by Blythe Daniel @ByltheDaniel

There’s a saying that I learned from a pastor friend at our church: “We don’t fight with fists, but with words.” The phrase is to show children that we fight on our knees in prayer. As writers, sometimes it can feel like we fight with words, right? Which words do we keep, which ones do we let go? What is the more powerful way to convey an idea?

For writers, there is probably not a better reminder than to show up and use the armor you have. Our armor is God’s power as we fight against discouragement, comparison, and anything that takes us out of the battle to see our words find their path.

The life of David speaks to me on several levels. But the two main areas I notice are that he took what he had – five smooth stones – to fight the giant who was ridiculing and calling the Israelites names, threatening to come against the story of God in their lives.

David, who was a young guy with no experience of fighting people (he had some experience taking down animals), used the armor he had, which was not the physical armor that was offered to him. Instead, he took stones from the stream. He used an unconventional way to communicate a message.

The Bible says, “Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:40 (NIV)

The stones came from a stream, and I believe that stream is the power of God for us. Streams are moving, carrying life-giving properties. God is moving! Psalms 1:3 says “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.”

David saw God’s power. He did not depend on man but God. David knew where to look for his strength. As a worshipper, writer, and follower of God, he knew that the only way to defeat what called out to him was to face it.

Many of us feel defeated in finishing a writing passage or moving forward to publication because somewhere someone said some words to you or called you out like Goliath did David, and it was easier to lay down your writing and not pick it up again.

I see five takeaways for writers through David’s life:

• God calls us not to look at what we possess, but who He is.
• God wants us to see what He can do for us that is outside our normal capacity.
• Now is the time say and speak His name in your writing. Just like David called out against the giant in his life, as believers, we need to take a stand and declare the name of God.
• We need to trust God more than man.
• God advanced His kingdom through David and will bring something forward in your life as well.

But sometimes we don’t always have faith to believe that God is with us as we advance forward in our writing. True?

David was no different. Toward the end of his life, he was stirred by God’s response against Israel. In 2 Samuel 24:1-2, 10 we read, “Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.’ ² So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, ‘Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.’
¹⁰  David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.’”

But God, how many followers do I have? How many times have we thought that? David
wanted to see who was behind him. But God was over him, in front of him, leading him with the armor of salvation and rest from his enemies, even when David got off course.

David was relying on military strength rather than the Lord. Sometimes we do the same. God, just a few more followers. Just help me to see how I can write what people want to hear.

I’m convinced (and convicted) by the fact that we can’t have both God and man. It’s Him or them. We write to others, but it’s from God. Anytime we put priority on counting the strength of those behind us, we lose our armor. We lose the power of God, the stream of His Spirit to help us move His words to publication. It may not look like we think it’s going to look, but when we take up the power of His armor, we are going to be able to stand against whatever threatens our writing and look to God for his redemption like David did for his victories.

What is the armor you are walking in today? I encourage you to seek the God of David and Israel as His power carried them forward as it does for you and me.

Blythe Daniel is a literary agent and marketer and has been in publishing for over 20 years. She has written for Proverbs 31 Ministries, Focus on the Family, Ann Voskamp, and Christian Retailing. She and her mother Dr.

Helen McIntosh are the authors of I Love You, Mom! Cherished Word Gifts from My Heart to Yours (Tyndale House) and Mended: Restoring the Hearts of Mothers and Daughters (Harvest House Publishers).