I’ve been reading through the Bible almost every year since I was pretty young – maybe around 12 or 13? My mom always encouraged her daughters to do this, telling us we were putting on our “spiritual perfume” every morning when we did.
Oh, there were days here and there where I would miss the reading – and sometimes I skipped over Leviticus (or I’d speed read through it). I don’t think I was overly legalistic about it, but I was disciplined. All of that sort of fell apart a few years ago. I don’t remember which baby it was. Maybe #7? I just couldn’t swing it that year, and then I decided to take a break and just do what I could each day.
This year I decided to try again and look for a phone app so I could do it on the fly if necessary. But then I stumbled on an even better idea. I went to the ESVBible.org website and clicked on the PLANS in the menu bar. I found the “Through the Bible in a Year” plan, and it automatically opened up to that day’s reading. There it was – all laid out. It even had it divided into a morning reading and an evening reading.
But you know what was even BETTER? You could press a button that said “Listen” above in the menu bar. And a great reading voice (NOT a robotic voice) read the passage to you! So every morning when I get up, I listen to God’s Word being read to me on my phone while I get ready for the day. You can listen on your computer or tablet or iPod or whatever.
I’m also journaling through the Bible. That just means I’m copying the Bible into a journal. One journal per book of the Bible. I’ve started with Romans, and I write out the verses on one side of the page leaving a space between each line in case I want to write any notes. The other side of the page is where I can write any thoughts or prayers I have about the verses that are on that page. I’ve been pretty amazed at how much more I get out of God’s Word when I’m forced to slowly write it out and digest it.
I’m pretty sure I’ll never get through the whole Bible this way before I die, but I can finish after I’m Home. I want to get started now. The journey with God is only just beginning, right?
Question: What are some ways you are incorporating God’s Word into your life in 2015? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
LOVE the listening option! Last year I read through the Bible chronologically (a plan in the You Version app) and it revolutionized how I see scripture. highly recommend it for some year to come.
Are we on the same page or what? I just started a 30 day Bible reading challenge from Eaglebrook Church.(check out their web sight for more )It goes along with the weekly messages which you can see on line if you attend a different church. I’m doing some other spiritual reading (did you get my email?) so I needed something short and simple but structured with accountability. My young adult kids and hubby are doing it also and we email our reflections to each other. It is amazing how we all see something different from the same scripture. I highly recommend this one month sermon series with the daily reading. It doesn’t matter if you start late because the sermons are on line. The content is so foundational – great for a beginner, someone starting over, or just the basics again. I LOVE the listening app – I may just need to think about an iPhone just for that.
Thanks for sharing this! I have been struggling to keep up on my reading this year. My baby isn’t nursing, so I spend a lot of time pumping and then feeding her. this doesn’t leave me with any free hands to hold a book.Bible, so listening to my daily reading would be a wonderful way to use this time.
I’ve been doing through-the-Bible-in-one-year plans for several years now, but this year I decided to do something completely different. I had gone through the book of Jeremiah fairly late in the plan I was following last year, but came to the end of the book and felt like I didn’t really have a good grasp of it (similar to other OT books, in my experience, I might add).
Anyway, I really wanted to go deep this year and just focus on a small portion of the Bible, rather than the whole thing. I chose Jeremiah because I felt the most convicted about needing to reread that one. Plus, it’s 52 chapters long, which fits perfectly with our 52-week year. What I do is read the “chapter of the week” six times, once each day Monday through Saturday, and select a different translation for each day of the week. This gives me a lot of reinforcement, which I need, on each chapter before moving on to the next, but provides some variety at the same time, due to the changes of translation day by day. I have four translations at home, and then the other two I read from at BibleGateway.com. One of them is the Norsk translation, which I do on Fridays. I think it’s good for my aging brain to try out a new language, and to see how much I can remember about the chapter, having already read it four times in English earlier in the week.
Sundays I leave open for margin, to do any catching up I might need if I fall behind — and, being human, sometimes I do, admittedly. 😉
I’m also doing a special Bible-reading time alone with my youngest child (7-year-old daughter). It was really interesting that late last year, as Christmas was approaching, I noticed one day that a gift appeared under the tree with my and my youngest’s names as the recipients. I wondered what could be in it that would be for both of us — matching mother-daughter something??
Turns out it was an ESV Bible that my husband thought daughter and I would enjoy reading together. And we do.
We sit and snuggle at the end of the day, curled up with our ESV, taking turns reading to each other. She wanted to start in Genesis and read chronologically, so that’s what we’re doing. It was fun in chapter one when she decided we should take turns reading about what was created on each day. She took days 1, 3 and 5, and I had 2, 4 and 6. She got to verse 11 (which tells about the third day of creation) and instead of reading, “And God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation'” she said, “‘Let the earth sprout vegetarian…” Close, but they would be created later. 😉
I am enjoying the pace of my Bible reading this year (and I’m letting my daughter decide the rate at which we go through our readings together) and feel like I’m getting much more out of my time spent in the Word. I’m sure I won’t stick to a one-book-a-year-plan for the rest of my life — I wouldn’t get through the whole bible again unless I live as long as my dad’s former Sunday School teacher, who recently died at the age of 114! — but I think it’s good to slow down once in a while and change things up a bit (or drastically).
Good thoughts. I love all these terrific ideas from everyone. It is refreshing to change things up each year.
One other thing — not exactly an answer to your question, but on a semi-related topic with regards to journaling/writing…
A friend of mine wrote a spiritual memoir, which I read recently, that was born out of some difficult trials and adversity she faced a number of years ago. She recommends Christians write a spiritual memoir, if not to an audience, at least for oneself, as, for her, she found it a helpful process which ultimately helped her see the Lord’s faithfulness to teach and guide her all along the journey of life, through good times and bad.
This is something I am considering doing this year, but haven’t started writing yet. Your talking about copying the Bible into a journal, leaving room for notes, thoughts and prayers reminded me of this. I see writing a spiritual memoir as an opportunity to express what God has taught me through His Word, how He has used certain people, inside or outside the church, to speak into my life, even when they didn’t realize they were being used in that capacity, and so on.
Blessings to you as you journal through Romans. Chapter 8 is probably my favorite chapter in the entire Bible. So triumphant!
Thank you for sharing. Life has been very difficult lately and while praying it hit me (God told me?)…I have forgotten my first love. I need to spend more time in His word, but how when every time I sit down to read I fall asleep? Then comes your post with perfect timing, I’m going to listen now.
I’m so glad!
Thank you so much for sharing this resource! Busy mom of little ones here. I think it will be really helpful to me, too. I like to listen and read at the same time. I chose the literary study Bible plan and I like how it incorporates a variety of Scripture into each day’s reading.
I can always count on you to share resourceful websites. We are trying to read through the Bible with our kids in the evenings before bedtime. I hope to be able to finish by the end of the year.
Hello Natalie,
I’m new to your website and I think it’s amazing the number of things you get done in one day.
I love your idea of journaling through the Bible. I plan on starting today with the book of Philippians. Now, regarding the notebook you choose. This might be a very basic and trivial question to ask, but how do you know a whole book is going to fit into a notebook including your notes? On the other hand when the book is really small, you might waste pages unless you fit two books in one notebook
My apologies if this sounds like a very insignificant question. Hope fully you will find the time to answer.
Thanks.
I guess we’ll find out! I’ve never done this before!
Thank you so much! I have wanted something like this for a long time and I’m so grateful to you for telling us about it. Now I listen every morning.
Thank you!!! Thank you!!!! I’ve attempted to read through the bible several times and ultimately quit feeling defeated. I’ve had the most success reading to my children but often get distracted by the littles needs. I’m going to start listening today!!! Duh!! Thank you!!