I have journaled since I was a teenager. From early on, many of those journal entries have been prayers. Sometimes I even felt like God was speaking to me during those prayers, but it wasn't consistent.
That changed in 2015. I attended a conference at which I learned a process called Immanuel Journaling. You can read about it in the book Joyful Journey: Listening to Immanuel by Dr. Jim Wilder, John and Sungshim Loppnow and Anna Kang. At the conference, the authors taught us how to journal conversationally with God. We learned how to practice what they called Interactive Gratitude and Thought Rhyming, which mirrors how the Psalms in the Bible are written. We learned to begin journaling with written thanksgiving, and then pause and let God respond to what we had written. The written conversation could then continue. It was amazing to experience God joining me in my journaling. What a gift to be given a way, a method, to consistently experience interaction with God!
Immanuel Journaling transformed my prayer life and my journals. I have always used my journals to pour out my heart and work through problems and pains. Journaling is a great release. Writing out my thoughts and feelings has always helped me to get them outside of my head, and look at things more objectively. However, when I actively invited God into that process, through this method, I found that I more consistently had His insights as well as my own.
Writing my prayers even transformed my business. I am a licensed therapist who works as a business coach and consultant. I have found that written conversation with God helps me to do better problem-solving and decision-making. It also helps my clients. When I work with coaching clients one-on-one, one of my favorite tools is facilitated Immanuel Prayer. We have also developed Strategic Prayer worksheets, and strategic planning retreats that incorporate praying through organizational planning. It's pretty amazing to watch corporate leaders come together in their decision-making by seeking God in prayer together about specific questions and issues. By taking time to ask God questions, and then write how they hear Him answer, they find God speaking to them in themes. It brings teams together in a way that is a wonder to watch.
If you're like me, the idea of prayer methods may sound strange. After all, God loves us. Why would He require us to use certain methods in order to reach Him or to hear Him? What we need to understand is that it's not about using a method that pleases God. It is about how we are designed. Immanuel Prayer starts with an understanding of how our brains operate. The original developers of this method were a Christian psychiatrist and a psychologist who is also an ordained minister. They looked at what our brains need in order to connect in relationships and applied that to prayer.
Still, you may be skeptical. This may sound too good to be true, or too simple, or too--you fill in the blank. I get it. When I first started learning about interactive prayer, I was very skeptical and did a lot of research. I encourage you to do the same. I can't address every objection in this short post. Find out more. Get the details. I encourage you to read Joyful Journey, or my own book Strategic Business Prayer. Then, hear from the critics. Search the scriptures. Experiment on your own. Let God speak to you, and check it with scripture.
In the meantime, this blog thread will include examples of my journaled conversations with God. (Gulp!) Can I be transparent here? I don't particularly like this idea. I am a private person. Prayer is an intimate activity. The idea of posting my conversations with God where anyone can read them is daunting, to say the least. As a therapist, I have mastered the art of listening to others deepest thoughts and feelings while revealing nothing of my own. That's just was therapists do.
However, I know how my written conversations with God have healed, transformed and grown me. I know that people need examples of how to do this. I know that sometimes God speaks to me through what others say or write, and he may want to speak to you through what I write. And, most importantly, God has asked me to do this. Frankly, if He hadn't directly asked me to, I wouldn't. Posting these journal entries is far scarier than public speaking.
So, let me end this post with a prayer--because I need it for courage to move forward.
Lord, thank You that You are God and I am not. Thank You for directing who will and who will not read these posts. Thank You for speaking to me all these years through journaling. Thank You that somehow, You want to use what I have written, what You have shared with me, to bless others. Wow! What a thought that something I do could bless others in some way. That is my request to You. Please use these prayers, posted in a blog, to bless others. Please let these prayers be an example for them to follow in developing their own conversations with You. Please don't let these prayers be a substitute for praying themselves; but let these prayers be a catalyst for their own active prayer life.
Lord, thank You for the person who is reading these words right now. Thank You that You knew he or she would be reading this. Thank You for speaking to them as well. Thank You that I get to pray for them in this way, even though I don't know their name! What a privilege, Lord. Thank You for the blessings that You want to give them. In Jesus Name and for His sake, Amen.