I've been under the weather this week, literally, with sinus/allergies activating my asthma and now with the rain and wind I've developed a low-grade fever. Nonetheless, the Ultimate Healer is good to me and has given me time and strength to write today, so we're gonna delve into Day 5.
* Day 5
Write it Down
"Write down the revelation."
Habakkuk 2:2
In my personal book I wrote this note: A note in my personal Bible from an earlier study: Habakkuk show us to take our problems to God, then wait on God to answer.
Habakkuk means "Embracer". Let me embrace God's will in my plans for His glory.*
The author begins in saying
* Journaling is one of the most overlooked and undervalued spiritual disciplines. Its' the way we document what God is doing in our lives. In Habakkuk 2;2, the Lord states, "Write down the revelation."
I have circled...Why?*
Now, as you can imagine, this teaching doesn't befuddle me in the slightest. Being a type-A personality with a need to write lists, an author challenging me to 'write things down' doesn't scare me in the least. But, I did find myself asking WHY? Y'all know me! I wanted to know why he was asking this of us and why he found it so important to put in his book.
He talks about writing down prayer concerns and taking notes and prayer lists. He journals scripture and meeting notes and notes on speakers. Then, every once in a while he would go back through these and circle the things that still needed to be prayed through.
He tells of how he can use his notes to trace blessings, breakthroughs and miracles back to their genesis prayers. He can connect dots between his prayers and God's answers. He likens it to painting a picture of God's faithfulness.
The author writes, and I underline:
* I've been amazed at how many people's prayer lives have been revolutionized by the simple act of journaling.*
The author continues in his sharing of a personal story of a young lady who had a life-long dream of becoming a journalist. Now who better to journal, than a journalist? It appears as if she would journal most everything...her questions, her dreams, her imaginations. She had asked for very specific gifts and wanted answers to very specific questions.
I had underlined:
* On one of those pages, she circled Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart."*
I have to be honest with you, beloved, up until this point, this chapter had done little for me. I'm already a writer. I'm a list maker. I'm one who journals. So, this guidance was a mere mute point to one who already does these things. What I was trying to glean from the writer is "Why" he thought it was so important to journal.
As I kept reading of this young ladies journey and how God had given her the things she had asked for, it dawned on me that sometimes a journal can be a kind of a testimony of sorts. A testimony of answered prayers. A testimony of personal growth. A testimony of how God changes your heart or others'. Sometimes it could be a testimony of how we sometimes want things that God does not want for us. A testimony of acceptance.
The author rounds out his story by a sentence to which is the last I underlined in this day's study:
* it took a decade of working like it depended on her and praying like it depended on God for her dream to come true.*
Oh...now I get it...
As we journal our thoughts and our prayers, we are praying though something. But, wait! We can't just ask for something and sit by and wait. We must keep going. We must keep moving. We must keep praying.
So, as we ask God to find us a job, we can't sit on our tails. We must keep searching, waiting for Him to open doors.
As we ask God to send us a mate, we can't sit on our tails and do nothing. We must be the type of person we desire in a mate. Our other half is also looking for us and praying for us. So we must make ourselves available by doing for God and others while we search.
As we ask God to find us a church home, we can't never go to church again. A church is not gonna grow legs, walk to our homes and knock on the door. We must continue searching and growing and learning while we wait.
As we journal these things, the desires of our hearts, we are working through those prayers and waiting and watching til the Master Author pens the outcome. The perfect outcome. Meant just for us.
My prayer journaled in my book:
This chapter simply reminded me to go boldly before the throne. I am the princess to the King of all Kings. I don't work at the White House, yet I serve before a Heavenly Kingdom. May I never forget that Heavenly God cares about our earthly desires. He places us where we can be used for divine authority. Let my prayers and supplications and ultimately my life reflect His will as my desires.
