PRAYING BEFORE YOU WRITE

Do you pray before you begin writing? I suspect most of you do. I do not see anything wrong with brief prayers. Some of you have prayed, "Lord, help me write." Or you may have prayed something like, "Father, guide my thinking." I pray prayers like that. Just acknowledging God has a positive effect on your thinking. And of course, God answers prayer.

But I would like to suggest that you at least try something a little more difficult. Could you spend extended time in prayer as you sit down to write. I  will let you decide how long extended prayer is for you. But I am suggesting that spend enough time to deepen your fellowship and pour your heart out in praise.  For me the main problem with this is time pressure. Even if you are not on a specific deadline, there are always things to do. Most writers, and I assume most of you, have a real job too. And there is only so much time to write.

I have been particularly driven lately. And even if I don't have an appointment or some other distraction in the next hour or so, I am anxious to get going. But there are blessings that balance the difficulty. The first, is peace. I write better when my heart is at peace. I just wrote something that I am unhappy with. Of course I am agitated that I may not be able to fix it. But I will be better able to improve it if I am trusting it to God.

Another benefit is inspiration. I have seldom come up with a wonderful idea while I was praying. In fact, some of my ideas that were obviously direct from God came at odd times when I was neither writing nor thinking about what I wanted to write. But prayer brings me close to God who alone inspires.

The final benefit I will mention here is a higher perspective. More than anything else, a devotional time helps me see from God's point of view.

Give this a try. You may find that it is not your best way of writing. Or you may gain some benefit from it. You may even find the breakthrough you have been looking for in your writing. I hope you are blessed by it.

http://daveswatch.com/index.html
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/