Gotta Have A Plan!

I’ve found that if I don’t have a plan, I’ll sit down in my big comfortable chair left of my big mug of extra bold K-cup coffee and mentally swim around the pool of journaling until I just decide to get out of the pool and say, “Maybe tomorrow.”

I bet you’re the same way.

We need a routine, don’t we?

You’ll have to figure out what’s best for you, but this is what works best for me:

I’m already committed to journaling.

I’ve already settled on my time and space.

My Routine

1) Something easy and motivating. For me that’s the 3X10 prayer: 3 sins to confess from the last 24 hours, 10 works of God in the last 24 hours to praise Him for.

Some of my friends begin with a favorite hymn or praise song on their ipod. Others like to read something light from a Christian biography or favorite blog.

2) Review yesterday’s journal entry. You’ll be surprised at how much you forgot from yesterday!

3) Read the Bible! I think the Bible comes next because the Word of God is our Father’s most effective way to talk to us. In an upcoming blog I’ll give you some of the books that have helped me focus on the Word of God every morning.

4) Wait. Oh, this is the toughest part of the routine for me. Probably will be for you too. You’re itching to write something. Don’t. Wait, and listen to God.

5) Write. Fill up your page with whatever is on your heart that day.

• What are you apprehensive about? Let the Father know.
• What did you learn from His Word? Tell Him.
• What do you want to remember never to forget? Record it.
• What breaks your heart? Put it down.
• Whatever you feel like writing, write it. Nobody’s going to read it anyway until you’re in heaven. And you won’t care then!

6) Pray. I have five or six life prayers at the front of my journal that I pray every morning. After that, I spend some time with God talking about my life. It’s a morning conversation that His Spirit brings to mind all day long.

Just Journal!

There’s no right or wrong way to journal.

This is the routine that I use.

How about you? What journaling habits do you have that might encourage others?

CRAZY BUSY!

My life is crazy busy and it always has been.

There’s never been a time in my adult life that a lot of pressures weren’t competing for the time I need to devote to my relationship with the Lord Jesus. I’ve been a fireman, university student, Army officer, seminary student, pastor, Bible teacher, and author. All extremely demanding.

And then there’s family, friends, community…

You know the drill.

My Time and Space for Jesus

This is why I’m so committed to journaling. No other spiritual discipline has kept Jesus at the center of my life more than journaling. If focuses my mind, my thoughts, and my prayers like no other spiritual exercise.

But I’ve found that just saying, “I’m going to start journaling” doesn’t work for me.

I must have a special time and a special place to meet Jesus with my Mead Notebook, my Bible, my pen, and my heart.

For me it has to be early morning before our home wakes up, and in my special chair left of the table in our den so that I can accommodate my caffeine habit left-handed. I keep all my journaling stuff right there, never move it, and never vary from that place and that time unless I’m on the road. (And that’s the topic of another blog!)

Your Time and Space for Jesus?

If you’re crazy busy, journaling is a great discipline to create time and space for Jesus.

I can’t know what your best time and space will be. But I do know that if you’re serious about keeping the Lord Jesus at the center of your life, He’ll show it to you.

Oh, and another thing: NO LAPTOP, MOBILE PHONE, OR OTHER DISTRACTING INSTRUMENTS ALLOWED.

That’s what works for me. I’d love to hear about your special time and space where you meet the Lord to journal.

I’m a journaling freak.

The reason is extremely personal.. My journal is where I meet the Lord Jesus every morning, how we carry on our most intimate conversations, and where I record my prayers, hopes, dreams, discouragements, fears, sins (yes sins), and successes.

I’ve been journaling for years and challenge every man I’ve ever discipled, every couple we’ve ever helped, every group I’ve ever led, every friend and loved on, and every congregation I’ve shepherded to journal.

The challenge gets a little “preachy” when people are thinking about New Year’s Resolutions because it’s the time to begin anew.

One question seems to be on the mind of all prospective journalers:

How do I get started?

Five Steps:

1) Make it simple!

We Christians tend to complicate the heck out of everything. We’re so hard on ourselves. Don’t wait until you find the perfect journal, perfect pen, get the perfect idea, and are ready to write perfect sentences. Just start journaling. I use a cheap Mead® Square Deal® Black Marble Journal Composition Book. It’s durable and each page is just about right for my personal wordiness. I’ve baptized mine in a high mountain stream, spilled about six gallons of coffee on every year’s edition, run over them in my pickup, and pulled them from the clinging hands of two-year-olds. They’re tough. They dry out and I just keep writing.

2) Make it you

This is between you and Jesus, not you and me. I tend to write out my prayers to begin each day’s journal. Sometimes I journal about what I’m reading from the Bible. Other times I journal thoughts from a Christian book I’ve read. Phil Yancey and NT Wright have filled up many pages of my journals.

3) Ask For Help

The best way to make journaling meaningful is to journal. Why not ask the Lord to give you the discipline to journal say three times a week for a month. See how that goes, and then ask Him again for the next month. Before you know it, you’re journaling.

4) Do a page

This has been important to me. I tell the Lord that I’m not going to get up from the chair that I journal from early in the morning until He gives me a page full of prayers, praises, questions, insights, tears, sorrows, joys, perspectives…I just start writing and keep writing until I’m done.

5) Prime the Pump! 3X10 and High Test Coffee

I prime my journaling pump with lots of caffeine from my beloved Keurig–bold, bold, bold K-cup–and as I’m waiting for that first taste of God’s gift of the coffee bean, I confess and praise. I prepare for my journaling time by asking God the Holy Spirit to bring to mind three specific things from the day before I need to confess as sin and ten specific praises from the day before. He’s never failed to tell me what He thinks and it gets me going.

It’s not that profound, but it’s what works for me. Hope it helps.

How about you? You have any journaling insights for the beginning journaler?

Throw-Away Week?

I use to think of the week between Christmas and New Year’s as a throw away week. It was a time to decide to somehow stop eating everything in sight and try to put together a few New Year’s Resolutions I knew I wasn’t going to keep.

Or Year In Review?

Then I got an idea that changed my mind about this week. I now view it as maybe the most important weeks of the year.

Instead of watching and listening the mindless dribble of television and radio reviews of what happened on earth last year, I spend time with God thinking about what heaven thinks about my life last year.

Since I’m addicted to journaling, I dedicate this week to reading through the pages of my spiritual journal from the year before. Using a red highlighter, I underline and make notes asking God to help me condense the pages into the one lesson He was teaching me last year.

At the end of the week I complete this sentence and write it on the first page of my journal for the next year: “Last year God taught Ed…………………………………”

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The Lost Week

For most of us, the seven days between Christmas and the New Year feel like a lost week. The blur of our Christmas schedules—big events, big meals, and big expectations—have depleted our emotional reserves, and the challenges of a whole new year feel overwhelming.

Want some encouragement? I devote this time every year to look back over the year to develop what I call “Hindsight Faith.” I generate my “God’s Top Ten List” from the previous 12 months. If you keep a journal or a calendar, this will be easy. But even if you haven’t recorded the major events of your life last year, they’re still fresh in your mind.

Set aside some time to be alone with God, and ask His Spirit to help you determine the ten greatest things God did for you last year.

SEVEN DAYS FOUND!

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Week 5: Resist the World

(1 John 2:12-17)

Our fifth week of daily devotions in the Book of First John center on the John’s discourse on resisting the world. You’re going to need your Bible and I’ve provided the Study Notes on this website that you can either bookmark, or print. Be sure to scroll down to the notes outlining and commenting on the 1 John 2:12-17. Or you may want to download the word document: 1jn2.12-17nn. I hope this helps those of you who are committed to journaling this year.

Wednesday: 1 John 2:12-17, Spiritual Poverty in the World

Let’s do some Bible Study Methods! Often in the Scriptures the writer will present a principle then support it with evidence. Read 1 John 2:15-17 with this pattern in mind. The principle is presented in verse fifteen than two reasons it is true are given in vv 16 and 17. Try to write the principle and the two reasons out in your own words before reading on.

So, how did you do? Here is my personal outline of these verses:

Principle: It is impossible to love the world and God at the same time (15).

Because everything the world has to offer is evil. Nothing in the world originates with God—not the world itself or the things in the world (16).

Because everything the world has to offer is now in the process of passing away, but everything the Lord has to offer is now in the process of bringing eternal meaning and significance to our lives (17).

John exposes the truth about the world and all it has to offer. The world is rebelling against God, has nothing to do with God, and is passing away. Think about what a difference  this makes when we are attracted to the things this world has to offer.

Write these words out on a card, or better still memorize them:

That is against God; that is evil; that will not last!

For the rest of the week, every time you are attracted to what the world has to offer, repeat these words to yourself. When someone tells you about their recent purchase, when you see something you think you just have to have, when you feel jealous of the possessions of others, when you watch a commercial, pass a show room, read an advertisement…say it again.

And remember, you don’t need any of this stuff. You have the riches of Christ!

Week 5: Resist the World

(1 John 2:12-17)

Our fifth week of daily devotions in the Book of First John center on the John’s discourse on resisting the world. You’re going to need your Bible and I’ve provided the Study Notes on this website that you can either bookmark, or print. Be sure to scroll down to the notes outlining and commenting on the 1 John 2:12-17. Or you may want to download the word document: 1jn2.12-17nn. I hope this helps those of you who are committed to journaling this year.

Tuesday: 1 John 2:12-17, Spiritual Riches in Christ

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Week 5: Resist the World

(1 John 2:12-17)

Our fifth week of daily devotions in the Book of First John center on the John’s discourse on resisting the world. You’re going to need your Bible and I’ve provided the Study Notes on this website that you can either bookmark, or print. Be sure to scroll down to the notes outlining and commenting on the 1 John 2:12-17. Or you may want to download the word document: 1jn2.12-17nn. I hope this helps those of you who are committed to journaling this year.

Monday: 1 John 2:12-17, Resisting the World

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Week 4: Fellowship—Knowing the God of Light

(1 John 2:3-11)

Our fourth week of daily devotions in the Book of First John center on the John’s discourse on fellowship and walking in the light. You’re going to need your Bible and I’ve provided the Study Notes on this website that you can either bookmark, or print. Be sure to scroll down to the notes outlining and commenting on the 1 John 2:3-11. Or you may want to download the word document: 1jn2.3-11nn. I hope this helps those of you who are committed to journaling this year.

Friday: 1 John 2:3-11, Proactive Fellowship

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Week 4: Fellowship—Knowing the God of Light

(1 John 2:3-11)

Our fourth week of daily devotions in the Book of First John center on the John’s discourse on fellowship and walking in the light. You’re going to need your Bible and I’ve provided the Study Notes on this website that you can either bookmark, or print. Be sure to scroll down to the notes outlining and commenting on the 1 John 2:3-11. Or you may want to download the word document: 1jn2.3-11nn. I hope this helps those of you who are committed to journaling this year.

Thursday: 1 John 2:3-11, Connect your love for others with your knowledge of God!

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