by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28

I love the passages in Scripture that radiate with light. They glow with warmth, with a brilliant display of truth, and with understanding that helps us to know God better and makes us want to follow Him more.

I love the passages that are so straightforward, the ones that show what God wants the most and what kind of life He can create for us. Three verses in Psalm 91 do just that. Notice what choices on our part precipitate God’s action to help us in some way.

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”

(Psalm 91:14-16 NKJV)

Love God, know God, and call upon Him.

We don’t love God like we love an acceptance letter from a publisher. We cling to Him—we adhere to Him and His ways. We choose to set our love on Him first, above all.

We know Him. We know His name and what He stands for. We honor His character and goodness. We pursue knowing Him every single day of our lives.

We call upon Him. We reject self-reliance in favor of God-dependence. We cry out to Him in trouble and seek His help. Every time we encounter difficulties, God is our first resort, not the last.

When we love God, know Him, and call upon Him, we fill our lives with light because we’re drawing close to Light Himself. We receive His warmth, peace, and joy. We understand truth better so we can live it out. God chases away the shadows of ignorance, confusion, and desperation. He dispels the darkness of deception and lies. When we practice what His Word teaches, we experience firsthand the beauty of life with God.

Loving God, knowing Him, and calling on Him not only makes our personal lives an adventure, but also our writing lives. We write because we love Him and want to do the assignment that He has given us. We write so others can know Him and find in Him the perfect Father and Friend. We call on Him when we encounter obstacles to finishing a book or getting published, and He helps us in just the right way at just the right time. God makes the writing journey beautiful as we understand His Word and share it with others.

When you sit down to write, don’t just focus on getting words on paper. Renew your inspiration by remembering why we’re doing this. Because we love God and want others to know Him. Because He helps us when we call upon Him. Because our readers need to receive His light in a special way, and God will show us what that way is as we write with Him.

Fill your life with God’s light. There will be plenty to give away.

Katy Kauffman is an award-winning author, an editor of Refresh Bible Study Magazine, and a co-founder of Lighthouse Bible Studies. She loves connecting with writers and working alongside them in compilations, such as Feed Your Soul with the Word of God, Collection 1 which is a 2020 Selah Awards finalist. She recently started The Lighthouse Connection, a monthly writers’ newsletter including writing tips, inspiration to write, and news of submission opportunities.

In addition to online magazines, Katy’s writing can be found at CBN.com, thoughts-about-God.com, and three blogs on writing. She loves to spend time with family and friends, take acrylic painting classes online, and do yard work in the morning sun. Connect with her at her blog, Winning the Victory, and on Facebook and Twitter.