To journalize is to enter the prophetic with God. Hearing the voice of God is
the heritage of every disciple of Christ. Journalizing is a tool that connects the written word of God (the Bible) with the word that is written on your heart (Christ) in order to make Him a living reality to you. It takes the word and makes it applicable, teaching, comforting, correcting, and confirming in the middle of life’s situations.

And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours. 1 John 5:14-15 (MSG)

Jaque, I desire truth in the inward parts.  I desire that you know the truth by heart (that your heart knows the truth).  All who belong to Me know My will.  “And God wills that all men should be saved.” Do I therefore will salvation for all?  Yes.  But you know not all are or will be saved.  “And He healed them all.”  Do I therefore will that all be healed?  Yes.  But you know that not all are or will be healed.  So does the outcome of those who are not saved or healed change My will?

I deliberately haven’t posted the rest of the journal.  Just from the question I’m wondering what your answer would be if He posed it to you? If it doesn’t change His will why do things happen as they do?  If you think it means His will is not to save and heal all, why do you think so?

Today while reading the assignment from my daily Bible planner the following passage stood out so I paused and waited for Him to inform me:

Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.”

John 6:43-46 The Message

I enjoy it when little gradations stand out: We’re not in charge.  Okay, I assent; I know that—but now something deeper.  We are sooo not in charge; we literally have little to do with our own salvation. All we can do, by His grace, is recognize Him doing something in us! He draws us; otherwise our coming is false, pretended, or produced by some ego pressure in us to impress or perform.  But when He is mightily at work within us, He gets us ready to be personally taught by Him.  At last we know that we know we are taught personally by Jesus Christ Himself.  We are personally in on it. We get it first hand by seeing with our own eyes and hearing with our own ears. What a promise to those who believe.  He said; you can see me.  We can see Him!  “And when we see Him we’ll be like Him.” Hunker down and get hold of that!

One only is the Lawgiver and Judge Who is able to save and to destroy [the One Who has the absolute power of life and death]. [But you] who are you that [you presume to] pass judgment on your neighbor? Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money. Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air]. You ought instead to say, If the Lord is willing, we shall live and we shall do this or that [thing]. But as it is, you boast [falsely] in your presumption and your self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong. So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

James 4:12-17 (AMP)

Lord, why was it NOT in your will that man study the difference between good and evil in the Garden of Eden?

Jaque, because the mind that studies differences is endlessly polarized by doing so.  There is no escaping duality when the mind uses its perceptions to judge and condemn.  Your heart, on the other hand, always knows what is right; it holds My answer and never needs to study what is naturally organic to it.  The mind, on the other hand, can never know true goodness.

So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

Jaque, those who don’t follow their hearts will invariably produce evil.  Presumption is evil.  “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money.” To state a thing will be “thus and so” without having your true ‘heart’ invested in it is presumption, or sin.  The heart guided by love never tries to manipulate tomorrow; it just is.

So Lord, if I feel my heart condemning me is it because it is dominated by my mind?

Yes.  Before you were enlightened in new birth your heart indicated evil in that it was dominated by Satan’s mind from the fall.  Satan used lies to usurp Adam’s God-indwelt heart, stealing his prize inheritance; every person since, in losing heart dominance, lost possession of the Promised Land.  Salvation is the recovery of your heart Jaque; it is Me getting you back where you belong.  Every time you repent you return from mind dominance to heart recovery.   When the mind is in ascension you feel driven to ‘figure out’ the difference between good and evil.  You can easily recognize these times because you feel pushed, condemned and captive to the tyranny of guilt.  Heart recovery is the release (letting go) of mind domination; here you are free to simply “be” the love that you are.  So you see Jaque, there’s never anything to “figure out.”  You know My will by abiding in My tangible, very present love.

Then what is the purpose of the mind?

The mind is good for doing physical calculations, but it cannot provide answers for the heart.  It provides the heart a means of expression; it is the servant of the heart.    The heart is above calculation, intellectualism, and even ethics.   What is doesn’t have to ‘figure out’ what it is.  Jaque, love never fails because it is content to simply BE what it is. So remember; your heart guides your conscience by love, and love is the place of knowing that you know.

One more question please Lord: what is the result of mind dominance, and what is the result of heart dominance?

Mind dominance will eventually destroy the immune system. Love dominance can reverse the damage. Grace, grace, and more grace to you Jaque.  Renew your mind in truth and reverse the damage.  How?  Follow My word; FOLLOW YOUR HEART.

Train me in good common sense; I’m thoroughly committed to living your way. Before I learned to answer you, I wandered all over the place, but now I’m in step with your Word.

Psalms 119:66-67 The Message

Have you ever tried to untangle a jumbled chain necklace and found that there’s no fast way to do it?  Did you do it anyway or just decide you didn’t need to wear that necklace?  For me it’s an excruciating task; little annoyances like this always get to me.   I dislike confusion, don’t you?  Well, I’ve learned that untangling my thoughts is much more daunting than untangling a thin chain necklace.

“Little foxes spoil the vine,” and perhaps God called me to journalize for this very reason.  Journalizing SLOWS me down because it requires listening—never, never a “quick fix.”  Listening to God’s words and taking dictation gives cohesiveness to my everyday life.  It clears the air and ends the confusion.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Most people would rather die than think. In fact they do.”  But thinking isn’t in question; we all do it.  How well we think is another matter altogether.  I’ve decided that among the better goals one can have for their life, the goal of thinking well is most profitable. Journalizing God’s word causes my thinking to get well, and as I continue to journalize God’s word (as in a mirror) I think even better.

Over all I find that I pay better attention with a pen in my hand.   Dawson Trotman said, “Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through your fingertips.” With God’s word as the basis of my journalizing, it’s become the fastest and best way to renew my mind.

Sometimes I journalize on my computer; I like that because I can type faster than I can write with a pen in my hand.  I still do both, but I’ve noticed that, because the pen is a slower method, penned journals often make a clearer point.  You might agree with me that  “clarity is peace.”  When I want things to get really clear I use a pen.

My troubles turned out all for the best— they forced me to learn from your textbook. Truth from your mouth means more to me than striking it rich in a gold mine. With your very own hands you formed me; now breathe your wisdom over me so I can understand you.  When they see me waiting, expecting your Word, those who fear you will take heart and be glad.  I can see now, God, that your decisions are right; your testing has taught me what’s true and right.  Oh, love me—and right now!—hold me tight! just the way you promised.

Psalms 119:71-76 The Message