A Game-Changing Tool That Will Take Your Spiritual Growth to the Next Level This Coming Year

It’s New Years’ Resolution time.

If you’re anything like me, you want to grow as a person this coming year. You desperately want to go deeper with God, go higher in faith, and go wider with your impact for his kingdom. You long to be a better friend, a better spouse, a better parent. Many people make resolutions at New Years—specific goals attached to some kind of well-intentioned plan.

Maybe that’s you.

But New Years’ Resolutions never seem to work, do they? You might follow through at the gym for a month or two, but spiritually speaking, no matter how much you pray, read your Bible, or attend conferences for injections of passion and insight, nothing seems to stick for long. Sometimes it feels like you’re walking blindfolded through your Christian life, feeling your way along some invisible wall that doesn’t seem to have any way around or through it. You’re trying, but there’s so little progress that you lose heart.

What if I told you that I know I’m going to grow measurably in my faith this year? That I know this because I grow in my faith every year. I can tell you what I’ve learned, what progress I’ve made, and what Jesus has told me about it. I’m not saying I’ve ‘arrived.’ Far from it. But I can tell you that last year I:

Became much more proficient at discerning the subtle influences of the enemy on my heart and successfully rejecting or defeating them
Experienced a revolution in my leadership that is currently translating into massive shifts in my approach, practice, and effectiveness in leadership
Learned incredible truths about my identity in Christ that have transformed how I walk through life

I’m growing measurably in these areas (and many more) because God has given me a powerful tool, a tool that removes the proverbial blindfold so I can see the big picture better than most people. A tool that helps me chart my course through the big frustrating wall that holds most people back.

In this post, I’m going to tell you what that tool is and how you can put it to work in your own life. If you do, you’ll take your spiritual growth to the next level this coming year too. Are you ready?

The tool is a special kind of Prayer Journalling.

When I claim the tool is prayer Journalling, you might roll your eyes. “Well, I already keep a journal.” But I didn’t say the tool is Journalling. I said it’s Prayer Journalling. And a special kind of Prayer Journalling.

Or maybe you’re thinking, “I’m not a writer. I hate writing.” Fair enough. But do you want to break through new barriers in your faith? Do you want to get to know Jesus more intimately than ever before? What you have to figure out is, do you want growth more than you don’t want writing? Because if you’d rather remain stuck and stagnant, you most certainly will. What you’re currently doing (and not doing) is keeping you stuck.

You’re reading this blog post, right? Probably because you’re hoping that what I’ve written will help you grow. So you already believe writing is powerful. But what if God wants to flip that around?

What if… your next season of growth will open up new possibilities—not because of what other people have written but because of what you will write yourself?
What if… it doesn’t matter whether you’re good enough at writing for others to read it?
What if… second only to the Holy Spirit, the most influential writer in your life is you?
What if… second only to the Bible, the most important book you’ll ever read is your own prayer journal?

What do I mean by a prayer journal?

A prayer journal isn’t a regular journal. It’s a daily record of your friendship with God—the most powerful, transformative relationship you will ever experience. The Psalms are Holy Spirit inspired prayer journal entries. So are all the prophetic books, like Jeremiah, Isaiah, and John’s Revelation. In fact, nineteen of the Bible’s total of sixty-six books are prayer journals. Let that sink in! These ‘books’ record intimate, life-changing interactions between a loving God and regular people just like you and me.

I just finished studying and Prayer Journalling through Revelation, and scattered throughout the book are calls to action I want you to hear:

“Write on a scroll what you see.”
“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place later.”
“Write this…”
“Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true…”

I’m going to share my Prayer Journalling method with you. It will take your blindfold off so you can see what you’ve been missing. It will give you a tangible tool to process your life with Jesus as it unfolds. It will help you reflect on what you’re learning, review and track your progress, and discern patterns you can either celebrate or work on. You’re going to love it.

Here’s your call to action.

Go out and buy a blank, lined journal today. Yes, today.
Leave the first full page or two (both sides, front and back) blank. This leaves room for some cool stuff I will unpack in my next post.
Start writing. It doesn’t have to be pretty. Just start. “Hey God. I’m starting this prayer journal because Brad said I should. So here I am. Please teach me how to grow.”

In my next post, I unpack the nuts and bolts of successful Prayer Journalling, including four game-changing Prayer-Journalling tips I’ve never seen anywhere else. You’re not going to want to miss them.