There are some people that are very good salesmen, even if they don’t intend to be. (Or maybe they do…I don’t know.) Anyway, when Chautona Havig shared a review of the Journibles collection on Youtube one day, I watched it and decided I wanted to try it out one day.
Imagine my delight when I saw that it was coming up for review soon, and I’d be able to get a hardcover version! I was thrilled to receive the welcome email, and eagerly anticipated the little package in the mail for the following few weeks—until, one day, there it was!
If there’s anything better than book mail, especially with a book you just can’t wait to dive into, please tell me. But that totally made my day one afternoon after work!
Some links in this review are affiliate links. They help keep this blog going, at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
About the Journibles:
WHY THE 17:18 SERIES?
In Deuteronomy 17, Moses is leaving final instructions concerning the future of Israel. As a prophet of God, Moses foretells of when Israel will place a king over the nation (v. 14). In verse 18, the king is commanded to not simply acquire a copy of the law (the entire book of Deuteronomy) from the scroll publishing house, but to hand write his own copy of the law. Thirty-four hundred years later, educators are discovering that students that physically write out their notes by hand have a much greater retention rate than simply hearing or visually reading the information. Apparently, God knew this to be true of the kings of Israel also. From such understanding came the conception of this series of books.
HOW TO USE THESE BOOKS
Each book is organized so that you can write out your very own copy of Scripture. You will be writing the Bible text only on the right hand page of the book. This should make for easier writing and also allows ample space on the left page to write your own notes and comments. From time to time a question or word will be lightly printed on the left page; these questions are to aid in further study, but should not interfere with your own notes and comments.
Check out the available books here.
My Thoughts:
I think I tend to be a little ADHD about my personal Bible time. For some reason, it always seems like I have four or five different studies all running concurrently, so it is always hard to decide what to do when. Hence, I don’t tend to make a huge amount of progress in any one thing in any particular week, but I switch around some and find inspiration from many different directions. Unlike other studies I’ve done in the past, the Journibles are very much book-based studies. I’m not sure I’ve ever done an in-depth study of any particular book, so it’s a different approach for me.
Despite the difference, though, I’ve found there’s a lot of richness missed when one just reads the scriptures. I’ve read through the Bible cover-to-cover before, probably at least four times, but I rarely ever took notes. It was just a reading exercise, and when I did my allotment for the day, I was done.
Journibles’ purpose is different, though: They intend to slow you down and make you think not only about the chapter as a whole, but see each section in it and each verse and word inside of that. It’s a very effective system.
I’ve only actually spent several personal devotional periods in my Journible so far. However, each time has been rich with meaning. I’m not quite through the first chapter of Proverbs yet, as I’m taking time to comment along the way, but even so there are several things that have jumped out at me that I haven’t noticed before.
Although I haven’t used my Journible (Proverbs) as much yet as I thought I might, I know I’ve learned a lot even in the time I have dedicated to it. There’s power in praying over the Scriptures, asking the Lord for His inspiration from them each day. There’s also power in writing them out—“claiming” them, in a sense, as your own. Each word requires precision and care, and that responsibility really helps you focus on the true meaning. I think the only reason I haven’t done more is my aforementioned ADHD in Bible study, but in all, I am thrilled to have had the chance to try this resource out—I expect I’ll be using them more in the future! It looks like it would also make a great group study tool, too—fairly intensive as far as prep work is concerned, but you would have some gems of thoughts as a result, I think!
Note: I received this book for free from CelebrateLit, in exchange for my honest review.
Check out the other blog tour stops and the giveaway here!
Let’s discuss: What are some of your favorite Bible study tools? Do you journal as part of your Bible time?
Well, you know my answer! I use these daily. LOVE this approach. Writing Scripture is what I did for my kids for penmanship when they were younger. They just wrote books of the Bible (often did it during church when they might not understand what the minister was saying. HEe hee.
I think the beauty of it is just how little it intrudes into what the Word teaches, and yet it prompts you with little questions or words to notice so you don’t make it a rote exercise. It’s like a gentle reminder, “Hey. Look at what you’re reading and writing. What does it mean?”
But there are no answers that those questions try to lead you to. They’re there to make you think, not to make you believe someone else’s conclusions. They let the Word speak for itself.