Sometimes we all need a a little help organizing our thoughts …  especially when we are doing Bible study. Writing our thoughts on paper helps us to process them; it’s the difference from “in one ear and out the other” or planting  Bible truths  deep in our heart.

Try our latest Bible Study Journal-graphics page, What’s the Big Idea? Use this graphic organizer to analyze the text, identify the main idea of a passage of Scripture, and draw out meaningful details from specific verses. You will love the  insights you’ll discover as you dig into God’s Word!

Bible Study Journal-graphics make a great companion to any Bible study series. You can also use them to record God’s messages to you as you study straight from the Bible. Your small group, discipleship training class or prayer conference will also benefit from this unique study tool.

Download  Bible Study Journal-graphics by clicking on the link  below. Be sure to make  fresh copies for each day of the week.  Please  share this graphic organizer with your church family, small group or youth group. You can also share them at your next Bible study meeting or Sunday school class. Enjoy!

What’s the Big Idea?

Let us know how you like using Bible Study Journal-graphics in the Speak Your Mind section below.

Do you need a little help organizing your thoughts while you are doing Bible study? Has your Quiet Time become a little predictable?

Try our new Bible Study Journal-graphics page. Jot down your thoughts, record important concepts, and organize scriptural truths no matter what Bible study book you are using.  Do you like to study straight from the pages of scripture?

Bible Study Journal-graphics will add a fresh approach to your study time.

Download your copy of My Bible Study Journal-graphics page from the link below. Print a fresh copy each day for your Quiet Time.  Please feel free to share this graphic organizer with your friends and family. Print several pages and share them at your next Bible study meeting or Sunday school class. Enjoy!

My Bible Study Journal

Let us know how you like using Bible Study Journal-graphics. Please comment in the  Speak Your Mind section below. We look forward to your feedback!

In my last post, we explored the spiritual discipline of sacred reading. Today I’d like to show you an example of what this looks like from my journal entries. I’m certainly not an expert on this, but sometimes it helps to see what a discipline looks like for someone else when you’re trying to learn it yourself. On this particular day, I read from Colossians 4:5-8. I was following along with my church as we were doing a study on the book of Colossians. So, using the four steps of sacred reading 1) Read, 2) Reflect, 3) Respond and 4) Rest, this is what my entry looked like that for that day.

1) Read. The part of scripture that jumped out to me was “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time,” and “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt that you may know how to answer each one.”

2) Reflect. The answer to the question, Where do I see myself in this passage? was that I felt like God was talking about the importance of time and making the most of the opportunities He gives us. Also, the thought that God wants us to spend some time evaluating our speech–about the words that come out of our mouths on a daily basis–seemed to jump out to me too.

3) Respond. In this third step of sacred reading, I had to pray about how God wanted me to personally respond to the scripture. In this case, I felt like God was telling me to get braver about sharing my faith in those opportunities that He gives me–not to force it, but to watch for the opportunities the Holy Spirit opens up and then be obedient and follow through. I can be shy to share this part of my life with strangers, because of how I might appear. God was convicting me to get past the obsession of worrying that others might think of me as weird if I talked to them about Jesus.

Next, I also felt like God was showing me to pray about my words to others, especially to my husband, Mark. I was being patient with other people, but not so much with him, the most important person in my life. God was telling me to build him up with my words, not tear him down.

4) Rest. During this time, I just sat quietly and reflected on what I had learned. I also wrote a short synopsis on a sticky note so that I didn’t forget that day’s lesson. Then I stuck it right in front of me while I was working in my office. Finally, I  thanked God for His wisdom and prayed for help to do make the changes that I needed to make.

I’ve found the practice of sacred reading to be so valuable in teaching me and continuing to mold me into the person Christ wants me to be.

I hope you do too!

Pray on!

Image: nuchylee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Jane VanOsdol

Last time we looked at how Jesus was able to maintain peace in His life and found out that prayer played a big part in His serenity. What I would like to look at today is how we can do that same thing in our own lives. Some of you may be thinking that if I only knew what situation you were facing right now, that I wouldn’t be so quick to talk about being peaceful.

Let me say, I hear you! I have been through a few tragedies in my life, and I know how desperation and despair feels. But, I have also seen my Lord move into each situation and restore hope in my life where it had previously been dead. What we need to focus on is not the situation, but the only One on heaven and earth who has the power to bring life out of dead things and peace out of chaos:  Jesus.

First of all, let me ask you, What situation do you need peace in right now? Let’s just start with the hardest thing and get it out in the open. Maybe you’re even afraid to mention it to your friends or family anymore because it has dragged on for so long, or maybe it’s a fresh worry. But acknowledge to yourself what it is. May I also suggest an activity for you?

I would like to suggest that you write down what it is that you need peace about in a notebook. Write down everything about it and your prayers for the situation. Ask God to give you a specific scripture(s) to pray for the situation and invite Him to begin working. Then try to rest in that. Continue to write and journal and pray about the situation and record how you see God working. It may be that over time you see a person you have been praying for changed. Or, it may be that it is YOU that God changes instead. It may be that an ill person you want healed for earth instead dies and is healed to heaven. If that is the case, continue to record how God is moving in the midst of that tragedy in your life. Over time, you will begin to see patterns of God living and working in your life.

Often times just the actual writing down can help bring us a peace, but the real peace comes from understanding this scripture:  And we know that all things work together for good to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

In the times when our prayers are not answered the way we want them to be, when the sick are not healed, or when the job does not come through for example, this does not make this any less of an answer; it is just a different answer. I begin to cultivate peace in these situations when I cling to God’s promise that He will work together to bring good out of this desperate situation. Be persistent in prayer and know that you have God’s word that He will bring good. Be waiting and watchful and record the good when you see it.

It also helps to keep the big picture in mind. Encouraging to me is the meaning of the word peace from John 14:27. The Blue Letter Bible defines peace in one instance as ” the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever that is.” When we know that our big picture is taken care of, other things tend to pale in comparison.

Cultivating a life of prayer and peace is only attained through persistence. God does not minimize our earthly trials. He walks and prays us through them.

Pray on!