Journaling Tips

One of the ways we believe you can develop your faith is through a daily Bible reading & journaling. In your journaling, you are encouraged to apply the Bible passages you read to your life. The journal is a tool for spiritual growth, but like most tools, if you do not use it, it won’t help you. Make a commitment to spend time with God each day and record your thoughts and prayers in this journal. Our faith increases as we get to know God more. We hope this journal aids your spiritual journey.

Some ask, “When is the best time for doing devotions?” The answer is, “When you are at your best.” You can be flexible in how you use this journal, but develop a personal time with God each day. During this time, reflect on the selected verses for that day and apply them to your daily life. If you’re a morning person, have your personal time before you begin your day. If not, then do your devotions at night. The bottom line is: Jesus Christ deserves our best, so give him the best part of your day.

How To Journal

• STEP 1: Using a Bible reading plan, find the Bible reading for that day. As you turn to the appropriate pages in your Bible, ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, open your heart to the reading and to guide your study time.
• STEP 2: Read the passages. As you read, underline or circle the verses that impact you. When you read the Bible with an open heart, it will give you words of encouragement, direction and correction.
• STEP 3: After reading, return to the daily page in your journal and record any key verse(s) that stand out or impact you. Write your thoughts and any life applications you learned. Finally, write a prayer that directly reflects the verse(s) that impacted you the most.
• STEP 4: Conclude your daily devotional time by turning to the Prayer List pages and intercede for what you’ve written.

Other Thoughts

• By reading from four separate places in the Scriptures every day, you should be able to better grasp the unity of the Scriptures, as well as enjoy the variety of four different viewpoints.
• You can begin at any point of the year.
• To prevent the frustration of falling behind, which most of us tend to do when following a Bible reading plan, each month of this plan gives you only 25 readings. Since you’ll have several “free days” each month, you could set aside Sundays or another day either to not read at all or to catch up on any readings you missed in the past week.
• If you finish the month’s readings by the twenty-fifth, you could use the final days of the month to study the passages that challenged or intrigued you.
• If reading through the entire Bible in one year looms as too large a task, you can alter the plan to meet your needs. For example, you could read the gospels and the wisdom books this year, and the other two categories next year. Or, you could read the New Testament books this year and the Old Testament books next year.
• In the year ahead, ask God each day to speak directly to you from the Scriptures you read. Be expectant, and let your continual exposure to God’s Word reshape your attitudes and behavior as you gain a better understanding of every part of His written testimony to us.