Journaling as a Tool for Hearing God's Voice

Recently I have realised that I do not take enough time to ask God for His opinion.  I spend more time in prayer today than I ever have done, but when it comes to seeking God for specific answers to specific questions, I realize one of the reasons I don’t know God’s will is because I haven’t taken the time to ask. 

Now I am a bit cautious as I write this post to hold seeking God’s will in balance with ultimately seeking God.  Discovering God’s will is not meant to be another burden on the failing Christian’s to-do list.  But it is meant to be a natural consequence of seeking relationship with God and assuming He wants to lead us in our lives.

One of the ways I hear God most clearly and specifically is through journaling. Last week I brought all these questions I had to Him and I felt Him tell me that this week He wanted me to spend the majority of my quiet time, after reading Scripture, in journaling. 

Here is how I journal:

Firstly, I write to God.  I pour out my heart to Him.  I tell him my anxieties.  I ask Him questions.  I give thanks for specific things.  I tell Him how much my heart yearns for Him.  I confess my sin and cry out to Him to change my heart. 

Then, I still myself before the Lord.  I focus myself on Jesus, and I begin to write a letter back from God to me.  I don’t question everything I am writing at that point.  I simply write.  When I have finished, if there are specific directional things that have been written, I bring them to Mark or others in our leadership for accountability and to weigh them.  However, most of the time, God speaks to my heart issues.  He makes me see my insecurities, my judgments of others and my fears in His perspective.   He encourages me and speaks words of scripture to me. 

When I began the week, I was excited, thinking that I would now begin to hear answers to all my questions.  But instead, I have realized how many anxieties I have been sub-consciously carrying.  And as He addresses them, I have been totally drawn into His heart.  He has spoken to me about drawing close and leaning on Him and listening to His heartbeat.  I have had to slow down.  I have realized once again that much of my life and my quiet times are about doing – achieving.  Finishing a task or completing a prayer list or finishing a book.  And instead He wants me to just enjoy His presence. 

I am falling in love, all over again.

You do not have, because you do not ask God 

- James 4:2

Will you take some time to journal this week? 

(If this is your first time to journal, simply start by writing a love letter to God, and then writing a love letter back from Him.  Don't worry if it is God or not - just write and then go back and weigh it against Scripture and with accountability with a mature Christian afterwards.)