Make Every Day Count

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Make Every Day Count

“Find your own Calcutta.” – Mother Theresa

By utilizing both the journal of purpose and the book you are reading now, you will maximize your experience on the journey to purpose. Each day, the journal includes standard elements that come together to create a day of cultivating the power of God in your life. Additional elements are particular to one or another part of the day. If your schedule allows, you can complete three devotional lessons each day using the Shine tools. This section provides a brief overview of the various daily elements that you can use to make every day of your journey count.

Daily Theme: The theme for the entire day.

Affirmation: A positive statement in the morning, at mid-day, and in the evening, to claim difference in your life by faith. Read the affirmation aloud. If possible. Incorporate the affirmation into your morning hygiene ritual. Looking in the mirror, repeat the words of the affirmation to yourself aloud. Smile as you are talking. Studies show that we recall more of what is learned when the information is attached to an emotion. Smiling will help release endorphins as you associate smiling (an indication of happiness) with the affirmation.

Scripture Basis: Major Bible verse(s) related to the theme and content presented in the morning, mid-day, or evening devotional.

Memory Verse: A verse that summarizes the learning goal of the morning, mid-day, or evening devotional. In other words, this is what you should take with you from the book, to remind you of the morning devotional.

Worship: The audio CD track number and title of a song on the Revival album by GShenica, which corresponds to either the morning, mid-day, or evening devotional. A Lyric sheet for each song is included in this journal. For full-sized, printable lyric sheets, visit http://shenicagraham.wordpress.com/music.

Running Praise: Each morning, you will pray about something afflicting your heart or challenging someone you know. This is the proper response to what ails us within; and when we are merry, we should sing (James 5:13). Singing is an extended smile – it gives us endorphins that make us feel comforted, less pain, and fewer stress effects.
A running praise is like a medley. Keep the songs going, one after the other, or put your favorite song on repeat, in your heart. A running praise is also named for how it makes your spirit feel lighter. You may want to run on with Jesus a little while longer when you use this technique to put wings to your running shoes (Ephesians 6:15).

Prayer: A reminder to pray in the morning, at mid-day, or in the evening. There may be a prayer topic related to the morning, mid-day, or evening devotional.

A Prayer For You: The words of a prayer from the Bible, or the words of a prayer from the author. This element is to help you jump-start your prayer life. Repeat the words of the printed prayer, and or say a prayer of your own. These prayers are not meant to replace your creative communication with God. They are to get you started in the case that you genuinely make an effort to pray, yet have some difficulty getting started. Use the printed prayers to give you a boost until you can rev-up your prayer engine without them.

Life-Style: An anecdote, short-story, or testimony related to the morning devotional. Topics illustrate how, when, where, and why to incorporate principles from the morning devotional into your daily life. This is how you “style” your life in the manner of holiness. Holiness is a lifestyle, not just a religion.

Ministry Perspective: A resource for Biblical teaching related to the morning devotional. Topics include various subjects profitable for teaching of doctrine, discipleship, Christian counseling, and Christian living.

Outreach / Reflection: The Outreach / Reflection topic is a two-fold challenge to 1) apply the concepts and principles from the morning, mid-day, and evening devotionals to your life; and 2) think of how you can share the topics from the day with someone else. These topics are brief, inspiring, and good tools for topical groups including a Bible study, volunteer, or youth group.

Apply Within: Apply Within is a daily activity to help you take an inventory of yourself throughout the day. Complete this during the day, along with your evening journal (or as often as you like). Identify areas where you lack anything from God, and can work toward healing those voids day by day. Use the Inventory Notes section to write any notes about the inventory.

Explain / explore your ratings. Answer questions such as, what happened or did not take place that may have influenced your rating? Complete your personal inventory. Rate each of the Areas on a scale of zero to ten, with ten having the most need of improvement (add other areas if necessary). Apply the principles and concepts from this morning’s devotional to each area and evaluate it.

Application: An example of a practical application of the morning, mid-day, or evening devotional to life’s unique challenges and victories.

The Message: The Message includes sermons, sermon notes, and other tools to help teachers and students learn and express the concepts and principles shared in this journal. Use these resources in Bible-based classes, group exhortation, and individual courses. All of the tools presented in this journal are available for free download online, to help teachers and students prepare for classes based on this journal. Thank you for supporting this publication and May God renew and refresh your life and you study to show yourself approved (I Timothy 2:15).

Journal: Each of the morning, mid-day, and evening devotional end with a journal topic presented to help you reflect on principles and concepts presented in corresponding devotional. Write your response / reaction to the journal topic. Lined pages are included after the topic instruction for your convenience. Use the lined pages to help keep your journal entries organized according to the topics they relate to each day.

Footnotes

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