Bible Reading Plan

Ok so it's a little later than I thought, but I'm posting it now :) This reading plan has really blessed me in the last week. I am enjoying it so much. I have not yet started my morning and evening routines, but I think when Jake and I move (in a couple weeks) I will better be able to be on a routine. Luckily I have it saved on my blog so when I'm ready for it, I know where it is!But right now everything is just kinda crazy and we're trying to get everything ready to go. My strange and scattered work hours don't help too much either... nor does my staying up later than I should every night but.. ahem. Anywho... yes the Bible. It's great. I started my plan at the beginning of this month, here's how it goes:





I have three times of the day that I set aside for reading (sort of). Since I don't have a routine yet these times aren't always exact. Usually that would drive me crazy! But God has blessed me with the ability to relax and not take myself too seriously on this one (which is so unlike me). Otherwise I would have quit by day two! Which, now that I think about it, is usually what happens. Anyway, so loosely, this is what it looks like.





Old and New Testament Readings


I am trying something new; I got this part of my plan from a book Jake was reading. I don't remember the title but roughly it was "Things I Would do Differently if I was Starting my Ministry Over Again." What I do is I commit myself to reading ten chapters of Scripture, at least, a day. Five chapters in the morning and five in the evening, ish... Sometimes I get to a part where I want to keep going and I end up reading more than that, other days, like yesterday I was not able to devote the time to read all ten chapters... I only read three actually... But since I am not being legalistic, that's ok right?





The idea is that if I read ten chapters a day I will be able to read through the New Testament in one month and the Old Testament in about three months. This month I am reading the New Testament; next month I will switch to the Old Testament, and back again the next month. In this way I will be able to read through the NT six times in one year and the OT twice in one year. I really like this approach, because it allows me to take in large portions of Scripture at a time and I am not moving around much so I can concentrate on a chunk of the Bible, rather than little pieces here and there. I do not like, however, that I would go for one month with no OT and the next with no NT. So, I've modified it a little bit.





Proverbs and Epistles


At noon(ish) I read one chapter from Proverbs or, if it is an OT month, I will read one chapter from the Epistles (Romans, Corinthians, Timothy, etc.). The Epistles do not map out as nicely as Proverbs does with its exactly 31 chapters. So I'm still not sure how I want to work that, but I'll think of something and maybe post it later if I don't forget. This way I am getting a little OT and NT sprinkled throughout the month. These particular books also are very helpful in keeping my day on track, reminding me to run the race with diligence and joy. That's why I like reading thim about midday, for that little extra boost.





Psalms


I do not count Psalms as lessons, they are praises and prayers. So, when I get to my OT months, I will skip these over altogether. However, I love the Psalms so... they are in my daily reading plan :) The plan I use for the Psalms I got from a website (which I don't recall right now either). I don't really like their philosophy about the Psalms since... they effectively rewrote them. But I do like their reading plan! :) With this plan I also go through the book of Psalms in one month. What I do is I take whatever day of the month it is. Today is the 7th, so we'll go with that. And I read five Psalms, starting with Psalm 7 and adding 30 to it each time. For example, today I read Psalms: 7, 37, 67, 97 and 127. The website also suggests that you save Psalm 119 for the last day of the month, since it's so long. I have really been enjoying this reading plan. Since the Psalms are organized into categories of sorts, and there are sections with a lot of long and a lot of short, this plan spreads it out. So I am reading from several sections a day. I do these readings as morning prayers. Praying the Psalms is a wonderful idea that I found recently, and it's one of my favorite parts of my reading plan.





So that's it, my reading plan! I'll give you an example to simplify, because that was a lot of information...





Morning


OT or NT Reading - 5 chapters


Psalms - 5 chapters





Noon


Proverbs or Epistle Reading - 1 chapter





Evening


OT or NT Reading - 5 chapters





This plan (when I am not legalistic about it) is not as draining or demanding as it sounded when I first started it. Spreading the readings throughout the day, really helped me a lot too! I cannot praise the Lord enough for how much He has blessed me with this reading guideline. I hope that our God blesses you also with His Word, as He is blessing me with it today.



For man does not live on bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.