Can I just say what's on my mind? In our society, writing has been treated as a useless pastime; as nothing more than a hobby or craft. In my opinion, this is a tragedy that needs correcting!
For thousands of years, writing has been considered to be chief among the arts. Where song and dance entrance their audience, literature has power to actually weave a new reality around its victim, drawing them into a new way of thinking; a new way of seeing...a new way of being. A well-written book has power to change lives like no other piece of art. Song can inspire, dance can entrance, paintings can amaze...but writing can create. It can change who we are, and lead us into a new way of being. It captures the art of becoming...
Now, I say this as a writer; so maybe I am accrediting more power than I should to that which I love, but to me, it seems like the greatest minds of the ages all found that their legacy was best recorded in the stroke of a pen. Yes, we have the great paintings of Michelangelo and Leonardo, or the great sculpture of David. I am not diminishing the value of other arts, only suggesting that writing has remained the dominant art form for centuries for a reason.
There is something that can be accomplished through the stroke of a pen that nothing else on earth can do. Which is why I so strongly believe that it is imperative that the spiritual leaders of our generation not fail their duty in recording, for us, a legacy of wisdom and revelation.
We have found ourselves in the opening hour of earth's last, and the moment is coming when freedom will be a luxury and gathering for spiritual pursuit will be dangerous, if at all possible. There is quickly approaching a day when we will not have the luxury of having our conferences and teaching seminars. We must take every opportunity to preserve the depths of our understanding for those who will come after.
I am not saying that you should drop everything for the sake of the pen. That's unwise. There is work to do and great fruit to acquire. What I am saying is, recognize the power that God has given us in the art of writing. It is not the call of every man to write books, but I believe it is the call of every man to write. God speaks to us regularly, we learn regularly, we grow regularly...I would challenge every single one of you to take the truths the Holy Spirit brings to your spirit and to put them to paper. Write, journal, record...
If you are a leader in the house of God (meaning the collective body, not a building), or a man or woman of God at all, I would challenge you to treat writing as a necessary spiritual discipline, and not just a hobby that some people enjoy. You, as a man or woman of God, are a teacher of the Word of God by lifestyle, even if not by word. You teach the truths of God, and as a communicator of His truth, it is important that you leave a clear legacy of what that truth is.
If you cherish the Word of God that is being worked out in you, and desire to see His activity and to leave others the ability to see His activity, write...
There will come a day when someone, if not you now, will need and cherish what you may treat so trivial today.
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