Christian Planners – All You Need to Know
Some of us are born organized, others have organization thrust upon them, because let’s face it, being disorganized is exhausting. Maybe, once upon a time, in those long gone much simpler days, you could get along by just winging it, these days, not a chance. Modern life is complicated and it seems to get more complicated by the day. So where does this leave your relationship with God? Confined to an hour on Sunday when even then you’re thinking about other stuff half the time? Christianity is not some part time hobby; Christianity is your life 24/7. If you’re using a planner to help you navigate the day to day of work, social life and family, why aren’t you using a planner to ensure that God is where He should be, at the center of everything you do?
What is a Christian Planner?
Every time that you open it, a Christian planner reminds you that you are on a spiritual journey and that no one is going to give you a free ride, every step of the way is up to you. A Christian planner will help you keep your mind focused on God and organize a Christian life, including all those things, like work, family, relationships and recreation, which can so easily become all consuming. A Christian planner will help you organize your day, your week, your month, your year; you can record appointments or tasks, you can reflect and review. A Christian planner helps you to understand what God wants, so that you always plan your life from a God centered perspective. It’s likely to include within its layout a daily prayer request, daily Biblical affirmations, a daily gratitude and a space each day for your reflections, so that you can incorporate Christian teaching into your daily life and deepen your relationship with God.
How to use a Christian Planner
Using a Christian planner is all about restructuring your priorities by putting God first. This is not some magic book, it’s simply a tool, a very useful tool, to help you organize your life the way it should be organized. Once you accept that everything comes from God and that the Bible is the word of God, then you really can bring order into your life. You can eliminate the stress of modern day life, which so easily besets us, and you can feel the peace of the Lord come upon you. Before you start planning that fishing trip or the kid’s birthday party, open your Bible and spend some time with the Lord. If you are following a course of Bible study, use your planner to record your thoughts and feelings. Writing things down enables you to return to them and reflect upon them, to see the distance you’ve travelled on your spiritual journey.
When should I use a Christian planner?
Are there days when you don’t need God? Of course there aren’t, so why would you not use your Christian planner everyday, as part of your spiritual routine. Maybe some days you’ll write very little, maybe some days you’ll look back over what you’ve written and simply take some time to reflect. A Christian planner is there to help you live a Christian life; nobody’s going to grade what you do; it doesn’t matter about spelling or grammar, you don’t need to try and write fancy, or sound clever, but you do need to put the time in. If you’ve gone all week and not opened your planner, then you’ve got your priorities all back to front. Sitting down with your Christian planner is the most important thing that you will do each day, because everything else that you do will then flow from having His wisdom enter your heart. It’s no good setting out thinking I’ll sit down with my planner when I find five minutes: you don’t fit God into your schedule, God is your schedule. There’s no better way to start the day than with prayer and reflection, so go on, set that alarm an hour earlier and try it. Of course, if you have small children, or you work nights, that’s not going to work. Maybe instead of watching some thriller on T.V. that gets you all jumpy and agitated, why not spend time with the Lord before you go to bed. You can process the events of the day and make plans for the morrow, which are grounded in His wisdom. Find a time, find a place and make it sacred: nothing or no one should interrupt your conversation with God.
Can I make my own Christian planner?
Of course you can. You’re not a better Christian because you went out and spent forty dollars on a planner. You’ll find plenty of examples of planners online, you can copy their format or you can come up with your own. You can source verses from scripture and embed them and you could even build your Bible study into the framework. It won’t be a five-minute job and it may even take a lot longer than you anticipated but you will end up with a personal planner that God has helped you design.
Where can I buy a Christian planner?
You’ll find all sorts of planners available online or at your local Christian bookstore or take a look at our Daily Prayer & Gratitude Journal, available at christianjournal.co . Our journals give you detailed instructions on how to get started and include sections for daily prayer requests, daily Biblical affirmations, daily gratitude and space to record your reflections and questions. Whichever kind of Christian planner you decide on, you can be sure that using a Christian planner will strengthen your faith and deepen your relationship with God.
