Let’s do the spiritual diary together; it’s training. I want to help you keep your diary, because it is not enough for us to just read the Bible. The work with her is completed with the Spiritual Diary. People, in general, are too lazy to write and even find it strange to do so. Why is it necessary to write? Don’t you just read? I tell you: don’t just read. The recipe is to write.
Discover Monsignor Jonas Abib’s method of studying the Bible
As the word says, it is a diary. We read the Bible every day and keep the diary every day. Start your journal today: Get a notebook; it will serve exclusively for your Spiritual Diary. Put the date at the top of the page and then write down the excerpt: 1Jo 1,2.
Illustrative Photo: Canção Nova Archive
What to write down every day?
The first thing you will write down every day is the promises of God that you found in reading. It is very important to write them down. He fulfills them. They are promises from God and not from men. So it is also good to read and cross out: it is easier to find the promises contained in the excerpts read.
If you noticed, at the end of chapter 1, verse 9 says: “If we acknowledge our sins, God is there, faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.” Is it a promise or not? And what a promise! God is there, faithful and just to forgive us our sins. We need only fulfill one condition: to recognize our sins. A very simple condition, isn’t it? Now let’s write it down. Write the word ‘Promise’ in your notebook. Now, copy the excerpt and put the quote 1 Jn 1,9.
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See, then, the beginning of chapter 2. Isn’t that a promise? “My little children, I am writing this to you so that you do not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the just. ” It is a very important promise: we can be sure that if we sin, we will have an intercessor with the Father, and that intercessor is Jesus, the Just. The promise continues in verse 2: “He is the atonement for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the whole world.” Then write it down in your notebook and quote: 1 Jn 2,1-2.
Verse 25 is very clear, because the word ‘Promise’ appears in it: “Here is the promise he made to us: eternal life”. This is God’s promise , and it is no small feat: it is eternal life. Write down and put the quote.
God’s Orders
The second item you write down is God’s orders. If they are orders, they need to be carried out. For that, we have to know them.
See 1 John 2.15. Isn’t there an order there? Then write down: “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love is not in him ”. And it can continue in verse 16, which complements: “Because everything in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, do not come from the Father, but from the world”.
Note that in 1 John 2.28, there is another very important order. I’m not even going to introduce you here. Found? So, write it down.
Eternal Principles
The third thing noted in the Spiritual Diary is the Eternal Principles. The easiest way to understand what an eternal principle is is to learn in practice. See 1 John 1.5. There we have an eternal principle. Nothing will change you. Whether we like it or not, it is so, because it is so. “God is light and there is no darkness in him.”
Continue with verses 6 and 7. They also bring eternal principles, which govern the Kingdom of God. Write down.
See 1 John 2,9. Is it not an eternal principle? Go ahead with verses 10 and 11. You see? Then write it down.
There are, therefore, three things: Promises, Orders and Eternal Principles.
Write down very concrete and personal things
1 – What is God’s message for me today? In the text you read, you will find the message that the Lord has for you today. Just pay attention. Then write.
2 – How can I put this into practice in my life? How to put into practice everything you read, everything that God spoke to you? Don’t be afraid to say this in writing.
This is the point of arrival of the Spiritual Diary. It is one hundred percent practical and concrete. Take the Bible , read the passage and then keep your diary.
Tomorrow, you will take chapter 3 and do the diary. The day after tomorrow, the 4 and, finally, the 5. In four days, you do all the first Letter of Saint John.
After that, you will resume it again, part by part, and do the diary. Believe me, it will not be a simple repetition. There will be news, especially in the message from God and how to put into practice what you have read.
Try it and you will see
I did it on purpose. Just as you throw the person into the pool so that they lose their fear, I made sure to put them face to face with the Spiritual Diary, so you can venture out and learn in practice. Move on!
