Bible reading plans

as i sat down this morning to spend time with Jesus, i was so thankful for my reading plan.
mostly because if it wasn’t there, i would spend the first 10 minutes of my time trying to figure out what to read AND also because i only have to read one chapter a day which leaves me time to dig into the scripture (cross reference, meditate, reflect, apply). 

reasons i am thankful for my current reading plan

1. i tried the no plan – i rarely read and whenever i felt i had time to read or i wanted to read i spent forever trying to figure out what God wanted me to read that i never really read.

2. i tried the one year plan – i always fell behind and felt super guilty. i also felt like i spent the majority of my time flipping around my Bible and reading from four different books that i never really meditated on what the Word was saying, i just read it to accomplish my plan.

3. i tried the just read though the Bible cover to cover plan – i got so bored in the exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy stretch that i stopped somewhere in all those OT laws. i can get through one and even enjoy it, but there is something hard about reading them all in order! So that was my Bible life. The more Igrow in my relationship with the Lord, the more that i want to spend daily time in the Word. i just always had such a hard time making time for that.

bruce & i are part of a wonderful small group of friends who meet together every week to spend time intentionally getting to know each other and Jesus better. we all go to different churches and we all met each other in different ways. we are married couples, dating couples, and singles. we are a bunch of twenty somethings who realized that we all had struggled getting into the Word daily.

in september of 2012 we chose to commit to doing a bible reading plan together to keep each other accountable. one in which we would do the reading alloted for each week and then come together to discuss what we learned in our quiet times. to be intentional we all try to come prepared with at least one section that challenged us and section we have still may have questions about.

the reading plan we chose is the 5x5x5 reading plan. it has been one of my favorite “reading plans” that i have encountered. it goes book by book but not cover to cover. and you read one chapter a day for five days each week. that means you get two freebies each week! you know, the mornings you accidently slept in or the days that you double booked yourself and there are not enough minutes in the day to get everything done?! yep. you get those ones off the hook. also, it only takes five minutes to read through one chapter – everyone can make time for five minutes. but even better, it is only one chapter so you can dig deeper into what the text is saying. the plan also includes five ways to dig deeper if you are at a loss for what to do.

i am not perfect. i find myself reading two or three chapters in one day and taking multiple “freebies” some weeks. but it is easy to get caught up on five chapters. i also know that every tuesday i will be held accountable to if i did the reading. that helps me not go longer than a week without picking up my Bible.

A chapter a day keeps my heart in check.

 i need that. i need that to be a better wife and friend. i need His wisdom and guidance as i make decisions at my job and i need His kindness and graciousness when interacting with people.

if you are looking for a Bible reading plan, i would suggest this one. i also get an email every day from She Reads Truth which is a great, encouraging blog focused on spending time in the Word. they also have reading plan!