READING PLANS

One of the best ways you can honor God is to commit to spend time to listen to Him every morning, and to delight in His word and in His presence. In fact, you can’t possibly grow in your relationship with the Lord without give the Lord quality time to “teach, correct, rebuke, or train” you through His word in scripture.

In an earlier article that I posted entitled “IN THE BEGINNING“, I said: If you sense that God wishes to take you on a different journey through the bible compared to past years, and if you’re seeking ways to be more intentional, more systematic, and more fruitful in your bible reading than ever before, I have one basic suggestion to offer:  follow a READING PLAN.

What is a reading plan?

A reading plan is basically about what specific scriptures you intend to read on a day-to-day basis.  It is simply a sequence of bible readings scheduled over a given period of time and that you follow along accordingly. 

There are many plans that you can download from the internet, most of which are created by bible publishers, or church groups and ministries. 

Here are a few plans that I recommend, not necessarily in order of importance.

Lightweight Plans

For those who cannot commit to more than 15 to 20 minutes per day in bible reading, but want to be able to go through the majority of the bible, here are some good plans.

1. The daily Mass readings of the Catholics is actually a 3-year cycle reading plan.  It does not go through entire books of the bible, nor does it go through every book in the bible.  However, it provides a complete overview of the key messages of God found in scripture, and it coincides with the Catholic church’s liturgical seasons.  You can download these daily readings in a laudate app.

• 60-day overview of the bible, going through key chapters and passages in each book in the bible sequentially.  Each reading is relatively lightweight, and will take approximately 15 minutes. 

• 61 key stories in the bible in chronological order, introducing the reader to the key characters and major events of the bible. 

Something Different

Here are two short, but rather unique plans covering specialty topics and stories.

• 30 great, but generally unknown stories in the Old Testament.   

• 2-week readings plans, each 2-week set containing assorted chapters in the bible focusing on one topic (social justice; men/women of the bible; the Holy Spirit; great prayers and prayer moments; life and teachings of Paul; becoming a Christian; life and teachings of Jesus; King David; Moses and the Exodus; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.)

For the strong and heavy-lifters

For those who desire to read through every book in the entire bible in one year, there are at least three different one-year through reading plans you can choose from:

• Straight through starting with Genesis all the way to Revelations.  I personally don’t recommend a straight through reading plan because plans like this breaks down the books into more than 3, sometimes 4 chapters, in one reading.  That results in one reading multiple stories and events in a day, making it hard to focus.  When it comes to the Psalms or Proverbs, the more so it becomes tough to digest.  It’s like biting off more than one can chew.

• A combination of one or two chapters each from a New Testament book and an Old Testament book plus the Psalms or Proverbs, completing one book before moving to the next book as they appear in the Old and New Testament.  There is sufficient depth within each book, and a variety of books/authors to make the daily reading interesting.   

• Chronological through the entire bible following a historical linear timeline.  Books are not covered over sequential days to make room for other books covering the same historical events.  Psalms are spread according to events in other books.  Gospels are combined to follow similar time events in the life of Christ. 

Lastly, I want to introduce a digital platform. 

They can be downloaded with the use of the TECARTA bible app .  Unlike all the plans I listed above, where you tick off your reading for the day from a print-out of the reading plan, this downloadable digital plans are integrated with a digital bible that you also get in Tecarta.  Each day as you turn on the app, it will give you the reading plan for the day, and you are brought to the bible chapter by simply clicking on the plan.  There are at least three plans that allow you to go through the bible in one year: a straight through plan (“One Year Through the Bible”), and a combination plan (“Praying Through the Bible” and “MacArthur Study Bible“).  This is downloadable to any device, and with your account you can access it in multiple devices.  There is a reasonable one-time charge to purchase the bible and the plan.  The tecarta app has many features worth the money, and very useful for digitally savvy disciples. 

WHAT NEXT? After you’ve decided on a reading plan that you will follow, go to this article for some practical guidelines that will make your bible reading fruitful. MAKING SURE YOU KNOW WHAT THE LORD IS SAYING