Mark Virkler: Thank you, Ian, for laying out seven different ways you have discovered one can use two-way journaling (2WJ) in their lives. This will inspire many to follow suit!
To date, I have found seven applications of journaling which I am outlining below.
One: I use journaling to abide in the vine. As I wait on him we chat. He tells me what he thinks and feels. I call it prayer journaling or simply two-way communication. Like I asked God what he sees when he looks at me. 2WJ I see you as my beloved child. I embrace you. I care for you. You are precious and valuable. I want to spend time with you. Abide in me and I will abide in you.
Two: I use journaling as a vital part of Dream Interpretation. After recording the dream and determining the setting, the action and the emotion I usually look at the symbols in the dream. Then I ask Holy Spirit to explain, tune to flow and write down his explanation for the pictures I saw. A recent dream I had was about heart surgery I had, in a clinic off of Elbow Drive (my old family doctor’s clinic). The clinic was just a house. I commented to the doctor that I didn’t know he was a heart surgeon. After the surgery was over, I caught a ride home with the doctor. He was going south on Elbow Drive, and I lived on his way home (I lived in Mayfair, back in the day 52 years ago, I went to Doctor Le Blanc at the Elbow Drive clinic.)
- Action: Catching a ride after surgery
- Emotion: Not measurable - no pain
- Setting: Chronic cough. Health concerns.
- Interpretation: Le Blanc - “The White” = Jesus = Great Physician Family doctor 52 years ago - the year I was saved.
2WJ I will get you home. I will keep you in perfect health. I am the great physician. Look to me and do not forget I am able to do heart surgery on you like I did 52 years ago.
Three: Perhaps my favorite use of journaling is with Bible Meditation. Recently I was meditating on Habakkuk which is about the coming invasion by Babylon. God’s final words were as follows:
2WJ What I am saying to you is that I have all things taken care of and you need not tremble. You need not fear. I am with you and will be with you. My remnant will succeed. You must enter rest and live in rest and learn to wait and see me at work. I will extend and expand the kingdom of God into all parts of the earth and spiritual hunger will consume the nations. I will overturn the careful work of generations of elitists. Their worst fears were realized. For they live in constant fear for their god is corrupt and full of fear. My people can live in peace that passes understanding. Reason cannot explain it. Peace fills them up and empowers them to ride the carrier waves of my resonance. The same frequency that shatters the walls of Jericho ignites and excites the praises of my people. Trust in me. I will carry you in my arms. Do not squirm and wrestle. Be at peace. Rest. And look to see what I will do.
Four: Another useful application of journaling is in decision-making and conflict resolution. Now that both my wife and I can journal we can, as the need arises, resolve disputes by asking God for his input. If my wife and I seem to disagree, we can put off making a decision until we have both talked to God about it. Often God will moderate my position (and her’s as well). I will spare you the gory details but suffice it to say that God cares about us as a couple and will speak to us and bring us into unity.
Five: I can get words for people by tuning to spontaneous flow and writing. On Sept 27 of this year, I gave a minister friend of mine this word. “The light of the world shines upon you. Darkness flees. You are his son. You are his instrument. You are empowered. The Lord your God is with you! He is with you. He does not withhold. He upbraideth not. (James 1:5 KJV) He is lifting limitations off of you. Limitations imposed upon you by others and by yourself. A new expression and dimension of freedom. Seek wisdom. Seek and you will find. It will be given you. You are an instrument of my righteousness and my mercy. You do not walk alone.” (He wrote back that the word was right on. He was blessed.)
Six: Just two days ago I realized something. I was teaching someone about prophecies and that they are conditional. It dawned on me that a person could take a prophetic word and read it over while asking God to give the conditions applicable to the prophetic word and what steps to take in light of it. For example, “He is lifting limitations off of you. Limitations imposed upon you by others and by yourself.” You can ask God for details. What limitations have been imposed on me Lord? Are there any things I must do? 2WJ I am the husbandman. I will do the pruning. Relax and trust in me. Believe me at my word—I will lift limitations off of you. Continue to look to me - fix you eyes on me not the circumstances. I will come through for you. I will bless you.
Seven: It occurs to me, that we are called to be led of the Spirit. How can you be led of the Spirit without hearing the voice of the Spirit? “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons (huios) of God.” (Rom. 8:14 NKJV) Gal. 4:7 says that it is the mature sons (huios) that inherit. “If a son (huios), then an heir of God through Christ.” (NKJV) How can you inherit all that God has, without first hearing?
Journaling Application
Lord, what would You say to me concerning hearing Your voice and journaling in these seven areas?
Dig Deeper
Related Resources:
How to Hear God's Voice!
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