WHAT IS JOURNALING?

Maybe you’ve never thought of journaling as a spiritual discipline. 

Perhaps you’ve thought of journaling only as a practice for teen girls or your more introverted friends. Maybe you even feel like journaling would take too much time and energy and to what aim? If this is you, I’d like to challenge that mindset and ask you to reconsider our anchor passage from the Practicing the Christian Life series. Here it is again: 

“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7-8)

While we cannot point to any particular passage of scripture that directs us to our journals, we can see that it is abundantly evident that a practice of journaling is deeply enriching for the Christian life in terms of “training ourselves for godliness.” We see recordings of God’s faithfulness, songs of his praise, poems of lament, and much more. So even though we do not see a moment where the Lord commands “thou shalt keep a journal,” we can see how God’s people have reaped a spiritual harvest through the practice of writing to their Father or “training towards godliness” by recounting the ways He’s been faithful and meditating upon His words.

WHY JOURNAL?

Journaling can help you to examine your life and ask “do I see Christian virtues in my day to day? Where are they missing or growing?” Through this, journaling could be the thing that reveals to us our weaknesses and sins. It may show us the motives of our hearts to push and challenge us towards things that we may not have taken the time to understand were there otherwise. In this way, a journal can become the altar on which we lay our life before the Lord  and give ourselves a chance to process those things and grow/train towards godliness.

Journaling is a tool for you to use to grow and deepen godliness (a very personal thing for you!). In an  age of distraction, journaling is an active rebellion- a call to pursue the goodness of the Lord.

WAYS TO JOURNAL: 

Ways to consider journaling:

• Write scripture 
  • Slow down and meditate on the word
  • ESV study bible
  • ESV scripture journals
• Meditate on scripture
  • When we are in the word and we sit in a word, verse, or passage and ask “Lord what does this mean? And by extension, what does this mean for me?”
• Record His faithfulness 
  • Gratitude journal
  • Prayer journal

You’ll see in the next section the suggested resource is a 5-year prayer journal. In this resource, you will record your prayers and praises daily over the next five years. We encourage you to give it a try and be amazed at how you will be able to see His faithfulness over the years and see your heart molded in gratitude and praise in the meantime. Happy journaling!