The Benefits of Bible Journaling

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Bible, Bible Journaling, Christianity, faith, Jesus

What is Bible Journaling?

Bible Journaling is when you illustrate a Bible Verse with a picture or with creative lettering in the margins of your Bible. It is a creative way of expressing prayers and thoughts and meditating.

I have always liked highlighting and writing notes in my Bible and notebooks to help me remember what I have read or to organise my thoughts. Bible Journaling is doing this in beautiful ways. The idea is that when you flick through your Bible there will be an eye catching and visual journal of what God has been teaching you as you read and study his word.

How did I start?

I came across it on Facebook  and then I joined a Facebook Bible Journaling group to find out more. I looked at what other people did and lost a fair few hours watching You Tube videos of tutorials and women flipping through their Bible Journal.

At first, I didn’t like the idea of drawing in my Bible, it was already cluttered with my notes! So I began by using a scrapbook and having a go at a couple of the monthly challenges that were set in the Facebook Group. These were really good prompts to get me started. One of the first challenges I did had this prompt:

This month we are looking at Colossians 3:23
‘Whatever you do,work at it with all your heart,as working for the Lord,not human masters.’
The art work or presentation is totally free choice. The challenge is to respond on the page with a prayer.Looking forward to seeing what God says to us all.

I spent time thinking about this verse and it challenged me. When I finished my piece of Bible Journaling piece I posted this on the group:

This verse got me thinking about my attitude to being a mum. Sometimes looking after a baby is so relentless that I begin to resent the time I have with my daughter, as if she is keeping me from doing my ‘real’ work for the Lord. My prayer is that I will instead see that raising my baby is the centre of my ministry. That being a good mum can be an act of worship and service to God, as much as worship leading or preaching is.

Once I knew what I wanted to express the artwork came together quickly.  I wanted to put Orla at the centre of my life’s work so using Google images, tracing paper, watercolour paints and a black pen put this together:

I loved that image so much that when I did eventually get a Journaling Bible I transferred it to the cover of my Bible so that I would always remember my true priorities.

How do I journal now?

After a couple of months of using my scrap book I felt that I wanted to start journaling in a Bible. Rob got me the Bible above for my Birthday, it has big margins so it is perfect for Bible Journaling.

Here is my current process:

1. I read my Bible and if anything stands out to me  I make a note of it on a mini post it note and stick it in the page. In my old Bible I would just highlight the verse or write a note straight on the page, but for my journaling Bible I want to keep the pages clean until I have decided what to do with it.
2. When I have decided on a verse to journal, I will read it a few times, research the passage and spend some time thinking and praying about it. I may make notes about it in a separate notebook.
3. Often as I do this an image will come to mind. If I can I will draw it myself, or if it is beyond my artistic ability (which doesn’t take much) I will look up similar images online to copy or trace.
4. I then will spend a couple of evenings actually doing the artwork. Sometimes I do a practice run in my scrap book, sometimes I just go for it.
5. When its done I add the date and a tab made out of washi tape to help me find it easily.

Is it helpful or is a distraction from actually understanding and obeying God’s word?

If I illustrate my Bible with the skill of artists or Instagram Bloggers, but do not follow the word, I am only a scribbling toddler or a messy scrawler. If I have the gift of acrylic and can paint without bleed-through, and if I have calligraphy that can rival wedding invitations but do not understand what I write, I am nothing. If I decorate each page of my Bible in array of colours and wonder but do not love God, I gain nothing.   

The criticism of Bible Journaling is that it is a hobby that feels spiritual but actually doesn’t encourage growth in faith or love. The videos and blogs and Instagram accounts filled with illustrated verses encourages people to compare and compete with one another more than it does to encourage them to be like Jesus.

Nearly every blog I have read about Bible Journaling has been pre-faced with ‘it’s not about being perfect’, which is good but the fact that it needs to be said shows that there is a potential trap there.

It is also really easy to give ourselves a pat on the back for creating a pretty picture about loving our neighbour, but painting the picture is no substitute for actually loving our neighbour. If Bible Journaling is doing it’s job it should motivate us to not want to leave the words in the page, it should be part of the process to turn the words into flesh in our lives. The time we spend drawing and thinking about the verse should be building up our will to live the verse; to be more generous, more patient, to trust in God, to forgive that person.

And actually, for me, I have found Bible Journaling has strengthened my resolve to follow God’s leading. It has become a way for me to mediate on things God has said and it has stuck with me.

One example I can share is this verse:

You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions, stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you. 2 Chronicles 20:17

I thought about this verse for weeks. There was a situation that I was worrying about because I couldn’t see a way to fix it without having to cause a fight. Through this Scripture I felt God was telling me not to try and fix it but to trust in Him. I was not to bow to pressure or change what I believed but that it wasn’t on my shoulders to rush in and sort everyone out. (as if I could anyway!)

Since then this verse and image has appeared in my mind whenever I am worrying about things I can’t possibly control. When I remember this verse I stop worrying, I say to God ‘I trust you’, and I go and do something else.

I find that Bible Journaling is a good tool for meditation especially if you are not good at sitting still and just thinking. It normally takes me about two evenings to complete one entry and all that time I am painting, drawing, planning and writing I am also thinking about God’s word, and that can only be a good thing.

The other thing I have benefited from is the Bible Journaling Facebook Group, far from being a snarky environment of competition and shallow perfectionism, the group has been a supportive and celebratory culture to belong to. It’s really good to talk about the scriptures with a new group of people, especially when we all draw out different thoughts from the same verse. I have found what other people share to be inspiring and encouraging and it opens the door for us to connect with one another.
My conclusion is that Bible Journaling is a great activity to slow you down and help you to engage with God and to connect with others and I would recommend anyone who is interested to just have a go and see how you find it.

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Memory Verse: Deeper Waters

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Bible, Christianity, faith, Jesus, Memory Verse

Jesus said:

This verse seems well timed for me this week. Last night I hosted a Bible Q&A evening at my church and it was really fun. We had a small panel and looked at half a dozen questions submitted from our church congregation. The questions included ones like:

• Who decided which books to include in the Bible?
• How do you know they tell the truth?
• Free will or predestination? Help!
• Why does God seem to do so much killing in the Old Testament?
• Isn’t the Bible just filled with rules and regulations? Why can’t you have fun?
• Prove to me that God exists.

It was fantastic to explore these questions but I felt like I could spend hours talking about each one of them, it was so hard to keep the night moving and not dwell too long on one topic.

So it feels special today to come to this verse and be reminded that the whole of Scripture still has it’s purpose and place in our lives, even if, as I looked at last week, we are not under an obligation to obey the law. My head is still buzzing today with thoughts and ideas and I am aware all over again at just how rich, deep and mysterious the Word of God. It is like an Ocean with more life hidden away they deeper you search.

 

 

Memory Verse: Interpretations of Change

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Bible, faith, Jesus, Memory Verse

I have missed a couple weeks of my Memory Verse challenge with being on holiday so I am feeling a bit rusty as I come back to it today. In fact I was half tempted to stop this series. I began it as Orla was keeping me so busy that I struggled to get to my Bible at all during the day so I swapped from reading four chapters a day to having a memory verse to learn a week.

Now that Orla is napping more consistently I am back to reading my chapters daily. And I am very grateful for that! Reading the Bible is for me the primary (but not only) way that I experience God’s presence, and I miss it when I go without it.

But learning and focussing on a single verse for a week has also been beneficial. It makes me think about some of the more challenging things Jesus said where otherwise I would be tempted to gloss over it. So I have decided to continue my series, and this week’s verse is Matthew 5:17 which says…

These words are important as they show the huge change and connection between the Old and New Testament. I think this is something a lot of people struggle to get their heads round as Christianity sprung up from the Jewish faith and Christians still hold the Old Testament to be the Word of God but are not under obligation to obey the Old Testament Law.

The reason for that is that we view the Old Testament Law as a covenant between God and the Israel nation. The people would worship God and obey the Law given by Moses in return for God’s blessings. God would then make His name known through the Israel nation and would use them to bless all other nations.

That covenant was fulfilled and completed in the sacrifice and Resurrection of Jesus, and a new form of the Covenant was introduced that would not only be for Jews but for everyone who would put their faith in Jesus.

The differences between the Old Covenant and the New way are…

 

Old Way	New Way
Contained by the Israelite nation	For all peoples of every nation
Only the special related to the Holy Spirit	All believers can receive the Holy Spirit
Practiced by law	Practiced by faith
Had priests to mediate between man and God	Has Jesus to mediate between man and God
Concerned the earthly life of Jewish people. (interesting to note: there are no promises that eternal life would be given to the Jews if they followed the Jewish law. The people’s hope of an eternity with God was always in the Messiah)	Promises eternal life for all believers

So even though Christians don’t have to obey the Mosaic Law it is still really important to us as Jesus came to fulfill the Law on behalf of all people and bring in a new way of grace.

Obviously, this is a massive subject that I could go on and on about but that feels like enough to keep me going this week! I am looking forward to continuing on my Memory Verse challenge!

Memory Verse: Let Me See the Deeds

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Bible, Christianity, Jesus, Memory Verse

Just after Jesus calls the people to be light, like a city on a hill he finishes the thought by saying….

I have always found today’s passage of scripture challenging because of two little words:

‘good deeds’

Jesus says ‘let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.’

Jesus doesn’t say that people will see your ‘faith’ or ‘love’ or ‘anointing’ and praise God. Those things are great, and should fuel everything we do, but it is the good things we do that point people towards God. We might talk, sing, think and even pray about doing good and caring for the vulnerable but unless we turn that passion into action all we have is ‘virtual church’ which will not feed the poor, clothe the cold or defend the vulnerable.

Jesus expects our faith and love to turn into visible actions and He expects His followers to become a force for good that makes an impact on the surrounding community; like a city on a hill, you can’t miss it!

 

Memory Verse: Light of the World

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Bible, Christianity, faith, Jesus, Memory Verse

My weekly memory verse continues with these words of Jesus:

Last year I did a little bit of research into what happened between the events of the Old Testament and the start of the New Testament. It was a period of around 400 years during which the Greek Empire rose and fell, and the Roman empire emerged.

I discovered it was also a time where two opposing schools of Jewish faith developed. Whilst the Greek influence became a dominate force in Israel a number of Jews adopted the philosophy of Greek Rationalism and stopped believing in anything supernatural altogether. They were called the Hellenists, and later the Sadducees mentioned in the New Testament. To counter this another group of Jews went to the other extreme, they became very nationalist and strict in following the law, and resisting foreign influences. This second group became known as the Pharisees. The word Pharisee means ‘to separate’ and that is what these people did – they separated themselves from other races, religions and then even separated themselves from other Jews who did not follow the Law as strictly as they did.

Throughout the history of Christianity that urge to separate from the world has resurfaced from time to time. That is why we have monks and nuns living in isolated communities, and why hypocrisy and judgy pants can become common problems in Churches.

But Jesus is saying here that people of faith are the light of the world and they need to be visible and present in the wider community. Jesus doesn’t want His people to draw away from other people, He wants them to draw closer.

Why? Well, I think of it like this. If a light is far away from me and I look towards it all I can see is the light it self. I might be able to make my way towards it but everything around me is still in darkness. If a light is close to me, I can not only see the light, I can see my surroundings for what they truly are and I can even see myself. Light makes reality visible, so we need it close by.

In our culture we often see light as meaning fame, ‘My name in lights’, but in the Bible light often represents truth. Jesus wants His people to be people of wisdom and truth, because as He says ‘the truth will set you free.’ Jesus isn’t calling people light so that they can puff themselves up and feel proud, He is calling them light and reminding them that the purpose of being light is to help people in darkness. Being the light of the world is not about making yourself look good like the Pharisees ended up doing, but it is about sharing the truth about Jesus, that will make people’s lives brighter.

Memory Verse: Salt of the Earth

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Bible, Christianity, faith, Jesus, Memory Verse

Jesus said

I think that when Jesus says this he is reminding his listeners of a promise made to Abraham the founding father of Israel that through him and his offspring ‘all nations will be blessed.’

I can’t think of another nation that was built for the purpose of not only securing peace and prosperity for it’s own people, but to be a blessing to the rest of the world.

How were the Jews supposed to be a blessing? Well, they illustrated that the Creator God loved His creation, that He could be found by people who seek Him, and by birthing the Messiah; Jesus.

God made it clear from the beginning that His people are there to bless other people. Jesus is doing the same in this verse, if His people are not fulfilling their purpose, if they are not being a blessing, then they are as useless as unsalty-salt.

Jesus said you are the salt of the earth. That means that God’s people need to be outward looking, our purpose isn’t to just look after one another, to enjoy the company of other Christians or pat ourselves smugly on the back. We exist to be a blessing to everyone else. Every good thing we receive we are meant to pass on for the benefit of others.

That is what I am going to be thinking about this week!

 

Memory Verse: Ain’t Nothing New

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Bible, Christianity, faith, Jesus, Memory Verse

Following on from last week’s verse about Jesus’ disciples being guaranteed to experience a whole world of trouble, Jesus then said:

Now, there is a lot to pick at with this verse. I could look at rejoicing and being glad in times of trouble, or I could look at the promise of eternal rewards in heaven, but what grabs my attention the most is the bit about the ‘prophets before you.’

You see, the Prophets of the Jewish faith were special men and women in history who had the Spirit-given power and responsibility of speaking on behalf of God. The Prophets had been a crucial part of Israel’s history, they were the guiding voice reminding, encouraging and sometimes pleading, people to follow God. They were always there when the people needed them, in times of prosperity and disaster. Even when Judah was destroyed and it’s people captured by invading forces the Prophets like Daniel, Ezekiel and Jeremiah were with them giving them hope of a better future.

Then suddenly around 430 BC the line of Prophets ended. They just stopped appearing. After Malachi nobody rose up and told the people what God was saying. Israel was left without a prophet for about 400 years.

Then suddenly John the Baptist is preaching and baptizing people in the River Jordan, and he is saying the Messiah is about to come. Then Jesus’ ministry begins with miracles and teaching unlike anything that has come before. Can you imagine how exciting and monumental a time this was? After 400 years of heavenly silence, God was speaking again to His people!

And now here is Jesus, addressing a crowd and explaining that the people who choose to follow Him, are going to face the same trials and rewards of the Prophets of Israel’s history. The people have waited 400 years for the next prophet and now Jesus is commissioning a host of people to carry the prophetic burden of proclaiming the Word of God.

Except this time, instead of Prophets having individual messages from God about specific circumstances in Israel, Jesus was about to commission apostles to deliver The Good News for people of every nation. This verse is Jesus hinting at a huge shift that was about to take place in Salvation history.

From this time on, the people would not have to wait 400 years for the next Prophet to come along, instead every believer in Christ will have the power and responsibility of proclaiming the Life-giving word of God!

It amazes and humbles me that I can join the ranks of people throughout history who have shared the Word of God. So often, I am scared of bungling the delivery, or offending people, that I back out of sharing what I know about Jesus. This week, as I think about this verse I am going to pray that I will be bolder and wiser in talking about Jesus.

Memory Verse: Grim Expectations

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Bible, Christianity, faith, Jesus

Last week I gave myself a little blogging break. I had a sermon to prepare for yesterday and I just didn’t have any head room for anything else. I love having the privilege of preaching at my church but it is also nice to have the breathing room afterwards.

Here is my Jesus memory verse for the week:

 

Cheerful one, eh?

OK, so this memory verse is kind of grim, and takes a swift turn away from the ‘blessed are the meek…peacemakers..etc..’. Suddenly Jesus is making a prediction about the future of the people who are going to put their faith in Him.

Remember, that historians tend to place this sermon towards the beginning of His ministry. It’s curious that a charismatic public speaker who is about to launch a new movement that will span the Roman Empire and continue over 2000 years later, would begin by promising His followers insults, persecution and slander.

You would think that would scare most people off. And yet history tells us that there were a dedicated early group of believers who stuck with Him, and these were the men and women who continued to follow Him after His Crucifixion. They traveled the world telling people about Jesus and leading others to believe in Him too. And they faced every obstacle Jesus predicted here; they were misunderstood, insulted, falsely arrested, hounded by mobs, and all but one of the Disciples were martyred for their faith.

So why did they do it? Why not just not be religious? Why not stay home, mind your own business and not get involved in all this trouble?

‘Because of me’ That’s what Jesus says, you will face all this trouble, ‘because of me’. They faced every difficulty the world could throw at them because it was for Jesus. They believed Jesus was worth it. That thought shakes me up. Faith in Jesus is costly and it seems to me that the people who pay the highest price are the ones who recognize Jesus’ true worthiness.

 

 

 

Memory Verse: For Righteousness’ Sake

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Bible, Christianity, faith, Jesus

Jesus said…

It seems to me that when doing what is right matters the most is when you are most likely to face trouble for doing what is right. The times when you are most needed to stand up to bullies are the times when you are outnumbered. The times when you need to stand your ground are the times when people are trying to knock you out. The times when you need to speak out the truth are the times when the world is determined to drown you out.

History testifies that those who are determined to do what is right are often the ones who take the worse blows. They are targets for hate. They are despised obstacles for anyone who profits from evil or wickedness. Their lives are tough and many do not get the recognition or rewards in this life that they deserve.

But Jesus here says they are blessed, for even though they take the blows they will also receive something greater; they will one day inherit a kingdom that is drenched in righteousness; the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus came to proclaim. They will one day see and live in the kind of society that they spent their earthly life fighting for, they will see the desires of their heart materialize before them in heavenly perfection.

I think this series of Jesus’ words are helping me to realise just how important the Kingdom of Heaven is to the Christian faith. Sometimes I think I have undervalued the hope and joy this promise offers.

But people who fiercely pursue righteousness need to hold on to these promises, because they can give you the strength and courage to stand your ground, especially when you know that the battle you are fighting could cost you, even your life.

I listened to this speech today that Martin Luther King Jr gave the day before he was assassinated and it sends shivers down my spine. He got this verse, he lived this verse. He is an inspiration for everyone to keep on chasing down righteousness, whatever the cost.

 

Memory Verse: Makers not keepers

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Bible, Christianity, Jesus, Memory Verse

Jesus said:

Our world today is in desperate need of peacemakers, our news headlines testify to this daily.

When I read this verse I am reminded that there is a big difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking;

• Peacekeeping is about keeping opposing parties apart, peacemaking is about bringing them together.
• Peacekeeping’s goal is short-term; they want to prevent immediate violence. Peacemaking’s goal is long-term; to resolve issues for good
• Peacekeeping maintains a strained status quo. Peacemaking builds a new future.

Peacekeeping is a good thing, it saves lives but it doesn’t achieve true peace, as everyone still lives with a feeling of uneasy disquiet. Peacemaking is about achieving real peace between two opposing groups who have often done terrible things to one another. It is a near impossible task as it requires grace and forgiveness, wisdom and self-control, which are the first qualities to fly out of the window when we have been hurt.

Peacemaking is nearly impossible but with God all things are possible. This week I am challenged to pray for all people who are in a position to become a peacemaker. Our hope lies in peace.