Bible Reading Plan - and Beyond!

My cousin Tammi has been posting a lot about discernment on her blog lately. And the biggest thing that has struck me is the NEED to be in the Word. Reading it, and studying it.

Which brings me to my own personal decision/conviction, as well as a challenge for anyone out there in bloggyland that would like to take me up on it!

I want to read through the Bible in one year again this year. Last year I followed a plan which had a reading from the OT, the NT, Proverbs and Psalms every day. There was also a blog that I followed sometimes, which had insights on each passage.

This year I'm choosing between two different plans. I either want to do a Chronological reading of the Bible (reading it through in the order the events actually took place), or this one which divides up the readings by having a different "type" of book read regularly on each day of the week (the Law is on Mondays, History on Tuesdays, Psalms on Wednesdays, Poetry on Thursdays, Prophecy on Fridays, Gospels on Saturdays and Epistles on Sundays). Both have their pros and cons. But neither (as far as I know) have a blog that follows each day's readings and provides insights on the passages.

Which brings me to my challenge.

I have created this blog for exactly that. I will post the passage every day. But I know that I won't do a detailed post every day (that would be unrealistic). I would commit to at least one or two days a week. I would probably do it in a devotional format, likely following the SOAP format (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer). Sometimes I may look up something that I don't understand. Sometimes I may comment on a passage that just jumped out at me. It boils down to this - I want to commit to not only reading the passages, but to studying them. And this will help to keep me accountable.

Now, I know for some people the thought of reading through the whole Bible in one year just seems like such a daunting task. You might fall behind and then it would be too overwhelming to catch up, and then you would've failed at reading the Bible and you would feel really bad.

And that's not going to anybody any good!

But why does it have to be all or nothing?

It doesn't!

If you are interested in participating, but not sure if you could read through the whole Bible in one year - this option is for you!

If we select the reading plan that has a different type of book for every day of the week, you could commit to reading anywhere from 1 - 7 of those days! You could pick just the Gospels. You could pick just the books of Poetry. You could read both the books on History and the Epistles. You could do Gospels, Psalms and Prophecy. You can literally pick any combination that you like!

And just because the plans says that Poetry is on Thursdays doesn't mean you have to read on Thursdays. If you really want to do Poetry, but Thursdays are crazy busy days for you, and you know you'd be more successful if you read on Tuesdays, then read on Tuesdays! Simply pick the day that works best for you and make it a priority. Or if it works best for you to read the week's passage in small sections every day of the week (instead of a large passage one day) - then do it that way!

You can also pick how often you'd like to contribute a devotional/study/thoughts. I would still like to see a regular commitment for accountability, but how often is up to you (once a week, twice a month or once a month, etc).

So often we (especially first-borns, perfectionists, etc) tend to have an all or nothing mentality. If I can't do it perfectly, if I can't succeed 100%, if I can't be the best, then I'm just not going to even try. Ladies (or any men that read this!), that's not from the Lord. If you didn't have a regular Bible reading/devotional habit before - then any commitment is better than nothing. You have to start somewhere, and who cares if you start small? So long as you start! Your efforts will be rewarded. You will draw closer to Him. You will reflect Him to those around you. And you will be able to be more discerning. There is no downside here!

Here are some details on how I think this will work (if anyone has suggestions to improve this process, feel free to chime in).....

I have created a new blog for this venture, and all people who want to be involved and regularly contributing, I will email an invitation with the rights to post to this blog. As guest posters you will be able to post your own devotional directly to the blog, but you will not have rights to edit other posts or to change the blog layout/design.

Every day I will post the scripture references as will as a direct link to Bible Gateway where you would be able to read those scripture references. I'm not sure if I'll only link the NIV translation, or if I will provide a few options (it's easy enough for you to change once you get there anyway, so I'll likely just do the one option). I will try to post at the same time every day (probably 9am) so that everyone knows when they can come on and read/post their own comments. (This means I'll likely actually be writing out my posts in advance and schedule posting them appropriately).

And of course, everyone is welcome to post in the comments their own thoughts on the day's readings and/or devotional.

So, would YOU like to commit to doing this together with me?

Think about it, pray about it, and let me know! Please email me at ntreimer at mts dot net. Let me know which reading plan you would prefer, how strongly you prefer that particular option and how often you would like to contribute a post to this blog.

Consider yourself challenged!