There’s one resolution you need this year:
I will love God first!
My voice shall You hear in the morning, O LORD;
in the morning will I direct my prayer to You, and will look up.
—Psalm 5:3
Begin each day looking up to God, worshiping Him and responding to His ever-present love! Though you may fail (repeatedly), His love never fails and His faithfulness never runs out.
In previous years, I’ve outlined some wisdom on cultivating a Godward life, and Kari shared what it means to look up each morning, plus how she approaches daily Bible reading (listen here).
Here’s a quick word about some good Bible reading plans, with brief descriptions of the features of each. First off: a plan is merely a guide, a tool to help. Know this about yourself: are you already a self-starter and follow through with your goals? (If you already have motivation, then a plan might feel constraining.) Or do you need structure to order your days? Most of us — your pastors included — tend to need a gentle reminder about what to do each day. Plans are helpful guides. They remind you of commitments made long before you didn’t feel like following through on a given day.
“The most important daily habit we can possess is to remind ourselves of the Gospel.”
—Charles Spurgeon
You may remember we studied God of Promise to begin 2015, because God had a plan long before we ever did. Because He made promises to us, we repeat them back to Him. Because He first loved us, we respond by loving Him as the first priority in our lives.
How much more powerful and life-changing is the movement of God’s Spirit when in the Renew family we’re all reading God’s Word in our homes, embracing and embodying the grace and truth of Jesus our King!
Now for the plans … (note: there are mobile links below as well, including the helpful smartphone/tablet app YouVersion Bible).
Have a plan.
First up, the ESV Study Bible Reading Plan, a year-long adventure following four ‘streams’ of writings. You’ll track with four genres of types of writings all throughout the year. Rather than plow through the Psalms and Proverbs all at once, you’re revisit a new one each day. The same with the New Testament, the doctrines of grace and redemption found in Jesus will be on display each time you open the Bible. (Seem daunting? Try the two-year plan outlined below.)
Reading Plan | Format | |||||
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ESV Study Bible (One-Year Plan) Daily readings in four places: Psalms or Wisdom Literature; Pentateuch or the History of Israel; Chronicles or Prophets; and Gospels or Epistles. Suggest reading three chapters in the morning and revisit for fourth in the evening. The printed plan can be cut into bookmarks for the four ‘streams’ in your Bible, or let a smartphone app be your bookmark and read with Bible in hand. |
webpage | RSS | iCal | Mobile |
Reading through the whole Bible in a year takes a time investment of 10-15 minutes each day. Yet, if you will carve out the time to know Jesus, He will change you. Plan to linger a bit, praying over the needs around you and ask God to give you light for your path.
M’Cheyne One-Year Reading Plan Daily Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Gospels. Can read from all four columns in order, or pause at different times of the day. (This is the plan I’m following in 2015.) Alternative idea: spread it over two years and read two columns this year, and two next. |
RSS | iCal | Mobile |
- Both the ESV Daily Bible Reading Plan and M’Cheyne plan are available in the Bible app created by YouVersion for iOS and Android. Bible.com has other whole Bible reading plans.
Shorter or Slower
But what if tackling the whole Bible seems daunting? Well it is an epic goal. In the same investment each morning, about ten minutes, you can read through the New Testament in six months. That’s a great start!
Reading Plan | Format | |||||
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Outreach New Testament Daily New Testament. Read through the New Testament in 6 months. |
webpage | RSS | iCal | Mobile |
Or, go half the pace for twice the effect: reading the whole Bible over two years, since it is better to read the whole Bible through carefully one time in two years than hastily in one year.
Reading Plan | Format | |||||
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Two-Year Reading Plan Take in half-speed, reading through the whole Bible in two years; daily readings in both Old and New Testaments. At the end of two years you will have read through the Psalms and Proverbs four times and the rest of the Bible once. There actually is some ingenius wisdom behind following a two-year plan. |
— Continue reading “Loving God 1st in 2016 (resources to read the Bible)”