The Pad and Pencil Method

The pad and pencil method of spiritual growth is very simple. It consists of getting on your knees with your Bible, a pad of paper, and a pencil. Read the Bible, and then write down what is wrong with you.

Read, for example, the Sermon on the Mount. When the Holy Spirit says you are wrong here or there, write it down. Then set your Bible aside and go over your list before God in confession, with the promise that you will never be caught doing those things again.

Commune with your own heart; be still, and question yourself like a doctor, with your open Bible before you.

The symptoms you already know, but try to get at the causes. If you are evasive with God, there will be no help. If you are evasive with yourself, if you rationalize your weaknesses, you will get no help.

Here are some questions I recommend asking yourself in quiet silence:

•    Am I always truthful and honest? Am I always truthful on the phone? Am I always honest with my creditors, with my employers, with my employees, in all social contracts and contacts?
•    Do I have any personal habits that I am ashamed of? If everything were known in the church about how I lived, would I go back to church?
•    Is my speech clean? Anything you could not tell with Jesus present, do not tell. Anything you could not laugh at were Jesus present, do not laugh at.
•    Am I using my money wisely? Am I using my money to bless people, to help find the lost, to help feed the hungry?
•    Do I gossip about people? Have I been a troublemaker?
•    Have I judged other Christians?
•    Am I eternally minded? Where do my thoughts tend to go when they are free to stray where they will?
•    What do I brood over? Are my thoughts pure and charitable? We always brood over things that we love (or that we hate, if we are holding a grudge against someone).
•    Am I faithful in prayer?
•    Do I meditate on the Word? How much of Scripture have I read lately?

Answer these questions honestly. If you have failed the Lord, tell Him so; don’t hide it. The balm and healing in the blood of the Lamb will get you out of the rut and bring joy to your heart.

Adapted from a sermon by A. W. Tozer.