Submission: ccwf@ccwritersfellowship.org
Submission Format:
MSWord compatible format; Ariel, Times New Roman, or Calibri,
12 font size, double spaced
Not more than one page
Images submitted separately
Book Editorial Group:
Betsey Kodat, Chief Project Editor, CCWF Prayer Coordinator,
Sarah Hamaker, President CCWF, Johnese Burtram, VP CCWF,
Stephanie Buckwalter, Tech Coordinator
Structure of Prayers for Writers:
- General prayers for Writers
Focused prayers - Praise and Thanksgiving
- Focus on Mission
- Prepare to Write
- Excel in Craft
- Devote and Submit the Writing to God
- Blessing
Praise and Thanksgiving
Begin with Praise and Thanksgiving. As you think about prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving consider:
What about your writing experience can you praise God for?
Examples
I praise You, Father, for who you are. As a writer, I delight in your multi-dimensional character and what you mean to me.
Father, it is an honor to be in your coterie of Christian writers.
I praise you, Holy Spirit, that you are the God of communication. I praise you that you were the first communicator—you told creation to stand up and it did. Communication… By a word you created the universe in all its beauty and diversity. You sent Your Son, the Word of God.
I praise you, Lord God, that you are the all-present God, present with me. You are both audience to what I write and inspiration to what I write.
Praise you that you are the inspiration behind all words, all thoughts, all books, all communication.
What in your writing journey arouses Thankfulness?
Examples
Father, thank you for the King James Version of the Bible, the bold translation which has colored the English language down to our very day. Thank you that Christians have always been on the forefront of teaching reading and writing, from the first days in the colonies
I thank you, Lord, for the gift of writing, as a means of expressing ourselves as your children. I thank you for literacy, fluency and power in communication, and for those who are gifts in this area.
I thank you, Father, for the many hours I’ve spent enjoying book, thinking and learning and pondering what someone said. How many moments have I been lost in thought?
I thank You, Providence, that you are the God of story. You write events that lead to a conclusion; you work through us. We get to be part of your story.
Focus on the Writing Mission
Always call me back to your best plans. (Pray the Scriptures Bible, Kevin Johnson, Ed., p. 41).
What is the writing mission God is calling you to? A specific issue? A particular kind of story? Specific aspects of God’s work in our world?
Examples
As a writer called to write prayers, help me to use my passions for prayer in order to write prayers and leave my daughters an inheritance of books they can build a life around.
Lord, keep me focused on my writing mission. Help me when the research is daunting not to give up and write about something easier.
Help me, God to know what your mission is in my writing. Help me to persevere until I can write with clarity about what you are calling me to write. Don’t let me be weary in well doing, but to continue to follow your call no matter where it takes me and how long it takes.
Prepare to Write
It seems to be the pattern of humankind to rush into whatever it is that we think we should be doing with very little preparation or forethought. To do our best writing, it would seem we need to think about what we are bringing to the table. In living out our Christian faith, our most fruitful endeavors issue from a pure heart. When we write as we are admonished to do, “from the heart,” the state of our heart proscribes what we produce. Preparing to write well as a Christian writer requires heart preparation.
Are there sins that keep you from writing well?
Consider your strengths a as writer; your weaknesses? Might some of your weaknesses be impacting you right now? What do you need to do to overcome them?
Examples
Forgive me for selfishness, a sin which will tarnish my writing.
Forgive me for overestimating or underestimating my power as a writer. Give me humility and a teachable spirit.
Father, my dreams are good, but forgive me when they become an idol that is more important to me than You or my loved ones are.
Father, forgive me when I misuse words and they hurt others. Help people forgive me or they will not be able to “un-hear” my words.
Father, forgive me for speaking or writing too quickly—dashing something off and not taking the time I need to make it right. Forgive me also when I hold on to something too long and do not release it to Your purpose. Give me balance.
Excel in Writing
“…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (I Corinthians 10:31) Excellence can become a vicious trap from which we cannot escape without divine intervention. If excellence is perfection, then all of us are without hope. However, that does not mean we should not desire to excel in what we do, especially what we do in the name of Jesus. Things done well bring pleasure to the creator and the consumer. Work hard to learn well and continue to learn.
What do you remember as a key to good writing? When did you learn it? How?
What supports help you most?
Examples
Father, let my writing stay grounded in the real world, full of created things, “the miracle of the maple tree bark, the cracks in a sidewalk, the smell of salty pretzels. the beat of the sun at the high altitude, the lonely cry of a train whistle across the cornfields the slight twist in the dying man’s note, the gait of the border collie, the pulled back hair of the high school volleyball player, the bleary-eyed determination of this one girl with a head cold, trudging to school among all the other student. (Appropriate Words, p. 3).
Lord God, save me from procrastination, the continual rearranging of books and papers, ever visiting new websites and following new rabbit trails. Let me catch sight of my goal and stay focused until I have sharpened and honed my words to capture the vision. I know I will be amazing—I myself will learn from my own writing because you are in it.
Father, I pray that you will work the habit of excellence into my writing. As I write, please help me write with cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity. Help me find the most direct, simple way to communicate my theme. Give me the power of self-editing, fearlessly cutting even my pet phrases when necessary for the larger mission of the piece I’m working on.
Father, teach me over and over again the good principles of usage and form so that others may get my message understand me well. Help my write to a plan and work from it.
Father, keep me learning about and honing my skill with every word I write every.
Father, You know where my writing is weak and why. Please send me good editors, friends who speak truth to me and help me shore up my writing so that it can shine into the hearts of my readers and carry the right tone and force to help them go further on the journey of life.
Father, give me writers who will accompany me on the journey of life. Let me support people, not for my own reputation, but for yours. And your glory always includes good for people—for both my readers and me. Thank you in advance.
Father, when my work is ready, help me get my message out—to get the right editor, the right kind of publisher, the readers who will receive my words. May the world benefit from in the way that you orchestrate.
Father, my times are in your hands; be with me as we write. Guide my writing process. Give me a voice that is clear and simple and loving. Let it nestle down into the hearts of those who need my words
Father, help me make time to read, read, read. What an amazing means you have given us to learn our craft. Such joy there is in reading, and so often we feel we do not have time to enjoy the journeys books take us on. They are our friends, our traveling companions.
Devote and Submit the Writing to God
Devoting the Writing to God
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Ps. 19:14, NIV)
We pray that thou wilt cleanse our souls from the darkness of nature; that thou wilt brood upon us, and bring from chaos out of the furnace of creation all ordered things. (Henry Ward Beecher, Appropriate Words, p. 21)
I have work to do, I have a busy world around me; eye, ear, and thought will all be needed for that work, done in and amidst that busy world; now ere I enter upon it, I would commit eye, ear, thought, and wish to thee. Do thou bless them and keep their work thine… (Appropriate Words, Thomas Arnold, p. 23-24).
Examples
Father God, I devote my writing to You. I declare that I rely on You for everything. I want to write today in the counsel and power of the Holy Spirit, in company with Jesus, whom I follow. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Father, I place my life and work in your hands as I speak to you right now. I praise and thank you for everything that will happen in my life and work—the planned and unplanned, the serendipity and the expected. At the end of the day, remind me to sit and take note of what you have done and to thank you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Father, thoughts crowd me, and but help me to bundle them up and leave them with you. You are able to do what I cannot. I know you can make them a bundle of beauty, though I cannot imagine how. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Submitting the Writing to God
At some point, we must disengage from our hard work, and let it be done. We leave our writing in God’s capable hands.
Think once more about your dreams for your pieces of writing. What do you want it to accomplish? How hard is it to let it go? What makes it easy or hard? Praise God for what makes it easy to let go and praise God for what makes it hard to let it go.
Examples
I commit my way to the LORD; I trust in him and he will do this: He will make my righteous reward shine like the dawn, my vindication like the noonday sun. (from Ps. 37:5-6, NIV)
I trust in the LORD with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding; in all my ways I submit to him, and he will make my paths straight. (from Prov. 3:5-6, NIV)
Father, I confess that I love this piece of work. I have spent so much time with it—it is like a child to me, a part of myself. And I need to let it go and let you take it from here. I release this book/song/poem/article/ to the future and purpose you have for it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Blessing on the Writing
Think of your writing friends. What would do you wish for him/her
Examples
Father, bless my fellow writers with powerful words which can do good for the world. May we writers become more human.
Lord God, bless my fellow writers with joy in their writing. May they see the fruit of their labor. Engage readers.
Almighty God, bless my fellow writers with hope and vision.
We look forward to receiving your prayer submission(s)
Submission: ccwf@ccwritersfellowship.org
Submission Format:
MSWord compatible format; Ariel, Times New Roman, or Calibri,
12 font size, double spaced
Not more than one page
Images submitted separately