In This Review
I’ll be the first to admit: sometimes my morning devotion feels like a race to some unseen finish line. I close my Bible, check the box, and realize five minutes later that I can’t remember what I just read.
Sound familiar?
We live in a culture of consumption, even when it comes to Scripture. And we are rushed in every part of life. We skim, scroll, and speed our way through passages that were meant to be savored.
James warns us about becoming “forgetful hearers” rather than “doers of the word” (James 1:22-25), and the psalmist invites us to something radically different: meditation.
“His delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2).
But how do we slow down enough to actually do that in the middle of our messy lives?
That’s the question I asked when I first opened the NKJV Journal the Word Bible. Inside, I discovered a deliberate resource to move from simply consuming God’s Word to sincerely engaging with it.
I felt right away that in a sense, this Bible asks a simple but profound question: What if your quiet time with Scripture left a mark?
That gave me a goal for this Journal the Word Bible review: to help you discern whether this Bible can be a meaningful tool in your journey toward deeper engagement with God’s Word.
I received the NKJV Journal the Word Bible for free as a member of the Thomas Nelson Bibles Blogger Program. I am providing an honest and unbiased review. Note: this review contains affiliate links.
Format and Features: A Canvas for the Word
Let’s start with what you can touch and see. The Journal the Word Bible is published by Thomas Nelson and is available in bonded leather and a hardcover format that feels substantial in your hands. I’m reviewing the hardcover which has a cloth-over-board that is attractive and has an elegant feel.
The translation is the New King James Version (NKJV), which provides a balance between theological accuracy and readability.
The Thomas Nelson Comfort Print typeface at 8.5 point is large enough to read without squinting but compact enough to keep the Bible portable. Thomas Nelson designed this exclusive typeface specifically to reduce eye strain during extended reading.
The Star Feature: The Margins
Each page features wide, lined margins running down the side, offering approximately two inches of dedicated space for notes, reflections, prayers, or even art.
The premium paper is designed to limit bleed-through, and this matters more than you might think. Nothing ruins a moment of inspiration faster than watching your ink seep through to the next page, obscuring the text beneath.
I’ve tested this Bible with standard pens, fine-tip markers, and even light watercolor pencils, and the paper holds up remarkably well. My preferred pens for note taking or underlining in my Bible have long been the archive-quality Sakura Pigma Microns, which come in a variety of tip sizes and colors.
This edition is also a red-letter Bible, meaning the words of Jesus are printed in red. For those who want to visually track Christ’s teachings as they journal through the Gospels, this feature makes it easy to identify and meditate on His direct words.
Aesthetic and Immersion
The Journal the Word Bible includes a satin ribbon marker, a helpful touch that allows you to mark your place in your devotional reading or the passage you’re studying. And something I always appreciate about Thomas Nelson Bibles: this Bible lays flat.
That is a very thoughtful feature in a Bible you are writing in because no one wants to struggle to keep their Bible open to your desired page!
What’s Inside
While themed journaling Bibles include devotional prompts or themed content, the Journal the Word Bible keeps it simple. It’s a complete text of the Old and New Testaments with minimal extras.
There are no study notes, commentary, or devotional essays cluttering the pages. This is intentional to help keep your engagement with Scripture, rather than someone else’s thoughts about it.
If you’re looking for a Bible that will guide your journaling with prompts or thematic studies, or perhaps a reference journal Bible set, this may not be the right fit. But if you want a clean canvas featuring God’s Word and your reflection space, this is it.
Journal the Word Bible (NKJV)
Publisher
Thomas Nelson
Released
December 9, 2025
Binding: Hardcover, Bonded Leather
Who Is the Journal the Word Bible For?
One of the questions I consistently wrestle with as I spend time with Bibles is, Who needs this? Not every tool fits every hand, and not every Bible serves every purpose. So let me walk you through three distinct groups of people who might find the Journal the Word Bible to be exactly what they’re looking for.
1. The New Believer
If you’re new to faith, the Bible can feel overwhelming. Sixty-six books. Hundreds of chapters. Thousands of verses. Where do you start? And once you start reading, how do you make sense of what you’re encountering?
This is where the Journal the Word Bible offers something quietly powerful: it teaches you to ask questions.
Those wide margins are a space to wrestle through verses. Write down, “What does this mean?” or “Who is God speaking to here?” or even “I don’t understand this.” The act of writing transforms your Bible reading into a dialogue where you actively engage, question, and respond.
I think of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, reading the prophet Isaiah and asking Philip, “How can I understand unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:31). Sometimes that guide is a pastor, a teacher, or a trusted mentor. But sometimes, in the quietness of your own morning, that guide is the Holy Spirit meeting you in the margins of your Bible as you write out your confusion, your wonder, and your prayers for understanding.
For the new believer, this Bible cultivates the habit of engagement: not just reading, but responding. And that’s where spiritual growth begins.
2. The Devotional Reader
Maybe you’ve been walking with Jesus for a while. You have a regular quiet time. You read a chapter, maybe follow a devotional plan, pray, and head into your day. But if you’re honest, some mornings feel more mechanical than meaningful. You go through the motions, but the Word doesn’t seem to stick.
This Bible is perfect for the “messy life” reader who needs structure without rigidity: a place to record thoughts on what you read and what God is doing in you through His word.
3. The Seasoned Christian
If you’ve been in the Word for years, you might think a journaling Bible is trivial. You’ve got study Bibles, commentaries, Greek and Hebrew lexicons. You know the text.
But what convicted me is realizing knowledge without reflection can become cold. We can study the Bible and miss the heart of God. We can even know about Scripture without knowing the God of Scripture.
The Journal the Word Bible invites seasoned believers to move from information to transformation.
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3:2 that some believers need milk while others are ready for solid food. The margins of this Bible give you space to chew on the meat of the Word. Use them to break down dense passages, trace themes across books, and translate what you’re learning into practical, lived theology.
Whether you’re new to faith, deep in devotion, or decades into discipleship, the Journal the Word Bible meets you where you are and invites you to go even deeper.
Journal the Word Bible Review: Conclusion and Encouraging Takeaway
So, is the NKJV Journal the Word Bible worth your investment?
If you desire to engage Scripture with a Bible that invites you to slow down and participate, then yes, this is a tool worth considering.
But I’ll be honest: this Bible won’t do the work for you. The wide margins are an invitation, not a magic formula. You still have to show up. You still have to open the book, pick up a pen, and wrestle with what God is saying.
The difference is, this Bible makes that wrestling easier. It removes barriers and creates space. It says, “Come, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18), and then gives you room to do that.
Who Should Consider This Bible?
If you’re a new believer, this Bible will teach you the habit of engagement: asking questions, recording insights, and learning to hear God’s voice through His Word.
If you’re a devotional reader, this Bible will help you move from mechanical routines to meaningful encounters. It will become a diary of God’s faithfulness, a record of prayers prayed and promises kept.
If you’re a seasoned Christian, this Bible will give you space to go deeper: to cross-reference, to study, to break down big theological ideas into practical truth you can actually live out.
The Takeaway: Write the Vision
In Habakkuk 2:2, God tells the prophet, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.” There’s something powerful about writing down what God is speaking. It clarifies, solidifies, and it creates a record of divine encounter.
The Journal the Word Bible is built on this principle. It trusts that when you engage Scripture with pen in hand, something shifts. The Word moves from abstract text to personal testimony and promises become prayers.
A pristine Bible might look impressive on a shelf, but a marked-up Bible that is ink-stained, dog-eared, and filled with dates, prayers, questions and breakthroughs… that’s a Bible that’s been lived in, bearing witness to a life transformed by the living Word of God.
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