Journal | Excercise w/example

So this is my first attempt to share one of the ways that I journal. The post is big. However, it is intended to be thought about and written over the period of a week. Tonight in our women's ministry class, I will read most of this and help members get started writing. Hopefully, anything that's left will be taken home and continued. Please feel free to follow along.  You may also want to copy/paste this in a MS Word document so that you can save your entry on a computer and complete the example on your own. 

1. Open in Prayer: If you're not used to hearing from God, you may want to check out this link first. Offer a sincere prayer asking him to speak into your life.

2. Selecting a verse: If you've ever had a verse that keeps crossing your path, that's a great one to start with. If not, search for a verse by topic or even select your favorite. For this exercise, I will select one that has been on my mind lately.

Example: Psalm 139:2 - You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

3. Read the whole chapter: Highlight or underline words that strike you or provoke thought.

4. Read Commentary: If you have a study bible, read the commentary on the chapter. If you do not, search for other commentary online.

5. Use your imagination: Imagine parts of the verse that stand out to you. You'll need quiet for this and no other distractions. There are no wrong answers, even if they feel corny.  Give yourself time to get into it and know that you might have to give yourself a few tries. Do not censor, correct or worry about spelling errors.

Example: This verse says that he knows when you sit and when you rise. So imagine sitting with him. Which one of you would be the first to speak? What would be said? How might your conversation be different than your regular prayers? Would you be able to look him in the eye?  What would you feel in his presence?

Continue on through the whole chapter. The bold line is the verse. The italics is a question or statement that I have placed in order to provoke more thought. Feel free to write a response and/or write your own questions. There is no right or wrong way. My comments simply offer a place to start. 

¹ You have searched me, Lord,  and you know me.

Imagine being in his presence and having him search through you and bring things to light. -What would he find?

² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

What would you be thinking as he did this? Would you be open to it or would you be ashamed of what he'd find?

³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

He knows what you want to hide and what you want to reveal. How does that expose you? Would you even try to speak?

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

Even if you tried, he might already be answering or hushing or agreeing....

⁵ You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

But a fear slips out or perhaps you turn, there is something he has found... But he rests his hand on you to reassure you. His other arm guides you so that you can't turn away.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Imagine what secrets he's pulled out that even you weren't aware of. You didn't even know you were capable of something so brave, so tender, so unique... What did he find?

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

He is everywhere around you. Even when you feel that you must turn, his presence is with you. This moment has left you unchanged. You will be aware of his nearness.

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

Imagine a small child that has just woke up and runs up the stairs to see his mother and father. -Throughout the day clinging and at bedtime still waiting for just a moment longer. Would you be searching for him like this? -He is there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

Where will this faith take you?

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Would it even matter knowing where he was going to take you, since he is guiding you? 

¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

Would you trust him to take you anywhere? Are you hoping that he hides you away? Is he sending you to a corner so that your shame might swallow you up. Or is he protecting you or taking you to his secret place? 

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Except that he is light. There cannot be darkness in his presence. He chases it away.

¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Fiber by fiber, strand by strand, picking and choosing which pieces will become my very being. Hiding your works and time spent making me, in a secret place like my mother's womb. -Making me to be a surprise. A gift. -The giving of your treasure.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

If I agree that all of your works are wonderful- If I know that I know that I know your purposes are always right and noble and true, who am I to question your purpose in me?

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

You know every ounce of my weakness and chose those tender places in me.

¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book  before one of them came to be.

You laid out how long I would live and how I would do it. All of my sin was already before you and not only did you choose me but you made me anyway.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!

What I wouldn't give to ask you -why- about some of the aspects of me.  (Which ones?) 

What other things could you reveal to me that I never even considered?


¹⁸ Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand when I awake, I am still with you.

I might enjoy the idea of being with you and having a conversation and knowing your thoughts. It might even seem like a dream but when I wake up I can have this relationship. I can discover you. -New things, every day.

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

How my flesh wants to ask you to remove every obstacle, hindrance, fear or threat. -But it is those things that usually draw me closer. 

Where are you struggling now?

²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

But who am I God? How do I misuse your name? Is it in my actions? -Or with my words? -Or disobedience? 

Enemies may speak their evil but what else do I do that is evil against you? 

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,  and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

It may be easy for me to find fault in another but we are all full of rebellion. What do you abhor in me? What has become altered or magnified that you can trim down?

²² I have nothing but hatred for them;  I count them my enemies.

Humble me God. For all the judgment that I might easily find to place on others, there are places just as equal in my own inequity. Just as I trust you will vindicate me of my enemies, I can trust that you will also make my paths straight.

²³ Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

 Heal me. Refine me. Shape me. Smooth out the rough edges and dig deep to remove roots. Restore and reveal what you originally created in me that will give YOU the Glory.

²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Prepare and set my heart for your eternity on earth as it is (and will be) in Heaven. 

Summary

1. How can you apply this? What Questions came to your own heart about your character and/or behavior?
2. Did you go back and answer those questions? Make sure that you do.
3. What Questions do you have about the actual context of this passage (Characters, dates, timeline, location)? 
4. Throughout the week read this verse and/or chapter again. Continue to think about any of the items that have significance to you on this page or in this verse. You may want to carry a note pad or recorder to jot down quick thoughts because you will be interrupted by life. No detail is too corny or too small. Every moment that you can, remind yourself to come back to this and listen for more.
5. Before the next class, compile all of those notes with the ones you have started here.
6. Read all of your notes together. What did this exercise reveal to you?
7. Do you have any additional summary?
8. Do you feel like there is anything that you need to do?

Going Deeper

1. What Questions do you have about Characters, context, dates, timeline, location? See if you can't find time to answer some of them.
2. You might not have noticed but the second line (in italics) is the way I pray. Next week, we may practice praying some of this verse and/or comments that came in response. Feel free to practice doing this before the next class. You can also write your prayer out and read it when it's your turn. (I read all of my prayers out loud before I started getting comfortable.) You might fear what others will think but you're not doing it for others. You're doing it for God. 

P.S. Don't be surprised to find that you will need to work on this for less or more than one week. The goal is not to "finish" in time but to dig deeper. Do the homework as you feel led but write down every drop that is related. Continue this until you have peace that it is complete.

I am glad to email you this page, if you’d rather type your journal entries. Request a copy here. 

Photo Credit: www.dolcepics.com