The thief of callings, making priorities, & being faithful (online era part II)

 

The thief of callings, making priorities, & being faithful (online era part II) 

Episode 14

“We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.” 

― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

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Hello! <3 

Hello friend! Welcome to the “Faith Writing and Coffee Chats Podcast!” My name is Moriyah and I am a Christian, writer, book and coffee lover! Today I have with me an iced mocha latte. I hope you too have a yummy drink with you! 

Today is part two of the “online era” series I've started. Today we are talking all about the thief of callings, prioritizing what’s important in your life and being faithful. 

So, grab a cup of coffee and let's dive into this episode! 

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If God has called you to something you need to do it. Social media can in a way “take away” God’s calling on your life because…if you get so stuck and wrapped up in posting/social media/comparison and you get discouraged /distracted and you stop walking in what God has called you to then in essence you will stop your gifting. 

Let me explain… 

In The Bible 

The Bible is clear that… “God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” —Romans 11:29

This is 100% true. 

But…we also have free will. You see this time and time again especially in the Old Testament. You see God’s people who He loves and has chosen walk in His blessings and callings. They, having free will, are able to choose Him or not. They are able to stay with God or walk away. To be away from God’s blessing and calling for their life. 

One of the best examples of this is seeing the exodus of God’s people from Egypt. God does miraculous signs. He did the ten plagues to set his people free. He parts the Red Sea. He brings them food from heaven and water from rocks. His presence is with them. He guides them by a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. He saves them over and over again. He is leading them to the promised land. 

But they complain. They get discouraged where they are in the desert. They want to go back to Egypt to slavery because they miss the food. They miss their old Egyptian gods instead of the one true God who is leading them and speaking to them and is present in their everyday life. 

When Moses goes to speak to God on the mountain, the people turn away to worship a calf of gold of their own making. God’s chosen people chose a different path. It lead to their death. It lead to them being out in the wilderness for 40 years so that the whole first generation who complained and turned away from God and missed their old life would all die. All those people, God’s chosen ones who He was leading to the promised land, they missed out on that blessing and it went to their children. It was these people who cried out to God for deliverance. It was they who were first led to this promised land. But they couldn’t go in. They weren’t allowed to enter and see this place because they lost faith and walked away multiple times from God. 

So it is true, God will not withdraw His promises. It is not in His nature. It’s not something He can do. But…we can choose to walk away and we can choose to not walk in His promises and to not carry out the gifting He has given us. We can choose to disobey.

1Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you,

nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.

2It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.

Because of your sins, he has turned away

and will not listen anymore.

—Isaiah 58:1-2 

Another story to look at is the line of King David. To David, God made a promise for his children to reign. But if they were to walk away from God (meaning that they have that ability to disobey and walk away from God and His commands) then the promise is revoked. 

You can find that in: 1 kings 9:4-9

We have a choice. A choice to follow God. A choice to walk in His calling. A choice to be faithful. A choice to obey. The reverse is also possible. We have the same choice and ability to disobey, to not walk in God’s calling, to not follow, and to walk away. 

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Being Faithful  

I want us to go back to the original point which was social media taking away your calling. Now social media can’t actually do this…it’s you. Who are you choosing to listen to? What are you doing with your time? What are you allowing to happen? What are you giving permission to in your life?  

Are you walking in what has called you to? Are you pursuing the calling God has placed on your life? Are you using your giftings for Him? 

It’s a choice. Your choice. A choice to or not to follow. A choice to act or not to act. 

What other people say or do doesn’t matter. Your following count does not matter. Your presence on or off social media doesn’t matter. What other people are doing or creating doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. 

What matters is what God says and what you do with what He has said. If God has placed a calling on your life then He has a plan and He will make a way for you. Even if you have zero followers and connections. But are you faithful in what He has given you? If you can be faithful in the small God can and will give you greater things because you have shown that you can handle what He gives you. You can be faithful. 

Luke 16:10 

10  “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.

So, if God has called you to write. You write.

If He has called you to sing. You start singing. 

If He has called you to paint. Paint! 

Whatever He has gifted you in, you do it. You be faithful. You act on what He says regardless of results. That is something my parents say. It's really wise. 

For example: I believe God has given me the gift, the talent of writing. But if when I started to write, if I thought that the first book I would write would be this incredible masterpiece that needs no corrections because it is the best book ever written because God has called me to write and so it will be perfect every time I sit down to write…I would have probably quit writing a long time ago. 

This isn’t how it works. 

Yes, I believe God has called me to write and has given me specific stories and callings on my heart but that doesn’t mean that the first time or even the hundredth time I do something that it will be perfect. We are not called to be perfect. We are human. God works through our imperfections. 

Like the verses I’ve shared before, God wants someone who is faithful. Can you be faithful even if you mess up? Can you keep working and be faithful even if you don’t see it working? 

The first book I wrote was not perfect by ANY means. There were many mistakes but that is understandable knowing that this was the first book I ever wrote. It was a learning experience. I learned so much in writing that book and I know without a doubt that God was there with me giving me the words to say and write. God can use any story. I don’t know if that first book will ever be published—that would be amazing but it's okay if that doesn’t happen. I needed that learning experience to grow as a better writer. I learned so much in that book. It set me up to be able to write the stories I am working on now and the stories I’m praying and working towards getting published. God did so much in my own heart while writing that book. It also made me more humble. I saw my imperfections. I saw my mistakes. It made me want to get better. It made me able to have others give me advice and Input. 

Being Humble = God gives success 

You need input and corrections from others when you are writing—especially if you want to be a professional published author. You need to be able to receive feedback. If you can’t then you aren’t ready to be published. That's alright. It's a learning experience. You need to be and have humility. Especially as a Christian this is needed and key. 

Matthew 23:12 

But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

So, if you want to be successful in anything, we know that God is the one who gives success. How does He do this? He gives success—another way to say it is He exalts—those who are faithful and who are humble. If you want to make it in anything and be successful in anything then you need to be both of these things. Now, you could not be those things…but then you are going to be of the world and it won’t be of God. I want God to be the center of everything I do. 

A passage  I love is Psalm 127: 1-2 

1Unless the Lord builds a house,

the work of the builders is wasted.

Unless the Lord protects a city,

guarding it with sentries will do no good.

2It is useless for you to work so hard

from early morning until late at night,

anxiously working for food to eat;

for God gives rest to his loved ones.

I want this for my life. I want this for my writing. I want God to be the one who builds my career and life. I want God to be the one who gives me success. I want my life to be a testimate to Him. I want my life to be a light for Him. 

Do not listen to what the world or others say. If the world says you can’t, it doesn’t matter. What does God say? Listen to God not the world. Listen to God, not social media. Listen to God, not influencers. Listen to God, not the people you follow or who follow you. Listen to God, not what’s trending or working. Listen to God and not the doubts in your mind. Take God’s advice and not the world. You want to know how to get God’s advice? You read His word. The Bible. 

Making Priorities 

Be okay with saying no to things and making priorities. If you are a writer, then you need to prioritize time to write and work on your craft and writing. Your book will never just write itself. You need to actually write it. To write it you need to prioritize it and have the ability to say no to things. Maybe that will mean saying no to being on social media for a time (something I learned about myself was that I can’t write a book and be on something like instagram because then I don’t write or I can fall into comparison and my writing is negatively affected so I have to say no to that when writing). Or maybe you have to go to bed earlier so you can wake up early in the morning to get writing in (which this is a challenge I have for myself this February to finish editing one of my books and its actually been a really wonderful experience, yes I’m tired in the morning and end up getting really sleeping when it hits like five in the evening but its worth being tired having worked on my writing). Or maybe you are a night writer so you need to get away and turn off all distractions at night to write. Whatever it is, it is something you need to prioritize. 

There will always be something trying to grab your attention and fill your time. You will probably never just magically have open time to write. There will always be something and this isn’t just for writers, this is for singers, podcasters, entrepreneurs, business people, artists, gamers, whatever it is you do—you will need to prioritize it. 

I have seen so many people who say they are writers who never write. 

Just For The Blog: 

There are writers that can complain about being discouraged and burnt out—which is something I have felt—or saying how they can’t write (which side note, our words are very powerful and if you are speaking something over yourself you will end up believing it so if you are always saying you are a terrible writer then your brain will start to believe it and you will actually become a bad writer. This is biblical. There are so many verses talking about the power of the tongue—it holds life or death—and taking captive our thoughts and meditating on what is good and pure and of good conduct. As creatives we also need to live by this). 

But because they are stuck in this space they don’t write and they aren’t walking in their calling and they are stopping their gifting and God’s calling on them.

I  believe if you are feeling this way then you need to get off of social media, take a break, get creative again, get in nature, get deep into God’s word, pray, and find your inspiration. 

There are other writers who only talk about writing but they have no action behind their words. They make aesthetics and reels and playlists—and those are all good things. I make playlists for each of my novels and make pinterest boards—but the problem is when that's it and people don’t then write the book. Making pinterest boards and playlists are not writing. It can be good for ideas and inspiration but that's not actually writing. Because they can be stuck in this space of “looking like a writer but not writing” they don’t write and they aren’t walking in their calling and they are stopping your gifting and God’s calling. 

There are so many examples of this. The bottom line is there will always be things trying to take away your time. You need to prioritize your calling and dreams. If you are a writer you need to stet aside time to write even if that is only ten—fifteen minutes a day. If you are a singer, you need to actually set aside time to sing. If you are an artist you must give yourself time to create. 

There will always be things trying to get your attention. It is your choice whether you listen to them or not. It is your choice whether you follow after what God has set on your heart or not. 

It comes down to you.

What will you choose? 

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Thank you so much for reading and or listening to this! I hope this helped you and could be encouraging and help you make a change in your life to be more creative and live out what God has called you to! 

I hope you are having a wonderful day!

Goodbye! <3