Although you may not be a 'natural born' journal writer, writing down your thoughts, questions, discoveries, and responses to God's word is an important way to learn. Here are a few tips:

• Feed the soul before feeding the body. Spend time with God and his Word first thing in the morning before eating breakfast.
• Focus on the message from God to you for each day.

Journal Notebook Nuts and Bolts

Points to consider when selecting a journal:

Decide whether to use a paper journal or an electronic journal. Below are tips for both.

Paper Journal:

• Put the date on the top of the page. You might also want to include the day and location for each day's entry.
• Notebook size: 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches - of course, you can use an 8 1/2 x 11 inch journal. However, the larger page size can be intimidating for some people because the larger pages seem more challenging to fill; on the other hand, a smaller size is often more inviting and less intimidating.
• Paper weight – 20 lb. so no ink bleeds through.
• Wire bound so you can fold it back and tear out a page, if needed. Nevertheless, many people, however, enjoy using a book-style journal.
• Get a notebook that has at least one pocket in which to keep extra papers like BibleGateway.com printouts and prayer lists.
• Keep some stickies on the inside of the back cover to jot down notes when distracting thoughts come into your mind during devotional time. Once you write them down, you can forget them and can be free to return back to your time with God.
• Put your name, email address, and/or your phone number inside the back cover. If you ever lose it, it can be returned to you. This happened to one of our group members two times over the past 17 years of Bible study journal writing.

Electronic Journal:

• Select a word processer if you are only going to use a computer. Or try Evernote (free), an app that will make your journal available to you on any of your mobile devices and on your computer, too. If you have an iPad or other tablet, it is also great for taking sermon notes in church, and much more.

Other Uses of the Journal

• Sermon Notes – taking notes can not only help you to stay awake in church when life is stressful and filled with too much work and studies but too little sleep. Try to take notes during all sermons and review the notes later. Plus, we learn by writing, so you can get more out of the sermons this way.
• Prayer List – Keep your updated prayer list with you in a pocket of your journal or in its own section of the notebook.
• Memorize Scripture – Keep a list of verses to memorize.