As I brainstormed for blog ideas the other day, I couldn’t think of any. Then, the moment I got settled into my bathtub, ideas began to flood my brain.

Inspiration is one of many ways God communicates with you.

The devil loves to hijack this communication. Think of inspiration like the issues you have with your internet— sometimes it’s slow, sometimes it glitches, sometimes the whole thing just shuts off and leaves you with no signal. This happens with inspiration. Distractions are a tool the devil loves to use. If you are a writer with intentions to push people toward God, expect spiritual warfare—it’s just part of the package! I had my phone with me all day up until that moment I slipped into the bathtub. My biggest distraction was gone—the veil lifted, the signal was boosted, and the connection between God and I was restored. Ridding yourself of distractions will reboot your system!

Besides eliminating distractions, what is another way to “reboot your system” and restore the connection between you and God? Firstly, make sure your priorities are in order. Lately, I’ve been putting my writing above my time with God. Yes, writing is a way I love spending time with the Lord. However, it cannot be prioritized above spending time in the Word. Likewise, neither can it come before prayer. I will too often find myself thinking “I don’t have time to read my Bible today.” That’s not true, and the Lord rebuked me for that. If I have time to write, I have time to study. The funny thing is, my creative juices will sometimes dry up, and as soon as I spend a little time in the Word and in prayer, (especially focused prayer for inspiration) my brain is flooded once again!

So now that we have covered some ways inspiration can be boosted, let’s look at why inspiration is so amazing as well as another way the enemy is able to interfere with it. As I stated earlier, first and foremost, inspiration is a form of communication between you and God. Godly inspiration is the “mature” version of envy. That is, it is envy put into benevolent, creative action. Envy is simply a perverted (twisted) form of inspiration. In other words, something beautiful that is meant to be a form of communication between you and God, is hijacked by the enemy when you are envious of someone. Envy tricks you into thinking that in order for you to succeed, someone else must fail. This is ignorance, immaturity. The envious person is the ignorant person—they don’t realize that everyone can win. They don’t realize that everyone has a unique purpose.

A spiritually mature person does not envy others but is inspired by them.

Being inspired by others is the voice of God trying to move you into a particular action. Envy may lead you to action as well but for the wrong reasons. Action motivated by envy is not sustainable because envy is a spirit that cannot be satisfied. It will never let you find peace within yourself. If you feel envy toward someone, the very best thing you can do is pray—ask God to heal your heart, and ask Him what He is trying to inspire you to do. You must pray consistently! As I’ve said many times, the more you pray on something, the more God knows you truly want it.

If inspiration is lacking in your life, ask yourself if your priorities are in order. When your priorities are out of whack, it can lead to anxiety, and anxiety is—you guessed it— yet another way the enemy can hijack your inspiration! Pray on it and for it; it will come. Go to a quiet place; turn off your phone. Ask yourself, “Is envy present in my life?” Don’t let your pride answer! If the answer is yes, ask the Lord to help you transform that envy into something positive.

Everything under the sun was birthed from inspiration—even God’s own creation of the sun! It is the source of all that is and all that could be; it is a gift from God.