Praying for Christian novelists

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Puddle Jumper

A thought I was having, perhaps we should pray over Christian novelists and those who have the potential.

I have a hard time finishing a story. Actually, I have a hard time continuing after chapter one. Not that I don't want to, but I seem to be too easily distracted by other things that when I think to write again I've lost inspiration. And I wonder if that's not the devil at work because of what could happen if I finished writing. And I wonder if there are others out there in such a position.

Perhaps we should pray regularly for God to strengthen those He has called to write.
 

Dancre

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that would be a good idea, but you have to also remember, writing is a discipline also. God will give you strength, but you have to take the step. have you tried using an outline to help guide you through your writing? or maybe setting a goal. (i do this.) i will write 5 pages today. then reward yourself with something, TV watching, food, phone calls, whatever. Mine is i let myself watch TV for an hour if i write 5 pages now. you can get folks to pray with you, but you have to take the step. He'll be there to help you, if you do.

kim
 

Betty W01

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Puddle Jumper, I know what you're saying, but I tend to agree with Kim. I'm not saying *you* are doing this (only you know), but all too many Christians look for the devil under every bush, when what is really needed is self-discipline and God's vision and a lot of elbow grease! That said, as God brings you to mind, I will pray for you to be able to stick to your guns. God bless!
 

Puddle Jumper

Perhaps then you could pray for such people asking God to shoo the devil away if he's involved or to help steady the person if he's not so they can stay focused. :)
 

zizban

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What you need to do is this: get your butt in the chair and write. Keep writing; don't edit or revise until you reach "The End. You may cringe at what you write but its okay. Just keeping going. Remember it took Moses 40 years to cross the desert. You can do it.
 

Puddle Jumper

Okay, this thread was not a personal prayer request. I think there's a lot more writers out there who struggle with getting through a novel, I'm one of them, but I'm trying to emphasize everyone, not me. :)

BTW, sitting at my computer is the easy part, not straying to solitaire, that's hard.
 

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Puddle Jumper said:
Okay, this thread was not a personal prayer request. I think there's a lot more writers out there who struggle with getting through a novel, I'm one of them, but I'm trying to emphasize everyone, not me. :)

BTW, sitting at my computer is the easy part, not straying to solitaire, that's hard.

Use a reward system. x number of words or pages equals Solitaire. Start small so you don't get fustrated and work your way up. Once the juices start flowing, you wont miss Solitaire.
 

Dancre

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zizban said:
What you need to do is this: get your butt in the chair and write. Keep writing; don't edit or revise until you reach "The End. You may cringe at what you write but its okay. Just keeping going. Remember it took Moses 40 years to cross the desert. You can do it.

ok uncle jim, just kidding, but you're right. sit, type, type, type.

zizban said:
Use a reward system. x number of words or pages equals Solitaire. Start small so you don't get fustrated and work your way up. Once the juices start flowing, you wont miss Solitaire.

This is what i do, 5 pages = 1 hour of TV, no pages = no TV, very bad, turn it off!!! Once you get into a habit, it will become easier. but you can rebuke the devil all you want, but you have to remember, it's you who is playing solitaire, you're the one who is making the decision, not him. it's a matter of discipline. something i do is i always pray before writing: Help me, Jesus, to write, i don't know what i'm doing. and He always helps.
kim
 

arrowqueen

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'God helps those who help themselves.'

Presevere.
 

Betty W01

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Mr. Underhill, I liked this:
God's children are expected to learn the family business.

AQ, your aphorism may not be from the Bible, but if we reword it a little, I agree:

God helps those who don't sit back, fold their arms, and expect God to do it without any activity on their part, as well as those who throw themselves on their faces in front of Him and say piteously, "This thing You've called me to do? I can't do it. Can You help me?"

Bob Mumford once said that the Holy Spirit is like a rudder in the Christian's life; a rudder steers you into the right path as long as you are moving, but it can't do anything if you're tied up at the dock. So, in the words of Mark Twain -

... throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
 

DrRita

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One of the best analogies I've seen in recent years comes from the movie "India Jones and the Last Crusade." The scene is where Indiana has to cross a deep chasm and his father has told him there is a bridge there but he has to step out for it to appear. Indiana can't see the bridge so naturally he's hesitant to step into thin air and fall to his death. The villians are after him and if he doesn't cross the chasm, he will die at their hands. So he takes a deep breath, steps out and the bridge appears under his foot.

I believe God expects us to ask, hear and obey. He will supply as we walk. It's a faith thing. It's all over the Bible. All God's people were (and are) expected to obey what we know to do. If God says step, we step in faith expecting Him to give what we need when it's needed.

It's a fine line between trying to make God's will happen (Abraham, Jacob etc.) and letting God do His will through us by our simple obedience. But anyway you shake it up, without stepping out in faith nothing will happen.
 

Puddle Jumper

Mr Underhill said:
Not biblical.

God helps those who can't help themselves.

God's children are expected to learn the family business.
Agreed that it's not biblical, but what's this "family business" you're referring to?

The Indiana Jones parallelism is good as is. It is a fine line. I've met those who believe God does all the work in salvation to the point that He chooses who He saves and that person doesn't have a choice in the matter. I think they're Calvinists. While there is Biblical truth to that in the fact that the Lord did all the work necessary for salvation, it is our choice to be saved. Now did God design us in a way that we would choose, thus eliminating any kind of free will from the get-go so what we think is our choice really isn't because he predestined us to make the choices we do? I don't know, that's far too complex a thought for me to work out and I really don't want to try. But the Bible does say, "Choose this day whom you will serve" which indicates that we have the choice. I hold to that verse when those people try to tell me I can't make any choices on my own because all my choices were predestined by God. Those people tend to come across as being a tag egotystical too because on the flip side, they believe if God chose you to be saved, there's nothing you can do to lose such salvation, thus seeming to say you can do whatever you want and it won't matter. I think that's a dangerous game to play because there's a verse in the OT that clearly states people who say, "I can do whatever because I belong to God" as an excuse to do evil, God says He will not forgive.
 

Betty W01

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We are God's children. As such, the family business could be said to include creation, forgiveness, love, mercy, justice, righteousness, peace, joy, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, comforting the sorrowing, setting the lost on the right path, and freeing the slave or prisoner (at least, the emotionally or spiritually imprisoned...). Any other business you'd like to add?

And how exactly are we called to do the above through our writing? I mainly feel called to write to the secular world, comforting the grieving, giving practical help for every-day living, and calling my reader's attention to the wonder and awe that surrounds us every day. Sometimes I explicitly mention God, sometimes not, but everything I write is (or is meant to be, to the best of my ability) from a Christian worldview.

How are you called to do the above and through what?

Discuss...
 

imaginelane

I have the same writing problem. I start with an incredible burst of awesome writing and drawing, and then...everything comes up to stop me from getting back to it. Then sort of an actual block problem comes. Not writer's block, but working on it block. Praying for each other is an excellent idea. Have you ever written from God. It is unbelievably incredible. It just comes out of "nowhere", though it is actually very much "somewhere"! I only get that if I am giving the time to it, so if I can't get to sitting down and giving God my time, then it isn't going to happen, so satan wins and those words of God are never published. It would be the same principle for someone writing without looking to God to supply the words. If you can't get the time and concentration to sit and write, then it doesn't happen.
I believe 'helping yourself' comes under 'obeying God'. Get into the groove with the Holy Spirit, and then when you are labouring, you are doing the correct labors to stay in line with what He wants to happen for you.
 

imaginelane

"We are God's children. As such, the family business could be said to include creation, forgiveness, love, mercy, justice, righteousness, peace, joy, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, comforting the sorrowing, setting the lost on the right path, and freeing the slave or prisoner (at least, the emotionally or spiritually imprisoned...). Any other business you'd like to add?

And how exactly are we called to do the above through our writing? I mainly feel called to write to the secular world, comforting the grieving, giving practical help for every-day living, and calling my reader's attention to the wonder and awe that surrounds us every day. Sometimes I explicitly mention God, sometimes not, but everything I write is (or is meant to be, to the best of my ability) from a Christian worldview.

How are you called to do the above and through what?"

I had a very moving night years ago in which I was shown vividly by God (and I wrote this down, so when I figure out where I put it, I can post it) that I am to use my pen as my tool to reach the world. I have no doubt that it truly can be done. That doesn't mean one person is to do everything on their own. None of us would appreciate that anyway, would we? We ALL want to write and be used by God. We all make our little chinks into the seemingly immovable block of the secular world, and God can allow major things to occur here and there as He sees fit.
I am going to include God in everything I write, with the intent of it being published. If nothing else, I will be obedient and loving to include Him. And otherwise, how would He be compelled to use me in any major way if I know I can include him or not include Him and I decide not to?
Some personal specifics to answer your question: Well, one I choose not to reveal until the books come out because it would give away too much! But others are that the song lyrics I wrote are directly about God though written in a way that anyone could be attracted to them and listening to them, not just to be sold to a Christian audience. The poetry collection I started are intended to be for women who are being abused or otherwise oppressed. They are written, and wow was this hard for me because I love words!, for the 'average Jane' who may not be a reader even, let alone someone who would ever spend time with deep poetry. They are written with just enough poetry and mystery to make them interesting, but in simple enough words to be read by any hurting woman. Um...a short story I am working on has an Amish man as the main character. I'm working on a novel that will involve Catholic monks. These are sort of 'segways' into providing a Christian message and putting Christianity in a beautiful light for others. And the Christmas cards I am working on are actually small versions of paintings that will also have a Christian message.
 

Puddle Jumper

Betty W01 said:
We are God's children. As such, the family business could be said to include creation, forgiveness, love, mercy, justice, righteousness, peace, joy, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, comforting the sorrowing, setting the lost on the right path, and freeing the slave or prisoner (at least, the emotionally or spiritually imprisoned...). Any other business you'd like to add?

And how exactly are we called to do the above through our writing? I mainly feel called to write to the secular world, comforting the grieving, giving practical help for every-day living, and calling my reader's attention to the wonder and awe that surrounds us every day. Sometimes I explicitly mention God, sometimes not, but everything I write is (or is meant to be, to the best of my ability) from a Christian worldview.

How are you called to do the above and through what?

Discuss...
I really don't think about my target audience more than I think about what I want to write about. For a long time I've wanted to tell a story that accurately displays a Christian's journey, mainly because Hollywood is so lousy at it. Such a story I think would appeal to a Christian audience in finding parallels, in finding that their struggles are not unique to themselves and to a non-Christian audience in seeing what Christianity is really about.

But I guess I think more of the Christian audience. The church will never be perfect, but I think it has the potential of coming a lot closer to Christ than it is. I think there are a lot of wounded, hurting Christians in the world, feeling that way because of the church, and thus feel distant from the church and a loss of desire to go which ends up straining their relationship with God and they end up feeling this despair and aren't sure where to lean. Kind of like the Michael W. Smith song "Lead You Home" where he sings things like, "So afraid that you will not be found. It won't be long before your sun goes down. The vultures of darkness ate the crumbs you left. You got no way to retrace your steps. You wonder how you ever got this far. etc..." I feel compelled to write to such people more than anyone else.
 

Dancre

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imaginelane said:
I have the same writing problem. I start with an incredible burst of awesome writing and drawing, and then...everything comes up to stop me from getting back to it. Then sort of an actual block problem comes. Not writer's block, but working on it block. Praying for each other is an excellent idea. Have you ever written from God. It is unbelievably incredible. It just comes out of "nowhere", though it is actually very much "somewhere"! I only get that if I am giving the time to it, so if I can't get to sitting down and giving God my time, then it isn't going to happen, so satan wins and those words of God are never published. It would be the same principle for someone writing without looking to God to supply the words. If you can't get the time and concentration to sit and write, then it doesn't happen.
I believe 'helping yourself' comes under 'obeying God'. Get into the groove with the Holy Spirit, and then when you are labouring, you are doing the correct labors to stay in line with what He wants to happen for you.

there's a reason why this block happens. sometimes the thought of doing the novel can be overwhelming. when you see all those pages, all the writing, it can take your breath away. have you thought of using an outline and map out the story instead of just jumping into it? or maybe write only 5 pages a night. it's more of a discipline than of the devil. it's more of the flesh saying, "ah, i don't want to do this." than anything else. make yourself sit down, i will do two pages tonight. once the discipline sets in, everything else will fall in place.

kim
 

trebuchet

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Imaginlane said "Have you ever written from God. It is unbelievably incredible. It just comes out of "nowhere", though it is actually very much "somewhere"! I only get that if I am giving the time to it, so if I can't get to sitting down and giving God my time, then it isn't going to happen, so satan wins and those words of God are never published."

It is so incredible when it comes from God! But is anyone like me, with a push-pull relationship with Him? It's not the discipline that satan attacks; it's the heart of the thing, the motivation. I just rediscovered Ephesians 6:11-19. I think I'll make it my prayer for writers.
 

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Praying for for an author I didn't even know exisited brought me a tremendous blessing.

About a year ago I did a review of a YA novel called Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis. He's a nice "up and coming" speculative fiction author. This books was fabulous. I did the review and sent him a copy. We corresponded and in the process I told him that I'd been praying for a YA novel like this for almost 10 years - since my own boys were of the age to read this type of fiction. He wrote back to say that he and his wife just held each and cried when they read that. Apparently it was 10 years ago that he wrote the book but the market would not allow for a novel like his at the time. Once Harry Potter got "hot" the Christian industry was looking for alternatives in this realm. His fit the bill perfectly. He now has a multi book contract for his "Dragons in Our Midst" series. I believe that my prayers were heard and that God used them along with Bryan's persistance to bless many young people with exciting, Christ centered, speculative fiction.

God certainly IS good.:Coffee:
 

Betty W01

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That reminds me of Daniel 10:13. Isn't it fascinating to consider what is going on in the heavenlies when we pray? So many times, we are guilty of thinking that if we can't *see* what we asked for, happening in front of us, that nothing is happening and God is not answering our prayers. Well, unless God shows us, we have no idea what's going on in unseen realms - and besides, "No" is also an answer.
 
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