5 Spiritual Disciplines for Writers

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by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Disciplines we shouldn’t skip:

1) Time in the Word. When your bible bookmark hasn’t moved in weeks-there is a problem. You must know the truth found in God’s word. Bottom line fundamental fact.

2) Prayer. What a joy and privilege it is to pray for the saints. And to pray for the unsaved that they might receive God’s precious gift of salvation. When God answers those prayers, according to His perfect will, we can celebrate-or trust Him, knowing He has it all in control.

3) Fellowship in the church community. Corporate worship is powerful. Praising our Lord, contributing to the needs of others, soaking in our pastors’ teaching-all perform a mighty work.

4) Serving others as God has called you to do. Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. When was the last time you did something for another writer simply to serve God? Period. Taking time to read and review a book is a time consuming service to those in the ministry of writing. When was the last time you did so?

5) Obedience. Discerning His will for your life is going to be difficult if you aren’t engaging in the disciplines listed above. Going with our feelings is a great way to get into trouble pronto. Listening for that still quiet voice of the Lord takes a commitment to obedience. Willingness to set aside the business of our lives and seeking His perfect will.

But I’m on a deadline… Really-who are you serving? Who is in ultimate control of the deadline? God is your Lifeline. When we get in line with His plan, He blesses us.

Did He speak to your heart and tell you to set aside your work and spend time with the most difficult person you know? And you know it was from Him because you sure wouldn’t choose to do that. After you’re done with your excuses and you ministered to the irascible person, you might return to your original task. And find it gets done so quickly and with such ease that only God could have accomplished it. Because He did. Through you-when you walked in obedience.



Carrie Fancett Pagels, Ph.D. is represented by Joyce Hart, Hartline Literary Agency and serves as ACFW MidAtlantic Zone Director. Founder of Colonial American Fiction Writers and administrator of the group blog “Colonial Quills“. The Website “Overcoming Through Time-With God’s Help” features author testimonies of overcoming and Christian book reviews.

Comments 0

  1. Great post, Carrie.

    A good reminder to recognize and follow through with what our priorities should be.
    Thanks.

  2. Okay, girl, you nailed me to the wall with this one, or maybe I should say God used you to nail me to the wall, especially on the reference to set aside work to spend time with a difficult person, so thank you for the very timely message!! I think … 😉

    Hugs,
    Julie

  3. Wow, I didn’t see all these nice replies to my post until I browsed today! Thanks JANET GRUNST! You are a sweetheart!

    JANET SKETCHLEY – so great to connect with you and thanks for the sharing. I dk what Pingback is, but will check that out!

    LISA NORATO, my CACW and CQ contributor and encourager–God bless and keep you! I am so glad this post spoke to your heart!

    LINDEN BARRICK – We are so blessed to have you in our Tidewater group! Need to apply these disciplines myself this morning!

    JULIE LESSMAN, I nailed myself first, LOL! Uh oh, I hope I wasn’t the difficult person, haha!

    CARRIE LEWIS, I see you over at the course loop all the time! I am big on OBEDIENCE to God even when it, or maybe especially when it conflicts with earthly nonspiritual thinking!

  4. Carrie, I don’t know the tech terms but a pingback just lets you know a link to this post has been posted somewhere else (in this case, my blog). I think they’re info-only things, and can be deleted from the comments. It’s a courtesy point to the original blog author.

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