What is Prayer Journaling?
Prayer journaling is writing down your prayers and questions, and then listening to the Holy Spirit and recording God’s answers. It is a great way to activate your prophetic gift.
I have to confess that I approached the practice of ‘Prayer Journaling’ this week with a bit of trepidation, even though I have used this method of journaling before. It feels presumptuous, to write down God’s ‘answers’ to my prayers and questions.
Does God really want to speak to me conversationally? And how can I know for sure what He is saying?
In John 10:27, Jesus said, ‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me’.
As I set out, I am encouraged that God desires an intimate relationship with me even more than I want it with Him—He created me to fellowship with him and to hear His voice!
How to Practice Prayer Journaling
It’s important that you set aside some private space for this kind of journaling. Try to eliminate interruptions and distractions as much as you can.
I personally find that some quiet background worship music helps me focus if I don’t have the luxury of silence in my home, or wherever I happen to be.
It is vital when approaching this journaling practice that you deal with any issues between you and God—forgiveness, repentance, and so on—before you start out.
Reading the Bible and praying in the Spirit can help you prepare for your prayer journaling time.
In your journal, you write down your prayer or question to God. Some examples are:
- What would you like to say to me today?
- How can I grow?
- What would you like me to do?
- What are You saying about…
Then, focusing on Jesus, you listen for the Holy Spirit’s answer and write down what you believe He is saying.
How the Holy Spirit Speaks
Remember that the Holy Spirit brings revelation to us in many ways. He may speak through a picture coming to your mind, a feeling, a Bible verse, an idea, a word, or an impression.
I find that the Holy Spirit’s ‘voice’ usually comes as a series of light, gentle impressions. I need to tune in to these to hear what He is saying.
Although it is good to weigh up the revelation and thoughts as they come, too much analysis will halt your journaling.
Give yourself the freedom to write without editing. Yes, what you record will inevitably be a mixture of your own and God’s thoughts. Remember that any prophecy is imperfect and subject to judgment.
When you have finished, review your journaled ‘message from God.’ Now you can sift through your writing for the nuggets of heavenly wisdom God is giving you. I like to use a highlighter to mark important parts where I believe God is particularly speaking to me.
Use the same criteria for your prayer journaling that you use when weighing up any prophetic word.
If you believe you have received guidance through this kind of journaling, it is vital that you check this by sharing with mature Christians and leaders around your life who will give you honest feedback and help you process it.
Some strengths of prayer journaling are:
- Fosters intimacy with God
- It helps you become familiar with the ways the Holy Spirit speaks
- Great practice for tuning in to receive God’s revelation
- Helps you receive guidance and prophetic insight for yourself and others
- You have a record you can refer back to of what God has said to you in your prayer time
Some weaknesses of the prayer journaling method are:
- It does not use the Bible in the journaling process
- Less suitable for newer Christians who do not have a thorough grounding in the scriptures (I recommend the SOAP journaling style for new Christians)
- This style will not suit everyone, e.g. it will be harder for those who are perfectionists or tend not to process thoughts conversationally.
Because of these weaknesses, I advocate the use of other journaling methods in conjunction with this one.
Prayer Journaling and Habbakuk
A leading proponent of prayer journaling is Mark Virkler who teaches journaling from Habakkuk 2:1,2. [1]
Virkler maintains that God speaks through a flow of spontaneous thoughts and that as we tune into those we can hear what He is saying.
Just as God instructed Habbakuk to write down his vision, we can also record what God is saying to us through journaling.
The Challenge
Over the next week, I will be trialing prayer journaling as a method, and recording my journey in the comments section of this post (scroll down to see these). Why not join me?
To review my comments and share your own journey throughout the week, check back here.
Prophetic Journaling: Create Your Treasury of Insights from God
Now available as an Online Course, with Opportunities for Activation
Are you interested in learning about, and being activated in prophetic journaling?
Here is my brand new course, “Prophetic Journaling with Activation” with my best tips and insights and downloadable templates to help you get started.
Throughout this course, you will:
- Identify the ways journaling will help you develop your prophetic gift
- Refresh your journaling practice with new ideas, tools, and approaches
- Download and print templates to help you get started
- Put into practice what you have learned and activate your gift
- Access advanced content, to help you develop your prophetic gifts further
- Hear my best tips to help you share your work with others
Includes instructions and a template for prayer journaling.
Sign up for the prophetic journaling course here, or see all courses including the Prophetic School here.
Notes
[1] For a reference to Mark Virkler and his book, “4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice”, visit his site here
Related Articles
How to Activate Your Prophetic Gift
Take Time to Sharpen Your Prophetic Gift
© 2023 Helen Calder, Enliven Blog
Enliven Ministries: Prophetic ministry for a revival generation
Helen Calder is a prophetic minister and writer, and founder of Enliven Ministries. Helen has a unique gift of equipping in prophetic ministry and prayer. She is known for Enliven Blog (est. 2009), an online resource that reaches thousands of people globally.
DAY 7:
Last day of prayer journaling and I find that I leave it reluctantly (from tomorrow I will be doing a week of SOAP journaling–see next post).
Prayer journaling has really fostered ‘intimate conversation’ with God and it’s been awesome.
The side benefit is that it is a great tool to sharpen the ability to pick up what the Holy Spirit is saying, to receive and communicate His revelation. My focused week of prayer journaling has confirmed that it is a great way to help grow my prophetic gift.
Helen,
Thanks for sharing your week’s experience here. I have a dear friend at church that has a whole library of her prayer journals…wish I was that disciplined! I look forward to following your blog, you have sparked a fire in my soul.
Mary
Thanks Mary, I love receiving comments :-) Journaling has never been my forte, either, so I’m trying a few methods to see which suit me best…mind-mapping is still my favourite journaling style, but others, like prayer journaling, have merit for different seasons and needs.
I will be trialing this journaling.
My biggest concern is that someone will read my notes and scoff at my thoughts.
But more than anything I want to gain a greater intimacy with God.
Maree
Thanks for I have come from having it all to losing it all.
I have since learn to wait and trust in God and to forgive.
To my christain brothers and sisters, let remember each other everytime in prayers.
God bless you all and keep our club going . Amen
This is helping me in more ways then one! Thank you.
I need to speak to someone about journaling. Very concerned, can I set up a talk?
Please?
Thank you.
Hi Agnes, thanks for leaving the note. I’m very sorry but due to time constraints I can’t take one on one time with my readers. But if you can word your question in a general manner, I am happy to give you a brief answer here in the blog comments or on our Facebook page.
HI
I DO IT EVERY TIME, NOT JUST A PRAYER JOURNAL BUT ALSO A DREAM JOURNAL. I RECORD MY DREAMS AND INTERPRETATION.
I CAN HELP IF YOU STILL NEED HELP