Recently, I was reminded of the spiritual impact of writing as I thought about how powerful words and thought is. You’ve heard the saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”? There’s a reason for this.

Writing is able to express the musings of one’s soul, encourage a weary heart, or lead to the fall of empires. It also can produce the narratives of our lives and the beliefs of the culture. Through writing, we’ve seen shifts in understanding science, religion, politics, business, and our humanity as a whole.

Recently, in response to the New York Times “1619 Project”, President Trump announced the formation of a “patriotic education commission”, to present a view of American history that’s more patriotic. He explicitly mentioned that, “…patriotic moms and dads are going to demand that their children are no longer fed hateful lies about this country.” This highlights a war of ideology that occurs when words are written, in this case, a battle between the true history of America. Words written about America are influential in the lives of millions today and have been throughout its history!

Even as I write what you’re reading right now, I think about the impact of my own words, and what that means for where I’m going in the future as a writer. I mentioned in the beginning that writing has a spiritual impact, and as a Christian, there’s one simple fact that drives this home for me.

God intentionally placed His thoughts as words written through human writers

There’s something to be said about the Bible’s declaration that all Scripture is inspired by God, and that men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. To know that the most important tool God used to reveal Himself is through the written word, even when the words written down were first revealed through visions, dreams, and God’s audible voice, He wanted a written record.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

2 Timothy 3:16

The reason why I’m saying that writing is warfare is because as God Himself used the written word to speak to us, there are spiritual forces that have chosen to be enemies of God and of us, therefore the attack against what God wrote is something the enemy will attempt to make. What was the temptation that led Eve to rebel against God along with Adam? Satan asked, “Did God really say you can’t eat of the fruit?” If God’s voice would be questioned, what would stop Satan from questioning the words God inspired chosen men to write?

We as writers also experience attacks against us. While I am careful with seeing evil attacks in every circumstance, it would be naive of me to ignore the resistance against the work I do for Thoughts Of Redemption, considering how God leads me in the creation and progression of this platform.

One way that I’ve been aware of the battles I face as a writer are when I write about things concerning our thinking, there have been moments I’ve faced discouraging thoughts about where I’m at in my career and on this platform. Dealing with my personal shortcomings regarding discipline will have me disappointed in myself, and I have to remember to apply the godly principles behind good thinking that I speak about on here. If not, I’ll become unnecessarily distracted instead of growing as a writer and doing what God intends for me to do, and can end up unfruitful. That’s Satan’s aim for all of us, that we die without bearing fruit, aka evidence of God’s work in and through us. But let’s go back to writing.

One of the primary ways that writing is used against God and His truth is to flood and overwhelm the world with information that is both false and confusing. Ecclesiastes 12:12 says, “of making many books there is no end. Much study is wearisome to the flesh.” The amount of writings that are available to consume are endless, and if you’re not discerning, you can be confused by the many perspectives that are out there. This leads to weariness and unfruitfulness, because to strive becomes pointless to you. The reality however, is that God still saw fit to use writing to reveal Himself and His ways, and that means that truth is ultimately knowable.

I write this for those who love to write, and have been called to use their writing towards making an impact in the world. This one is for my bloggers, authors, poets, journalists, pen pals, whatever way you write. You have a purpose from God, and there’s no amount of resistance and attack that will defeat you. You have been given the opportunity to speak with your pen, keyboard, whatever way you’re able to write your thoughts into words, don’t stop using it. Remember that with this war there’s a difference from all others. The war happens because the victory is already won, and Christ has made it so. We don’t have to fight to win, we already have.