by That Proverbs Mamma Do you ever feel anxious, worried or just feeling like you wished you had more faith? The greatest thing that any Christian can do to strengthen their faith is to develop a consistent routine of reading their Bible each day.
God is a multifaceted person! The Bible is a collection of stories where we can learn more about who God is. We learn that he is loving, merciful, holy, powerful and faithful. Learning about who God is will help you when you encounter trials in your daily life. You will be able to recall to mind that God is loving and faithful and find peace as you trust that he has a plan for you.
By spending time every day reading God’s Word, you slowly become more like him. You align your mind with the ways of God and your heart with the things that are important to him. You learn to let go of your grudges and love your enemies. For me, it feels like water washing over my mind and heart. God’s Word cleans away the impurities that make us fallible humans.
I don’t know about you, but I am very aware of my flaws. The Bible has countless stories of others who have lived before us. None of them was perfect and they all made mistakes. There is the misconception in our society that Christians need to be perfect and this is not true. David commit adultery, Peter disowned Jesus, Elijah was depressed, Rahab was a prostitute. As we read about the heroes of the Bible, we come to see that God can use broken people – people just like us.
That is a great question! It’s a big book with pretty thin pages and small writing. Thousands of Christians read the entire Bible every year with this simple Bible reading plan I am going to show you. There will be a few chapters for you to read each day with a little bit from a couple of different books at a time. First, you need to set up the habit to make sure it sticks.
It’s all about making it work for you. Everyone is different and as you go through life and seasons change you will probably find that your Bible reading routine changes too. Maybe you like to get a cup of tea and sit in your bed and read your Bible before you go to sleep. Perhaps you like to listen to the Bible while you go for your daily walk or clean the house. Others prefer to start the day off with a coffee in one hand and Bible highlighters in the other. Experiment. Try a few different locations or methods and see what works for you. It’s okay if it takes a few weeks for you to find a good groove. Good routines take time to develop.
I’m a firm believer that we make time for the things that matter to us. Show me how you spend your time and I’ll show you what you value. It can be easy to believe that we don’t have time to sit down and read our Bible without distractions but I’m pretty sure our time-graphs on social media would argue otherwise. I like to live by the mantra, ‘I can’t check my messages on my phone until I’ve read my Bible today’. Whether it’s early morning, afternoon or in your lunch break, do what works for you but make sure you make time to read the Bible each day so that you can get to know God more and grow in your faith.
If you’re here reading this post about Reading the Bible in a Year, I’m getting the vibe that you’re committed to something a little longer than your average 5 day reading plan. Here at Trust in The Word, you will find a Printable Bible Reading Plan to read the Bible in a Year. The file contains printable bookmarks that you can print from the comfort of your own home. There are bookmarks for each month as well as undated ones so you can start anytime throughout the year. It definitely doesn’t need to be January 1st for you to start a new habit or work toward a meaningful goal.
A good question is to consider how long it would take to read the entire Bible in one year and how long you should schedule for each day. It takes a different amount of time for each person. If you are reading the passage and highlighting and Bible journaling at the same time, it will take a lot longer than if you just read the sections straight through. Statistics say that it can be done in 12 minutes a day. Personally, I would allow 20 minutes, which is a nice amount of time while you sit down to drink a cup of tea or coffee and eat your breakfast. One of the big things about developing habits is by linking the new habit to something you already routinely do. You eat breakfast every day, so that could be a great anchor to link your new habit to. Some days the reading will be slightly longer than others and you want to be able to finish the set readings and not have to rush off to work so make sure you give yourself a good window of time to just sit.
With the Trust in The Word reading plan, you will find passages each day from 2 – 4 different books. This way, you can be reading stories from the Old Testament (before Jesus) and also the New Testament every day. You will also have a reading most days from the Psalms, which I love to read because they are a lot like prayers and help you to align your heart with God’s.
There are some reading plans where it is all in chronological order. I am not as big a fan of those as you don’t reach the New Testament until half way through the year. It is important to read the story of Jesus and the other books of the New Testament to learn how to live each day as a follower of Jesus.
The reading plan that I recommend, which is included with the Trust in The Word bookmarks, gives a Chronological reading from the Old Testament each day, as well as a reading plan for the New Testament so you have to opportunity to read both at the same time. This means that you don’t read the Bible from the front cover straight through to the back cover. You will move around a little bit each day but as you check each reading off the Bible reading plan list, you will read every section of the Bible over the course of the year.
Absolutely not! While January is an inspiring time for many people to form a new habit, you can begin the challenge at any time. With our Bible Reading Plan Bookmarks, there are ones that are dated and those which are not.
Are you ready to discover how to determine right from wrong as a believer? In this article, we’ll dive deep into the beautiful journey of honoring God’s standards and making ethical choices in our daily lives.
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From my humble and regretful experience, I would like to explain why I stopped watching Bridgerton, and why it’s something you should consider too.
If you’re reading this, you may be feeling a tug on your heart to become a Christian influencer, but you might also be hesitant due to the fear of what others might think. I want to assure you that you’re not alone in this struggle, and I want to offer you hope and encouragement through the truth of God’s Word.
