Sample Entry - Real Life Journal

I am excited for what God is going to do in our church and us as individuals as we intentionally set time aside to hear from Him.  Journaling is one way to read and respond to God's Word.  Over the next few weeks and months, I want to pull the curtain back on my own journaling life, sharing some of my writing as an encouragement for your own journey.  Here's the first one:  

Lord, I am excited for this new year, this new journal.  I know how much I need this in my own life, spiritual nourishment. Would you fill me up afresh this year?  Give me the desire and discipline, the two go hand in hand, to meet you each day.  May I feel like something is missing if I miss.  But keep me from legalism, from thinking that I am earning your favor somehow by journaling.  I just need to hear from you, that our spirits might unite.  That you can speak and fill.  Thank you for the responsiveness of others.  It’s encouraging and leads to an accountability that I know I need!

I know that on my own, I will fail miserably as a pastor.  So Lord, would you take over.  May I think your thoughts and your words. May I speak your thoughts and your words.  When I fail, remind me that the faithful love of the Lord never ends.  Your mercies never cease.  Your faithfulness is great.  Your mercies begin afresh ever morning.  You are my inheritance.  I will put my trust in you.  May that verse guide me in a special way in 2011, providing a daily reminder of the truths of who you are.  I need that every day.

Genesis 5 is more than just a boring list of names.  Several things stand out to me.  Each name is followed by “and then he died.”  There is a starkness to that reality that should remind me each day of the temporary nature of my life.  No matter how many years God gives me, I will also face that statement “and then Mike died.”  What matters is what I give myself to between those two dates, birth and death.  Lord, may my life be known for its kingdom investment.

 

Enoch was a good man. . . it says he lived in close fellowship with God.  Nothing about his accomplishments, list of successes.  Twice it says Enoch lived in close fellowship with God.  It was obvious to those around him that there was a strong relationship with God.  Could the same be said about me?  “Then one day he disappeared because God took him” (Genesis 5:24).  Wow.  Incredible verse.  No death.  Just gone to be with God.

Genesis 6 – The sins of mankind were great, so great that God was sorry he even made them.  That’s big.  “Everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.”  And it “broke his heart”.  It’s hard to believe that our actions can break God’s heart.  But apparently they can and do.  Lord, I don’t want to add to your heart break 

Description of Noah – righteous, the only blameless person living on the earth.  Again, that’s quite a statement.  “He did everything exactly as God commanded him.”  May I do the same, hearing and responding well to your instructions on my life.

Lord, I want to be your son this year.  To rest in your goodness and work in my life.  May my life and marriage and family reflect this desire.  Lead me and may I follow your lead closely!  I love and need you today.

Mike Penninga

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