My daughter was reading “The Trouble with Larry” from the
Mess Detectives series to me tonight. This particular story focuses on
listening to God, your parents and teachers etc and highlights that trouble
occurs when you don’t listen or pay attention. I thought to myself how true
that statement was for when you don’t listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit
– trouble seems to flood towards you. I thought that this would be a good
subject to write about but then God flipped it and showed me when I should not listen and who I should not listen to – the voice of the
enemy.
His voice loves to pop up and it likes to shout louder than
any other voice, sometimes his voice is so loud that you wonder if God is even
talking to you at all because you can’t hear it through the racket inside your
head. Jesus said that His sheep know His voice and they will not follow the
voice of the stranger. He pre-warned us that His voice is not the only one we
would hear. We would hear the stranger’s voice too but that we are not meant to
believe what the stranger’s voice is telling us.
Unfortunately we tend to believe that strangers voice all
too often and it becomes familiar to us and then we find it hard to distinguish
who is actually talking to us. As writers we tend to be very critical of our
work in the first place, added to our own criticism is the judgements of critique
groups and publishers. We tend to take to heart any negative criticisms that we
receive and believe that they must be true. The enemy loves to play on this
negative feedback, he will often tell you things like, “You’re not qualified to
write that” or “Are you sure God called you to be a writer because that was
terrible?” or “How can you write about something of which you have no
experience?” and so on. He likes to create doubts in our own minds causing us
to question whether we really are good enough to be writers.
So how do you determine whose voice it is you are hearing?
For me it comes down to two things; is the voice producing fear in me or is the
voice filling me with love? The enemy’s voice says that I’m a terrible writer,
that I won’t amount to anything and that everyone is going to ridicule me. I
don’t want to be ridiculed or be labelled as a bad writer – I fear what others
think of me. So clearly this is not the voice of God.
God’s voice encourages you, He guides you and even if you do
not quite make it to the standard that you believe you should be aiming for God
is proud of what you are doing. I’d like
to remind those that may question their validity to be a writer that God called
you to this position. He gave you the gift to write. He qualified you to be a
writer. Your validity doesn’t come from the last pay check you received or the
last award you won, your validity comes from God who created you and gifted you
to write. You are worthy because God says you are worthy. Even if no other
person reads your writing, just know that because you wrote it out of a love
for God and believing that God told you to write it you are qualified to be
titled as a writer.
By stockimages, published on 17 November 2013
Stock Photo - image ID: 100218374
Natalie is a freelance copywriter and ghostwriter servicing the Christian market. She is also proudly a Child Advocate Network supporter with Compassion and volunteers for the Street Chaplains in her free time. To connect with her on various social networks please visit her website www.nataliemcnee.com
Thanks for that Natalie. That's a really powerful message. It's so easy to hear that negative voice and doubt yourself as a writer. I love the way you've clearly shown how to distinguish whether you're hearing God's voice or the enemy's. I think it's good to remember that we're in a spiritual battle as Christian writers. The enemy would not want any of us to share God's love in our writing. But if God is directing us, He will help us on our writing journeys. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeletePleasure Nola :)
ReplyDeleteHi Natalie, yes our life is full of competing directions and it takes discernment to work out the will of God within it all. I like the two factors to help us focus on what is right and true; is it fear or love? Thank you for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Natalie. Thanks for the important reminder and perspective.
ReplyDeleteThanks Natalie. The problem is when that negative voice taps into my own insecurities, and then I come into agreement with him. Until then I can sweep him away. Thanks for making the point that we are all called to write, and gifted by God. Otherwise shy would we be reading this site! Appreciate the warm word hug this morning.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Natalie. I agree that sometimes it is very hard to distinguish between God's voice and the enemy's voice. It is too easy to listen to the wrong person isn't it? I also liked how your clarified the difference between the two.
ReplyDeleteListening is so important and yet that's something I have taken time to learn. May the Holy Spirit continue to speak and encourage us so we in turn can write and bless His world. :)
Thanks for your wise words in this post, Natalie. I have certainly heard that accusing voice of the enemy loud and clear throughout my writing journey, but one thing that helps me is to keep my Bible open on my desk beside my computer as I write. That way, I can remind myself of the encouraging things God says to me in it when those moments of doubt come.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind comments everyone. That's also a great idea Jo-Anne :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Natalie. Sometimes God does correct us but the fruit of God's correction is so different from the Enemy's critical voice as it lifts us up to be more like him rather than tears us down in discouragement and despair. Thanks for the reminder not to listen to that cynical voice. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Natalie,
ReplyDeleteGreat encouragement for everyone. That voice of the enemy does seem to boom very loud at times. As you say, whether or not it creates fear in us is a good gauge.