Key #4 – Journalizing, the writing out of our prayers and God’s answers, provides a great new freedom in hearing God’s voice.
“ I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me and what I will answer when I am corrected. Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make [it] plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For vision yet for an appointed time, But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” Hab. 2:1-3
a. Writing down what God has given us is something God emphasizes throughout the Word of God. In the Bible, 81 times, God is telling his people to write down either what has happened, what He has shown them, or the names of the people involved.
b. The entire book of Psalms is a journal. When you read through many of them, you can see the Psalmist asking a question and God responding.
c. Most of the books of the prophets were journals of what God has told them.
d. Most of the historical books of the Bible were written as journals of God working with the children of Israel. (1&2 Chronicles, 1&2 Kings, etc)
a. It allows it to be judged later: So many times, God will begin talking with us and we immediately begin to test and judge the world that He is sharing. This interrupts what God is trying to share with us. It literally cuts of the spontaneous flow of His voice through our hearts. By writing it down, we can write for 5min, 20 minutes or how ever long Gods wants to share with us and then go back over it in detail to judge and test the word from God.
b. It gives our mind something to do: Our soul is to being in complete control of our lives. When we begin listening to God through our hearts, the mind is left out of the loop. By writing down what God is telling us, it gives our soul an active part in what we are doing and it will not object or interrupt the spontaneous flow of thoughts and ideas from God.
c. We have a permanent record of what God shared with us: This does several things. First, all of what God shares with us will not happen tomorrow. God is on a different time schedule than us. It may be several week or even years before it comes to pass. Therefore we can go back and read over it to stand in faith and refresh our spiritual vision. Secondly, it is so easy to forget much of what God shares unless it is written down. Some of the greatest revelations from God that have been given have been forgotten because they were not written down.
Every time that we minister, it is a learning experience. By writing down these experiences and reflecting on them, we can learn and become more effective as ministers. This is called “Theological Reflection.”
Not only can we learn through reflection, but also it can help us keep track of events. Such as:
· How many were saved at a meeting
· Notes on ministry to an individual or family.
· Significant moving of God’s Spirit while ministering.
All the great ministers of the past kept “Ministry Journals.” Such men as Spurgeon, Wesley, Whitefield, Moody, Luther, etc. all kept ministry journals. We can read some of them today that are quite insightful, inspiring and powerful.
In both our prayer journals and ministry journals, we will be sharing very personal things. In fact, in Ministry Journals, we may jot down things that can be confidential that someone else has shared with us. We always need to treat them with great care.
Keeping your journals in a locked desk or filling cabinet can be an easy way for keeping them safe. It could be harmful if God gave us a personal word in our prayer time for someone we were ministering to that should have been kept confidential but someone got a hold of our prayer journal.
Assignment:
1. What are the benefits of keeping a prayer journal?
2. What is the difference between a prayer journal and a ministry journal?
3.
What safe guards should be taken with our journals?
Mark and Patti Virkler have granted permission to draw this information from
their book, “Communion With God Study Guide”.
You can get more information at their website www.cwgministries.org