What is the Flectio Journal?
This journal is the first of many resources we’d like to provide to help you grow and pursue what God has for you. It’s a simple tool—a blank journal—designed to help you keep track of what God shows you in 40 days.
Where did the idea come from?
Sitting in church, needing something to kickstart getting out of a funk, my pastor made a statement about the Bible which struck me. “If you’re not in it, you won’t know it. And if you don’t know it, you won’t live it.”
Being a good father & husband was not enough. Being good at my job didn’t fix it. The only fix for the funk I was in was to spend time with my Heavenly Father, and I needed it desperately. But it felt like there were so many little things keeping me from it.
I needed something to help; a little direction or guidance. A tool or a resource to make it easier. I’d tried many in the past, but either couldn’t finish them or when I did needed something else. So, I made my own and figured if it helped me, perhaps it could help you.
Why only 40 pages?
I’ve got partially-used notebooks laying all over. Either I’d fall out of the habit of writing what God was teaching me or I’d get a little ways into one and realize I needed to use it differently. In every case, I’d always start a new one; which I would also fail to finish. It was discouraging.
I wanted to create a journal which was long enough to really pour into and feel like I was getting something valuable from it, but was short enough I could actually finish it and feel a sense of accomplishment. I played around with different sized booklets and landed on 40 pages. Besides, there are several instances in the Bible where God did something significant involving the number 40, so why not see what God can do with you in 40 days?
How do I use it?
As you read your Bible, stop & write a “takeaway”—the one thing you don’t want to forget. Write the date in the top corner and use the margins for other notes, prayers, or verses you want to remember.
Don’t worry about getting off track; your entries don’t have to span consecutive days. Just pick-up wherever you left off and keep going. Make it a goal to fill this book—it’s short!—then grab another book and keep going.
You’ll always be able to look back at what God is doing in your life.
Everyone journals a little differently, and that’s the power of these page designs: they’re flexible, made to fit whatever you feel you need. Here’s a few suggestions, at least for getting started:
Set aside some time (it could be 10min, it could be 20 or 30— just don’t try to overwhelm yourself with too much). Start by talking to God in prayer; ask Him to open your heart and mind to what He has to say through His word. Next, spend some time reading the Bible. Think over what you read, look-up some other verses or what other Bible versions say, and spend a few minutes writing in your journal. Finish by spending some more time in prayer, talking to God about what you read and wrote down, then go out and live it!
Use the lines to write whatever you find important. It could be a response to what you read or even a summary in your own words. You could write out an entire prayer or use this area to take notes from a church sermon.
Use the space on the left for a list of things to pray for and answers you’ve received to those prayers. Or you could write some supplemental information to whatever you put on the lines, or cross-references to other related Scripture. You could even us it to #hashtag some of the topics from that days reflection so you can find things at a glance when you flip back through.
Use the block at the bottom to write your big “take-away” for that day, or possibly rewrite a verse that stood out to you. You could practice writing a verse you’re trying to memorize here, or write specific steps you could take to apply what you learned in your everyday life.
If this is your first book, write “#1” on the white band down side of the front cover so you can track your journals. Also, write the dates from start-to-finish down the side of the cover. When you finish filling every day, KEEP GOING! Grab another journal and add the dates and book number as you go. This will help you down the road to know where to look when you want to dig back through everything you’ve written.
What should I read?
We encourage you to have a plan—you don’t just want to open your Bible at random and point to some obscure passage to study that day—this isn’t darts, and that sounds more like you’re taking your cues from a fortune cookie.
Eventually, we intend to provide devotional resources to help you spend quality time with God through His Word. In the meantime, here’s a few suggestions:
Read a Psalm or chapter of Proverbs everyday
Choose a book of the Bible to read from beginning-to-end.
Pick a devotional from something like “Our Daily Bread” or the Bible App on your smartphone.
Consider a plan that takes you through the entire Bible (there are several out there, and this is no small task, so take your time. No need to rush cramming it into a year unless that’s a challenge you’re really up to).
Check out our post, “What should I read?” for more info.
Don’t be afraid to change things up. Sometimes you need to try something different to keep your time with God from growing stale.
Where do I get them?
They’re not available for purchase quite yet, but they will be soon. Sign-up for our emails to be the first to know when they’re available (who knows, we may even contact you to see if you’re interested in getting ahold of some early or helping us test out some other resources).
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