7 Reasons to Start Journaling Today
- Cindi McMenamin Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
- Updated Feb 02, 2022
You don’t have to be a writer to regularly record what God is doing in your life. Journaling is doing just that — keeping a written record of your spiritual progress and your journey in getting to know the heart of God.
There are no rules to journaling. It’s okay if you skip a day or two or even a week. It’s okay if you only write when inspired. It’s fine if it’s done on the keyboard in an open file on your computer or voice-texted into the notes section of your phone. I prefer the romance of writing by hand with a nice pen in a pretty-looking blank book. It’s okay if no one ever reads it but you, or if you use what you’ve recorded to share with someone else, or if you go back one day through much of what you have written and eventually decide to publish it for others.
Because there are no rules or drawbacks and so many benefits, here are seven reasons to begin – or continue – journaling.
1. Journaling teaches you how to converse with God.
So much of our prayer life can tend to be one-sided. If you are one to tell God what’s on your mind, what you need, and what you wish He’d do, and then go about your day, journaling your prayers or thoughts is one way to start a two-way conversation with God. When you take the time to record, type, or write out your thoughts or prayers, it takes a little longer, slowing you down, making you more intentional about what you pray, and in the process, it quiets your heart so you can begin to listen. I have found that as I take the time to write out my prayers, God often convicts my heart about certain things or gives me insight, and then it’s as if the Holy Spirit is guiding me in the words to write and pray. It’s one way I can hear His voice (instead of just my own) during prayer.
I can more easily stay focused while praying when I take the time to write it out. Of course, spontaneous prayer still happens throughout the day, but taking time to journal your prayers can cause you to be more intentional about prayer and open to hearing what God has to say, as well.
2. Journaling helps you maintain focus during your Bible reading.
Our minds can easily wander as we read the Word, or sometimes we might read just to check another box off of our to-do list in the morning. Journaling helps you engage with God’s Word by writing out a verse and letting it sink into your heart. As you write a verse, you can put your name into it, prayerfully meditating on it to apply it to your everyday life.
I love personalizing the Psalms into prayers of petition and praise. (That’s one way to pray through the Word of God.) I give each day’s journal entry a title, and sometimes that day’s journal entry becomes a devotional moment I share with someone or include in a written article or a study I’m teaching. Even if all it does is teach you something, you are recording what you’re learning and staying focused on the Word and your time with God in prayer.
3. Journaling is a healthy way to vent with God.
Writing out what you’re thinking, learning, and praying expresses what is going on in your heart, so you don’t have to have a rant with others. If you tend to be an over-communicator (I can relate), it can keep you from saying too much to others, wearing out their ears, or verbally processing what might be better to quietly ponder in your heart – or on the pages of a journal.
Are you angry at God or have questions about why He is allowing something? Write it out, in a personal conversation between you and God, on the pages of your journal. It’s likely that as you write, the answers may come to you from Scripture if you’re familiar with it. If not, write verses that you’re struggling with and ask God about them, too.
In Psalm 73, we learn that Asaph didn’t understand why the wicked seemed to be prospering. He had many questions of God and was disillusioned in his faith. But then he realized if he told others the confusion he was dealing with and verbalized his disillusionment, causing them to question God as well, that would be a greater offense than taking His questions to God and resting in Who God is. In verse 15, Asaph said, “If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children” (NIV). Then, he worked it out by entering God’s presence. In verse 17, he said, “Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood…” (NLT).
You can go into the sanctuary of your journal and pour out your heart to God and experience the truth of Psalm 62:8 “Trust in Him at all times...Pour out your hearts before Him; God is a refuge for us” (NASB).
4. Journaling teaches you to be a person of gratitude.
When you start recording everything you are grateful for, your perspective not only improves, your journal becomes a praise book of the many ways God works in and around your life. We all have countless blessings to be grateful for, and when we write them down, we will remember what God did and maintain a heart of gratitude.
Recording your blessings is a great way to open your spiritual eyes to see how God is working in and around you, rather than questioning, complaining, or doubting. As you sit down to write, you are opening your heart to remember what He’s done. As you take the time to write it out, you are following David’s example in Psalm 9:1: “I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.”
5. Journaling makes you more aware of answered prayer.
When you begin to record your prayer requests (and the date you requested them) and leave room to fill in how God answered that prayer (as well as the date on which you received an answer), it can make you more aware of answered prayers that you might have otherwise missed. Journaling this way can also cause you to make more requests, which is what Jesus wanted when He told His followers, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24 ESV).
It is joyous to write down everything on our hearts - our needs and desires, and see how God answers them. When I ask God for things I don’t necessarily need but would enjoy and then see how He comes through, it builds my confidence in prayer and my Heavenly Father, who listens. The more you ask (and record what you ask so you’ll remember it), the more you will see His answers. It will build your confidence in prayer, too, and in your
Heavenly Father who loves to give good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11).
6. Journaling records your spiritual growth and progress.
Sometimes it’s difficult for us to measure our own spiritual growth. If we keep coming back to the same temptation, the same sin, the same state of complacency, we may get the idea we are stuck, hopeless, and not growing at all. We may even question our salvation.
Scripture says God will complete the work He has begun in you (Philippians 1:6). When we are writing out our struggles, victories, prayer requests, His answers, and what we are learning from His Word, it not only keeps us growing (because we are interacting with the Word of God) but also provides a record of our spiritual growth so we can look back and see how far we’ve come in a year or two or five, or where we’ve remained stuck due to hurdles, distractions, or temptations.
People who want to make financial progress write down their financial goals and keep track of their spending and investing. People who want to grow in their relationships write down goals and celebrate their accomplishments together. If you want to grow spiritually, write out those goals in your journal and hold yourself accountable by keeping tabs on your progress. It also helps to look back and read about what you’ve learned, what you’ve surrendered, and how God worked in that situation.
7. Journaling writes your spiritual legacy and provides a source of encouragement you can pass on to others.
In addition to charting your spiritual growth, writing down what you’re learning, what you’ve prayed for, spiritual insights you’ve received as you’ve studied Scripture, and so on can be a powerful legacy one day when someone finds the spiritual journals you’ve left behind. While we don’t write these to be read, keep in mind if eyes ever fall upon them, they should read as transparent and real and raw as you are, and that may teach others how to pray and journal as well.
Recording – and thus remembering – what you have learned spiritually is golden so you can eventually pass it on to others. Whether you are a Bible study leader, a Sunday school teacher, a small group facilitator, or just a friend sharing with another over coffee, if you have a journal of what you’ve learned, you can easily access it to help others. This is a way of living out 2 Corinthians 1:4, which tells us God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (ESV).
For practice in journaling, read and go through the reflection questions in Cindi’s books, Letting God Meet Your Emotional Needs, Women on the Edge, or When a Woman Overcomes Life’s Hurts.
