Reading Plans

This post is created to help you develop a daily study in the word of God. It is so important that you take time in each day to read your Bible.

Here are a few reason to have a disciplined time of purposeful reading.

• Faith comes by hearing the word of God. If you want to strengthen your faith, it is so important to read on a regular basis.

• God’s word is full of promises for you. How can you know them if you have never read them?

• The Bible is full of life lessons: marriage, finances, business, etc. Don’t you want to see improvement in your life?

• The expectations of God are laid out very clearly from Genesis to Revelation. If you don’t know someone’s expectations, you can never fulfill them!

So here are a few ways to get in God’s word every day.

1. One of my favorite plans is the reading of Proverbs and Psalms. Proverbs is the book of wisdom. Who couldn’t use a little more wisdom? Psalms is full of prayers, worship, confession, and praise. These are all helpful in walking out your faith. This is how it works.

There are 31 chapters in Proverbs. Staring on the first day of the month you read Proverbs chapter 1. Then on day two you read Proverbs chapter 2 and so on and so forth. If you read one a day you will read the whole book of Proverbs by the end of the months with 31 days. If there is only 30 days in a month you need to read Chapter 30 and 31 on the 30th of the month. You can repeat this every month and by the end of the year you will have read Proverbs 12 times. Just think of all the wisdom you will have ingested.

Psalms works very similar. There are 150 psalms. If you divide that by 30 you get 5. That means if you read 5 Psalms a day for 30 days you will complete the whole book once a month. Psalm 119 is very long so If there are 31 days you can read it on the 31st day of the month. The psalms are very short (typically) so doing 5 is very reasonable. Here is the best way to read through the Psalms.

Day 1 read Psalm 1, 31, 61, 91, 121; Day 2 Psalm 2, 32,62, 92, 122. Follow this pattern. So on Day 18 you would read Psalm 18, 48, 78, 108, 138. By the time you get to Day 30 you would read Psalm 30, 60, 90, 120, 150. Remember not to read Psalm 119, in a 31 day month, until the 31st.

When you are done with reading through the book of Psalms you will have many example of how to pray, worship, repent, and walk with God. It is such a wonderful way to learn and grow.

2. Another option for a structured plan is to read a little from the old and new testament every day. Start with Genesis 1 and Matthew 1. Read one chapter a day until you complete a book. Then move on to the next book. This will take a long period of time to complete but there is no hurry. Take notes and journal the things that you are learning. That is the whole purpose of studying His word. You will be amazed at how much you learn and grow by just staying on task and reading slowly and methodically through His word every day.

3. A third option is to focus on the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. These books tell the story of Jesus through the eyes of 4 different men. If you take time to read through each one you will get a full picture of the life of Christ. Remember, as you are reading through them there are distinct differences that stand out in each person’s account. It would be like you and I retelling an accident we just witnessed. I might point out what people were wearing in detail while you might point out very specific things they said. I might leave out things I find trivial or that didn’t impact me personally while you recount every detail because you took it personal. It’s important to remember they are the same story from a different person’s character, background, experience, and proximity to the story. If you want to really get to know Jesus, this is were I would encourage you to begin.

Matthew has 28 chapters, Mark has 16 chapters, Luke has 24 chapters, and John has 21 chapters. If you read 1 Chapter a day starting with Matthew chapter 1 you will read all the Gospels in 3 month. Remember to read slow and take notes. Journal what you are learning. You will be blessed as you get to know your savior through your study.

These are only a few of a myriad of reading plans out there. The most important plan is the one that works for you. If it keeps in reading daily then that’s the one you should use.

If you are still struggling and would like more direction please comment in the section below or get in touch with me through my contact page.