ESV translation ~ "Write the vision"
I started this blog a little over 5 years ago in Dec '11, about the same time I renewed my interest in keeping a prayer journal. My prayer journal also became a place where I recorded notes from the Christian books I was reading during my morning devotion times, notes from sermons or Bible Studies I attended, scripture verses that spoke to me during my Bible readings -- in short, all of the things that God was teaching me during my daily quiet time. Some of these thoughts led me to share them on this blog, which at times I've enjoyed going back to read over again. There have also been some times when I've circled back thru my prayer journals to recollect some thoughts I had on a specific book I read, or even just to browse thru what I was studying or what were my thoughts from one year ago.
There have also been some times when I haven't consistently journaled, usually when my daily quiet time is rushed, or when I feel like I'm just going thru the motions not being led by God, and letting the busyness of life direct me from day to day and I just look forward to the weekend to catch up. So often, I felt like whatever I read or prayed about in the morning was long forgotten by the time I got to the end of my day. Good thoughts or wisdom worth sharing with Cindy and my girls at dinner time became just an afterthought that remained hidden in my journal. This was a prevailing thought of mine throughout Dec 2016 as I pondered a renewal of my devotional time in the coming New Year. A book I received for Christmas from my parents this year has helped to spark a new light on how I can remain in the presence of God, or how it was described in an email I received from Randy Alcorn's blog -- a daily cultivation of God-consciousness.
This book, "Draw the Circle", is a 40 day prayer challenge which I began reading on New Year's Eve. Rather than trying to follow a Bible reading plan this year, I'm seeking to draw closer to God in 2017 through more time in prayer and meditation on God's Word, and more time in journaling and "circling" back to these recent prayers/thoughts/insights that God is revealing to me as I strive to be a better husband to my wife and be a better dad in discipling my girls. I first read Mark Batterson's "The Circle Maker" in 2014. I also read his short book, "Praying Circles around your Children". Last fall, a quote I tweeted from this book showed up on my TimeHop -- "Make sure the heavenly Father hears about your kids daily", which prompted me to revisit reading this book again as I was convicted in not faithfully doing this consistently. So, receiving the book, "Draw the Circle", seems almost prophetic as I reflect on what God has been teaching me this new year through the reading of these short daily chapters.
Day 5 is titled: Write it Down based on the Habakkuk verse listed above. The author begins by sharing a saying that has helped motivate him to keep a journal:
"The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory"
He goes on to say, "Journaling is one of the most overlooked and undervalued spiritual disciplines." I agree, and as I'm getting older I'm reminded of my increasing need to record everything -- my prayers, my desires, my goals, and also to circle back to these things I need to keep praying through, or keep working on, in my relationships with those who are most important to me. This thought was reinforced to me the next day, Day 6, titled: Shameless Audacity, based on Luke 11:8, where Jesus teaches us to pray to God with boldness, persistence, because He is more gracious to meet our needs. Jesus goes on to say, "keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking" in this parable about prevailing in prayer. In closing, remember this:
God won't answer 100% of the prayers we don't pray.
