How Do I start a Faith Journal?

We’ve all been there at one time or another.  We are feeling spiritually stuck, or maybe distant from God. Not from anything we’ve done wrong or bad, but we’ve just strayed a bit from our walk with God.  It’s been a while since we’ve talked with Him, except for an occasional, “Help me Lord” when we are anxious, worried, sad or upset.

Or maybe we do feel close to God already, and we just want to make that connection even stronger. We try to do as Jesus taught us and help others and follow His commandments. But being and doing “good” alone won’t help us get closer to God.

So what can we do? We can start with Prayer and being In the Word. Being intentional in prayer is absolutely critical.  Next to reading my Bible, daily time with God spent in prayer and journaling have been the most important parts of my spiritual journey.

But like all relationships, there have been times that I’ve gotten lazy. I’ve missed a day or two and the next thing I know, it’s been a week or more. If we truly want to build a stronger relationship with God, we need to make intentional time with him a habit.

God doesn’t want us to sit back and wait for Him to speak… He wants us to be actively pursuing Him. He tells us in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Faith Journal Ideas

Once you start a Faith journal, you will feel more connected to God as you express your feelings and talk to Him when you are writing down your prayers, studying Scripture, and giving Him the thanks and praise that He deserves. Journaling will become such a pleasant habit that it will seem almost effortless.  It will become part of your routine that you won’t even think about.

A faith journal is a written account and record of your ongoing spiritual journey with God.

What is the purpose of a Faith Journal?

Do you already write in a journal of some kind? If you don’t, I do not want you to think of this as one more thing to add to your every growing “To Do” List. Think of it as an extension of your prayers and your relationship to God. Remember, faith journaling is a GOOD habit!

Creating a habit of prayer is one of the most important things we can do as Christians. We were created for communion with God. Starting a Faith Journal with an emphasis on Prayer and scripture is an excellent way to make prayer and journaling a habit that will help you be more at peace.

So many times we have multiple events happening in our lives all at once that we lose sight of what is truly important. Taking the time to journal helps reconnect us to God, it gives you space to breath and remember what, and who, matters most.  It’s the place where faith, love and hope can be written about and then actually be able to touch and feel the words and remember the importance of those words when you most need them.

How do I start a Faith Journal?

First thing I want you to do is to start thinking and planning now about where and what time of the day is going to work for you and set that time aside to spend with God, before you even start journaling.

Whatever works best for you is perfect, but this is what works for me:

1. What do you need? A Bible, a journal or paper to write on, a pen and maybe some colored pencils or stencils, if you want to be creative.
   We can help with that ;)  Check out our journal and journaling supplies here.
2. Pick out your spot. Where do you plan to journal? Is it the same place every day? Wherever that spot it, that is where hopefully, you can leave your journal and supplies.
3. Set up a trigger.  Will you be journaling at the same time every day? If so, set an alarm on your phone! I’m a creature of habit. I get up the same time every day, and by the time I’m done with my morning routine, I’m ready to journal. That’s always within 10-15 minutes most days.
4. Get comfortable, have your coffee, tea, whatever and make sure you have NO distractions. Turn off your phone! Make sure the kids are happy, and hubby.

Now you’re ready to journal!

Ready to start your Faith Journal? Use the BLESS Method of Journaling!

After I started consistently writing in my Faith Journal every day, I noticed a habit. I had found a system that worked for me every day and I enjoyed it! It was easy to follow and when I made up an acronym for it, it worked perfectly for me!

Get your BLESS download here! Along with 4 other downloads to use in your  journal.

I call it the BLESS method of Bible Study and journaling. Each letter stands for a different task to complete as you read the Word of God. The idea is to help you focus and break it down into steps that make the process more manageable and to help you dig deeper as you journal what you’ve learned. You’ll be amazed what God will reveal to you just by taking the time to slow down, think about and then write out what you are reading!

I start every journal page with the full date. The reason I do that is to that I can look back to see how far I’ve grown in my faith and to help me stay accountable to journaling every day. I can learn how to trust God as I look through the pages and actually see answered prayers.

The BLESS Method by Blessed Be Boutique

B – Bible Scripture Verse:  Start with scripture. Whether you use a scripture prompt or are reading through the Bible, write out the verse for the day. If it’s a little long, then cut it down to the parts you want to study. I use Faith Journal prompts which are scripture based for each day of each month. 

L – Listen for God’s Voice - Start with a prayer, asking God for wisdom and understanding – approach the scripture with an open mind and open heart. Slow down, quiet your mind and listen for God’s voice. God speaks to us through His Bible. This is when I will write down my prayers for the day and my Thanksgivings in the back of my journal. You will get those form when you download the BLESS download above.

“Father God, I thank you for your Word. Let me be blessed by it. Open my eyes to your truth and wisdom so that I may understand and apply what I learn today in my life.”

E – Explore history and meaning – Familiarize yourself with the verses before and after the scripture you are working on. I actually read the whole Chapter of that verse so I know what was happening. If need be, I’ll read even more. Who wrote it, who was it written to, and where was it written? Gather information from the footnotes in your Bible, or use an actual Study Bible to figure out the Who and Where of the scripture.

S – Study and Savor – What do you believe is the main message of the verses? Do any of the words jump out at you? Are any words duplicated? If so they are usually meant to be significant thoughts. Does this verse remind you of any others? If so, cross reference them and write them down too.  Write what is on your heart. This is also where you’ll share your most intimate thoughts with God. Journals are meant to be 100% individualized. You make it your own, with your own style and personal space. The possibilities are endless as to how you can use it.

S – Summarize and Share – What did you learn? What call to action do you want to remind yourself to do? How can I apply this to my life? Finish with prayer.

If your pages are not too personal, we’d love to have you share them in our free Facebook group, Blessed Intentions:  Simple Faith Based Journaling. If you would rather not share your pages, that is totally fine. But we do offer an accountability post every morning where you can comment that you’ve finished your journaling for the day. 

We offer daily scripture prompts every month, get this month’s here!

Now that you’ve finished your journaling, you can add a little color, or maybe a few drawings just to decorate it a bit. God made you be you. So let your personality come out when you finish your journal writing. Washi tape, colored pencils, stickers, rulers and stencils make perfect additions to your journaling supplies. Blessed Be Boutique carries them all.

We have journals, and all the supplies written about above here!

Blessed Be Boutique Journaling Supplies here!

Remember, it doesn’t matter what you put in your journal, but what does matter is that you are digger deeper into the Word and are pleasing God with your devotion.

The habit of reading and studying God’s Word is one of the most important habits a follower of Jesus can have. This habit gets into you and transforms you from the inside out. Nothing else can do for us what the Word of God can do for us.

Get the Draw Near Daily Journal Bundle here to get you started!

What is Draw Near Daily? 
It's the perfect kit to get you started in Journaling and KEEP you journaling every month! You get:

• Grateful, Thankful, Blessed Journal - a 5.25" x 8.25" Dot Grid Journal with 100 sheets of paper, giving you 200 pages to use.
• Small Zippered Mesh Pouch, 9 x 4.3" in assorted color, with mechanical pencil, Mini Correction Tape, Mini White eraser, and two mini washi tapes. 
• Welcome downloads - 30 Christian Journaling Prompts, 30 Journaling Prompts to get started, 2022 Calendar, Summer Memories Journal Pages, and more!

And some extra goodies thrown in too :)

Blessed Be Boutique also offers a Starter Kit that we call All The Extras for Journaling as well as a monthly bundle that includes one of our Grateful, Thankful, Blessed Journals, supplies and lots of downloads for you to use while journaling. We call it Draw Near Daily, as we want you to be drawn near by God’s Word every single day.

All Journaling supplies can be seen here!

Please join our Facebook Group at Blessed Intentions: Simple Faith Based Journaling  

Thank you and have a blessed day!

Bev Schweigert

owner of Blessed Be Boutique