One day when our daughter was a teenager, I heard an interesting variety of emotions coming from her room. First, I'd hear her laughing, then sniffling, then she'd let out an occasional "I can't believe it!" Finally, my curiosity got the best of me; I had to know what she was doing. She said, "I'm reading my diary, Dad." Well, as she was reading that diary, she was reliving a lot of great moments, some hard times, and a number of lessons learned. I've often wished I could go back and enter into how I felt at some key moments in my life. The problem is I didn't write it down.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power of Journaling God."

Now, it really is true: if you want to keep something, write it down. Like a friend once told me, "The weakest ink is stronger than the strongest memory. In fact, when it comes to some of life's experiences - some of life's most eternally important experiences - writing it down shouldn't be optional.

Your most important experiences in life are your personal times with Jesus Christ. They are what shape your life here. They're a foretaste of what your eternity is going to be about - being with Jesus. And this side of heaven, the primary place where you meet your Lord is in His Word - the Bible. But it won't change you if you don't remember what He says to you.

Which is what God is saying in our word for today from the Word of God in James 1:22-25. God says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does."

Like a person looking in the mirror in the morning, you're supposed to look into God's Word to see what needs to change. First, God says to reflect on what He's saying to you in His Book, "looking intently" into it. Then He says to remember what He's said to you, and that's usually the problem. Even a few hours later, we probably can't remember what He said or what we read. And these verses in James imply that we will only make spiritual progress if we are "not forgetting" what we heard from the Lord.

That's why I tried something many years ago; keeping a daily spiritual journal. If I gave it a title, I'd just call it "My Times with Jesus." I never kept a personal diary about how I was feeling but I did start a journal of my times with Jesus. And I started doing it and I haven't stopped, including this very morning. Those entries in a notebook have turned out to be the tangible proof of God at work in my life - an album literally showing my growth in Jesus Christ.

I really want to strongly recommend this spiritual journaling to you. As you browse back through it later on, you'll be able to see the pattern of God's leading as it's unfolded and you'll find in it an incredible faith-builder in the crunch times.

Write down the date and where you're reading. Then read a few verses two or three times. Then write down two things: first, what did you read? Summarize what God was saying in your own words, not Bible words. Secondly, write down what you're going to do differently that day because of what God said. (1) What did God say? (2) What am I going to do differently because of it?

It's really exciting to keep a record of what God says and what He does in your life. That diary will be filled with the power and the presence of your Lord. And when you're feeling discouraged or confused or alone, reach for the record and experience again the wonderful power of a journal that is glowing with your personal experience of God.