Throughout the centuries, some of the greatest men and women of God have kept journals. But journaling isn’t just for spiritual giants. It’s for you and me.
If you find it hard to concentrate during your quiet time, a journal can help you focus on God and His Word.
Recording Scripture in a journal can help you remember and meditate on God’s promises.
If you have a desire to leave a record of your spiritual journey for your children or others, a journal is a great place to do so.
A journal can be a great place to capture ideas and pray for God’s timing and will.
It’s, also, a good place to record prayer lists, concerns, and answers.
Prayer & Scripture Journaling
Do you keep a spiritual journal? Maybe you call it something else: a prayer journal, a Bible study notebook, or a Scripture journal.
Maybe you’ve thought about keeping a journal. You hear other people talk about it, but you think it would take too much time.
Maybe you hated writing in school and you can’t believe you’re even thinking about writing in a journal.
But a journal can be anything you want it to be. It can be handwritten or in an electronic format. Computers and tablets have dozens of apps and programs to fit every personality.
You can write a paragraph or a page, record a verse or a passage of Scripture, a prayer need or a prayer list. You can write every day or only occasionally.
Here are Some Prompts to Try Out as You Journal or Experiment with Journal Keeping:
Start with the simple word “Yesterday …” then record the events of the day. At times this may lead into prayer for people or situations.
Use the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6.9-13) as an outline for prayer.
Write out a verse or short passage of Scripture. Then rewrite it in your own words.
Use an acronym like ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) as a prayer guide.
Since Jesus said that the greatest commandments are to love God and love others (Matt. 22.38-40), allow the Holy Spirit to help you examine the quality of your love by asking, “How did I do today? Was I patient? With whom was I impatient? Did I seek forgiveness from God and others? Was I kind? With whom was I unkind? …” working your way through the qualities of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13.4-8.
Select a verse of Scripture and turn it into a personal prayer. An example might be Philippians 2.14-15:
14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.
You might pray something like, “Lord, help me to do all things without grumbling and complaining. I want to have a good testimony so I can be a light shining in a dark world.”
Keep a list of goals or tasks.
Write down your biggest challenge and an appropriate verse of Scripture to help you respond in a way that’s pleasing to God.
Write out a prayer as a simple conversation with God.
These are just a few prompts to get you started.
Are you already a journaler? If so, what does your journal look like and what are some of your journal prompts?
Want to read more about keeping a spiritual journal? You can purchase a copy of my ebook Ten Benefits of Keeping a Spiritual Journal.
You can sign up here for my daily email, occasional Christian living posts, and the weekly newsletter. And speaking of the weekly newsletter, be sure to check out one of these recent ones, 8 Ways to Rid Yourself of Spiritual Clutter – Part 1 where I discuss the dangers of spiritual clutter, the conclusion where I discuss ways to get rid of spiritual clutter 8 Ways to Rid Yourself of Spiritual Clutter – Part 2, and the two recent editions, Introduction to Colossians and Colossians & The Preeminent Christ about Colossians 1.15-20.
If you have a prayer request or a question, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the post. I will do my best to answer and would love to pray for you.
And if this post spoke to you, I would so appreciate it if you would share it on your favorite social media platform.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna
I sometimes LINKUP with these blogs.
8 Comments
Leave your reply.