloon. And it will just go from being a shriveled little thing to this big beautiful heart again. But he's the one that will do it. He'll patch any holes, any leaks, anything. You know, he'll give you a new balloon if needed. You know, we can die to ourselves into our flesh and be raised anew. So Lord, we just pray that if anyone needs to confess something to you right now, we just pray that they would confess that to you right now.

And Lord, we just come to you humbly. You know, your, your, your one weakness is humble people that will turn to you with their whole hearts. And so we turn to you with our whole hearts. We want to be filled with your presence and have our passions be on you and for you to be our first love and then that flows out to love others. And so we just pray that these days in this virtual writing retreat be so productive because it's flowing from you that our writing and our passion is coming from you. So we thank you for this, Lord. In Jesus name, 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.