Praying the Scriptures for Your Writing Life

Are you going through a struggle in your writing life? Maybe you just received that rejection for  the twelfth or fortieth time. Perhaps you didn't do as well as you wished in a contest. Or those doors just aren't opening for a new freelance opportunity.

When our emotions are high, reading and praying the scriptures can bring our mind in line with God's will for our lives, helping us to see things from his perspective.

Here are some verses you could pray for your writing life:

When facing rejection: Lord, help me to forget what is behind and keep straining toward what is ahead. You have a good plan for my life. You use even these rejections for your purpose to draw me closer to you. Help me to focus on what is ahead, the heavenly prize. Help me to keep pressing on, for I know you desire me to be diligent. Thank you for the prize laid up for me in heaven as a believer that is so much greater than any accolade of the world. Help me to look to hear well done good and faithful servant instead of looking for other's praise. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Checking our motives: Lord, let nothing in my life be done because of my own ambition. When it comes to my writing, I have dreams. You give dreams, but I must make sure my dream is in your will and not just my own desire. Lord, take away the selfishness and the arrogance. Lord, where you have given me those to give me correction help me to accept it gracefully and to allow you to use it to change both my writing and me. Lord, when others succeed in their writing, help me to be truly and genuinely joyful for them without one hint of envy. Help me to look to others and helping them succeed in their writing wherever they are on their journey (Philippians 2:3)

God's view of ourselves: Lord, train me in humility. Where I think more highly of myself than I should, humble me. Teach me to humble myself in your sight. Lord, help me to not be lax in taking correction from others you have placed in my life. Use correction from other individuals of my writing to help me to grow as someone who is willing to be taught, not only in my writing but spiritually. (Romans 12:3)

Looking for God's approval vs. man's: Lord, show me whether I am truly looking for only your approval, or for other people's. Where I'm looking for other's approval, convict me and change my heart. I desire to serve you alone (Galatians 1:10)

Persistence/diligence: Lord, in my writing life, help me to work hard. Help me not to get discouraged but to be consistent in working on this calling you've placed in my life. Help me to write for you and not for others. Give me the strength to work hard and persist (Colossians 3:23)

Do you have favorite scriptures that have encouraged you in your writing life?

Julia enjoys writing women's fiction whenever she can find a chair free of smushed peanut butter sandwiches and lego blocks. She is a wife and homeschooling mama of two littles. She also enjoys reviewing and writing for Library Journal and the blog Wonderfully Woven.