How Writing With God Changes Everything 

By Joanne Shin

A lot of people have this fantasy of authors secluded in a lonely cabin up in the mountains, writing their heart out all alone.

If you’re a writer, you know that’s not true. Authors have a team of people behind them, including family and friends and alpha and beta readers. Chances are, when you were thinking of the supporters of the authors, God was not the first supporter that you listed. 

There are many writers who don’t include God in their writing lives, and it’s easy to see why. Writing with God is overlooked, and it’s not prioritized as much as it should be in a writer's life. However, there are a couple of questions that might come up from this. Does writing with God impact us? Why is writing with God important? 

A couple of months ago, I was writing a novel when I realized that my writing was not going very well. I was writing maybe one to two hundred words each day. I could see that the quality of my writing was not as high as it used to be, and my writing in general seemed to be going downhill. Now, it was my first draft of a novel, and I tried to tell myself that I just needed a break.

So I took my break, and afterwards opened my novel, and poised my fingers to write. Nothing had changed.  I forced myself to write, and enjoyed it, but there was a little voice inside of me that told me that something was wrong.

Not knowing what was wrong, I tried everything, from making goals for myself to getting accountability, but nothing really helped. And the reason why nothing was really helping was because motivation wasn’t the problem.

How the problem was not motivation, but my mindset

My motivation was not the cause of the issue, it was my reason why I was writing. When people asked me why I wrote, and why I wanted to publish, I told them something like, “Because I want to send messages into the world that God is telling me to write.” And it was true… Right?  

No, it wasn’t. No matter what I was telling myself, motivation was not the problem. After I realized that something other than my motivation was affecting my writing, I took another break. I spent a week off, and during the times that I would normally write, I read my bible and prayed, talking to God about what I had read, and about my writing.

Because I didn't have a big lightbulb moment, I initially thought that the extra week of reflection time with God was pointless. However, that did not mean that I had accomplished nothing during my time of reflection. It turned out that during the week of reflection, I had figured out why my writing was going downhill.  

It really did have to do with my why. Sure, when someone asked me, I told them that I was writing for God, but as time passed, my why had turned from glorifying God to self-goals. I wanted to earn money so I could help my parents, and I wanted to earn money so that I could show that young writers could publish.

Now, I’m not saying that my goals were bad. In fact, I still want to achieve those goals. The problem was that my goals were becoming why I was writing. It wasn’t to glorify God and to show people His love. It was to show off me, myself, and I.

The Lightbulb Moment

1 Corinthians 10:31(ESV) says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” This is what we should all strive to do, through our writing, through our words, and through our lives. 

I realized that my writing wasn’t about me, but glorifying God through it. This was a lightbulb moment for me, and I realized that I had to change my writing process. I realized [ES(1] that this could truly change my writing. I started putting myself in this mindset of “Everything I do is for the glory of God, including my writing.” I started inviting God to write with me, and I made a habit of praying to Him each time I was sitting in front of my novel, that this novel was to glorify Him.

After this, my writing journey started [ES(2] going uphill. I started writing more, the words flowed better, and I could feel myself connecting with the characters even more. The quality of my writing was improving in front of my eyes, and I really do believe it’s because I started writing with God, and had in mind the fact that my writing was for Him. And this doesn’t apply only to me, it applies to you as well. Inviting God into your writing process can really change everything.

This is way easier said than done, but here are the two main ways that helped me establish the habit of remembering to pray and invite God to write with me and remembering that my writing is for God.

Tip #1 

The first tip is praying before you write, and inviting Him to write with you. Praying before you write is a really important step, because it reminds us that we’re writing with God. Praying with God before we write can also help us relieve our anxiety of perfectionism. We don’t have to stress about our writing and making it perfect, because we can lead on God. He’s the one who is inspiring us, and He is the one who is filling our well of creativity and artistry. We can let go of the pressure of having to be good enough, since God is there with us. We can focus on Him, and his greatness. 

Here's an example of a prayer you could say each time before you write. You could also add in parts about specific things that you want to focus on in writing that day, such as writing with honesty, delivering themes well, and handling sensitive topics with grace. 

God, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for everything you have blessed me with today. Please be with me as I write today, and help me glorify you in my writing. Today, please help me as I write about a topic that is sensitive, and please be with me as I write this scene, so that I can handle it with grace. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. 

It’s that simple, but also so effective. However, it can be easy to forget, so having reminders can be really helpful. Whether that be a post-it, a digital reminder, or something on your refrigerator, having that reminder to pray before you write is really important. 

Tip #2 

If you have a daily reflection time with God (And if you don’t, I highly recommend that you do), pray about your writing as well. Before I realized how important God was in my writing process, I used to pray about family, friends, school and life, and I usually didn’t talk about my writing. I now know how important it is to pray to God about my writing, even when I'm not writing, because praying about my writing reminds me that my writing is to glorify God, not me.

There’s the answer to those two questions. Writing with God most certainly impacts us. It helps us write better, and it helps us look at writing in a different light. Also, this is so important because it reminds us that our writing is for God, to glorify Him, not us.

In our writing lives, inviting God to be a part of our writing process is crucial, not only because it helps us write, but because it reminds us that everything we do, including writing, should glorify God. 

How has God impacted the way you write?

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