Bible reading plan

Last year, I wrote this post about reading through the Bible in a year. 2011 was not the first year for me to do that...in fact, I can't honestly remember when I began reading through the Bible each year. But I do love each December picking out the new plan for the next year.

Do I think there is something magical about reading the Bible in a year? No. But I do think that we should the Bible regularly, daily even, and over and over. Reading it in a year gives us a time frame to work within...and when you can see the goal posts, it's alot easier to kick the ball straight through them. I do believe that "ALL Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," (2 Timothy 3:16)...and so even though I don't understand why we need to read the book of Nahum, I do think it is God-breathed and there for a reason that I haven't figured out yet. So I'll keep reading the WHOLE Bible, and not just the parts that make me feel good, until I get to heaven. Cause it's only There that I'm gonna figure it all out.

This past year, I used the chronological plan that the Church at Brook Hills used when their church did the Radical Experiment in 2010. I listened to the sermons that went along with each week. (I still have a few sermons to go; I got a little behind in December.) I'm not going to lie: I didn't enjoy the chronological plan.

I liked the amount of reading per day. I liked having Sundays free, so that if I needed a catch-up or reflection day, I had it. I liked how the story, for the most part, flowed. (Reading multiple accounts of a story all at the same time, like in Chronicles/Kings, and the Gospels, was sometimes difficult, and sometimes drove the point home.)

What I didn't like was 9 months with no Jesus. I didn't get to the New Testament until October, and oh man...that was rough. I suppose that I got the sense of longing for the arrival of the Messiah the way the Jews did/do with just the Old Testament...but I know He comes and I want Him daily!

As far as Bible reading plans go, the problem is that I don't like reading hopscotch all over the place so that I get a little bit of New Testament in every day. I suppose it's the only way to get NT and read the whole Bible in a year without going chronological again. But because it felt like I didn't get enough NT this past year, I decided for 2012 to read through the NT slowly, so I'm doing a several part plan.

I'll be reading through the NT a chapter a day with this plan.

I'll read a Proverb a day every day (they fit so nicely into 31 day months!), and a Psalm a day (twice in the year).

I'll start the year off with a 10 week Bible study, and finish the year off with some other Bible study that I haven't picked yet.

In between the two Bible studies, I'll read through the Bible in six months with this plan.

If the hopscotch reading doesn't bother you, I highly recommend this plan. It gives you 4 types of readings per day, for 25 days per month (which is plenty of catch-up days if you miss some), and even has pretty little boxes to check off that you've read something.

Happy Reading!