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Daily Bible Reading Plans

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Rippon2

Well-Known Member
On Christmas day, of 2019 I embarked on yet again, a new Bible reading schedule. It involved reading, on average, seven chapters per day. I fell behind in some of the readings and would try to catch up. But it was always a battle and I felt like I was always trying to meet a deadline instead of what Bible reading and meditation should be -- an enjoyment of God's Word. It should be an enriching experience --one that draws one closer to the Lord Himself.

Then, I abandoned reading from other passages scattered throughout the canon, and focused on the Psalms alone. I did an average of two Psalms a day. That was more digestible. Personally, reading seven or so chapters daily was too much for my system to ingest. I needed to concentrate on a smaller portion and then meditate on that.

But then, as I concluded the Psalms I was left with a decision to make. How should I then proceed? At that point I was discussing this with an elderly (yes, even older than me) lady. She said she simply reads one chapter daily in a sequential manner of course. So simple! And that's what I've been doing. It has taken the pressure off. After all, it's not a contest. You should want to get into His Word without a timetable forcing you to 'move,' 'move'!

I always ask the Lord to open my eyes, spiritually speaking -- for Him to illuminate thread the same pages --and for the Holy Spirit to guide me along. Sometimes I reread the same chapter in the same or different translation.

I seek out reference materials or commentaries to augment my time. I always have questions. I think that's important. Most of the time I get answers.

So what's your Bible reading plan. Do you use the Robert Murray M'Cheyne system? Do you even believe in a systematic reading plan? What are your thoughts? Have you been doing the same kind of routine for years? Do you vary your plan from time to time? Are you disciplined? Do you feel it's more of an obligation, a duty, or do you look forward to your time with the Lord and His Word?

We are living in unusual times. As I am posting this I am feeling guilty for reading only one chapter per day when I have so much free time. In your pre-Virus days did you have a set time for your Bible reading? I find the morning hours best. It gives me a boost for the remainder of the day.

I might have to make adjustments along the way. Yet it's working out okay for now. I'll start Numbers 30 tomorrow.

I have deliberately not used the term 'devotional' because I consider that to be a quickie. It's as if reading a page of Daily Bead with a single passage is enough for the day.

Anyway, your constructive and edifying thoughts would be most welcome.
 
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Rippon2

Well-Known Member
Well, it has been more than a week with no responses; yet 67 views. I am beginning to think that most of you do not have an organized plan. You might dip into the Psalms at random, or sometimes flip through the Gospels. Perhaps you glance at the Epistles every now and then. That's unfortunate. Your understanding of God's Word would be enriched if you shook things up a bit. If you are a true Christian, you would realize that you need some personal discipline in this area. Excuses will be offered, but will prove to be invalid. It's still hard to believe that none of you chimed in to give a word of advice in this critical area of a believer's life.
 
Rob_BW

Rob_BW

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Lol, why would a lack of responses lead you to think the worst of us?

I'm somewhere around 85% through the ESV. Using a reading plan from Piper's group. It's a 314 day plan, looks like they double up every 6th day, and leave Sunday open. But I've not kept to the track, so I'm not sure. I'm 85 days ahead at the moment, should finish in a few more weeks around 100 days ahead.

I'll use a plan, and then read here and there for a few months to 2 years, before the desire to knock out another plan manifests. Not sure which version I'll pick next, thinking NASB or Geneva.
 
Rob_BW

Rob_BW

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Rippon2 said:
It indicates a lack of interest for what should be a very important part of a Christian's life.
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It could indicate many things. What if they were too busy in their reading plans to reply. :eek:

Or dealing with the rampant unemployment and pandemic. I've been a bit busy myself, lately, and haven't been posting as much.
 
R

Rippon2

Well-Known Member
Rob_BW said:
I'm somewhere around 85% through the ESV. Using a reading plan from Piper's group. It's a 314 day plan, looks like they double up every 6th day, and leave Sunday open. But I've not kept to the track, so I'm not sure. I'm 85 days ahead at the moment, should finish in a few more weeks around 100 days ahead.

I'll use a plan, and then read here and there for a few months to 2 years, before the desire to knock out another plan manifests. Not sure which version I'll pick next, thinking NASB or Geneva.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing your Bible reading agenda Rob. You are 85 days ahead? What did you do, read several books (I'm thinking of the Old Testament) in just a few days to speed things up? I have found that I need more bite-size segments to fully digest the material. Now if it's something like 2nd or 3rd John --that would be different.
 
B

Baptist4life

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I fully agree with your OP, Rippon! I, too, tried the "read your Bible through in a year" method. I actually did it for a while, and found that I got nothing out of it. It was a daily "chore" that I could check off my "to do" list for the day. I finally threw the schedule away, and now I read books of the Bible a little at a time. Sometimes I read a couple chapters, some days I read only a few verses.........but.......I try to glean everything I can from what the Lord is trying to say in those verses. That works much better for me, and I find that I am studying God's Word, instead of just merely reading it.
 
T

Timothy Jason

New Member
Just like physical exercise there is no absolute right way, pick one that you like and can stick with, it all works if you just do it. I have tried many throughout my life. I started with just reading from the beginning of the Old and New Testaments, I read through at least six times that way. But then I evolved and now pick a book with a particular message that I want to study. Sometimes I do not know and just pick up the bible and let it open, wherever it falls I take it from there. A good reference bible will help greatly. It should be a joy and not a chore. I am always surprised and grateful for what God decides to show me.
 
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RipponRedeaux

Well-Known Member
I finished Malachi yesterday. I read the first chapter of Matthew this morning. According to my schedule, I will finish Revelation by the end of August. By the end of December I will have completed Luke. At two years in I will have gone through 42 books with 24 to go.
To me, reading the Bible in one year sounds like a speed reading race. I know I must seem like a slowpoke to some of you. But that's how I roll. :)
So 32 months to cover 1170 pages in my NIV. Of course I have switched up at times. I have used the NLT a good deal of the time. I have dipped into others now and then. I have just made a snap decision. I will read the remainder of Matthew in the NJB and compare it with the NIV here and there.

I just received a free copy of the 2020 NASB a few days ago. It's not a pew Bible; it's well made. So I will make use of it too.
 
kathleenmariekg

kathleenmariekg

Active Member
There is very little connection between what people DO most and what people TALK about most at forums!

No Plan Reading Plan. Just check off boxes as you read them.

As for sticking to a "plan", the longest I ever stuck with a plan was a plan that I completed in COMMUNITY. The only reason that I abandoned that plan was that the chapel I was attending closed down because of the pandemic and then I moved across the country.

I have stopped trying to finish a "plan" outside community. None are any better than others. I get distracted by something in the Bible or in COMMUNITY that is off "plan" and I allow it, because it is for my own good. Sometimes staying on "plan" is not God's plan for me.
 
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RipponRedeaux

Well-Known Member
You'll have to clear up what you meant in your post. "In community" means inside the walls of your local church?

Don't you think that you should read, study, pray and meditate by yourself?

Sure you can do some things in the context of church services, but that personal aspect is a means of grace that you are depriving yourself of.

There is nothing wrong with a plan --especially a God-centered one. It's a spiritual discipline,
 
kathleenmariekg

kathleenmariekg

Active Member
Not all the study was completed while we were together, but some of it was, and we knew that everyone else was studying the same thing at home. Lots of individual churches, and some denominations as a whole, study the same scriptures together.

If I have a chance to join others for a study, or find a new class to take that I am interested in, I am not going to skip that so I can finish filling in the boxes of a private worksheet in the order listed. The order is not important. The finish date of a complete cycle through the Bible, before rereading some parts is not important.

Of course there is nothing wrong with a completely private reading plan, but there is nothing wrong with reading the same thing with your brothers and sisters, too.

Whatever anyone believes about the virus itself, life has changed drastically for some of us. I am just trying to roll with the changes in my life.
 
R

RipponRedeaux

Well-Known Member
I didn't think that reading the Bible in private was a debatable subject. It crosses the gamut of denominations and has been the habit of believers for thousands of years.
 
R

RipponRedeaux

Well-Known Member
I finished reading the book of Matthew yesterday, and completed chapter one of Mark today. I want to relate something (what adjectives(s) should I use here?) that happened while going through Matthew 26. It's a long chapter --75 verses. It was early in the morning. I was reading somewhat attentively up through verse 36. Then my eyes sort of glazed over and I couldn't focus my eyes. I rubbed them and still had trouble reading. By verse 40 I was yawning and yawning some more. I tried to shake it off. I asked forgiveness of the Lord. I resumed reading and stopped at verse 43. Then I started to slumber. Again I asked for His forgiveness. And again, for the third time the process was repeated when I got to verse 45.

It was so coincidental that I fell asleep at those same intervals at which the disciples were falling asleep in Gethsemane. But after considering that, I got a burst of renewed energy and completed the remaining 30 verses of the chapter.

I think every Christian has experienced falling asleep at some point when we are praying. Have any of you fallen asleep while reading the Bible?

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is willing (as even the NIV says).
 
R

RipponRedeaux

Well-Known Member
I read the Gospel of Matthew in the NJB and did so with the first chapter of Mark this morning out of habit. For the other 15 chapters I will use the revised English Bible. Then, I will use the NET for Luke. Have to vary the translations.
 
1689Dave

1689Dave

Well-Known Member
Rippon2 said:
On Christmas day, of 2019 I embarked on yet again, a new Bible reading schedule. It involved reading, on average, seven chapters per day. I fell behind in some of the readings and would try to catch up. But it was always a battle and I felt like I was always trying to meet a deadline instead of what Bible reading and meditation should be -- an enjoyment of God's Word. It should be an enriching experience --one that draws one closer to the Lord Himself.

Then, I abandoned reading from other passages scattered throughout the canon, and focused on the Psalms alone. I did an average of two Psalms a day. That was more digestible. Personally, reading seven or so chapters daily was too much for my system to ingest. I needed to concentrate on a smaller portion and then meditate on that.

But then, as I concluded the Psalms I was left with a decision to make. How should I then proceed? At that point I was discussing this with an elderly (yes, even older than me) lady. She said she simply reads one chapter daily in a sequential manner of course. So simple! And that's what I've been doing. It has taken the pressure off. After all, it's not a contest. You should want to get into His Word without a timetable forcing you to 'move,' 'move'!

I always ask the Lord to open my eyes, spiritually speaking -- for Him to illuminate thread the same pages --and for the Holy Spirit to guide me along. Sometimes I reread the same chapter in the same or different translation.

I seek out reference materials or commentaries to augment my time. I always have questions. I think that's important. Most of the time I get answers.

So what's your Bible reading plan. Do you use the Robert Murray M'Cheyne system? Do you even believe in a systematic reading plan? What are your thoughts? Have you been doing the same kind of routine for years? Do you vary your plan from time to time? Are you disciplined? Do you feel it's more of an obligation, a duty, or do you look forward to your time with the Lord and His Word?

We are living in unusual times. As I am posting this I am feeling guilty for reading only one chapter per day when I have so much free time. In your pre-Virus days did you have a set time for your Bible reading? I find the morning hours best. It gives me a boost for the remainder of the day.

I might have to make adjustments along the way. Yet it's working out okay for now. I'll start Numbers 30 tomorrow.

I have deliberately not used the term 'devotional' because I consider that to be a quickie. It's as if reading a page of Daily Bead with a single passage is enough for the day.

Anyway, your constructive and edifying thoughts would be most welcome.
Click to expand...
I've used Cheyenne for years now. Very do-able.
 
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