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Words of Encouragement for Christian Writers

Which of these two messages do you tend to listen to when it comes to being the writer God has called you to be? Which one provides true words of encouragement?

Dear writer,

I wanted to take this opportunity to once again remind you about your lack of literary talent, skill, and that no one reads your blog. You really should give up and find something more productive to do with you time. Maybe you could try quilting. Or collecting pens. Either of those occupations would do the world more good than whatever it is you’ve been typing.

People are laughing at you when they read what you’ve written. You should be embarrassed. Your writing style is sophomoric and your creativity is best-matched in a pre-school setting. If you want to keep wasting your time then—by all means—feel free to keep on keeping on. Just remember that no one else is wasting their time reading your stuff. 

In closing, do us all a favor and cancel your blog account, forget about that memoir you’ve been thinking about writing, and no one cares about the manifesto you’re peddling. You’re nothing, and little will change in the future. Just saying…

Forever your adversary,

The Devil

“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Dear beloved,

Allow my words of encouragement to rejuvenate your soul and remind you of the importance of your writing ministry.

You were created in the very image of God. Michael the archangel and Gabriel my messenger cannot claim that marvelous privilege. But you were made with perfection in mind. I have plans for you; plans that you would not believe even if someone were to tell them to you.

I am so very proud of you! Keep up the good work. There is an abundance of fruit being harvested—at this very moment—because of your writing ministry. People are being encouraged beyond your wildest imagination. If you could only see what I’m about to do with what you have already written. That article you wrote last month, for example, is going to be used to bless a little girl on the other side of the planet who has been wondering why she exists. You will never meet her in this life, but just wait until you get to glory.

Keep in mind, my beloved, that I have gifted you like no one else. You are as unique as the prints on your hands. You are marvelous in my eyes. I will forever keep you, sustain you, encourage you, and provide you with the right words to pen when they are needed most. Just keep writing!

The message you are telling people is what needs to be written. I have placed you where you are at for this very purpose. Don’t ever forget that. I love you more than you know. And I’m so very proud of you!

Forever your Advocate,

Jesus Christ the righteous

Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:5-9).

QUESTION: When it comes to penning words of encouragement, why do we so often listen to the echo of that first message, rather than the truth of the second one? Click here to leave your comment below.

* Image credit: caddy_corner (Creative Commons)

Comments

  2. Donna says

    Awesome! I’ve received that message from Satan but have chosen to keep going. Thanks for the encouragement and for reminding me that Christ is on my side!

  4. says

    Charles, how did you record that voice in my head? I will give the devil credit for his persistence, but not his originality. Apparently he’s peddling this same message of discouragement to more writers than myself.

    • says

      Actually, Joe, the enemy has essentially one message of discouragement. It is packaged in many ways, but it is a single message of discouragement. I’m glad to hear that I’m not alone. (Actually, I wish I was alone in this matter.) 😉

      Keep writing, my friend!

  5. Dale Bremer says

    Charles, I started a blog about 1.5 years ago targeted towards the university audience to testify that a university professor and scientist (me) could find compatibility between science and my faith in Christ. And that true Christianity is anything but stuffy and “religious”. I haven’t posted for more than four months, perhaps because I have been listening to the first message above. I stumbled across your blog a few days ago and really enjoy it. I write a lot scientifically, but I love writing about our Savior so much more. Thanks for the encouragement!

    • says

      Dale, I’m so glad you dropped by. I’m also happy to hear this article encouraged you. Keep up the great work, and be ready to be used in any way that God chooses to use you. (And start blogging again, if you’re able. It will bless many people.)

  6. Marion Altena says

    Hi Charles, thank you for this blog post. The message you describe as ‘words of discouragement from satan’ is not only trying to enter my head due to lack of trust from myself, it’s the very message I am getting from the biggest part of the literary scene from my country, The Netherlands.
    Traditional publishers, critiques and bookstore owners try to keep the old fashioned status quo in our country alive: ‘you only can be taken seriously as an author when WE have been the ones who helped you become that author, when WE have published your books.’
    In The Netherlands, the literary scene is a couple of years behind compared to the U.S.A., where indie-publishing is getting more and more accepted. This means that I, as a writer who has foreseen the future of Dutch literature and therefor has decided to go ‘indie’, am not only greatly ignored by the media, but even humiliated.
    In Holland, they say that if you publish your own literature, you have no talent to write and that there is no doubt about your books being ‘crap’. But at the same time, they refuse to look and check whether or not the book in question is really that bad.
    Besides this, I’m a Christian author. One would expect to, in that case, find a safe haven in the Christian world, but the opposite is true. Many Christians ignore my books, because I write in the style of C.S. Lewis: I use symbolism in a way that is still scary to the traditional thinking among us… meanwhile I have the perfect entrance to readers from the underground cultures and what I write appears to be a blessing to them.
    Still, alltogether, I feel the difficulty of my position as a Christian writer in the mainstream. And I feel like asking for prayer, though I’m not sure if that’s appropriate on this blog…

  7. Jaylin Palacio says

    Wow! I was recently laid off from my job, so I am going through a period of self-discovery where I am asking myself what I was created to do. When I read the first letter, I recognized those comments that so frequently go through my mind. But I didn’t read the whole letter because I know that those are not the words of God. But something happened in my spirit when I read the second letter. The words immediately connected with my spirit and tears quickly began to stream down my face. I know that God has put inside of me a desire to write words that will encourage people all over the world. I know it is in me, but I don’t have a clue how to even take the steps to make it happen.

    • says

      Jaylin, just start writing. Before you write each day, ask God to give you the words that someone else needs to read. Your path is already planned by God. Keep moving and the doors will be opened. God bles!

  8. Nora says

    Thanks. The 2nd letter about made me cry. Hope you don’t mind but I’m going to copy your link to my FB. God bless you in your efforts for HIM

  10. Erin E McEndree says

    I actually read an article that sounded just like the first letter. Made me so mad! I wrote a blog about it stating that even the author started at ZERO skills, ZERO followers and ZERO articles. We all start at the beginning. The difference is…who gives up and who keeps on keeping on!

  11. Funmi Akinmade says

    The first letter is what I ‘receive’ every week I write my blog post! The second is what I believe because I heard God tell me to write. I thank you for this reminder; I am going to make a copy of the second letter and put it on the wall above my computer :)) Stay wonderfully blessed!

  12. Adrian G. Delgado says

    The first letter is easier. The second one means you are finally “free” to go do something else, free of obligation or worrying about whether this last post/story/novel was better than the last, free of worrying that someday the juice will run dry or God will force you to stop. The first aligns with the world better, since statistically speaking so many writers don’t make any money at all, much less a lot of it. The first letter gives us the comfort of mediocrity. Sloth is one of the sins for a reason: it is the purposeful decision to shirk our work, just because we THINK we hate it.

    The second letter is so hard to prove to ourselves. That one person we benefit with our tiny blog is in fact just one person we will never see. Even if we met the little girl, would one little girl be enough? The garden wasn’t. We know that.

    The second letter does not give us immediate, wordly comfort. It doesn’t even answer the question of “why”: why did I start writing in the first place, why did I write all I have written so far, why do I still want to, under all the depression and boredom and lostness and anger, why do I still NEED to write. The second letter gives us the perfect love of God, and we have been taught that such love is worthless in this world.

    The second letter is truth, so pure that it burns a bit as we swallow. I remember my grandmother, just before she put the peroxide on a cut, that it would hurt, but the pain would let me know that it was working.

    I find it strange, but I am encouraged by one of the most curmudgeonly, even bitter books of the bible: Ecclesiastes. “All is vanity and chasing after wind.” tells me that, since nothing matters more than God, and all the glories and kingdoms of the world are nothing compared to a simple meal and laughter, that all my anxieties and fears that my work is not of a certain level are meaningless, and my failure to attain money and fame with people is also of no consequence. Every pursuit, after a fashion, is a waste of time, save loving god and my family, so why not waste time writing?

    That’s how I see it. Thank you for this post. We all need it.