Prayer is a powerful and effective part of the Christian life. It connects us to our heavenly Father and makes us more sensitive to hearing His small, still voice when He speaks to us. As the saying says, “Seven days without prayer makes one weak.” To be strong in our faith, we must connect with God.
It’s no different in our writing life. Whether we write Christian fiction or are Christians writing fiction, we tell our stories because God led us to do so. (Prov. 16:9 The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.) When we follow His guidance in obedience, He blesses us. Power and blessing—isn’t that something we all want for our writing as well as our lives? To hear His guidance and tap into His power, we need to communicate with the source.
You might write stories for the purpose of entertaining your readers, or you might write them with the intention of illustrating a biblical principal or showing the Christian life lived out in difficult circumstances. Either way, when you create characters people care about, you open the door to their heart. This makes storytelling a powerful tool for reaching people, and it’s one of the reasons Jesus spoke in parables. If those listening to His stories were open to His message, they were touched deeply. Whether we set out to do this or not, stories touch people, so we should make sure we’re going the direction God wants us to go as we write!
If you don’t already do so, begin 
making prayer a part of your writing process today!
1) Pray before you start writing.
2) Pray when you reach a trouble spot.
3) Pray as you revise.
4) Pray that God will direct your thoughts.
5) Pray that God will touch people through your writing.
There are so many ways to pray for your writing; it doesn’t stop once the story is written. We need to listen for God’s guidance as we look for an agent and a publisher, to help us balance our time between writing, our job, and our family. We should listen for God’s guidance and be willing to go through the doors He opens for us. Most of all, we need to lay our writing at His feet—after all, He’s the one who blessed us with the creativity to write in the first place—and let Him accomplish His purposes through us, His children.
Prov. 16:3 Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.
Prov. 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straights.
Heather Rath says
Today, I needed this reminder. Thank you, Suzanne. You struck a chord with your column.
Suzanne Hartmann says
I think we all need this reminder occasionally, including myself, which is why I wrote it. So glad it struck a chord with someone else as well, Heather.