Journaling Tips

Pick the best time for you. Choose the time of day when you're at your best and that will work best for your schedule.

Pick a place. If you have a certain place where you read and respond to God's Word, it will help establish the habit.

Stay on schedule. If you miss a few readings, you're probably better off picking up with the current reading rather than trying to catch up. This way you're never behind and you're reading the same thing as everyone else on that day. If you're having a hard time keeping up, start out with the First Steps or Youth journal, both of which have abbreviated reading schedules.

Tell a friend. Share your insights with a friend. You'll reinforce the lesson to yourself and encourage someone else.

Ask yourself questions. When you apply the scripture to your life, turn the Scripture and your observations into questions. When Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers," you can ask yourself things like, "Where do I need peace in my life?" "With whom am I at odds?"
"What relationships in my life need some fence-mending?"

Use tags. I find it helpful to mark the sections of my daily journaling. I use a letter with a box around it for each section: "S" for Scripture, "O" for observations, "A" for application, and "P" for prayer.

Choose writing over reading, if you must. If time will keep you from doing all the reading and writing in your journal, do less of the reading and make sure to write about it. Pick some lesser amount of the day's reading--one chapter, just Old Testament, or just New Testament. Then go through the journaling process based on what you've read. This way you are doing both important parts of the journaling process: reading and responding. The ultimate issue is not how much information you take in, it's how your life will be different because of what you read. Journaling your response prompts life change.