Have you ever struggled with self-doubt and feelings of unworthiness in your writing? Have you ever asked the question “Am I qualified to write a book? Who am I to publish a book?”
In this episode of our Breakthrough series, CJ and I are going to help you as Kingdom Writers overcome this obstacle of self-doubt. What makes this series different than most training for writers is that we integrate the dynamite of Scripture and prayer to help you breakthrough the obstacles holding you back.
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Notes from this episode:
- 2 Corinthians 1:27-29 (NLT)
- Ultimately self-doubt is a focus on ourselves and our own abilities instead of faith in who God is and what He can do.
- Jesus chose the unqualified. Acts 4:13 (NIV), “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
- We’re programmed to believe we need certain qualifications and degrees.
- In Christ, he shatters all these limitations.
- Olympic trial qualifying example.
- God is teaching me it is not up to me to defend myself. If He calls me to something, He will use me mightily. I simply need to be obedient.
- Moses told God “who am I to lead the Israelites?” God responded, “I AM the I AM.” It’s not about our abilities, credentials or qualifications.
- It’s about who God is. He is the I AM and is able to do immeasurably more than we think or imagine. (Eph 3:20)
- Corinthians 4:7 (NIV), “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
- We are the vessel, jars of clay. It is from God, not from us.
- Team Hoyt story. Watch their story here: https://youtu.be/aPCK4THZtng
Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)
The truth:
2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV), “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
Prayer for Breaking Through Self-Doubt
Transcript of the prayer:
The first of the 15 areas that we’re going to look at is the area of self-doubt and unworthiness. If this particular area is something that you are in desperate need of prayer for, type out self-doubt. And you know, as we said, we’re preaching to ourselves here. All of these things we’ve dealt with in one way, shape or form. How many know there is a very real spiritual attack and assignment against everything you want to do that would glorify the name of Jesus? Of course. It’s not going to just come easy. There is an attack and that’s why we want to have these prayer meetings. We’re doing this today because we know it’s spiritual and many of you are going to experience these breakthroughs today in the area of self-doubt and unworthiness. In other words, am I qualified?
Who am I? I’m just a nobody. You remember Gideon when he was called to lead an army against the Midianites. He was basically like, “Who am I, Lord? I’m the least of my tribe and family.” And he had all these excuses. Moses also had self-doubt and unworthiness.
What do I have to share that people actually want to hear? What can I write in a book that people will actually read? There are a couple of scripture themes that we’re going read here. And then we’re just going to get right into praying along the lines of those scriptures. The first one is Psalm 94:16-19 and it says, “Who will protect me from the wicked? Who will stand up for me against evildoers?” When we see David using the words ‘wicked’ or ‘evildoers’ or very real ‘enemies’, I want you to replace those things with the enemies that we face spiritually. It’s probably not a physical person, most likely that you have as an enemy. We’re talking about self-doubt and unworthiness in this case. But it could be depression, anxiety or anything emotional or spiritual. I want you to replace ‘evildoers’ with self-doubt and unworthiness. These are weapons our spiritual enemies are throwing at us. The Psalm goes on to say, “Unless the Lord had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, ‘I’m slipping!’ But your unfailing love, Oh Lord supported me when doubts filled my mind. Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.”
And that’s what the Lord wants to do with you today. He wants to renew that hope. When doubts fill our minds, the Lord is the only hope that we have.
The second scripture we want to look at is 2 Corinthians 4:7. Paul writes, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.”
I am so excited because there’s so much treasure in each one of you!
This makes it clear that our great power is from God. And that’s the key right there. It’s from God, not from ourselves.
We will actually pray the scriptures and pray different pictures that God has given us to pray over you.
“Lord, we come to you right now and we ask that you would vanquish these self-doubts and feelings of unworthiness. If there’s anyone listening or watching right now live or even those who are going to be watching the replay, we ask that you would just speak into their situation and we ask, Lord, that you would be our hope, you would be our comfort. Renew our hope and our cheer as the Psalmist says. And Lord, we ask that you would flood that light into our hearts as Paul says in 2 Corinthians. Even though we’re fragile, Lord, we ask you to be our strength. We ask you to remove all self-doubt, all unworthiness, any of these things that the enemy has thrown at us or we’ve allowed him to drag us through the mud with.
Lord, we ask that you would remove those things in Jesus’ name and we ask that you would replace all of the self-doubt and unworthiness with a sense of hope and worthiness in Christ. I have been called upward, higher than I could lift myself. I’ve been lifted up by God Almighty to proclaim this message. Whatever message God has put on my heart. And I pray for each one of these writers, Lord, that their messages would get out to as many people as possible. Any obstacle of unworthiness or self-doubt, we command you to leave in Jesus’ name. Thank you, Lord.
Lord, I thank you that you are bigger than our doubts. You are bigger than the ungodly beliefs and the lies the enemy uses to hold us back. And the picture that you gave me is that each one of us is like a garden hose and if we’re not connected to the water spicket nothing’s going to happen. But when we’re connected to this spicket it’s like being connected with you, Father God. And then your Holy Spirit is like the water that flows through us and the books we write in order to water, refresh and help many people.
It’s not about us. We are simply the vessel. We are simply the jar of clay. The treasure is you, Lord, the power comes from you. It’s not about us and our worthiness. It is all about you and who you are and allowing your holy spirit to flow through us. We allow you right now, we give you permission, Holy Spirit, to flow through us fully. We turn on that spicket full blast in Jesus’ name and allow you to flow through us to bless many people through our books. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
Free Download: 15 Prayers for Christian Writers
Download the PDF transcript of all 15 Prayers for Christian Writers, here:
https://www.trainingauthors.com/breakthrough/
Share Your Breakthroughs
Share what impacted you from this post and any breakthroughs God gave you as a result in the comments below.
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