Why Walking With God Transforms Your Writing

Welcome! I cannot wait to dive into today’s chat with you. The last time we were together, we gleaned inspiration from the Holy Spirit around the phrase, “Build and set the captives free.“

If you missed that chat, go back one post to catch up.

If you’ve been wondering how to strengthen your writing, how to embolden your voice, then, my friend, scoot in close. We’re taking inspiration straight from the Word, and I pray you walk away on fire for the more that God has in store for you this year!

You matter. Your story matters. Let’s set your passion ablaze to see readers impacted by the stories you have to share.

Strengthening Your Writing Starts With Walking With God

Before we unpack all of today’s golden nuggets, let’s break down the key scriptural truths behind today’s heart chat.

Over the last few years, there has been a beautiful revival catching fire of individuals returning to their first love—namely, God the Father.

They have died to self in ways they never thought were possible. They surrendered it all for the cause of Christ, and they have risen in boldness, victory, and with a transformation that left them filled with awe, wonder, and a sense of purpose to see mountains moved for the glory of God.

When Writers Surrender Their Craft to God

While these individuals span across many marketplaces, as a creative, I have enjoyed watching these beautiful, on-fire, reborn writers rise from the ashes to take their place in God’s kingdom to fulfill a work that God prepared for their hands to complete.

The stories that these writers are producing move me deeply, because I see more than their characters, more than their inventive story worlds. I see their love, their experiences, their wrestles and testimonies reverberating from the pages to leave their mark on the hearts of the readers.

There is an anointing being entrusted to these vessels who have laid it all before the Father, and they are unashamed of their dependency on Christ.

And there is something that marked my spirit over the past couple of weeks that has broadened my perspective on our writing journeys.

What Noah and Abraham Teach Us About Faith and Creative Clarity

The last time we sat together, I made some comparisons between Noah and Abraham regarding the type of clarity we could have while on a journey with Jesus.

Noah was given clear blueprints and instructions on how to build the ark. Abraham was given a directive and an end goal (a.k.a. the promise) with faith being the motivation to endure the murky middle.

The Common Thread: Both Men Walked With God

However, there is one major similarity between these two men. Both men walked with God in intimate fellowship.

Now, before you roll your eyes at me. I’m not spouting off a generalized Sunday school lesson here.

This right here is the catalyst that will transform your writing if you’ll let it. Just stay with me for a few more minutes.

Why Perfectionism and Religion Weaken Your Writing

Something I learned while overcoming perfectionism is that the spirit of religion will deceive you into thinking that you have to earn what is freely given.

For example:

• Do you want knowledge and wisdom on how to build a sustainable business?

• Do you want to grow your craft but feel like you’re at wits’ end to find the right solutions?

• Are you trying so hard to increase your reach and gain sales, but feel as though you’re losing the uphill battle?

The Lie That You Have to Earn God’s Guidance

The spirit of religion will convince you that you have to be good enough, holy enough, perfect enough to hear God’s voice and thus His directions and wisdom for your life.

And the lie that rises is that if you don’t hear anything, then you must not be holy, clean, or pure enough for God to speak to you.

Yet the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, will remind us that we don’t have to earn God’s love, favor, or mercy. That is all freely given.

Jesus alone is our source of healing, hope, and wholeness. Christ, as the Prince of Peace, leads us into true freedom and completeness.

Surrendering, yielding, and dwelling with the Lord is something we can achieve. And interestingly enough, that’s what we see testified through Noah.

In Genesis 6, we read that the world was deeply destructive, corrupt, and wicked.

The Light of The Remnant

Honestly, I don’t think we could ever humanly understand the level of grief and sorrow that struck the heart of the Father at the depravity of what mankind had become.

And some could argue that our world today resembles the days of Noah, and I will agree with that to a point because wickedness does abound and is relentless.

However, in today’s age, we have a remnant, a spark of hope that hasn’t died out. A remnant that still carries forth the gospel regardless of what life throws at them. A remnant fighting tooth and nail, by faith, to redeem the times.

Noah’s age didn’t have a remnant like we do. In fact, only Noah was found righteous in his generation.

Noah Didn’t Find Grace by Working—He Found It by Walking With God

But guess what? Noah wasn’t found righteous or blameless because he built the ark. If you are overcoming perfectionism, breaking free from the spirit of religion, and shaking loose the fear of man, I want you to grasp this.

Noah did not receive grace because of the works of his hands.

Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord because Noah chose to walk his life with God.

That’s it. Noah walked with God.

Building the ark was a commission, but the favor came because Noah walked with God in intimate fellowship.

For my fellow word nerds, the Hebrew word for walk in Genesis 6:9 is halak (haw-lak’), and it is more than a generalizing word for walking or the manner in which we live. This beautiful word denotes a level of intimacy that indicates a committed fellowship.

Favor Comes From Fellowship, Not Performance

A friendship that isn’t superficial but truly resonates in the heart, mind, and spirit.

I know we’ve all gone through seasons involving broken relationships. Sadly, some people view friendship as transactional. They just stick around as long as they can get something off you.

And if we treat God transactionally rather than covenantally, then we run the risk of our lives being surface-level in meaning.

And that’s not being harsh. That’s bringing reality into focus.

The purpose of mankind—when God placed Adam in the garden—was to walk in fellowship with God and to tend and protect what God had created.

Adam was invited into intimate fellowship first. Then, he was entrusted with an amazing commission.

Walking With God Is an Invitation Still Open Today

Here’s another truth I want you to grasp hold of: God has not stopped inviting mankind to walk in fellowship with Him.

In the Bible, we read how so many walked with God. There’s Enoch, Noah. Abraham walked before God and in turn is called a friend of God. Not to mention Moses, the prophets, all the way down to the disciples. And let’s not forget those who faithfully serve sacrificially even today.

I love how Jesus says to His disciples in John 15:15, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

How Walking With God Actually Strengthens Your Writing

Now, you might be loving these golden nuggets so far, but if you’re wondering how all this can strengthen your writing, my friend, sit tight because that truth bomb is coming.

We know that as we walk with God, everything can drastically and eternally change in our lives.

Granted, it doesn’t happen overnight. The more we surrender, not just of our daily lives, but our hopes, the dreams of our hearts, the future we envision for our writing careers, the more we trust God with those desires of our hearts, the more we will see the miraculous hand of God at work.

Trust me, I can testify on this alone for hours.

Intimacy With God Shapes Your Voice and Vision

As we receive God’s truth over our writing, over our identity, over our future, we can see a level of maturity, freedom, wholeness, and completeness that can only be attained through Christ.

When you grow a relationship with someone, you learn not only their likes and dislikes, but you also pick up the nuances of their character. You gather inklings of their thoughts from their body language and facial expressions. You can recognize their mood based on their tone of voice.

As we walk with God, becoming a friend of God through our wholehearted commitment and devotion, we gain a deeper understanding of God’s heart, nature, motives, plans, etc.

The more intimate the relationship, the greater potential for said relationship to transform you as a person.

As Noah walk with God, that day-to-day relationship positioned him to hear God’s heart.

Often, people will read Genesis 6 as God being vengeful, but is that really the case? At that point in history, God had finished discerning the hearts of mankind and found them to be full of wickedness continually.

Genesis 6 isn’t a display of vengefulness. Instead, it was a chance for redemption.

Hebrews 11:7 reads, “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

Full confession: when I read this verse a couple of weeks ago, I was hit with repentance-level conviction, and I’ll explain why in a second.

As Noah walked with God, God shared His heart with Noah. And Noah, being moved with godly fear, put his faith into action.

To quote an ESV commentary footnote: “Faith is awakened as God’s voice speaks to His people, and faith responds readily to what God says.”

When God Asks You to Build Before You See the Fruit

So confession time … there have been many moments over the year where I legit wanted to walk away from writing. And there was one tantrum in particular that I am not proud of. Mind you, I am not that person anymore.

However, a day had come when I stubbornly refused to keep going. I was done with writing. I was done trying. I had outright tired to quit.

I messaged my husband to tell him I was shutting down the business. I texted a friend at the time to tell her I was walking away from it all.

I told God I was done. I was tired of putting so much of my heart into a dead business.

There was no life. No fruit. No purpose to keep going. I was tired and drained from pouring so much time and effort into something that wasn’t going anywhere.

And God spoke with such love and mercy, saying, clear as day, “I told Noah to build an ark, and he had never seen rain.”

Build Even When You Don’t See Rain

In His lovingkindness, God wanted to rekindle my faith.

But my response, like the spiritual toddler I was at the time, was to stomp my foot and yell, “Well, I’m not Noah.”

I continued to huff and puff. Determined to stand my ground in my effort to throw my business off a cliff. During the tantrum, I did have people speaking encouragement to me. My friend reached out to talk me off the cliff.

Even my husband, who was at work and had no idea what God had said to me, texted me, “God told Noah to build an ark, and he hadn’t seen rain.”

It made me so mad to have that phrase repeated back at me. I yelled yet again, “I’m not Noah!”

My tantrum escalated so badly that God reprimanded me by flat-out telling me that if I quit writing, I would be in willful disobedience. And He asked me if I really wanted to do that.

God’s reprimand was not to shame me but to protect me from making a huge mistake.

That firm question said in love opened my eyes to the truth.

I did not want to live my life in willful disobedience. I did not want to actively turn my back on God. So, instead, I submitted and surrendered.

Obedience Doesn’t Always Bring Instant Results

That tantrum was almost eight years ago. Part of me is grieved because I still haven’t fully built what I feel God has entrusted to me.

Which is why Hebrews 11:7 prompted such a repentive response in my heart. It has taken me so long to get my act together.

Granted, many of those years had been spent in spiritual warfare, deep refinement, character transformation, the whole nine yards.

However, I do not want it to take another 8 years for God to see His will on this earth.

If you’re feeling this with me, then let’s declare that this is the year we build. Obedience doesn’t mean instant fruit, but it does ensure a solid foundation for when the fruit does burst forth in due season.

You’re Not Noah—You Have Your Own Commission

Full disclosure, my name is still not Noah. LOL. I don’t say that from a place of rebellion, but one of identity. My name—my identity—is Desiree, an Overcomer, and I have my own commission from the Lord.

I have been entrusted to build something monumental in partnership with God’s will that is meant to be used for the good of His kingdom.

I only know an inkling of what it is. But by faith, I’m putting into action my trust and belief in God’s spoken word.

My writing business has never been about me. But the souls and the hearts that God wants to bless through me.

Just as He wants to bless others through you.

This, right here, is the pivotal place where our writing can take flight.

Writing as a Kingdom Assignment

Because as you walk authentically in covenant with God, that level of relationship will transform you to see people as Christ sees them. And will prompt you to love people as Christ loves them.

Your life no longer becomes your own. Your heart will beat in tune with the Father’s.

And before you know it, the maturity of your writing voice becomes a living testimony of your time spent with the Father.

You become bolder, clearer, and moved with an anointing that did not come from you. Ask me how I know. Wink, wink.

It’s also in this place where seeds of impact are sown from authenticity.

How Spirit-Led Writing Creates Lasting Impact for Readers

Let me share a quick example of how I’ve seen this play our practically and not just in theory or with my own works.

During my winter binge reading, I devoured a series where the author’s heart continuously leapt from the pages. The hard, challenging questions about God and humanity that her characters were asking were not only deep, raw, and vulnerable, but they were questions she’d ask herself.

Then the character’s took us on a journey through the process of showing how they still found God faithful in the midst of hardship and sorrow. I was so moved because I know without a doubt it came from personal experience.

And what’s even more amazing is that most readers may not understand why they’re moved by such a book. It stood out to me because my eyes are trained to catch such things. Yet many readers will walk away having no idea that seeds were sown by the Holy Spirit to uplift, encourage, and inspire them on their own personal journeys.

This is the impact of mature writing in operation under an anointing.

Your Writing Can Be Anointed Without Losing Its Marketability

And your book doesn’t have to be overtly Christian to have the same impact. It’s all about whether or not you have a heart connection with the Lord.

So that when you pour out your heart—the one walking and beating in-tune with God’s—you give the Holy Spirit opportunity to sprinkle in seeds that can be nurtured and watered.

One thing to also consider … surrendering your stories and writing courageously doesn’t mean you’re forced negate the desires of your heart in order to have your work be anointed by the hand of God.

Wanting a thriving business isn’t a bad thing. Wanting a consistent income so your books are profitable isn’t a bad thing.

They just shouldn’t be the main thing. Otherwise, you’ll lose sight of what your books can be instead.

When Success Is a Tool, Not the Goal

As we hear the voice of the Lord this year, may our faith urge us to act in reverence and godly fear to complete the drafts, publish the books, and build the type of writing business that serves as a haven for readers needing what God has to share with them through us.

It takes such courage and faith to believe and trust God at His word. And it could be that God uses that very courageous faith to move the mountain blocking the way to your greatest victory.

Reflection Questions for Writers Walking by Faith

As we come to a close today, let’s ask ourselves these reflection questions:

What are some mindsets, or false narratives, causing me to delay or procrastinate building or completing what God has asked of me?

Then ask yourself, what is one thing I can do today to walk courageously in faith to see the project completed?

Quick reminder: this isn’t about continuous, nonstop labor. This isn’t striving for perfectly completed to-do lists like a robotic task monkey.

This is about looking at our to-do lists, not with the eyes of man but through the lens of the Holy Spirit, surrendering our calendars, goals, and passions, doing that which aligns with the Father’s will for us. Walking out what He stirs in our spirits. Faithfully sowing into what He has placed before us, even if we don’t see any growth yet.

God Gives the Increase—Our Role Is Faithful Obedience

I’ll leave you with one more set of scriptures before we fully wrap up:

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:5-8, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”

My friend, God is always faithful to give the increase. But we can be distracted by our own desires for success that we fail to move forward in faith. Trust me, I’ve failed enough times to know this. Yet despite the years I’ve wasted, God never once gave up on me. And I know He will never give up on you.

Please take the encouragement shared today to inspire you to press more deeply into the Holy Spirit, walk with God, and allow Him to embolden your voice for the anointed works He can—and will—pour out through the heart you surrender to Him.

Want to continue the conversation?

I am praying for you, and I know you’re going to rock this.

It’s only gonna keep getting better from here.

I hope you were blessed by this message. If you know of a fellow writer who’d be encouraged by this chat, feel free to send them a link to this post.

And feel free to hit up my inbox if you have any questions or would like to continue this conversation.

In the meantime, happy writing, and enjoy the journey.