I can think of nothing higher on my priority list each day than to spend time in God’s Word. It’s that important. It really is.

I have tried over the years to find a Bible Reading Plan that makes a significant difference in my life, attempting and eliminating various options over the years. A few years ago, I found one that works for me quite well, and 2019 marks my seventh year of using it on a daily basis. I’ll describe it below, along with the impact it has had in my life.

Before I get to that, though, I want to reinforce what you probably already know to be true: that a daily Bible reading discipline is a necessity for the Christian life. It is difficult, if not downright impossible, to grow without spending significant time reading and studying the Word of God.

I won’t go into all the details of that in this article. I have written extensively on this over the years. Briefly, I’ll list several of the articles here:

• Establishing the discipline of daily Bible reading
• Developing consistency in your Bible reading
• Tips to help you become more consistent in your Bible reading
• Getting the most out of your Bible reading
• How to keep your Bible reading interesting
• A colossal effort of reading 3650 chapters every year
• How to take notes while reading the Bible
• How to gain insight by hand writing your own copy of the Bible
• How God’s Word encourages you
• Reading the Old Testament
• Reading the Bible daily
• And multiple memorization projects over the years as well

I cannot begin to express just how critical this discipline is for the believer. It is foundational for our faith.

I believe this so strongly, and since I couldn’t find a reading plan that fit my needs like I wanted, I created my own version for my own personal use, as well as the students in my ministries over the years as a youth minister. I recreated this plan each year until finally finessing it into the version that I share for free with those who sign up for my email newsletter.

In a nutshell, it has three different plans incorporated into it, one that reads from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation. The second plan combines a reading from the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Psalms, and the Gospels, still reading the whole Bible in a year. The third plan coordinates events and passages with one another, so when you read about David and Bathsheba, you’ll read Psalm 51 at the same time. Each plan will help you read the whole Bible in a twelve month period, so pick the one that’s best for you and run with it. If you are interested in downloading a copy, sign up for my email updates here.

While I really like my version of a reading plan, I found one a few years ago that fits my needs even better. Developed by Professor Grant Horner, this plan divides the Bible into ten different sections, and you read one chapter from each section every day. When you finish a section, you simply start it again. And since the ten different sections are of various lengths, you won’t start them all over at the same time, ensuring that you are reading different part of the Bible together every single day. I find this especially interesting, because there have been days when several of the chapters have carried similar themes, or gave similar instructions, that I might never has associated together apart from this reading plan.

I have been using this particular variety for six years now, just beginning my seventh with the start of 2019.It has been very eye-opening, and has afforded me the ability to stick to a reading plan like nothing else I have ever attempted to utilize. For the foreseeable future, this is the plan that I will continue to stick with. That’s how much I like it. If you are interested in more details about this plan, you can find it described here.

Whatever plan you decide to use, I encourage you to make a solid commitment to it and stick to it. I just saw a post from a friend from a previous ministry I was involved in almost two decades ago. I challenged that youth group to read the Bible through that year. She and her husband took up the challenge, and read through it that year, and every single year since. They would jump at the chance to tell you just how life changing it has been for them.

One final word of encouragement: don’t get bogged down by a schedule. If you can’t read as much as someone else can in any given day, it’s ok to use a one year plan and stretch it into two. It’s not as important that you get through the whole Bible, as it is for the Bible to get through you. Just read.

So with the start of a new year, grab a Bible, find a good plan to help you read it, and dig in. Because it really does matter what you read.

Question: Do you have a Bible Reading Plan that works well for you? If so, what is it? What do you like about it? If not, sign up and download my plan for free today. You can leave a comment by clicking here.