#465 Giving Birth to God's Promises

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 Shelli 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. Welcome to the Kingdom Writers Podcast. My name is Shelly Hitz, one of your hosts. This episode is an excerpt from our virtual writing retreat we host every month inside our membership Christian Book Academy. You can join us with a special coupon code just for podcast listeners and this will get you 50% off your first month. Use the coupon code podcast and this way we can help you take a step of faith and finally finish your book. So go to ChristianBookAcademy.com and enter the Coupon Code Podcast at checkout for 50% off your first month. Come join us at our retreats and all the other things that we offer throughout the month and I pray that the encouragement from this episode blesses you. Today, CJ is going to share a training on this theme, giving birth to God's promises. So cj, why don't you share with us?

Yeah, you know, I wanted to start off with a quote that I came across recently that I thought all of us would appreciate as Kingdom writers. And Mother Teresa said, I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. I just love that. And I believe that each one of us are like that pen or pencil. And we've even said it before. We're priestly pens in the hands of the author of life is is one of the phrases we love using. And that's each of you. You are being used by the Lord to birth messages into the world. Love letters, so to speak, of lifting up the name of Jesus to those that, that receive your books and your writings and any social media posts. Our writing encompasses a whole gamut, not just our books, but that's certainly something that we're working on. Well, I wanted to just, you know, being that this is the time when we're celebrating the birth of our Lord, I wanted to talk about a couple instances of. Of promises of people giving birth. And the the first instance was Zechariah and Elizabeth who were given a promise and Zechariah first in Luke chapter 1, verses 6 and 7. Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord's commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive and they were both very old. Now, we know that we're not going to read the whole passage, but we know the angel Gabriel approached Zechariah as he was on duty in the temple. And Gabriel basically told Zechariah, he will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. Speaking of the baby that Zechariah and Elizabeth were going to give birth to, he will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly. So Zechariah just simply responded, great. All right. May it be so. Right? Well, not exactly. He probably responded the way you and I would probably respond, like, are you kidding me? And this is basically the way he responded. He said, how can I be sure this will happen now? I just have to kind of put my inflections in here. I don't think it was just simple, you know, like, oh, how's this going to happen? I think he was just like, what? He's saying all this to an angel, by the way, and not just an angel, but a named Angel Gabriel. And he says, how is this going to happen? I am an old man now, and my wife is also well along in her years. And you can just imagine this just doubt dripping from his voice, his tone. And as a result, Gabriel was a little taken aback, and he said, as a result, Zechariah, you're not actually going to be able to speak until after your son is born. And so I thought that was interesting. And we'll come back to that in just a second. But I thought to myself, maybe some of us have said, you know, I'm just too old to write a book now, or too much times past, too much water under the bridge. You know, my time's coming, God. There's just no way. Maybe you doubt the Lord's ability to birth a powerful message in and through you. Like John the Baptist, though. And I want to challenge all of us to think this way. Like John the Baptist, our books could possibly help prepare people for the second coming of the Lord. Let's not forget that, yes, we do celebrate this time of year as the birth of our Savior. But how many know that there is a second coming? There is one that we're looking forward to. We are now in the in between. We're now on this side of his birth. The angel had talked about the other side of the births. We are on the other side now we're waiting for a second coming. And as a result, any writing that we do, you know, could be used almost like a John the Baptist, to help usher in that second coming, to prepare people for that second coming, to be ready to say, I have Jesus as my Lord, I trust in him alone. And so I want us to think of that just as our writings are preparing the way now for a second coming of this same Lord and Savior. And I also want to say that it could be that our writing helps turn the hearts of fathers to their children, along with causing the rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly. Our writing could have such an impact as to help transform families. How many know that you could read something one day and your life can be different the next because your perspective has completely changed? The Lord used that to impact your heart, to expand your vision. Whatever it may be, writing is, is impactful. We should never underestimate the words that we read in scripture and how that impacts us on a day to day basis. Imagine now the Lord using our writings, our fresh writings, as we're receiving direction from the Holy Spirit for the world that we're living in. Your writing could have that kind of an impact. Now let's fast forward. John the Baptist has been born. And Zechariah already received the, the instructions from Gabriel that that son was to be named John. And so Elizabeth's beginning now to tell people, his name is John. What are you going to name him? You know, the relatives ask and the friends and the neighbors, what are you going to name him? And Elizabeth says, his name's John. And they're like, what? Nobody is named John in the history of your family? What are you talking about? And at this point In Luke chapter 1, 63 and 64, Zechariah comes forth and it says, he motioned for a writing tablet. I thought that was interesting talking about, you know, I love just all the instances where we see writing, you know, involved in Scripture. He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone's surprise, he wrote, his name is John. I'm backing up my wife. And by the way, that's a good thing to do. I've learned that through the years. Back up. My wife be on her, her same page. All joking aside, but he says his name is John. And instantly listen to this. Now Zechariah could speak again. And he began praising God. And I thought, you know, could it be that as we come to believe what God wants to do in and through us, we finally come to believe it? How Many know that over nine months, I believe Zechariah had an education. Zechariah had learned some things. I always like to joke about this too. You know, I imagine Elizabeth might have actually said, man, I've got the corner on the market now of words and Zechariah can't even talk. He can't, you know, he can write. Obviously he can write, but we always joke that, you know, maybe this was a time where Elizabeth really got her words in while Zechariah had to listen the whole time without coming back in response. But I love this. Could it be that as we come to believe what God wants us to, wants to do in and through our writing, that it could be that our words, like Zacharias, are finally free to be released again through our pension, that maybe there was a paralyzation there, Maybe we found ourselves just mute, no flow, no creativity. And maybe it's because we just hadn't truly believed what God wants to do in and through us. And once we come to believe that he sets our pens on fire, he sets our pens a flowing, you know, in the spirit. And I want to encourage all of us to evaluate, have you believed what God wants to do in it through your writing or have you, like Zechariah said, ah, my time's coming past. It's come and gone. I don't care if you're 20, I don't care if you're 86 here today. That same God who spoke through the angel Gabriel can and will accomplish what he wants to do in and through you. If you're just willing. If he said that he wants to birth something in and through you, he's not telling you that as a cruel joke to then say, oh, I was just kidding. I'm just kidding. That's not our God. We all know that if our God has given you a message, he will help you. You do have to put your butt in the chair. We found that. Or standing desk, whatever it is. The bottom line is we partner with the Lord to see these promises come to fruition. And I want to encourage you to think about that. Now let's look at a second briefly instance of a promise of a birth, and that's through Mary. Mary was also approached by the angel Gabriel. And the. The angel said, this is what's going to happen, believe it or not, you're going to give birth. That this is two different spectrums here. Zechariah and Elizabeth, who knows, possibly 70s, 80s, I don't know. They were up there in years and now we have the opposite spectrum. It could be that Mary was 15, 16. We don't know exactly, but we're looking at the other spectrum. And here she's a virgin. In fact, can you just imagine processing these words that the angels giving her about her giving birth, being impregnated, having not even officially married Joseph yet? Of course, we know all the implications that come with that. Not only in this culture, but that culture, that ancient culture. And after all of this and the angel explaining this is how it's going to happen. Mary, you're going to be impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Here's her response. I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true. And then the angel left her two different responses between Zechariah and Mary. Zechariah, you can just imagine. He's seen a lot in his lifetime. He's just not believing this initially. It's just hard to wrap his mind around it. It'd be hard for any of us. Mary did have a question. She wondered, well, how is this going to happen? I'm just curious. She wasn't doubting. She was just like, okay, how's this going to work? I've not had sexual relations with. With Joseph and angel. The angel says, good question, Mary, Good question. I know you're not doubting, but here's how it's going to work. The Holy Spirit, some of you may be saying, how's this book going to work, actually? How am I actually going to get this birth, this book birthed into the world? Good question, John, Good question. Lana. Good question. Emmy, good. I'm glad you asked. It's going to happen through the Holy Spirit. It's going to happen because you're led by the Holy Spirit. That's how it's going to happen. If you'll just partner with the Lord. Do you know that anything can be birthed in and through you? And we're talking books here. We're not just talking babies. Sometimes we call them book babies. Right, Book babies. Many of you have birthed these already, and you have seen the Lord and you're praising God. Now you're on the other side of that. Some of you are on the other side saying, oh, how's this going to work exactly? You even get started and you're like, man, now I'm in the messy middle. I don't even know if this is ever going to get finished. Now all hell is breaking loose. Things are happening. My refrigerator is breaking down. All the distractions. How is this going to get done. And I want to say it's going to get done the same way that Mary was told, through the Holy Spirit. That's how it's going to happen. And I want to close by saying this like Mary in her messy middle. How many know that Mary at that point was in a messy middle in terms of the culture she lived in and how this was all going to play out, and the talking and the gossiping and wondering like Mary in her messy middle. We can say, Emmanuel, meet us where we are, in the messy middle. The doubt and the longing and all those things that are wrapped up in, into this emotionally. Meet me in the messy middle. Teach me to trust like Mary and say yes, even when we can't see the whole story. I think you and I would look at these two, Zechariah and Mary, and we would find ourselves in both of them, one old man, one young lady, and we'd say, I can relate to both. And I've been there, done that. But what I want to encourage us to do is to say, how can I be more like Mary? In her response. As we near the birth, six days away from celebrating the birth of our Savior, I want us to think about, what is it that the Lord wants to impregnate us with? What is it that he wants to birth in and through us to a desperate world that's waiting to hear truth, that's waiting to hear something that God wants to do in and through us, in our voice? I believe God wants to birth things in and through you, kingdom, writer. And I believe he's even put something on each of your hearts. That's why you're here. He's put something on your heart, and now you're working to partner with him to see that come to fruition. And that's my challenge to all of us as we go into the last 12 days of 2025, as we celebrate the birth of our Lord, but also as we think about how we can make an impact as we now wait in this messy middle of waiting for our second, the second coming of our Lord. And that could be 100 years from now. It could be 500 years from now. It could be next year. We don't know. What we do know is we're in this place right now for such a time as this. You are not here by accident, any of you. You're here. God's put something on your heart, and God wants to help birth that now into the world. And that's my challenge to all of us as we wait as we stay faithful, as we put pen to paper, may God unleash our words into 20, 26 and beyond. However the Lord, however long the Lord has us here, may we be faithful to that.

Amen. Yeah. So, so good. And I think always something to consider and to think about. And, and so, C.J. do you want to kind of close this in prayer?

You bet. Oh, Father, we thank you so much that you've called us to this, this writing life. We. We acknowledge that there are days that it's difficult, it's not easy. There's pain, there's longing, there's messiness. And yet there's joy. There's joy in giving birth to things that you've put on our hearts, allowing those words to be freed from us through our pens, through our fingers typing, whatever it may be. I want to ask, Lord, that you would continue to remind each person here, both live and on the recording, remind us, Lord, of what you called us to remind us of why we're writing. Remind us, Lord, of. Of any promises or things that yout put on our hearts vision, things that, Lord, you were calling us up to. And I thank you, Lord, for each person and what you have in store. The people that they're the real people that they're going to impact in their writing. And I pray, Lord, that this time today and tomorrow would just be a. A small glimpse of you helping unleash the words that maybe have been locked up and are ready to get out. And I just pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. If you're ready to take a step of faith and finally finish your book, we have a few ways we can help you. First of all, you can join our free Writing week challenge to create a writing habit in just 15 minutes a day. Thousands of writers have taken this over the years and it is incredible the progress that you'll see. So join us@writingweek.com and again, this is completely free. Inside our book Writing Lab workshop, you can choose your book topic, write an outline, and create a writing plan in just 90 minutes so you'll finally feel confident that you'll actually finish your book. Get started@bookwritinglab.com and finally, you can get more support and personalized feedback from myself and our team by joining Christian Book Academy. And because the honest truth is most writers stay stuck and never finish their first draft. But inside Christian Book Academy, we help you partner with God to write your book so you can become a published author. So finally ditch your self doubt and take a step of faith so you can finish your book. Join Christian book academy@christianbookacademy.com and get 50% off your first month by using the Coupon Code podcast at checkout. There's a special coupon code for our podcast listeners. We love you, so come over to ChristianBookAcademy.com, use the coupon Code Podcast and we look forward to working closely with 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 powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give back birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.