SOME JOURNALING PROMPTS FOR BELIEVERS

For beginners and experts alike, sometimes journaling can be hard. There can be periods when your pen wants to stay forever on those sheets and other times when you just don't know what to write. For a lot of people, it always has to be a book and a pen, that should not be the case. There are amazing note and journaling apps around. And guys! journaling is not a girl thing, it's a human thing 😑.

Here are some prompts to kick start (for newbies) and improve your journaling experience.

1.Thanksgiving

Yes, this is easy as it gets. You can start by writing about things that you are grateful for. People, places, things, resources, anything and everything that makes your life better. You will be surprised at the number of things you will write if you’re set on finding something to be grateful for. I’ve gone line upon line just writing about my family, food, water, shelter, electricity, safety from work to the house, you know basic stuff. Life will never be perfect but there’ll always be something to be grateful for.

2. Daily life

You can write about how you day went. The mistakes you made, the experiences you had and the things you learnt. It’s a good avenue for self-reflection and asking the hard questions; “Could I have done better?”, “Was that necessary?”, “Was that edifying or destructive?”

Some of the best people in the world are self-reflective and self-aware. Journaling is one of the ways to achieve this. You get to probe your inner thoughts, motives and emotions in a way you might never do with another person.

3. Bible study

Going into a Bible study with writing materials is a sign of faith. It shows that you’re expectant to receive knowledge, lessons and guidance from the Word. As a student, its only proper to go into a classroom with your book and pen to take notes, same applies here. If you believe God has something to teach you, then be ready to write. Writing these down will serve as a guide along which you will fashion your life. They contain your convictions straight out of the Word.

What are the prophecies jumping out of the ancient text into your heart? How do you steward them using examples from the heroes of our faith.

Writing out verses to meditate upon and memorize is also very helpful.

4. Prayer points

Writing down prayer points is an effective way to remember and track them. It helps you remember the promptings you receive to pray about. It’s easier to know if a prayer has been answered because there’s a written record. Sometimes when one of my prayers get answered, I go through my journal, spot where I wrote it, and indicate “answered” underneath it. I go on to include how it was answered and the date too. I assure you, I’m always encouraged when I go back to read these testimonies. Seeing prayers answered does a lot of good to your faith.

5. Writing to your future self

This is basically writing about your goals and the things you hope to achieve. It goes beyond wishful thinking to actively planning how to become the “you” of your dreams.

6. Writing to your past self

I don’t know about you but there are some things I remember I did in the past and cringe. Sometimes writing them down is better than suppressing them. Going through past hurts, sins and trauma is an avenue for reconciliation.

7. Journaling about books or sermons or movies

Jotting down major quotes from books or sermons and doing a deep dive on them. What are your thoughts on it, how does that change your perspective and how would you apply it in your life. Are there some major flaws a character exhibits that you would never want to repeat or are there some qualities you would want to emulate.

It's absolutely fine to use one journal for all of these, the longer one journals, he or she might sense a need to have different journals for different purposes. The goal is to build a consistent habit. Your memory is unreliable, be a visionary, write it and make it plain.

Which prompts do you use, or which are the ones you plan to use? Let us know in the comments.