My New Year’s Resolution – Part 3
Let me say again, my experience reading the entire Bible through in a year has been life transforming, maybe the single most significant personal practice I’ve done in my life.
Also let me reiterate my belief that anyone can read the Bible through in a year. It takes a bit of organization, resilience and grace – grace from God and sometimes grace from yourself but it can be done by anyone.
So let me share a few things I’ve learned over the years that have helped me read the entire Bible and may assist you in your own quest to read the Bible through in 2011.
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Know the day before when you will create the 15 to 20 minutes space needed to do your reading.
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One day a week read 2 to 3 days (30 to 45 minutes) to catch up or better yet get ahead.
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If you’ve had a bad week and get behind to the point you think you can’t catch up, just start reading on the current day. If you only end up reading 80% of the Bible that is still an incredible achievement and God will still use it to change your life (He’s not keeping score).
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Break it up into two different readings at different times during the day.
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Keep a journal of thoughts and reflections you have. Create no pressure on yourself to do this every day – reading your Bible is more important and doesn’t require keeping a journal.
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Listen to the Bible audibly if that works best for you. There are some great audible versions of the Bible out there.
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Remember this is not a check list thing it’s a chance to seek and hear all of God’s Word. When you feel like it’s a chore, pray to Christ for His Spirit to give you what you need to keep at it. It’s a great place to be when you can look back and know that it was through God’s grace that you’ve read through His Word.
In my next post I will share with you one additional thing I will be doing in 2011 that I hope will be an aid for you as you read the entire Bible.