Professor Discusses Benefits and Blessings of Bible Journaling

Breakout session at Annual Council shares tips on how make the most of one-verse study.

October 13, 2025 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

What is Bible journaling? How could it help you improve and enrich your devotional and spiritual life? These are some of the questions David Hartman, professor of evangelism and church ministry at Southern Adventist University, set out to answer during a breakout session of the LEAD Conference, on the first full day of the Annual Council of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Thursday, October 9. During his presentation and workshop Hartman, who has been practicing biblical journaling for more than 40 years, explained how any Bible-believing person can recharge their “spiritual device” through biblical journaling.

Even though Bible-based journaling has been around for centuries, Hartman said, it has recently become popular again. That way “does not seek to reach out to an external truth but just to connect with your inner self,” he explained. That is completely the opposite of what he is suggesting. “If I had to ask for directions by myself, I’d be in big trouble,” Hartman said. “The only source of direction is God’s Word. . . . Everything is centered and anchored in God’s Word.”

He explained, however, that biblical journaling follows the invitation to stop our activities to connect with God, just as Jesus offered to Martha from Bethany. “It’s an invitation to sit and listen instead of being continuously distracted, even in good things,” Hartman explained.

How to Start

According to Hartman, anyone can practice biblical journaling. “You buy a journal—nothing fancy is needed—and you pick a book of the Bible.” He then advised the person to choose and focus on only one verse. “Then, every day, record what God says to you.”

In the next section of his presentation, Hartman shared three practical steps in biblical journaling. The first implies applying our head, that is to say, going through a process of discovery. “Do a cursory reading first . . . who wrote it, why, to whom,” Hartman suggested.

As an example, he shared that that very morning he had read Deuteronomy 32:6, when Moses is about to die and is thinking of the next generation. “Moses is appealing, on the plains of Moab, to the second generation just before crossing over . . . calling them to be faithful, unlike those who died in the desert because of disobedience and disbelief.” Hartman explained, “That’s the big picture. You want to get that historical setting. Then as you go verse by verse, you are applying your head in discovery. What is the key principle, thought, and insight?”

Applying and Responding to the Verse

“What is God trying to say to me in my life context right now?” It’s the part when “God speaks to me, and I speak to God.” We tell Him, “This is the principle God was trying to get across to Joshua. Now, Lord, what are You trying to say to me?”

That message can be exciting, hopeful, encouraging, or stabbing, Hartman explained. So the principle, thought, insight, and idea derived from the reading leads to an application for the person’s life in the present.

Hartman suggested what to do after reflecting on that single Bible verse. “You’re going to be recording those thoughts that God gives to you; you’re going to be writing those back to Him; you’re going to put them down on paper in your journal.”

It’s a very personal enterprise, just between you and God, he emphasized, sharing that he usually takes 20-30 minutes for the activity and writes at least one and a half pages. Hartman is currently writing his seventy-sixth notebook with Bible-based insights, he shared.

Then comes the action-response. “Now that you’ve heard God’s voice speaking to you, go and carry out His commands,” Hartman said. “It is only as we act on God’s Word that it will take on real meaning in our lives. It will transform us!”

Benefits of Journaling

According to Hartman, biblical journaling includes many benefits. The first one, he shared, is that it facilitates heart-to-heart communion with God. “It forces you to have elevated conversations with Him,” he explained. “It really opens your heart to your feelings and thoughts.”

Biblical journaling also fuels spiritual growth and fortifies faith to cope with crises, something, Hartman said, he experienced repeatedly in his life, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hartman also shared that biblical journaling focuses attention, so the mind won’t wander. The journaling process of applying your head and heart and then applying a Bible verse to your life is engaging.

There are additional benefits too, he said, because biblical journaling forms a permanent record of God’s leading. “I can go back 40 years and see what God said to me,” Hartman shared. “And when I do, it reminds me of God’s providence in my life.”

Hartman also mentioned how biblical journaling feeds witnessing, ministry, and preaching. He explained that when he studies a Bible verse, he’s not asking what to tell a congregation, but nevertheless his preaching and witnessing through the years has been enriched through the journaling process. “After I read Ephesians, I certainly preach a series on Ephesians, and after I read Daniel, you can be sure I’ll be preaching on Daniel.”

Finally, biblical journaling fosters rich communication skills, Hartman shared. Even though he acknowledged being an introvert, dwelling daily in God’s Word has increased his gutsiness, transparency, and honesty with his students and family. “I have more practice in experiencing and sharing my feelings,” he explained. “I am more used to that.”