THE RESTFUL DISCIPLINE OF PRAYER

In the garden before the cross Jesus asked His disciples if they could not even pray for an hour. I'm afraid He would have to ask us if we can pray for five minutes. Extended prayer is particularly difficult in our lives so filled with responsibilities, blessings, and distractions.

Praying significantly in the midst of writing is also quite difficult, and requires discipline. I maintain a series of prayer lists for people and concerns around me. And I try to pray for them in occasional breaks in my writing. This week I have been working on several chapters that I’m adding to a book I've nearly completed. Not only am I anxious to complete the book, but I've been driven by the need for these chapters. And I was consumed by what I was writing. I began one of those days with a devotional time, but I did not take a break all morning long. I suppose I wouldn't have stopped for lunch if my wife had not got my attention.  

I wanted to get going again as soon as I had gobbled down a sandwich. I had to discipline myself to pray and read my Bible a little. It was a warm afternoon for March. So I took my drink outside to spend a little time with God. I had hardly begun before I noticed something I had not realized during my meal or writing all morning. My muscles were wound up tight, and I was exhausted. I actually found my devotional time restful and was restored to begin writing again as soon as I finished.

I  began my afternoon writing with zeal. In a few minutes I was caught back up in the passion of my writing. By the time I finished I was again exhausted. I had difficulty finishing the planned prayer for the day. But I am pleased with what I wrote. And I strongly suspect that the quality of my writing was better because I not only took a physical, but a spiritual rest in the arms of God.

http://daveswatch.com

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SANCTIFIED IMAGINATION

I recently heard an interview with Tim Keller in which he said something that seems to apply most to writing.

“Prayer sanctifies your imagination. It plunges it into God.”

Let me suggest a few ways prayer affects your imagination.

Few books or series stretch the reader’s imagination like C.S. Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles. Lewis said the idea for the first book came to him from a picture in his mind of a faun standing under a street lamp on a snowy evening with an umbrella in one hand, and parcels held tightly in the other. I think I can see how such beautiful books rose from such a picture. But your imagination does not have to lead to fantesy. It may not even apply to fiction. But it will help you see what your reader needs to see in order to understand what you have to say.

God is the deep source from which the fountain of your imagination overflows. God is the ultimate muse. Prayer brings you into clearer communication with Him.

Your relationship with God lays a foundation from which your imagination can rise. Imaginings need a solid rock of truth and reality to make any sense, to communicate anything to your readers.

Prayer stretches your imagination to greater and higher plains of truth and communication. In prayer God will frame the points you need to make with your imagination. He often does this without your knowing. Your readers will soar with you, and land safely at the same destination of truth.

A SABBATH FROM WRITING

Do you take a Sabbath from your writing. I recommend that you take one if you can. I say, if you can, because many of you write while maintaining a real job. And you won't write much if don't write in every free moment you can muster.

After retiring from active pastoring, I began trying to write full-time. At that point God was convicting me of not having taken days off or taking enough time for spiritual and physical renewal in my 40 plus years as a pastor. So I begin my full-time writing with a Sabbath. I don't write or work on my writing from Friday evening to Saturday evening. I have found it rewarding in a number of ways.

First, I have not had to deal with burnout. Most of the time I chafe because I feel like I have not got enough done by 6:00 when I quit on Fridays. Frankly, this keeps me motivated. The break always refreshes my passion. I am usually anxious to get started again on Saturday night. Of course, we are often doing family things on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Those things add to my motivation rather than distracting me.

I also gain inspiration in a Sabbath. I do not necessarily recommend that you stop thinking about your writing while taking a Sabbath, whenever you try to take it. But some of my best ideas come when I am not thinking about writing at all. If I didn't discipline myself a little, I would hardly ever have a time I was not thinking about my writing.

Finally, and most closely related to Biblical observance of the Sabbath, by taking a break I acknowledge that God is the source of all writing. I show that I am trusting Him to help me think. I am asking God's help in finishing what I working on. A Sabbath declares that everything I am, and have, and do comes from God. I give it to Him much like I worship with a tithe of our income.

http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/  

http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/

http://daveswatch.com/