Quiet Time Element Three: Journaling

There are a lot of illusions about quiet time. We are pressured to spend hours with God, saying long, elaborate prayers and reading chapters upon chapters of Scripture without fatiguing. There can also be a lot of illusions about journaling. Some people write pages of beautiful prayers, some people refuse to journal at all. Some use their journals as prayer lists, others use them more as diaries. The truth is, the Bible doesn't say anything about journaling. But it does tell us...

1. "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:3

2. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

3. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all god's people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16

Here's my take on journaling. Journaling is a tool. It helps up remember Scripture, helps guides our prayers, helps us see God working in our lives. If you regularly journal, ask yourself these questions:

1. When I journal, is it to write beautiful words or is it to glorify God?

2. When I journal, do I ever refer to previous entries?

3. When I journal, do I spend more time thinking about what to write than on praying the words that I write?

It is easy to get caught up in the fun on writing. I know the feeling - believe me! I spent years journaling what I thought were beautiful prayers that reflected the closeness that I experienced with God. In reality, I was writing what I thought a "Good Christian" would think and feel. I wrote to impress God, not to honor Him. 

I'm not saying these things to condemn journaling, because I do journal, but I want to say these things because there is a danger in journaling. There is a danger in getting so caught up in the fun on writing, in the placement of the perfect word in the perfect place, that we forget what it's really about. If you spend more time journaling during your quiet time than praying or reading Scripture, your journaling might be more about yourself than it is about God.

Effective journaling often isn't nearly as pretty. It might involve lists or scratchy handwriting. It might be simple, only take a few minutes, or might be only a few words a day. The form of journaling you choose is completely up to you and your relationship with God, but I'd like to take some time to share the form of journaling that works for me. (If you're a person that struggles with the balance of writing for yourself and God, it might work for you too.)

My journaling serves two functions, as a prayer tool and as a reference. 

Prayer tool

My prayer tool helps guide me as I'm praying to keep me focused and to remind me of things to pray for that I might normally forget. It looks a little like this:

First, I write a list of 5 things that I'm thankful for that day. I noticed during my prayers that I was thanking God for the same things every day, but forgetting the little things. My goal is to thank God for something different every day. Occasionally I thank God for the same things, (like I probably write down coffee more than I'd like to admit) but I also remember to thank Him for things I might never thank Him for, like pillows or socks or toilet paper. The comforts of living in a rich society take on a whole new meaning when you remember to thank God for them daily.

In the next part, I write down Scripture that stood out to me during my reading. I usually write down 3-5 verses. I strongly believe in praying through Scripture. Here's why: I'm a counseling student and one thing I've learned about in class is active listening. An aspect of active listening is repeating what you've heard to make sure you understand it correctly. It helps eliminate miscommunications in relationships. I try to bring this concept into my prayers. I tell God what I noticed about Scripture. I read the verse to Him and then tell him what I understood from it. There have been times where, as I'm praying, I realize something about the Scripture that I'd never realized before. There have been other times when I read a Scripture to God that I realized I only chose it because it was "pretty", and it didn't have the meaning that I originally thought. Reflecting over the Scripture you read is an awesome opportunity for God to show you something you've never seen before; it's a chance to re-align your walk with His will. 

Thirdly, I write Special Requests. I write down people who have shared personal struggles with me, write down the names of people I know who are sick or hurt, or names of people who are lost. When people think of prayer, they often automatically go to this section. It's the requests. Often our prayer is solely about requests, though it should be about glorifying God. Sometimes I skip this section all-together and completely focus on my own heart, other times I pray for several people. It's important to not let this part of your prayers define your prayer life. If it does become all about requests, you might find your heart longing for more. You might feel like you're missing a part of God, though you can't figure out what it is. You might feel spiritually "empty" or drained. Make a relationship with God the priority in your prayers.

Reference

Using journaling as a reference might be different than you'd expect. I don't usually look back at my previous journal entries to see how God changed my heart (because my journal entries are too simple to see that much into them). Occasionally I look back and see that prayers that God has answered, but my journal entries are more prayer guides than anything else.

However, the reference part of journaling that I'm talking about is extremely important and often forgotten. It looks like this:

How often, when reading your Bible, do you underline a verse and never write it down? You're understanding that a verse is important and you want it to stand out to you when you need it, but you have no way to return to that verse without stumbling upon it. When I was a teen I used to underline verses and then, when I was feeling like I needed Scripture, I flipped through my Bible and read only the underlined verses. Either I never found what I needed or it took me forever to find it.

When I find a verse that stands out to me, I write the verse and a general topic down. Then, I put my verses into a database. Whenever I need a verse about a certain topic, I have my very own concordance to reference.  I have over 1,000 verses (and still working on it!) that I can sort through within a couple of seconds. Need some marriage encouragement? Got it. Need some parenting advice? Got it. Having a bad day? Got it. I've been working on it consistently for about 8 months and this is my favorite project ever. I highly recommend it to my friends who want more out of their Bible reading. Doing this small task takes your Bible reading to the next level.

When you journal, you get as much out of it as you put into it. If you're intentional about glorifying God, everything else will fall into place. Remember that journaling isn't necessary and should only be a tool to help your relationship with God grow. If you're not growing, try something else. If you're making an effort to have a relationship with God, Scripture promises that He won't let you down. 

"Come near to God and He will come near to you." James 4:8