A seed was planted during a conversation a few weeks ago. My precious in-laws were visiting and they mentioned how Dad had read the Bible (more than once) through cover to cover and that now that Mom is retired they are doing it together. The plan they use is for one year and has them reading out of three different parts. The Old Testament, the New Testament and then I believe she said the Psalms, so three chapters a night/day.
Well - the Lord prompted me to begin to look up plans - I have never read the Bible cover to cover! I did a few searches over the course of a few days as I had time and remembered. I found a plan I thought would work for me. As I mentioned it to my youngest daughter, she wanted to join me in doing this. Then later, her siblings found out so I decided to skip a day in my plan and let them "catch-up". Being homeschoolers this has been very easy to implement into our days - now in the evenings after our regular devotions we have been talking about what we read, the 9 year old even took some notes yesterday, thank you LORD for that encouragement.
The plan we chose is for 6 months and you read 5-7 chapters a day. You can find it and print it here:
http://gracebaptisturbana.com/Read_The_Bible_in_6_Months.pdf
It has you reading in order of chapters which I think will be good for the kids - otherwise for them it would be like having three different novels going at once and may be a bit confusing, I am praying this is the right plan for us at this time in our lives. I am sooooo excited, can you tell?
Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
I just went to Google and put in Bible Plans - there were quite a few!
Here is some other interesting tidbits on reading through the Bible I found interesting!
Why should I read the Bible that fast? or When I read that fast I don’t get anything out of it…
To answer this question, I must challenge the term “fast”. First, let me say I believe it is impossible to read the Bible at any pace and not ‘get something out of it’. I understand if you currently read very rarely, or not at all, this could seem like an extremely fast pace. Well, consider this:
The King James Version (KJV) Bible is read aloud in about 70 hours for most Audio Bibles
The New International Version (NIV) Bible is read aloud in about 77 hours for most Audio Bibles
By reading just one hour a day out loud, you could finish the bible in about 70-77 days (2 ½ months)
At seven chapters a day, you will finish the 1189 chapters of the Bible in just 5 ½ months!
Reading through in 6 months should only require about 30 minutes a day. You may not read as fast as they do on an Audio Bible, but remember reading out loud takes longer than reading to yourself, so even if you are a little slower, you should still be able to keep up with about thirty minutes a day.
It sounds like you want me to commit to 30 minutes a day; where am I going to find that time?
Reading the Bible should be a priority in your life as a Christian. Psalms 119:105 says “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path”. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” Romans 12:2 commands “Do not conform … but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. I could go on but you already know the importance of Scripture.
Your concern is how to make time to do what you already agree should be done, right? Consider this; a one hour television program has over 15 minutes of commercials. The average American watches 3 hours and 46 minutes of TV each day! (See TV Stats). If that’s you, reading during commercials would be more than enough time to complete the daily reading.
** thought that info was pretty neat - I remember my evenings of sitting in front of the TV on Thursday nights especially - that was my favorite line-up of prime time TV for me - we haven't had TV for many reasons for years now yet I have not picked up my Bible ENOUGH nor have I ever read it from cover to cover and still may not, Lord willing though I may, and want to encourage you to try finding time to do so as well.
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