I heard a really amazing talk last month on writing at—get this!!– a large Charismatic Conference, RiverCamp. The speaker Mark Stibbe talked about the angel of writing, and prayed for an anointing to write for us.
I asked for it; I received it.
I have always felt guilty and conflicted about my writing, since I got married in 1989: wasn’t there some laundry or housework to do? Should I be encountering God in a laundry basket as a male spiritual adviser suggested?
Now I saw it as a calling, a spiritual gifting. An anointing!! I have, on a daily basis, written more words than ever since then. When I am stuck, I visualize myself as standing in the waterfall of God’s power and anointing, and ask to be refilled with the spirit.
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Another thing Mark Stibbe said that interested me was that “Seeing” was a spiritual gift. If you have a gift for leading Bible studies, he said, you “see” things in the text which most people do not. I have long had the experience of seeing riches in a Biblical text which I thought were totally obvious to any reader, but which, apparently, were not. But I had never thought of this as a spiritual gift.
Stibbe talked about the gift of “seeing” as you write. And the manuscript which I had been stymied over for 15 years began to shape and coalesce in my mind as he spoke, and over the next couple of days.
That evening, a sweet Elim Pentecostal minister, Trevor Baker, in his sixties or older, spoke about how he had been stymied with his first book manuscript—his autobiography—for decades; how Mark Stibbe prayed for him; how the block dissolved; how he finished the manuscript in six months. He asked us to buy the published book!!
Stibbe himself spoke about how he received an anointing to write when John Wimber prayed for him.
(I am reading a book called The Anointing by R. T. Kendall, unusual, brilliant. It says God’s gifts and call are irrevocable. It examines how one might be able to transfer an anointing to write, let’s say, or be able to preach brilliantly, or heal, while no longer in a fresh, close relationship with God.)
I was delighted when Mark Stibbe prayed that we receive the anointing to write. Over the next few days, I saw the shape my book should take. I saw the painfully long chapters—between 12 and 20+ pages dissolve and reshape themselves into short 2-3 page 1000 word chapters. In the other words, the length of the blog-posts I’ve been writing for the last 29 months—the sound-bites in which I’ve been instinctively thinking. I was filled with a longing to write it, and it has been flowing freely and joyfully since then.
Thanks so much, LA and Karen. Roxane, welcome to my blog.
Yes, people are horrified by public sin, while they themselves are not without sin, of course. But God who all the time sees both public sin, and secret sin, can sovereignly choose to use those who publicly blow it, because in his eyes, their brokenness and sadness and knowledge of their need for him is more acceptable than the secret sin of the smug, who are righteous in their own eyes, and everyone else's.
The sin which most riled Jesus and pressed his buttons was hypocrisy, not sexual sin!!
I love the comment from LA about Good using seriously smarmy people. What a great way to put it!
God obviously sees in them (and us) something we don't. Just as well really.
Found you on Twitter and look forward to exchanging words when possible. Say Hi to Oxford from me!
The Bible is filled with God's ability to use amazingly smarmy people. I think this concept that all preachers have to be perfect and blameless is certainly a thing of our society and holds no Biblical basis. Peter LIED boldly when it really counted and yet Jesus still built his church on his rock. The Old Testament is rife with seriously smarmy people who are God's messengers, prophets, leaders, etc. In fact, there are very few people who lead blameless lives in these stories.
What I get from these stories is that God uses each and every one of us to His full advantage regardless of our sinful lives. So, yes, I believe that a preacher can be spiritually inspiring while still having sin on their soul. The repair of the sin is and should be only between them, God and the lives directly affected by their sin. But God will continue to use them in His service while the repairs are in progress. God doesn't let anything stand in the way of using us to His service.
Indeed. There but for the grace of God, go you and I.
Man is man and God is God;
There is nothing new under the sun; God is not shocked indeed when we fall He is there to help us back on our feet.
Wow thank you for your gracious and insightful comments