Use a Journal

If you don’t have one already, it may be helpful to buy and use a journal to help you grow in your relationship with God. Even if you are so technologically-advanced and environmentally-friendly that you have transitioned away from paper and pens, consider taking a step back in time. A journal is a place where you can write down your most important thoughts about God and your life with him. Carry it around with you. Turn to it often. Make it special. But any notebook with blank pages will do.

Use your journal in these ways and more:

  1. To Record Your Insights and Questions about the Bible

    As you read the Bible privately and listen to Bible teaching (including sermons, lectures, and small-group Bible studies), keep your journal and a pen in hand to record key insights and questions you have about the Bible. For example, write down insights from your pastor’s teaching. Don’t let his words disappear. Instead, write down the main points and supporting ideas of the teaching, pray about them, and discuss them with others, whether they are family members or friends.

  2. To Help You Focus When You Pray

    In my journal, I do not write complete sentences to God, though some people find that useful. Instead, I write brief words and phrases that summarize what I am saying to God to help me focus. For example, I write the letters “T,” “A,” “T,” and “M” as I pray for members of my house church group: Thomas, Allison, and their children Thomas and Maddie. Or I might write the words “vanity,” “lust,” and “bad attitude with (my wife) Lyndsey” as I confess these sins to God. In my heart, I turn from these sins and then literally write the symbol of the cross over each one of them, acknowledging that Jesus’s death on the cross satisfied God’s justice in these areas of my life, and I am forgiven.

  3. To Bring Clarity to Other Areas of Your Life

    Perhaps you are facing a key decision in your life that you want to bring before God, such as the question of whether to serve in a new way at your church or if you should pursue more education. As you think, pray, and seek wisdom from your church leaders, family members, and friends, use your journal to compile your most important thoughts and prayers to God.

Obviously, there is no requirement in Scripture to use a journal, and it is not a mark of true Christian spirituality. And, even if you use a journal, you may choose to use it selectively—for this purpose or that, or during a particularly difficult season of your life. But I encourage you to try using a journal for a while before deciding it is not helpful.

For Reflection and Discussion

  1. Have you used a journal before? If so, for what purpose(s)? What worked well? What didn’t work well?

  2. How might using a journal facilitate your relationship with God? How might using a journal interfere with your relationship with God?

  3. If you plan to use a journal, how and when do you plan to use it?