© 2016 Lori Stanley Roeleveld

Building God’s kingdom is not a word game, but that doesn’t stop us from approaching it that way.

We think if we charge at people enough times with the right words, like a ramrod against a castle gate, eventually, they’ll cave and acknowledge our worldview.

Or perhaps we’ll roll our worldview right across their lowered drawbridge by disguising it with clever phrases, engaging anecdotes, and a few laughs so they start believing in Jesus before they even realize what’s occurred!

Or we send it sailing up over the walls of their defensiveness by aiming carefully with pointed-arrow arguments that cleverly exploit the weaknesses in their barricades until they have to admit we’ve pierced holes in their perspective with our superior thoughts arsenal.

I do this.

I love words. They are my God-given gift for use in building the kingdom, but like everything else, too often I find myself relying on my gift more than I rely on God. That’s when my words circle the drain. They lose power like an old Victrola winding down. I turn to the Bible for comfort but usually find myself “Gibbs slapped” by God in passages like Isaiah 55:10-11. These verses describe how God’s Word never fails to accomplish its purpose.

Right, I remember now. Isaiah isn’t taunting me that God’s words are superior to mine. He’s reminding me that as God’s word dwells within me, it will have an effect. It will achieve its purpose within me and through me. For the building of God’s kingdom is not a game of words. It isn’t a game at all. It’s a battle waged in the spiritual realm that exists concurrently with the one we see. Effectiveness on this field has everything to do with obedience, faithfulness, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

What this means for us as Christian writers is that the time we invest in God’s Word and on our knees is even more important than the hours we devote to craft. Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Have you made prayer a priority over time at the keyboard? Do you intercede for your readers? Do you study God’s Word every day?

Writers must be readers. Christian writers must be readers, pray-ers, hearers, and doers of God’s Word. Are you writing for God or just playing word games? Time to decide.
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Lori Stanley Roeleveld is a disturber of hobbits who enjoys making comfortable Christians late for dinner. She’s authored an unsettling blog since 2009, a pursuit that eventually resulted in her first book, Running from a Crazy Man (and other adventures traveling with Jesus). Though she has degrees in Psychology and Biblical Studies, Lori learned the most important things from studying her Bible in life’s trenches. You’ll find her atLoriRoeleveld.com. If not, know she’s off somewhere slaying dragons. Not available for children’s parties.