Reading through the Bible
A few weeks back I challenged the children to read through the New Testament and as they were going to be reading through the New Testament I told them I would be going through the entirety of the Bible in the same amount of time.
Well, I am going through the Bible now and having a wonderful time going through each book of the Bible, and as I am taking this journey I wanted to encourage you to try and read the Bible through as well.
Now I know for some of you reading through the Bible is something you have done numerous times. For all of you in which reading through the Scriptures is old hat, great job, keep up the good work and continue to pour God’s Word into your heart daily.
For others, you might be like I was when I was challenged to read through the Bible. I would look at the numerous books, long passages, and difficult sections like all the prophecies of Jeremiah and think there is no way I can do that. I was there once, but I want to let you know, you can do it. All it takes is a little time, a little planning, and some endurance.
Let me share with you how anyone can read through the BIble.
First, decide to do it. Some like to set a time table for reading through the Scriptures but for your first time going through the Scriptures I don’t believe it is a matter of setting a time, but rather setting your mind to the task of reading through the entirety of the Bible. Decide to do it and say I am going to read through the Bible in its entirety regardless of how long it takes.
Second, choose a translation. There are numerous versions of the Bible available today, some of which are easier to read through than others. In my opinion, if this is the first time you are going through the Scriptures, I would encourage you to read through something like The New Living Translation, The New International Version, or the Holman Christian Standard Bible. All three of these are translated in such a way as to have verses be composed in a good and easy to follow sentence structure. Versions like the King James, though they have beautiful wording, are more difficult to read and comprehend.
Finally, start reading and mark your progress. Write down what you have read or put a little check mark beside the chapters you have completed, or something like that. You can use a bookmark, write it down on a piece of paper, use a tracking app on your phone. It doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure your track your progress.
Marking your progress is probably the biggest and most important aspect of being able to complete your reading of the Bible. When you mark your progress you always know you are a little closer to the end and a little closer to your goal. The key in all this is, don’t stop. If you miss a day, continue tomorrow. If you could only get one chapter done, that’s fine, that is still progress. If it takes you five months or even 5 years who cares! The important thing is you finished your goal of reading through the Scriptures.
Now, if you are someone who likes schedules and timetables for reading that’s fine, there are numerous websites and things like that to assist you in scheduling your Bible reading. Let me give a few options that are out there.
Your own study Bible – if you look into your study Bible’s table of contents you will probably find a section which has already broken up the Bible into 365 individual readings that will take you through the Bible in a year. • • The One Year Bible – you can pick these up at most bookstores and online. They are Bibles which have been divided into 365 readings. Each day’s reading consist of a passage from the Old Testament, New Testament, the Psalms and Proverbs. This is a great way to get a variety of reading while making your way through the entirety of the Bible in one year. The readings are also available online at https:// oneyearbibleonline.com/
• https://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/ Bible Gateways is an amazing website with a huge selection of Bible translations and study aid, but it also has a lot of reading plans on it.
• https://www.mybibleplans.com/ if you would like to schedule a reading plan for 90 days or 3 years this website allows you to customize a plan based on your own time table.
• The 1,189 plan. There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible, if you read just one chapter a day you will finish the Bible in about 3 years and 4 months. That might sound like a long time but if you read one chapter of the Bible from the time you were 18 and lived until you were 78 years old you would have read the Bible through 18 times.
I hope if you have never read through the Scriptures before this article has encouraged you to undertake this journey. Happy reading!
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