Write His Answer

Are Your Words Bearing Fruit?

Today is bitter cold – a day to think warm thoughts about the bulbs I planted in the fall. If spring isn’t late, in about six weeks they will begin to push through the soil that is now frozen. Really, that isn’t very long except when you’re waiting. 🙂

Before I share an excerpt from my book, Write His Answer – A Bible Study for Christian Writers, here’s a great opportunity for those of you who live in Colorado. My friend, Cec Murphey, has borne much fruit through his writing and speaking.

 Cec Murphey will be in the Colorado Springs area for an interview on Wednesday, March 11. He’ll also speak for the Denver ACFW chapter on Monday night, March 9. Cec would like to fill the gaps in his schedule with speaking opportunities. He’s willing to be in the area for several days. Do you know of a church that might like to invite him in to preach and teach? Are you part of a recovery group/college/or other organization that might be interested in hearing from him? Cec’s years as a pastor, hospital chaplain, missionary, educator, caregiver, and professional writer, along with his life experiences, qualify him to speak on many topics and to diverse audiences. He has plenty of energy and enjoys meeting and ministering to people. Audience size is not an issue. For more info about Cec, visit www.cecilmurphey.com. Contact Twila Belk (twilabelk@mchsi.com) with questions.

Now . . .  here’s Chapter 17, “Bearing Fruit.”

It is a bitter cold February day. As I sit at my computer and look out the window, I can’t help but daydream. A winter storm has encrusted the trees and bushes with a thick layer of ice that glistens in the bright sunshine. Spring seems a long way off. Wistfully I dream of golden daffodils and fragrant lilacs.

My thoughts wander to the vegetable seeds I planted yesterday in window boxes on my toasty radiator. Although they are weeks from sprouting, I’m already thinking how good it will be to have fresh, homegrown tomatoes, peppers, and cauliflower. The ringing of the phone brings me back to the present and, after a brief conversation, back to this blank screen. “Lord, what do you want to say through me?” I ask.

“Bear fruit,” I feel Him speak to my heart.

I sigh. For all my hard work this past month, I don’t feel I have borne much fruit. January’s mail was slow to bring acceptances or checks.

 “I feel as if I’ve plowed and planted my garden, but nothing is growing,” I complain. “It’s not that I mind the hard work, Lord. But when am I going to see the fruit of my labors?”

“Have you forgotten what I taught you about abiding?”

I open my Bible to John 15:4 and read: “Take care to live in me, and let me live in you. For a branch can’t produce fruit when severed from the vine. Nor can you be fruitful apart from me.”

I think back over the past weeks and the many excuses I’ve made to shortchange my quiet time with the Lord. It’s no wonder my writing is not bearing fruit. I have been trying to do it in my strength instead of His. Again the Lord reminds me that my relationship with Him is more important than anything I can do for Him. Then, in a new way, I also see the kind of fruit He longs for me to bear. Far more important than powerful prose or beautiful poetry is the fruit of Christlikeness.

“But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” I read from Galatians 5:22-23 (TLB). I have to admit that sometimes this fruit is sadly lacking in my life.

Love for the Lord and my readers is not always my motivating force. Too often I am caught up in the ego trip of seeing my name in bigger and better magazines. When editors do not accept my work, I do not feel very loving towards them.

My joy is lost when I push myself to get manuscripts in the mail and measure my fruitfulness by the number of acceptances I receive in return. My peace is destroyed when I take my focus off the Lord and put it on myself -on my goals, my needs, my feelings.

My patience wears thin when things don’t happen as quickly as I want and feel they should. Instead of waiting on God and his perfect timing, I become discouraged and irritable. I say unkind things to the people I love, especially to my children, when they interrupt me when I’m trying to write.

Goodness makes me think of Paul’s words about Jesus: “He went around doing good” (Acts 10:38). Am I “doing good” through what I write? Using Lee Roddy’s acrostic, BERT, do my words really Benefit my readers? Do they Enrich them? Are they Relevant and Timely?

Faithfulness. The Bible assures me that “the one who calls [me] is faithful” (1 Thess. 5:24, NIV). Therefore, I do not have to become consumed by the dollars and hours part of my writing-by the little I earn for the long hours I work. Instead, I can choose to trust His promise to supply all my needs (Phil. 4:19) and to remain faithful to my call to write His answer.

Gentleness, I learn as I look at the original Greek meaning of the word, is not just the way I treat others. The NIV Interlinear Greek-English New Testament translates it as “meekness.”Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, “It consists not in a person’s ‘outward’ behaviour only; nor yet in his relations to his fellow-men. . . . It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting.” In other words, instead of almost demanding that God “bless” my ministry, I must surrender my desires to Him. I need to follow Jesus’ example and remember how He took on “the very nature of a servant, . . . humbled himself and became obedient to death” (Phil. 2:7-8, NIV).

 Self-control makes me think of discipline and my need to take control of the hours in each day, as well as my thoughts, feelings, and actions which often defeat me. I can choose to dwell on the positives and not procrastinate. Most of all, I can choose to relinquish control of my life to the Lord every day and trust Him to work in me and through me.

 “Yes, I am the Vine; you are the branches,” I feel Him speak to me again through his Word. “Whoever lives in me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit” (John 15:5). He doesn’t say when, but He also doesn’t say maybe. Instead, He gives me the conditions. I must deliberately choose to abide in Him and submit wholeheartedly to His pruning of my motives and goals. I must take care to stay close to Him-to let Him live in me. Only then will my life and my words bear fruit.

Responding to God’s Call to Write

 Prayerfully consider whether or not love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are evident in your life. Then read Jeremiah 17:7-8; John 15:1-8; and Galatians 5:22-23, asking the Lord to show you how He wants you to grow in Him. Write His answer in the space below.

Write His Answer by Marlene Bagnull
is a “must-have” resource for any writer.
It offers the perfect balance of practical tools,
personal honesty, and insightful passages
of Scripture. I was inspired by her wisdom
and challenged to answer God’s call
to write in authentic, life-changing ways.
Write His Answer will help you solidify your calling
and get to the root of insecurities may writers face.