JOURNALLING FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH

50 years is a long time since my enlistment in the SAF. One of the ways to keep me connected with the LORD is through keeping a spiritual journal. My diary was filled with love letters from my heart to Him. The Word of God promises, if I seek the LORD, I will find Him even in the midst of the messy jungle. My spiritual seeking takes
place in my journal. It makes visible my search that led me to grow spiritually in Him. Journaling helps me to experience how deeply I am loved by Jesus and to grow more deeply in love with Him. This is a page from my spiritual journal on Psalm 1. It has helped me in my personal search for a deeper intimacy with God in the SAF.

“Who wrote Psalm 1? I really do not know. The key subject of Psalm 1 is the centrality of God’s Word to the life and fruitfulness of the righteous who truly loves His Word. And I love Jesus and His Word. Psalm 1 is filled with the contrasts between God-centered life and self-centered life. No middle ground in Psalm 1, either you are righteous or you are wicked. The wicked have little or no time for God in his life, one who has ruled God out of his life and his thinking, in the way he walks (thinks) in making decisions using his own human wisdom throughout the day. The wicked stands (behaving) in making self-directed commitments and sitting (to whom he belongs) in the settled attitude of his heart. Whatever shapes my mind, shapes my life. The godly man is selfless in his Spirit guided motivations, obedient to God in his actions. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. The godly man delights in the whole counsel of the Word of God. The godly man is refreshed like a tree planted by the streams of water and living his life in the strength of the Holy Spirit. The godly man has discovered the truth about himself from the Word of God. Blessedness comes when I have Christ in my heart; to revere Him, meditating on the living Word for the renewing of my mind and the transformation of my heart in my daily living. I want to be that godly man. There is no shortcut to my spiritual growth in talking the road less traveled in the SAF.”

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, shape my conscience by the written Word of God and the revealed Word in Christ. Discipline me to read and obey your Word. Refresh me by the streams of Your living water for Your grace abounds. I want to live out my faith and bear the fruit of the Spirit in due season.

In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.

By Rev Peter Goh Cheng Teck
Reproduced from MCF 50th Anniversary Commemorative Publication