{Godly Gain} Being Led by the Spirit in Our Writing and Following the Example of Jesus in Prayer

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message, create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

Are you ready to be led by the Holy Spirit in your writing? Hi, my name is Shelly Hitz, and this is my husband cj and we are here today to share with you a godly gain skill. This is where we talk about keeping Christ at the center of our writing, of our business, of our lives. And today, CJ is going to share about something that he's really been studying and thinking about. And this is the topic of being led by the Holy Spirit.

Yeah. Thanks, Shelley. So, you know, lately I've been just in God's word and just keep seeing sort of a theme coming through regarding prayer and specifically just looking at Jesus's life. And of course, you know, the Apostle Paul, even in the Old Testament, you know, prophets being led by the Spirit, you know, and whatever they said. And so I wanted to just kind of share a little bit of what God's put on my heart and something that you can think about as, you know, you endeavor to write something for God. You know, I think so often we just sort of get these ideas, we get these notions that we can just set out and do something without really consulting God. And if you're like me, you might have a great plan and you set out to do it and you realize you didn't consult God, it was something done out of your flesh, and you're sort of left with a whole lot of wreckage, you know, behind you. You basically are running forward at a fast rate, blind. You know, I heard an illustration recently about people in South America that would basically say it's like going down the Amazon river, which has full all kinds of peril around every corner.

Yeah, for sure.

And, you know, it'd be like having your family on board. You're blindfolded. You're just heading down this rushing, raging river without any direction whatsoever, not knowing what's going to be on around the corner. And I think so often we do that in our writing or just anything that we're. We're seeking, you know, to do. You might even, you know, we live here in Colorado, and so we can relate to steep mountain roads. Imagine just going full speed down a mountain and there's corners, sharp curves, and you're just racing down, but you're blindfolded, right? And you can't see what's ahead of you. You're just racing down and you have your family on board with you. Because so often when we're making these kind of decisions, and I've made some horrible decisions in our marriage, and unfortunately, Shelly gets carried along with that. She suffers the consequences as well. And so that's why I want to share with you. Just, I want to encourage you to really seek God in prayer, to be led by the Spirit before you actually endeavor to write. And during the writing process, because otherwise, I think we spin our wheels. We get frustrated, we wonder, why isn't anything coming to me? Why is it so laborious? Yes, there's a real enemy out there pushing back against the things that, you know, God wants to use us in. But I think many times we bring on more trouble onto ourselves because we don't consult God ahead of time. We just sort of rush out. And then we hope. We just hope that maybe God will approve of our plan.

Yeah. And I think a lot of authors, like, you know, you get an inspiration, you get an idea, you. You get that book, and then it's just like, whew, I'm going. I'm going for it. I'm going straight ahead. And let us know what you're thinking. Like, has that ever happened to you where you're just like, you get an idea, maybe it is inspired from God. I know that's what's happened to me. I get an idea, I know it's inspired from God, and then I just go, whoo. Straight ahead on the strength finders test, I'm an activator achiever, so I can be a doer, and I will just dive in. And sometimes I forget to continue to console God along the way. So I loved that illustration that CJ shared about going down the Amazon or going down a mountain road blindfolded.

So I want to share just a few things from Scripture with you, and if you have your Bible with you, or maybe you're at your computer and you can just quickly look it up on Bible Gateway or something like that. Go for it. I'm going to just start off in Mark, chapter one and just not reading the whole thing, but just kind of pointing out some things that involve Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. And so you may recall that in Mark, chapter 1, verses 12 and 13, Jesus is led by the Spirit out into the wilderness, out into the desert, and he's going to be tempted there for 40 days. And another, other Gospels, it mentions he fasted, you know, the whole time. And so he was willing to be led by the Spirit out into that desolate place to undergo some. Some temptation and to really Sort of undergo some trial, you know, in order to strengthen himself for ministry. And so that's the first thing I want to point out. If you look at verse 14, it says that Jesus, you know, after coming out of that 40 days, one of the first things he did was he preached in Galilee. If you look at verses 16 to 20, he actually picked his disciples. So here's. I want to just point out a couple things here, that there were a couple huge things that would follow what Jesus did out in the desert. He had a huge decision to make regarding who was going to follow him as his closest disciples in his three years of actual preaching and teaching and healing ministry around Israel. And so those are a couple huge things, you know, preaching, picking his disciples. Verses 21 to 27, Jesus cast out an evil spirit. If you go down to 29 to 34, there's this story about him healing lots of people, including Peter's mother in law. So people were coming to him in droves. It had to be tiring. Anybody that's ever done ministry, whether it's speaking or praying with people after a conference or whatever it may be, it's tiring. It is because God's using you and power is going out of you, virtue is going out of you, as it even says happened with Jesus. Specifically, you remember the lady that touched the hem of his garment? And Jesus felt power. In one translation, it's he felt virtue go out of him. And so when we're doing things for God afterward, it can be tiring, it can be exhausting. And so keep that in mind. Now when you look at verse 35, verse 35 in Mark, chapter one says, before daybreak the next morning, okay, Jesus has been healing people. He's been up late, he's been busy. People just keep coming to him in the evening. Why did they wait till the evening? They wanted to wait until the end of the Sabbath so that they could come to him whenever it was free to do so, whenever it was kosher to do so. And so it says, before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. I want you to take note of that. Jesus was always wanting to steal away, slip away and be with his Father. He knew the power of connecting to his Eternal Father, his power source. Now, Jesus was God, you know, Jesus was God in the flesh, Immanuel. Now, if Jesus needed to recharge, if he needed to get away and being very God in flesh, how about us? How much more us his followers need to break away as we Endeavored to do anything for him.

So much more.

And so those are a couple things to keep in mind. Verse 37, Peter then, along with a few disciples, finally find Jesus in that isolated place. What does Peter say? He says, everyone is looking for you. You can almost hear sort of a guilt trip by Peter, what are you doing? You know, why are you here? There's lots of people back there, you know, and you can almost just sense this sort of guilt that Peter's laying on him, like you need to be back there. But what does Jesus say right after that in verse 38 and 39? See, Jesus isn't worried. It says, no, we must move on to other towns. Other people need to hear this message as well. I'm not going to lose any sleep over, you know, not going back to all those people, those crowds that are moving in to come and see me.

Of everyone around us, you know, he was relaxed.

He was with his father. He had spent some good time with his Father in that isolated place. He lost sleep to do. So. How much more do we, his disciples, his followers, who are completely made of flesh? How much more do we need to seek him fervently? So I'll take a break there.

Yeah, Just to kind of add to that. Just a minute. I posted this morning about setting boundaries, setting healthy boundaries. And when we're led by the Spirit, sometimes that means we're going to set boundaries and not be able to do everything other people ask of us. You know, people have demands that they want us to do things. They want us to do this, do this, do this, do that. And sometimes in order to do what God has called us to do, in order to be led by the Spirit, in order to live out our gifts, we actually have to use that two letter word, which is.

No.

Yeah, we didn't practice this ahead of time. You have to sometimes say, no, Jesus didn't say, okay, let's go back. Let me go back and finish what everyone wants me to do. Let me go back and heal. He had his eyes fixed on the Father and he was obedient to what the Father's plan was, not what everyone else's plan was for him. So I think that's a great, great point.

Yeah. So moving on to another little section that I wanted to, just, just another little emphasis of how Jesus operated and the example for us, you know, again, as we endeavor to write stuff that we want to share with the world and hope that it actually impacts and transforms people, Jesus grasped this whole thing regarding prayer and connecting with his Father, that relationship. John, chapter five. So if you want to turn over to John chapter five, I'm going to start off with verse 19. And again, I'm just going to look at a couple verses there in that chapter. Verse 19 says, I tell you the truth, this is Jesus. The Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does. Look at that example by Jesus again. Emmanuel, God in the flesh. And he's saying, need my Father. I've got to connect. I need to know his direction for my life and what he wants to do. What does he want to do next? Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. And then verse 30, just jumping down to verse 30 in John, chapter five, simply, he said, I can do nothing on my own. I can do nothing on my own. How many of us are guilty of trying to do things on our own? You know, we just celebrated Independence Day here in the United States, right? 240 years ago, we broke away from England, and we've been celebrating that particular day, July 4th, ever since as Independence Day. And yet, unfortunately, we've carried that same concept of independence into our walks with the Lord. We're not dependent Him. It takes some effort to seek him, to get on our knees in prayer. It takes some laboring, it takes some loss of sleep, sometimes even some loss of meals if we really want to have our passion just grow and the Lord be our food. And so Jesus says, I can do nothing on my own. Jesus is proclaiming this. How much more, you and I, we want to do something for the Lord that lasts, that's actually fruitful. And imagine what God can do through you when you're seeking him fervently with every ounce of your heart in prayer.

I just got really, really excited when you were saying that. And I just had something bubble up in me like. Like just thinking of everyone that's listening and watching this, either now or later, that as you plug in to God. And I'm as guilty as anyone. Like, it's easy to just pray in the morning and have my time and then, whoo, go through the day. But we were talking about this this morning and we decided to share this live. But it's like, you know, having a light that's not plugged in and you're thinking, what's not working? It's not working. It's not working. And sometimes authors will come to me and they're like, shelley, I just can't figure it out. I can't. I don't Know what to write it, my outline. I'm still. I don't know, with my marketing. And it's not working. It's not working. It's not working. And I just got this picture, like, when you were talking, like, you know, I can do nothing apart from. Or I do nothing apart from my father. That when we really get this concept and we really are plugged in, it's like all of a sudden, boom. That light comes on, and it's like, it's working, you know? So if you feel that way with something, with your writing, with your marketing, with some part of your business, just feel like this is not working. Ask yourself, are you plugged in? Are you asking for God's wisdom? Are you following his lead in your life? Because when you are plugged into him, he brings things to you. Like, I have a book project I'm working on right now. Broken crayons, still color. I've talked about it a lot, but I was stuck on that. And then I realized I haven't really been praying about this. I haven't asked people to pray. I asked people to pray. I started praying. CJ Started praying. And all of a sudden, it's not a coincidence. God starts sending me the things I need. He starts sending me the resources, and I'm learning the things that I need to learn because I'm doing things that I've never done before for this book. And it's like the pieces are falling into place. What was not working is now flowing. It's working. And so if you're feeling frustrated, if you're feeling, like, stuck, I just encourage you to think about that. And are you plugged in?

Good illustration. Excellent. Just, you know, going to that power source, you know, and being plugged in. I want to share just a couple other scriptures with you. One is Romans, chapter 8, verse 14. You know, Paul was writing here, and he basically just said, for all who are led by the spirit of God are children of God. Okay, so you want to be a child of God. Do you want to seek your daddy? You know, shortly after that, he actually talks about crying out to God, and he uses the word abba. That's the Jewish term for daddy. You know, do we come to sit on our daddy's lap and get his instruction for the day, or are we running around in circles? You know, obviously, use this illustration, you know, the chicken with the head cut off, just running around just in every direction, not getting a whole lot done, and actually the life slowly draining out of us. Right? That's, you know, A picture right there. Sorry to put that in your mind, that chicken with the head cut off.

And we literally saw them when we were missionaries in Belize. Like, that's what they did. Like, we'd go to someone's house and they'd fix us a meal and they'd literally, like, chop the head off right there.

I'm telling you, some of you have had fresh chicken like that. You keep. You can't beat it. The stuff you buy in the store, I don't care how good a quality it is, it has no. Nothing on. On a fresh chicken. That's that day. So that's just a side note. Yeah. So here's another scripture here, a little passage in second Peter 1, 20 and 21. It says, and it's interesting, you know, this is written by Peter, the guy that we mentioned might have laid a guilt trip on Jesus. You know, where are you? You know what? People are waiting back there for you. You know, Jesus wasn't worried. And now Peter, after Jesus's death and resurrection, is writing and he's ministering and he's preaching and he's learned a few things since then. And check this out. He says, above all, you must realize that no prophecy in scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding or from human initiative. That's a key word right there. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit. Again, think about this. These prophets were writing down prophecies. Isaiah, Ezekiel, you name it. Tons of prophets that wrote some of our books in the Old Testament. They weren't writing stuff on their own initiative, apart from God. They were waiting upon the Lord. What next, Lord? What do you want me to write next? What do you want your people to hear? What do you want them to read? What do you want future generations? Think about this now. This is the power of what you can do in your writing right now. Imagine future generations reading your stuff and being impacted because it came straight from the heart of God. It didn't come from your own initiative. You were waiting upon the Lord. And as you did that, boom, God gave you some things to write down. And that's incredible. It's such a good feeling when that happens. You know, you're being obedient and you're sharing stuff that's really going to last into eternity. Isn't that what you want?

And I remember. I don't know who it was, but I remember it might have been Beth Moore, another author. They were saying they actually were praying as they wrote the book that the Holy Spirit would infuse the words of their book so much that each person who picked up that book to read it would be impacted in the exact way they needed through the Holy Spirit. Oh, I just got chills. But, you know, you can be praying as you write those words that every person is impacted exactly the way that God intends, in exactly the way they need it in that moment that they're reading your book.

You bet. And I just want to share one last verse that comes from First John again, another disciple of Jesus who, as most of the others, you know, died a martyr's death. And so check this out. First John 2:17, which says, the world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. You know, that's serious business, actually. You know, are you doing your own thing? Are you doing God's will? Because if you're doing your own thing, just as it says there, the world and its desires pass away. If we're just sharing our own stuff that comes from our flesh.

Probably not going to have a whole lot of impact, at least eternal impact. So I want to encourage you to seek the Lord fervently. I mean, on your knees, crying out to him, saying, lord, what do you want? What do you want to do? Where are you moving? How are you moving? What do you want to say today? What do you want me to write today? It's 500, 600, 800 words, maybe a thousand. You really start getting into that writing groove.

Get in the zone.

What does God want you to say to this generation, future generations? And I'll just close with one more quote. And I know we're. I'm sure Shelley's planning to pray. You know, we're not going to talk about prayer without praying, you know, closing in prayer. But one of the things, and I just want to be honest here, that the Lord stir in my heart, you know, these are some urgent times we're living in. I don't have time, God doesn't have time for me just to be doing my own thing without listening to Him. You know, this is urgent stuff. And so God's been dealing with me. I just want to confess I have been very prayerless at times in my life. I have been very self sufficient. You've heard those words before. Selfish and thinking I'm sufficient on my own. And I just want to say that it's during those times that they're the least fruitful in my life. And I just feel empty. And when we were in Belize for two years, I remember God put something on my heart that we ended up Putting on a banner. We just basically printed out a whole bunch of sheets, 8 and a half by 11, and then taped them together and we made this little banner. And it simply said, prayer is the proof that we are relying on God. Simple as that. Prayer is the proof, right? Show me what your knees look like. You know, if I was just to use a cliche there, you know, are they worn out? Are my knees worn out? As we're seeking the Lord even on our faces before him for minutes, hours, who knows how long, however long it takes before you get a download from the Lord. And Lord wants to give you that. And so, Shelley.

Yeah, and we just encourage you guys to also consider joining our free facebook group@godlygain.com it's for Christian authors and entrepreneurs and it's just a safe place to have support and to receive prayer as well. But we just really have a heart to help authors, and not just like Christian authors, but authors who are Christians, who are Christ followers, to really keep our eyes focused on Him. That is our heart. We don't do it perfectly, but it's our heart and we love to be able to connect with each other. So let's just go ahead and pray over each one of you and over your writing and just pray and ask God to do a mighty work. These are urgent times and these are times when so much craziness is going on, so much that we don't understand. But God wants to use us. He wants to use us and he wants to use the gifts that he's given us in his way and in his timing. So God, I just pray right now for every single person watching or listening. I pray that you would anoint their writing through your holy Spirit. I pray that you would remove any self sufficiency, any just self led activities. Lord, I pray that you would remove any writer's block, any frustration in Jesus name. And Lord, I pray that you would give each of us exactly what we're to write. I pray that if we're to write a project that we've been putting off, like the project I've been putting off and I just feel so strongly I need to finish it. If there's a project that someone has been putting off because it feels too hard, it feels too difficult, it just feels like there's so much opposition. I just pray you would empower them, you would equip them, you would give them exactly what they need to finish the that project. Help us to know, like help us open our ears to hear you and help us to turn off technology and take breaks occasionally so we can hear your still small voice. I just pray that, that we would have that heart of, you know, Lord, we can't do anything apart from you, but when we abide in you, we will bear much fruit. It's not might, it's not maybe. We will bear much fruit because it's a promise. Your word. I thank you so much for everything you're birthing through each author that's listening and we pray your blessings upon them tonight. In Jesus name, amen.

Amen.

All right, well, thank you so much for joining us and thanks, guys. We're planning on doing more of these Godly gain sessions. We just love to be just used by God and just to be encouragers and we know we're on the journey with you. We are in the trenches with you and we, we love you guys. So thank you for being here and we will see you again on the next Godly Gain segment.

God bless.

Bye bye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Audience Show. Connect with us online@authoraudience.com where you'll find all the resources mentioned in today's episode. While you're there, grab Shelley's free video training on how to write and publish your book using her six Step Ascent method. Join us again next week to learn how to reach your audience with your message.