Jesus shows us how to have a vital relationship with God.
Ep. 2 See The Story With A Gospel Lens
Ep. 3 Tips On Getting Started
Ep. 4 How to Use This Journal: Read, Meditate & Journal
How to Use This Journal
So now let’s talk practically about how to use this daily devotional journal. The first thing to know is that this is about spending time with Jesus, so this needs to be the first thing you do to start your day. To really get the most out of this experience you need to see the tangible difference this makes in the rest of your day. Also remember, we are followers of Jesus and as we already discovered, this is how He began His day. So let’s begin!
Before You Start...
Sing. Sing to God or listen to one song of praise, worship or devotional meditation that draws you close to Him. This is great for setting the atmosphere and shifting your heart and mind towards God.
Pray. Pray a short prayer of thanksgiving, that welcomes God’s presence. Ask Him to reveal to you what He is like in what you read. Ask Him to give you the assurance of salvation in Jesus through what you read. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through the Bible reading and give you understanding. These are some of the things that are helpful and meaningful to ask as you talk to God before you read.
Enter the Story...
Read. Read the portion of Scripture you’ve been given from the Bible reading plan for the day. Read at a pace that allows you to absorb what you are reading. Is what you are reading poetry, prophecy, wisdom literature or narrative? These are just some of the things to think about as you read. However, there are four specific things that you are looking for as you read. These are things you will want to highlight. 1) What did you see in God’s character of love? 2) As the greatest revelation of God’s love, what picture of Jesus or Him crucified gave you assurance of salvation? 3) In light of your assurance in Christ, what did the Holy Spirit say to you or ask you to do? 4) Based on what He said, write at least one verse you will meditate on and memorize today. These are important, because this is what you will journal about.
Meditate. After you have read the reading for the day it is really important and highly beneficial to soak in it through silent meditation. Allow yourself to be drawn into each scene. If it is a story, allow your mind to use your senses in each scene. What do you smell, see, taste, touch or hear? Do you identify with the experience of one of the characters? You are also being still in quiet reflection in order to listen. This is essential to learning how to discern the Voice of the One who loves you and who is actually speaking personally to you through the Scriptures. I have found that the Scriptures call us to mediate on God’s word far more than it calls us to study it, as important as that is. So take the time to meditate after you read for as long or as short as you are able as long as the experience is quality and you have heard from God. I’ve personally found going for a walk outside, as close to nature as possible, takes meditating, in order to listen, to another level of intimacy with Jesus.
Journal. After reading and meditating, I’ve found one of the most powerful and life transforming things to do is to journal based on the insights you found and highlighted in reference to the four entries. You will write them in your journal under each of these four entry statements/questions, each of which I explain below…
Ep. 5 How to Use This Journal: The Love of God
1. Tell God what you saw in His character of love from today’s reading.
In 1st John 4:8-16 the Bible tells us that “God is love.” This is the essence of His character. Therefore everything we see in the Bible that describes what God is like in character is profoundly and beautifully revealing this central truth to us. A great example of this is found in Exodus 34:5-7, when Moses asked to see the glory of God. What God does is declare His character to Moses. Here are some attributes of His character He shares with Moses: He is merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abounding in goodness, truth, He forgives and yet doesn’t clear the guilty. All of these character traits are expressions of God’s love. I’ve discovered that even God’s judgment and anger are expressions of His love. God is like a wounded Husband who is jealous and hurt by His wife’s continual unfaithfulness. According to 2 Corinthians 3:18, it is by beholding His glory (character of love) that we become changed into the same character. This first journal entry is designed to help you get more intimately acquainted with what God is like. When someone is on a date, they are primarily interested in getting to know the other person. What they are like in character. Think of this time as being on a date with God every morning and allowing Him to make known to you what He is really like. As you write down your discoveries in this section, try to make it personal by writing “You are…” For example, based on Exodus 34:5-7, you could write, “You are merciful, gracious, forgiving…”, etc. Tell God by using “You are” (or similar phrases) to tell Him what you saw in Him personally. In your Bible reading, the revelation of His love will be seen in any member of the Divine Godhead; Father, Son or Holy Spirit. Yet the greatest revelation of God’s love is seen most vividly and clearly in Jesus and Him crucified for our salvation, which you will reserve for the next journal entry…
Ep. 6 How to Use This Journal: Jesus and Him Crucified
2. As the greatest revelation of God’s love, what picture of Jesus or Him crucified gave you assurance of salvation from today’s reading?
Jesus, Himself, taught that He was the theme of all scripture, especially what He would accomplish for our salvation on the cross. See John 5:38-40, Luke 24:27, 32, 44-47. The apostle Paul felt so strongly about this that he said, “…I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2 NKJV. It is Jesus and Him crucified that vividly provides the greatest revelation of God’s love as Paul writes to the church in Rome, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 NKJV. What Jesus did for us on the cross justified us, or made us right with God, freely by grace, without any contribution on our part, which is what Paul meant when he said we were “…justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” Romans 3:24 NKJV. It is because of this that our hearts are drawn to Jesus in confession of our sin and turning from it to His grace we receive the present assurance of our salvation in Jesus. Having thus been declared right with God through Jesus, we stand free from guilt, shame or condemnation. Therefore Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” What I love most about this verse is that no matter when you come to it, it always reads “now” to remind us that right now, in Christ, we are not condemned! Having been set free from the condemnation of sin, we are free to grow in grace by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not saved by our works, but rather we are saved for good works. See Ephesians 2:8-10. This wonderful Good News runs like a scarlet thread from Genesis to Revelation, often in the form of pictures that reveal this central truth in Jesus. For example, in the Old Testament, the ark by which Noah, his family and the animals were saved from the flood was a picture of Jesus & Him crucified. The various sacrificial offerings given to God by which the repentant sinner was accepted and forgiven was a picture of Jesus & Him crucified. Abraham offering his only beloved covenant son of promise, Isaac, as a sacrifice, but God stopping it as a test of Abraham’s faith, was a stunning picture of Jesus & Him crucified. David defeating Goliath on behalf of Israel was a picture of Jesus & Him crucified. Even in the New Testament within the story of Jesus’ life in the four Gospels, Jesus healing people physically by faith was a picture of Him saving us by faith through the cross. Jesus delivering people from demon possession demonstrated His power to save us from sin & Satan’s power through the cross. Jesus turning water into wine as a symbol of His saving blood, Jesus feeding the 5000 with bread from Heaven as a symbol of His broken body given to us as a more than satisfying gracious gift and Jesus’ invitation to come to Him and find rest all vividly point to His gift of salvation accomplished for us at the cross. As you see this picture of Jesus and Him crucified every day in Scripture, I can tell you from personal experience, you WILL have the assurance of salvation in Him daily! It’s in light of this reality that you move into the next entry…
Ep. 7 How to Use This Journal: What the Spirit Says & One Verse
3. In light of your assurance in Christ, what did the Holy Spirit say to you or ask you to do from today’s reading?
This will become very clear to you after you have spent the time meditating on the reading for the day, listening for God’s voice. The Holy Spirit will often impress your mind with key verses that particularly spoke to you from the reading and that apply directly to your current life circumstances. He may also speak to you through the experience of one of the characters you read about in a story that directly relates to your experience. The Holy Spirit will speak encouragement to you, give you instructions He intends for you to obey (apply to your life by His power), ask you to share something with someone, correct you, rebuke you, convict you of sin in your life in order to lead you to grace or comfort your heart. Yet always remember that whatever He speaks to you, it is in light of God’s love for you revealed in Jesus & Him crucified for your salvation; or in other words, what you journaled about in entries 1 & 2 …the Gospel! Then write it down as though God is speaking directly to you, because He is!
4. Based on what He said, write at least one verse from today’s reading that you will meditate on and memorize today?
This daily experience with Jesus actually comes down to just one verse. That’s right, just one! Eventually you may want to do a few more, but one verse is good for now. This one verse will be what you hide in your heart through meditation and memorization for the day. The Bible says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11 NKJV. The Holy Spirit actually uses this powerful practice to help you resist sin throughout the day! The Bible also says, “I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.” 119:15 NKJV. Hiding this one verse in your heart through meditation is also apart of your contemplating the ways of the LORD, which is reflecting on His character of love. This is why the Holy Spirit uses this to help you resist the temptation we all have to sin during the day, because your heart will be abiding in the love of God. Yes, you will have an amazing experience with Jesus journaling through Scripture to start your day, but the truth is it doesn’t take very long in the day for us to realize just how much we desperately need Him again! Therefore I encourage you to maintain conversation with Him throughout the day in prayer over the big or small things of life, which is like oxygen to the soul. Yet I equally encourage you to select` just one verse from the reading, usually coming from one of the key verses that the Holy Spirit impressed on your mind while meditating on what He said to you that day (entry 3) in order to help you re-center back on abiding in Jesus at critical moments in your day. This is such a beautiful experience that I do not want you to miss the power of this! It’s actually quite simple. Just take at least 5 minutes at three different times in your day, which will likely be sometime around when you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. In this moment it’s good to relax your body as much as possible, be still, breathe slowly and deeply, and then meditate on your verse. Say the verse slowly 7 times, beginning and ending the verse with the Scripture reference (ex: Psalm 119:11) each time. It’s like a sandwich: Scripture reference + Verse + Scripture reference. In each of the 7 times you say the verse it’s good to pause and reflect on the meaning, imagery or application of the verse to your life. Briefly meditating on this one verse also has a trigger effect that brings back to your memory the larger context of the portion of Scripture you read and journaled about that morning from which you got this verse.
Praying Through the Journal Entries
Recommended Outline for Closing Pray
Thank God for at least one of the attributes of His character of love that you saw in todays reading.
Go to the Cross, confess any known sin and accept, by faith, God’s forgiveness in light of the picture of Jesus & Him Crucified you saw in todays reading.
Pray for Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to give you an opportunity to share Jesus today.
Pray for others needs.
Pray for your personal needs
Close by thanking Him, surrender requests to His will, In Jesus name.
Enter the Story Together
Enter the Story Together
This daily devotional journal is intentionally designed to lead to discussion in a weekly small group gathering with others you invite to take this journey with you. As a matter of fact, start praying now for the Holy Spirit to lead you to 3 people that are in the places and spaces where you do life (at home, work, school, church, neighborhood, etc.) to take this journey with you. The conversation you will have each week will be based on the journal entries you all would have already written down during the week. Here’s what a sample weekly gathering and discussion questions would look like (time of gathering will vary):
5:00pm - Refreshments & Conversation
5:10pm - Discuss Devotional Journal Entries
Share at least one aspect of God’s character of love that stood out to you this week.
Share at least one picture of Jesus or Him crucified that gave you assurance of salvation this week?
Share at least one thing the Holy Spirit said to you or asked you to do this week? How can we pray for you in your obedience to the Spirit?
Can you share at least one verse you meditated on from memory?
Can you give an update on the 3 people you’re praying for to take this journey with you? How can we pray for them?
6:10pm - Pray Together
6:20pm - Announcements and End
Encouragement for the Journey
Encouragement for the Journey
As you get ready to take this life transforming journey, I just want to encourage you as you get started. In light of Christ’s overwhelming love and commitment to a relationship with you, I sincerely pray that you will enter into this experience from a heart of gratitude for His abundant grace, in love for Him and in commitment to Him. After reading this instructional guide before you begin, you might possibly feel like this may be a lot for each day. Rest assured that it is not. I took the time to explain this daily rhythm in Christ with you to give you a solid place from which to launch into this experience with Him. But as you will see in the daily devotional journal template on the next page, it’s actually quite simple and remember, it all wittles down to a single verse that you will hide in your heart each day. There are several Bible reading plans that you can use to “Enter the Story” each day with this journal at www.livingforhim.tv. We’d love to hear how this resource is being a blessing to you, so please email us at info@livingforhim.tv. Our prayer is that you experience the joy of life in Christ!