The only reason that I am writing this post is to offer an extremely practical way to read the Bible, that I have been able to adhere to in the midst of a chaotic lifestyle at times, and one that maintains a spirit of anticipation in the reader.
Although I had read the Bible in its entirety on a number of occasions, it was never in a practical way, and any Bible reading plans I had begun, had all failed due to a hectic lifestyle. Yes I know there will be some who are tut-tutting at this statement, and telling me that I really need to excercise more self control, but I am trying to be honest as to the reasons why I had struggled to maintain a solid Bible reading structure in my life.
Another thing that would often happen, is that my attention would often get diverted by a particular doctrinal discussion, or something happening in the visible church, and my time would be taken up looking for specific truths in the Bible, that I would be able to discern the truth from the lies that abound. Obviously this is a valid use of the Bible as a believer, but it still stood as an obstacle in an ordered reading structure, that I may get to know His whole Word.
About a year ago, I came across a Bible reading plan that seemed to be slightly different to that which I had been used to, and although I didn’t follow this to the letter, I adapted it to suit my own needs, and in so doing, I found a plan that I could adhere to, that would not be monotonous in any way, and above all, actually works for me! Not only that, but I have also had the added experience of finding myself clearly convicted on many things by the Spirit of God, and drawn into a deeper understanding of the Lord and His ways.
The reading plan I mentioned earlier [http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.html], focuses specifically on reading the Bible through in about a year, but by reading different sections of the Bible each day. This is the key for me, because each day I am continuing to read a couple of chapters or so from a different section of the Bible, but often times as a continuation of a storyline from the previous week, which is really exciting at times too.
The main difference I have changed for myself is to remove any set time limit as a target. By doing this, I have found that it leaves room for studying other areas in more depth at times, and also gives me the flexiblity to continue reading far larger chunks than intended, should my interest and the Spirit of God lead me.
The broadest outline I can give is that I try and read at least one chapter from the day’s section of the Bible, and on the occasions that I have been unable to do this for whatever reason, I catch up the following day if possible. The way I do this practically is to have a bookmark in my Bible that I have made from a piece of plain card, that I can make a note of the last chapter I completed in each section. I have split it down into sections for each day as follows:
- Monday = Law of Moses [Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy]
- Tuesday = History of Israel [Joshua through to Esther]
- Wednesday = Job & Psalms
- Thursday = Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
- Friday = Prophetic [OT prophets from Isaiah through to Malachi, and also Book of Revelation]
- Saturday = New Testament epistles [Romans through to Jude]
- Sunday = New Testament Gospels & Book of Acts
My exhortation to any believer, would be to demand of yourself to endeavour to systematically and constantly, read the Word of God every day. You may find the plan I outlined above a help to you, or you may find another that is more suitable, but the only way to truly know intimately the Lord and His ways, is to commit yourself to knowing the full counsel of God that has been revealed in His Word.
Originally posted 2010-08-02 13:19:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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