Journaling

I've been going through the Gospel of John lately. And I love it.

Before I started reading it, I committed myself to journaling about the entire book. I'd write an entry about every passage I read through per day. And I'm really glad I did. I want to encourage you to journal in your own personal Bible study, because, in my opinion, you'll get so much out of it if you do.

It encourages you to take a closer look at a passage

This has been remarkable for me. I used to get up in the morning and read the Bible while I was half asleep, only to find out later as I wrote in my journal that I missed something or misread something initially. The Bible is a lot clearer about a lot of things than one may think. For example, in John 7:49, I initially read it like this. The Pharisees said:

"But this crowd does not know the law is accursed."

I was confused. But later on as I studied closer, I realized it actually said:

"But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."

See? That made a whole lot more sense. The Pharisees thought they were better than everyone else, so this quote is not surprising, if not startling. I knew they were arrogant, but yeah.

It causes you to see context

Again, this has been great. In John 8, Jesus is talking about his Father and the Pharisees' father. They are descended from Abraham. But Jesus is referring to their father a lot and saying that Abraham did not do the things they did. Later in the passage, he established that their father was, in fact, the devil. It's something that makes sense and is a no-brainer, but it's only when you take a look at the passage that you really see Jesus is referring to this the entire time.

It lets you dwell on Scripture

When you're writing down your thoughts, you tend to try to organize them. At least I do. Also, when I'm writing things down I remember them better and I understand it better. The Bible is clear, but memory and organization tools really help one to understand.

So, in your time in God's Word, I want to encourage you to journal. There's no right or wrong way to do it. You can write every day, multiple times a day, or once a week, whichever works best for you. And do this remembering that it's all about Jesus. Pray to God to reveal his truth to you and it will happen.

Peace!