Journal Tips (for your Bible reading)

 Happy 2023! 

The other day, I came across this list of helpful tips for journaling written by none other than Elisabeth Elliot. After reading through it once, I thought it would be helpful to implement some of them into my own Bible reading routine. 

When reading the Word, write down...

1. Lessons learned from your reading of Scripture. (If you put these in your journals instead of marking up your Bible, you will find new things each time you read your Bible instead of reading it through the grid of old notes...worth a try, no?)

2. Ways in which you intend to apply those lessons in your own life. (Reading your journal later will reveal answers to prayer you would otherwise have overlooked.)

3. Dialogues with the Lord. What you say to Him, what He seems to be saying to you about some problem or issue or need.

4. Questions from your spiritual reading other than the Bible.

5. Prayers from words of hymns which you want to make your own. 

6. Reasons for thanksgiving. (Caution: when you get into the habit of recording these the list gets out of hand!)

7. Things you're praying about. You might choose to have a separate notebook for this, or an "appendix" in another section of the same book -- date on which a prayer was prayed, date on which answered, with space for how the answer came in some cases. 

(From the EE Newsletter, May/June 1990)

May this encourage you to seek the Lord!