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The Importance of Writing Things Down

The Importance of Writing Things Down ...Learn some of the benefits and advantages of taking notes during quiet times and sermons.

The Importance of Writing Things Down

We previously talked about reading the Bible on a regular basis (with tips here and how to stop spiritual cramming here). In this post, I’d like to take that a step further and share about the importance of writing things down. It’s a good idea to keep a journal or notebook for taking notes during our quiet times and even during church. For a lot of people, they know writing things down is helpful and that it’s probably a good idea (much like reading the Bible on a regular basis), but they still neglect to do it merely for the hassle or inconvenience of it. I’d like to discuss why the benefits of writing things down might outweigh the disadvantages of it.

Writing things down helps the information sink in…

Writing things down takes listening and reading a step further. The simple act of writing forces us to think about what it is that we are hearing or reading and then reiterating that or abbreviating that onto paper. When we take notes it helps us to recall the information later. How many times have you written a list only to find out that you didn’t even have to refer to it? But try not writing that same list, and chances are that you will forget many of the items. It’s almost a catch-22. The process of writing things down will help you to remember what it is that you’ve written. Skip the notes and potentially forget—with an added disadvantage of having nothing to refer back to if you’ve forgotten. Which brings me to the next benefit…

Writing things down gives you something to reference…

Overall, the purpose of taking notes is to key in on the important information that we need to remember and to use as a future reference. We need to write things down to remember—even for those with a good memory. Look at what the following scriptures say about writing things down and remembering…

“…the Lord instructed Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder…” Exodus 17:14 (NLT)

“This says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.” Jeremiah 30:2 (AMP)

“Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced” Psalm 105:5 (NIV)

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” Psalm 103:2 (ESV)

If we are being told to “remember” and “forget not”, then apparently it is possible to forget. Writing things down will serve as a reference for those things that we may have forgotten.

I’ve also heard it said that writing things down can also give the Holy Spirit something to work with—a reference of sorts. In John 14:26 it says that the Holy Spirit will “remind” us. Taking notes will act as a reference to which the Holy Spirit may even trigger us to go back and look.

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” John 14:26 (NLT)

My own personal references

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More Resources for Bible Meditation, Prayer, and Quiet Times

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More Resources for Bible Meditation, Prayer, and Quiet Times

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

I’ve often said I fancy myself a curator of resources. 😉 I’ve written a lot about practical methods, resources, and tools for studying scripture, praying, and growing in your relationship with God (much of this can be found on the “New to Faith?” page on the site). Recently, I shared several resources and tools for Bible study. In this post, I’d like to share a few more, specifically in relation to biblical meditation, prayer, and resources for your quiet times. These are especially helpful for those who might be auditory learners or prefer to listen to audible, narrated, or guided material.

These resources are just another way to instill scripture into your spirit and build your faith by hearing the word of God and meditating on it. (Read more on how to meditate on scripture here.) I hope you enjoy these resources and find them helpful!

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

“And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you–and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.” Mark 4:24 (AMPC)

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8 (ESV)

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

Lectio 365 app

The Lectio 365 app has been a recent favorite of mine. According to their site, “Lectio 365 is a daily devotional resource to help you pray through the Bible every day. It has been written by 24-7 Prayer leaders (an international, interdenominational prayer movement) and delivered through a free app. Lectio 365 contains devotional content to help you pause and pray at the start and end of every day.”^[1]

Their daily meditation is inspired by an ancient form of praying and meditation called Lectio Divina. According to Wikipedia, Lectio Divina is a “…practice of scriptural reading, meditation, and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God’s word. Traditionally, Lectio Divina has four separate steps: read; meditate; pray; contemplate. First, a passage of scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.”^[2]

I typically spend around ten minutes when I listen to the audio version (as opposed to reading through on my own). Personally, I like the peaceful background music, and I love the guided prayers and pauses for moments of reflection and to hear from the Holy Spirit. I often find a fixed location (a comfy, chair in my room where I read my Bible each morning), close my eyes, and practice intentional, relaxed breathing.

Eric and I have also really enjoyed listening and night just before sleeping, as it relaxes us and focuses our thoughts on God and scripture just before drifting off to sleep. It’s a very calming way to end the day and to help with sleep (as I sometimes struggle).

Here’s a description from the Lectio 365 website:

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Bible Study Methods and Resources for the Average Person

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Bible Study Methods and Resources for the Average Person

I think reading and studying the Bible can be intimidating and overwhelming for a lot of people. I’ve come to a place where I genuinely love reading and studying the Bible. However, by no means am I a theologian or Biblical expert. I’m just your everyday, average person who’s found some Bible study methods that work to help me read, learn and study the Bible effectively. Therefore, if I can do it, anyone can!

Several years ago we took a family vacation to Colorado. While we were there, we also had an opportunity to attend a church Bible study with some family. (I wrote about it in this post.) I really loved the way they studied and discussed the Bible because it was a similar method to how I like to study and learn. Prior to the meeting, they read a certain chapter or passage out of scripture. Then they came to the meeting discussing any insights they gathered and any things they felt like God spoke or revealed to them.

It was a very engaging and interactive discussion from which everyone in the room learned and received some type of benefit and wisdom. It seemed as though each person picked up something different from the passage, but as they shared others were able to learn from their observations and revelations too. In my women’s small group we’ve been doing a similar independent Bible study method of various books of the Bible. It’s been some of our favorite small group content, preferring it over doing book studies or an organized/guided Bible study written by someone else.

I’ll share with you some of my strategies and methods that help me, personally, to comprehend what I’m reading and be able to hear from God a little better.

Getting context

I recently read a great analogy that N.T. Wright used to describe getting a larger context for some of the well-known Bible stories and how they fit into the whole scope of scripture and plan of redemption through Jesus Christ (from the Old Testament all the way through the New Testament). He talked about how he knows certain areas of London very well but isn’t extremely familiar with how they all join up because he’s used to traveling on the Underground with no mental picture of what was above him. He mentioned that if he tried walking between the different points that he would get lost.

N.T. Wright said that many people are like that with the stories in the Bible. They know the parables, miracles, and major stories, but they often have little to no idea of the context of how they all join up and are linked and weaved together. People tend to get “carried”, as on a transit system, from one story to the next, like a spiritual Underground, without really ever thinking about how things actually moved together from one thing to another in the real world. Therefore, people sometimes miss the full force of the messages because they miss out on some of the context and the connections.^[1]

This analogy is a great way to describe getting context as we study scripture. That’s why some of the following Bible study methods are so helpful because they really aid in finding and creating context for a better understanding and application of scripture.

Bible Study Methods list

Start by reading book introductions

When reading a book out of the Bible, sometimes it’s helpful to start by reading the introductions at the start of the book. In most Bibles, there is a page at the start of the book that will give some introductory information and background of that particular book. It typically contains things like the author(s) of that book, when it was written, where it was written, to whom it was written, an overview of the main points or major themes, the purpose or intent of the author, and maybe some cultural context.

These types of information can be helpful to learn before you start reading to give you a foundational context from which to start. Knowing some of these bits of information can create a “big picture” that will help you piece together the parts of the reading as you go along, making it a little easier to understand and follow along. This might be comparable to looking at a picture of what a puzzle is supposed to look like before you start putting it together. Continue reading →

Doing a 2020 Recap

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Doing a 2020 Recap

This past weekend our church did a service revolving around a 2020 recap. There were a few testimonials of people discussing what they’ve learned from 2020, how the year has been impactful for them, or what God had done for them over the past year. It got me to thinking… “How WOULD I recap this past year?”

One of our yearly Christmas traditions came to mind as I was thinking about this. Each year at Christmas we get each of our kids a Christmas ornament for that year. These ornaments usually reflect an event or milestone or memory from the year. This year as I was shopping for their ornament, I knew I wanted it to be 2020 related but not just referring to all of the COVID-19 stuff as so many of them were. I wanted it to reflect the many, many crazy events that took place during 2020—a kind of a 2020 recap on the ornament.

I ended up settling on a type of word cloud ornament. As I was reading through all of the items listed on the ornament, I found myself saying, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” It had things like Kobe Bryant’s death, the Australian fires, travel bans, birthday parades, virtual graduations, virtual meetings, distance learning, of course the whole Coronavirus pandemic themed things (quarantine, panic buying, toilet paper shortage, social distancing, face masks, front line heroes and essential workers, etc.), murder hornets, the Beirut explosion, and BLM protests. (It was missing the whole presidential election fiasco which was odd.) It did seem to sum up events of the year pretty well.

On a personal level

While this was a great 2020 recap of the year’s events, it still wasn’t a very personal reflection of the year. I thought about how my mom often does this in her Christmas or end-of-year letters where she summarizes the whole family’s yearly goings-on. So, I started to make a list (although not completely comprehensive)… Continue reading →

Taking Notes Effectively

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Taking Notes Effectively

Today’s post is more practical in application. This past week I was just visiting with a friend who homeschools her children about some resources for note taking. I thought it might be beneficial to share some resources here as well. After all, good note taking skills aren’t just important for students in school. It’s useful in our jobs during training, meetings, conferences, and in continuing education. It’s also useful in church or for taking notes during a podcast or video message.

Some of this might be very basic or seem redundant if you already have a habit of taking notes. Nevertheless, you never know when you might be able to tweak or improve your note taking style or even get a few new ideas! If you’re NOT a note taker, revisit this post about the importance of writing things down. Basically, when you take notes, you remember the material better, plus you have something to refer back to later on.

The process of taking notes

The process of taking notes involves three phases: before, during, and after. Before taking notes you must learn effective preparation and observation methods. During the process of taking or recording your notes (i.e. actually writing something down) there are several helpful methods to make the process more effective. Lastly, after taking notes, it’s very important to review them in order to transfer the information from your short-term memory to your long-term memory and to retain the information better.

Becoming a good note-taker is a process in itself. You have to find the method or combination of methods that work best for you, and it sometimes takes practice and some trial and error. Every individual is different, so what works for you may not work for a different person. Different learning styles also come into play when deciding the most effective way of taking notes.

Make it plain

When considering taking notes, I think it’s important to note what the Lord told Habakkuk when he was making complaints and requests to the Lord:

“And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” Habakkuk 2:2 (ESV)

The Lord told Habakkuk to write down plainly the important things to be revealed (i.e. the vision and answers to his questions and complaints). He says to do this in order that “he may run who reads it”. Other versions say things like–so that the correct message can be carried to others, so it can be easily read, or so that one can read it quickly. Makes sense, right? The whole point of taking notes is to help you retain the information and have a reference to go back to and read over or study.

Our goal today will be to learn some effective and proven methods of taking notes in order to write down the correct and important information in order to retain it, record the notes in an easy and “plain” way and to make them useful for future use and review.

Order and organization—characteristics of God

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She forgot her backpack…Allowing natural consequences

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She forgot her backpack...allowing natural consequences

She forgot her backpack…Allowing natural consequences

A couple of weeks ago I experienced a hard day as a momma. In fact my journal entry for that day reads, “Today is a little rough as a mom to see through natural consequences for my child.”

My daughter had been pretty irresponsible lately (not getting chores done, taking much longer than it should to get things done, forgetting things, and so on). On this particular day, she had forgotten her backpack with her homework at home because she wasn’t paying attention and focusing on the right things. She also forgot to drink her milk that morning even after being reminded.

At school, as she was getting out of the car, she noticed that she had forgotten her backpack. She didn’t ask me to go get it and bring it back to her because she knew she’d already used up her one “grace” already this school year. I give each of my kids one “grace” per school year where I’ll retrieve a forgotten item just one time.

Part of me REALLY wanted to go back home and get it for her though. She had such a discouraged look on her face that broke my heart. However, something inside me reminded me that she needs to have her natural consequences as a learning opportunity. I was struggling so much internally though I even called Eric to ask him if I should go back and get it for her. As soon as I heard myself asking him though, “don’t do it!” was running through my head. Eric had the same response, especially considering her recent irresponsible behavior.

It still just made me so sad because I don’t want my kids to have to suffer discouragement, pain or heartache. I think God must feel this way at times too.

**God is also a good, but just parent**

Thinking about it all reminded me of a previous post I wrote where I talked about being sad when I wanted to do nice or fun things for the kids but their bad behavior prevented me from doing so. At that time I also had the realization that God must experience similar emotions and how he is a good but just parent. He allows us to experience many of our natural consequences. Though as a parent, he probably doesn’t like it, and it makes him really sad to see us experience pain and hardship too.

Consequences teach necessary life skills

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Why You Should Be Taking Notes Old School Style

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Here are some reasons why you should be taking notes old school style...using pen and paper as opposed to digitally.

Why You Should Be Taking Notes Old School Style

We talk a lot about taking notes in my classes—both in the college classes I teach and at Glory House, the women’s restoration house where I teach. I wrote previously about why it’s important to write things down and take notes. Some of the benefits I discussed earlier were…

It helps the information to sink in.
Writing things down gives us something to go back and reference.
Our written notes can be a resource to share with others.
Writing things down can show us our growth and progress as we look back on our notes.

Today, I thought I’d stay more on the practical side to talk to you about why we should take notes old school style. You know…with actual pen and paper! 🙂 This of course is as opposed to using electronics and devices such as computers, phone, tablets, etc.

But technology makes it easier!

Technology these days has made it so easy to be more efficient and to make things more convenient. Unfortunately, with convenience and efficiency we lose some things. I guess there’s a give and take to anything isn’t there?

Even though there is all kinds of technology out there for taking notes now, I’m still a little bit old school. If I’m in a meeting at work, I pull out the old pen and paper. When I attend a training or a conference, I typically write notes in a journal or spiral notebook. My morning quiet times are ALWAYS accompanied by a pencil and journal. Additionally, I have a journal dedicated specifically for sermon notes at church.

I don’t know why really—I just like to write things out by hand. Partially, I think it forces me to pay better attention because I have to listen in order to take good notes. Another reason might be that I’ve noticed I remember more when I’ve written something out longhand.