I don't even know how to say this so let me shoot from the hip. I want to inspire as many people as possible to read through a one-year Bible in 2010. I have no idea how this is going to take shape. But I know this: there is no substitute for getting into the Word and the Word getting into you.
If you were to ask me about the most important decision I've made this year, my answer would be simple: the decision to read through a one-year Bible.
I didn't read the Bible as much as I could have or should have last year. Honestly, I was reading it professionally instead of devotionally. It was more about what God wanted to say though me than what God wanted to say to me. Then I read something J.I. Packer said: "Every Christian worth his salt reads the Bible cover-to-cover every year." I couldn't argue with it. Long story short, I'm falling in love with the Bible all over again.
If you were to ask me about the most important decision I've made this year, my answer would be simple: the decision to read through a one-year Bible.
I didn't read the Bible as much as I could have or should have last year. Honestly, I was reading it professionally instead of devotionally. It was more about what God wanted to say though me than what God wanted to say to me. Then I read something J.I. Packer said: "Every Christian worth his salt reads the Bible cover-to-cover every year." I couldn't argue with it. Long story short, I'm falling in love with the Bible all over again.
18 Comments:
Good Word. My wife and I just decided to do this together. Thanks for the encouragement.
any recommendations on one year Bibles? I know there are quite a few out there...
I'm reading through the Daily Message this year. Might actually try KJV next year.
This post has been removed by the author.
Amen! -- We just did a deal a few weeks ago at our church where we made the bulletin outside look like a normal bulletin but then stripped all interior content. Just white space and added a small image of a Bible in the center of the page with a tag line of copy underneath... "You can't be of the Word unless you are in the Word. Spend time reading your Bible each day." Followed up with a Read the Bible in a Year Plan that we shared with people.
Amen! I've been reading through the Bible for many years now.
My current format is to spend a defined amount of time each day and just read. Sometimes this will mean 6-8 chapters and sometimes 2-4 chapters. I try to let God guide the pace.
On average, I've been getting through it in 10-11 months. As Pastor Mark often says, it's good to change things up, so I try to let God do that with my reading of His word.
No matter how you do it. Get in to the WORD and don't wait for January. Just start today. :-) Why miss today's blessing?
God bless,
John
Even though I haven used the One-Year Bible method lately, one of the ones that I really enjoyed was a One Year Chronological Bible. They have them in most versions now. Makes for a different view of the WORD.
Actually, most of the Bibles that are set up this way that I've seen/purchased usually offer segments from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. Sometimes that got me off track a bit. Bible gateway offers several free online reading plans, including one that takes you through several chapters of one book per day (which worked better for me). Here's the link:http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/comprehensive.php. I think today is day 180, so if you wanted to start it today, go to: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms+126-130. Thanks for the encouragement!!!
Go here http://www.newdaychurch.cc/site/biblereading_files/One%20Year%20Bible%20Reading%20Plan%202009.pdffor THE BEST one year Bible reading plan (in my opinion).
Why wait till next year. Today is a great day, exactly the half-year point.
Wayne Cordeiro's Life Journal has the best Reading Schedule I've ever found. It's amazing! It will take you through the OT once and the NT twice each year.
The Life Journal's simple acrostic for processing Scripture devotionally is also very good.
i agree with Neil. my wife and i have started using the LifeJournal Bible reading schedule and found it to be a great mix of old & new testament as well as palms/prov. it follows a chronological method for the old testament. very awesome.
the link below will always take you to today's reading:
LifeJournal Bible Reading Plan
Hey Mark - I'm a pastor in Denver. Spoke to you briefly at Catalyst West, and really enjoyed your session there. Anyway, wanted to mention that God led me a couple of years ago to challenge my people to read through the Bible, and I provided Bible reading plan and a daily email devotional to encourage them through. The results were excellent, and the devotionals were compiled into a book, Cover to Cover. It has been well-received as a companian for a year-long journey through the Bible. So much so that I am about to pull the trigger on a second printing. You can check it out at my blog site, www.deanhill.wordpress.com. Click the tab for Cover to Cover (the book). If you would like, I'd love to send you a complimantary copy for your perusal to see if it might be a tool for those you convince to read through next year. Just let me know, man.
Dean Hill
dhill@stapletonchurch.com
My husband and I have been reading through the bible this year with an online tool called Youversion. It's a cool tool because you get your daily read (about 5 chapters a day) and you can bookmark scriptures with a highlighter. Also there is community commentary on a verse by verse basis. But probably the coolest feature is you can have a private journal on line. So you can journal/pray on the verses you read. Coolest feature - it downloads to most handhelds so we get to take it everywhere. Also if you are reading Youversion daily read with at the same time as others in your fam it's fun to be able to talk about scripture together. The only down side to me is that sometimes it's almost too much scripture at once because I am more of a meditative reader. But I recommend YouVersion daily read.
Mark, what would you say is the best way or your favorite way to do it?
Wow! Last November, the Lord led us to take our church through the One Year Chronological Bible. We ordered about 400 and sold out by Christmas. I would then preach out of a passage that touched me that week (I had to read ahead to come up with series'). I told the church that 60% of the years sermons would come out of what we read. It's been great and we've all grown in the Word tremendously. It's also taken a lot of pressure off of me to come up with new series all the time; it's practically there for me.
I took the J I Packer quote & twittered it which went on my facebook page - it created a lot of passionate feelings. Mainly negative - wondered if you had this too.
As for me - I have read my Bible through cover-to-cover for the last 5 or 6 years but in the first 6 months of the year. I find it refreshing everytime, really look forward to it and reading big chunks helps me get a better feel for what God is trying to say!
Julian,
If it comes across as legalistic I think it can be a turn-off. So I totally understand the reaction. But it might be because it's convicting too...
I definitely subscribe to something Oswald Chambers said: "Let God be as original with others as he was with you." So I don't like prescribing things like "you have to read through the entire Bible" in a year. But the truth is this: will that lead to growth. Absolutely. So the more you want to grow the more you'll read. I don't think you can get around that.
Mark
Post a Comment
<< Home