Involving God as Your Writing Partner

 

By Karen Wingate

 

It was a case of writer’s block the size of the Egyptian Pyramids. I’d pondered what to write for an assigned article for three months. Finally, I wrote in my weekly goals, “rough draft” with three asterisks to the left of the notation. Do or die. Monday was the day.

 

But after a marital misunderstanding the night before and a bad night’s sleep, I was brain bleary and defeated. My husband and I resolved our differences and set a course for the rest of the day. I would go for a walk to loosen my mental paralysis and then get to work.

 

Over the years, my prayer life has become informal conversations that would never reach publication in a collective of profound prayers. The Lord knows what I’m worried about anyway, so why not just say it? My prayer that Monday morning was blunt. “Lord, I have no clue what to say in this article. What do You want me to write?”

 

Learning to pray over my writing has been its own work in progress. At first, my prayer requests and my writing goals were like three-year-olds in parallel play. As rejection notices piled, my requests for God’s favor increased. Whenever my finger poised over an email Send button, my head bowed in prayer. Now, on my walk, I went a step further. I asked God His opinion about what I should write.

 

The idea of seeking God’s input into our daily plans is not an original one. Old Testament heroes like Joshua and David often “inquired of the Lord.” Sometimes their inquiries were yes/no questions, other times, open-ended. God either answered directly, through use of the mystical Urim and Thummim the high priest held in his breastplate ((Exodus 28:30), or through a prophet. The Bible also records times when leaders failed to ask God’s counsel which led to disastrous results.

 

God gives the Holy Spirit to guide Christ-followers into all truth. Our work of representing God in our writing is no less important than the Israelites preparing for battle. When we begin the work we believe God has given us to do, we can use this same concept of asking for His direction.

 

Here’s some sample questions you can use to “inquire of the Lord” about your writing:

 

·       What new insight about Your nature do You want me to see today?

·       When shall I write today?

·       What writing task shall I complete today?

·       How can I show Your role in the life of the character I’m writing about?

·       What fresh angle shall I take on this article/devotion?

 

After you “inquire of the Lord,” record the ideas that come to your mind. Examine them according to Scripture. Then be obedient to pursue the task God gives you, continuing to be open to His leading as your ideas develop.  Seeking God’s guidance works in the administrative part of your writing ministry too. If you are at a loss on how to effectively use your time or manage your marketing, ask God for His counsel and then listen.

 

Once you’ve done what you believe God has asked you to do, surrender the results to Him. How He uses your words, your life, and your connections with people is now up to Him.

 

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go:

I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Psalm 32:8

Photo courtesy of Unsplash and Fa Barboza. 

 

Karen Wingate is author of Grateful Heart: 60 Reasons to Give Thanks in All Things (2025) and author of the award-winning book, With Fresh Eyes: 60 Insights Into the Miraculously Ordinary from a Woman Born Blind (2021). She is a contributor to Proverbs 31’s Encouragement for Today devotional and other online sites. Visit her at www.karenwingate.com