Bible Reading Plans
I wrote this letter to my CnC group, regarding Bible Reading plans, and I thought I'd share it hear also...
Hey Everyone!
I hope you were all as challenged by Pastor Jay’s exhortation to be “saturated” in the Word of God as I was. And as a result of that, I hope that you would make the effort regularly reading the Bible. As Pastor Jay mentioned last night, there are some really great ways that some people have come up with in order to make it easier for you to do so. And so what follows in this message is a list of the different plans that are available online for you to download and print. Included are my own thoughts about each plan, and some recommendations that I have.
But before I get into those plans, really quickly, there are, of course, electronic resources available. I’m sure there are even apps that you can use to go through a reading plan. But just two that I want to highlight are...
YouVersion: (Multiple reading plans & versions of the Bible) http://www.youversion.com
ESV Bible: (Multiple reading plans for the ESV Bible) http://www.esvbible.org
One thing I want to say, and no I’m not trying to “convert” anyone to the ESV with this. Just an observation I’ve made... but it seems to me like Crossway (the publishers of the ESV) is head and shoulders over every other Bible publishing companies in terms of making use of recent technology to make the Bible available and accessible to everyone. Esvbible.org is already, in and of itself, an excellent resource, but in addition to that, I have you to find another app that can match the ESV in aesthetic appeal and ease of use.
Introductory Plans
These plans are a great way to start making Bible Reading a regular part of your day. They are shorter plans that give you an overview of some parts of the Bible. The first three plans are the shortest plans and are your most basic introductory plans. If you are a brand new Christian, I would suggest starting with the 30 Days for a New Christian, followed by the next two 30 day plans (with Jesus and in the Psalms). If you have been a believer for a while and know some things about the Bible, but haven’t had the chance to read through the Bible systematically, then I would suggest starting with the 30 Days with Jesus, followed by 30 Days in the Psalms. Of course, if you feel like you need it, then start with the plan for New Christians as well.
After doing the 30 day plans, then move on to the 60 Day, 90 Day, then 180 day overviews of the Bible. These plans will give you a big picture over view of the Scriptures (obviously, going deeper and deeper with each major sweep). Once you’ve gone through these and have built up the habit of reading Scriptures regularly (hopefully daily), then it would be appropriate to move on to the next “level” of reading the word.
30 Days for a New Christian
http://www.zondervan.com/m/readingplans/plan_new30_af_cms.pdf
30 Days with Jesus
http://www.zondervan.com/m/readingplans/plan_jesus30_af_cms.pdf
30 Days in the Psalms
http://www.zondervan.com/m/readingplans/plan_psalms30_af_cms.pdf
60 Day Overview of the Bible
http://www.zondervan.com/m/readingplans/60Day_af_cms.pdf
90 Day Overview of the Bible
http://www.zondervan.com/m/readingplans/90Days_af_cms.pdf
1-Year Plans
Before I get in to these 1-Year Plans, let me make it clear that you do not necessarily need to start with the shorter plans before doing these larger plans. The shorter plans tend to have less reading each day (say, 2 chapters for the 30-180 Day plans, and 4 chapters a day for these 1-Year Plans). Also, the shorter plans tend move you through the “highlights” of the Bible; the significant/milestone points in scripture that really help you understand the story as a whole. What I should mention about how much more “advanced” these 1-Year Reading Plans are than the shorter “Introductory” plans are that they tend to be more “unforgiving” in the sense that if you miss days, you fall behind, and it can be difficult to catch up. So it would be really important for you to be disciplined about building up the habit of reading scripture every day if you’re going to be “successful” in completing these plans.
Having said all of that, my favourite 1-Year plans are connected to a devotional book written by D.A. Carson. It’s called “For the Love of God” and there are 2 volumes to choose from. These two plans follow a modified version of the “M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan” which walks you through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice in the year.
An alternative to these two reading plans are the One-Year Bibles that are published by Crossway (for the ESV) and Tyndale Publishing House (for the NIV). These Bibles are actually rearranged so that you follow their reading plan (I think there are 4 readings per day, 1 each from the Old and New Testaments, and 1 each from Psalms and Proverbs.)
For the Love of God Volume 1
http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/carson/1998_for_the_love_of_God.pdf
For the Love of God Volume 2
http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/carson/1999_for_the_love_of_God.pdf
ESV One Year Bible
http://www.amazon.ca/ESV-One-Year-Bible-Standard/dp/1581347081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327691597&sr=8-1
NIV One Year Bible
http://www.amazon.ca/One-Year-Bible-NIV/dp/0842324518/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327691597&sr=8-2-fkmr0
Horner's Bible Reading System
Horner’s Bible Reading System is the Reading Plan that Pastor Jay was talking about last night: the one where you read 10 chapters a day. It is a little “hardcore” and would be the next step for those who looking for something beyond the 1-Year Reading plans.
Horner’s method has you read 1 chapter each from 10 “Lists” of books of the Bible. Going through this system, you actually read through the Bible once every 8 months. BUT, having said that, the 10 lists that you read from are not equal in length. There are some parts that only have 28 chapters (Acts) and some, only 31 chapters (Proverbs). So while you go through the whole Bible in 8 months, what that really means is that you go through the 2 longest of the 10 lists in 8 months (List 8, the Historical books after the Pentateuch, is 249 days long; and list 9, which are the major and minor prophets, is 250 days long), while you go through the shorter lists multiple times over that same period of time (so, you read through List 8 once in 8 months, while you read through Acts almost 9 times).
The PDF I am providing in the link below gives you more details on how the system works and the justification for reading the Bible this way. It even has “bookmarks” that you can print out and keep in your Bible to keep track of your readings.
http://www.wbfva.org/files/professor_grant_horners_bible_reading_system.pdf
3-Year Plan
This final plan is a 3-year guided plan. It goes through the Bible chapter-by-chapter, but it does not simply go through it cover to cover. It does jump around to help break up the monotony of some parts of the Bible (like Leviticus).
This plan is also a great introductory plan because it is just 1 chapter of the Bible. Alternatively, I would suggest this plan, along with another resource like a good Study Bible, or Gordon Fee’s book “How to Read the Bible Book by Book” (http://www.amazon.ca/How-Read-Bible-Book/dp/0310211182/ref=pd_sim_b_1) for more in-depth Bible study that you can do *in addition* to your daily devotional reading.
http://www.zondervan.com/m/readingplans/3yrGddTour_af_cms.pdf
Alright, well that’s all for now. I really hope that these resources will be able to bring you yet one step closer to that goal of becoming “competent” and “confident” readers of God’s Word.
Shalom,
Chris
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