Write Like God Is Reading It

No matter what you do there will always be those who don’t understand, who disrespect, who don’t appreciate why you devote your time to it. Whatever God has given you to do, do it for His glory. You will be blessed by Him, whether anyone else understands or not. 

 

Wandering Wednesdays

At a writer’s conference recently, the speaker asked the question, “Can you stop writing and never write again? Can you live without it?” He went on to say that if you can live without it, then do so. However, if you are compelled you must write. If you cannot live without it, then you must write. He went on to talk about many famous writers throughout the history of the world, including those God used to write Scripture. Where would we be if they had chosen not to write what God laid on their hearts?

Is it my choice whether or not to write? Some people believe it’s a choice, but for believers, the things God lays on our hearts, the talents God has chosen to give us, are to be used for His glory. I write for Him by choice, to choose not to write would be choosing disobedience.

My devotionals are intended to point people toward God, to share spiritual truths that God has shown me to others who may struggle with the same thing.

Poetry is a gift from God to me. It comes in moments when I need the Lord, when I need help or encouragement. I used to keep poems to myself. However, one day, as I walked through the church auditorium during Bible study, I noticed a woman sitting on the back row crying. As we talked I learned about the severe pain she was experiencing, and the fear that the doctors would be unable to help. I had a poem in my Bible that God had given me about the pain I struggle with. I knew I had to share it with her. The next week she told me how it had ministered to her heart.

That poem wasn’t mine. It was a gift from God to me. Whatever He gives me is for my benefit, but it is also for His glory. Something I have written can’t bring glory to God folded up in the back of my Bible or saved in my computer where no one ever sees it. My problems are not unique, so whatever help God gives to me, He desires me to share it with someone else at the proper time. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

Fiction is written to tell a story. Though nothing can compare to the parables, of Jesus, He did use stories to illustrate spiritual truth. There are people who would never attend a Bible study, but they would read a novel. Isn’t it a good thing to have a Christian novel to give them that might show them Jesus Christ? I believe it is. John said of his writing, in John 20:31, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” I write that people might see themselves in my characters and through them learn to see Jesus in their circumstances.

If God gives me something to write, I must do so if I choose to walk in obedience.

Singers sing. Preachers preach. Teachers teach. Painters paint. Writers write. All are gifts from God, therefore, to hide them away so no one benefits is a sin. Paul wrote, in Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” My words must be written in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are devotionals as good as poetry? Is poetry better than fiction? Is a novel better than non-fiction? Is non-fiction better than fiction? I believe that all are of equal worth in the eyes of God and He has given each different form for a purpose. I pray no less when I sit down to write a novel than I do when I sit down to write a devotional. Each form of writing may be used by God for individuals who will be reached in a way that is unique to their needs.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not believe Christian authors belong in the same class as Paul, John, Peter, Isaiah, David, and others, but we share with them a responsibility to write the words that God gives me for His glory.

When the day comes that I stand before the Lord, I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I want to hear my heavenly Father say He is pleased, that I used the gift He gave me well.

So do I have to write? Yes, I do. I must write like God is reading it, because He is.

This blog was inspired by Bob Hostetler at Writer’s Advance Boot Camp 2015, Billy Graham Training Center, Asheville, NC.

© Norma Gail Thurston Holtman, March 9, 2015

About the author:

Norma Gail’s contemporary Christian romance, Land of My Dreams, released in 2014. She is a Bible study leader, and writes devotionals for ChristianDevotions.us, StitchesthruTime blog, and “The Secret Place.” She belongs to American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America, and the New Mexico Christian Novelists. She is married and has two adult children.

 

 

 

 

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Book Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Land-My-Dreams-Norma-Gail/dp/1941103170/ or

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/land-of-my-dreams-norma-gail/1119606864 ?ean=9781941103173

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas Bookstore: http://store.lpcbooks.com/product/land-of-my-dreams/