Thursday, October 12, 2006

A Guide to Spiritual Journaling

As you journey through life with God, recording your adventure in a journal is a great help

Journaling is simply a way of recording your journey with God. It helps you to pay more attention to God and is a way of way of learning to hear and respond to Him.By keeping a record you can see what God’s been doing, how far you’ve come and where you’re going.
Keeping a journal will help you to see how God is working in your life.

Your journal is more than a place to record daily events

It’s a place for inner growth and personal discovery. It acts as a mirror, is a safe place to explore things with God and is a place to generate and record ideas. As such, it becomes a good friend and sounding board.

Benefits of Journaling

Keeping a journal will enlarge your vision and increase your expectancy.

It helps you to keep you in good spiritual shape and stay true to your values.

Your journal acts as a safe place to process what God is doing in your life and the lives of those around you.

Journaling leads to personal growth and discovery through writing and reflection.

It helps you to see where you’re going with God and to understand your spiritual journey.

Your journal will provide a record that shows you how far you’ve journeyed, what God has been doing in your life and how much you’ve grown.

Your journal can be anything you want it to be

It could be a catalogue of your thoughts and prayers and God’s answers. A collection of wisdom and insight gleaned from God’s word and others. A record of encounters with other Christians God puts across your path … whatever serves you.

A Guide To Journaling

Start by praying. Ask the Holy Spirit, your Counsellor and Teacher, to lead you as you journal.

Write what's on your heart. Talk to God; be honest with Him and with yourself. Share your joys, victories, desires, frustrations, uncertainties and heartaches with Him. Write down your goals, prayers, dreams, memories and special events. Record Biblical and spiritual insights and revelations. Write out your praises to God.

Listen and document. Record what God puts on your heart and what He’s saying through your dreams and through others.

Date every entry. This helps you to see your progress and makes it easier to find things.

Highlight scriptures that God gives you and words that He speaks to your heart, so you can easily find them in your journal when you want to re-read them. Sometimes God speaks the same thing in different ways as He tries to get your attention and impress on you the importance of what He’s saying. A journal helps you to spot that.

A journal helps us to make sense of our life. It helps us to stop and notice what’s happening and what’s being said, understand it and respond. A journal helps us to become aware of the many signs of God’s presence.

There's no right or wrong way to journal.

I recommend that you don’t immediately evaluate what comes. Don’t censor your thoughts, simply write, allowing your thoughts to flow uninterrupted.

It’s a good idea to do a summary every few months. I’m always encouraged when I do this and amazed at what God has been saying and the many things that I've forgotten.


Please let me know how you get on and feel free to share your own journaling tips with other readers.

You can share this article with a friend by clicking on the arrow below.

If you want to be notified of the next update you can subscribe using the links in the right hand column.

I leave you with a thought …

The unexamined life is not worth living … Socrates

And the offer of another free book in PDF format.

If you send an e-mail with ‘Deeper Life’ in the subject bar, I’ll send you a copy of Andrew Murray’s ‘The Deeper Christian Life’ to add to your Christian classic collection.

7 comments:

Victoria said...

I've been journaling to God for a couple of days, but it has really helped me even in a short period of time that it has been. I have been feeling so much happier, refreshed and a sense of overwhelming comfort knowing I can write and write without having to hide how I feel and know that he is listening to me. My mother has always encouraged me to journal, but it has never been much of a desire of mine till I had a spirtual desire to write to him. Now I keep my journal to God right by my bedside and every night before I go to bed I write about my day, struggles and what I'm thankful for to him. At the end of the day and everywhere in-between I know that God will be there for me and he wants me to have a relationship with him. This has helped me to open up to him and share my life with him. I hope God touches you and becomes your bestfriend as well. Thank you for allowing me to share. God bless.

Anonymous said...

Praise God! for taking me to your website and to learn about the true benefits to 'journaling'! Praise God! I am enthusiasticly turning my life around to become totally 'disciplined' in all God wants me to do! Praise God! Glory to God! Thank you Father God, in Jesus (precious) Name Amen. M

Lynne Lee said...

I'm delighted to know that my post on spiritial journaling has been such a help.

If you'd like more help with journaling my friend Dr Joseph Peck has an excellent onliner coaching program http://lynnelee.com/journalingforbreakthroughs

Paige said...

Thank you so much for posting. I am using tips from this entry for my prayer group on Tuesday!

ChristoCoop said...

Thank you for your post. I too believe that people can find themselves have a even deeper connection to their soul and God by keeping a spiritual journal. At www.GODPleaseHearMe.com, we allow our users to keep a detail track of their prayers, emotions, and life stories so that they can always look back and reflect on how good God truly is.

Unknown said...

Thank you for this helpful resource...

Jan said...

God has been gently leading me back over the past week or so. Now I know I'm all but home! Far too long ago I used to keep a journal of sorts and it was always an inspiration to read back through and see how God was leading me.

Your site has touched a well spring within my heart and watered a very dry place.

Thank you Lord for this ministry, may it continue to continue to call your people to you and be a blessing to the author.