Bible Reading Plan

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Reading the Bible daily is like feasting at a banquet table regularly; it nourishes the soul and causes us to grow spiritually.  The Word of God also shields us in the battle against sin. David wrote: Thy word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against Thee. Psalm 119:11

No one becomes instantly mature in the Word of God. The acquisition of knowledge and the attainment of wisdom is a progressive process that takes place gradually as a person becomes familiar with the Scripture.

Bible teachers and preachers not only must study deep and diligently in preparing their lessons but in addition must read the Word regularly and systematically so they can keep sensitive to the historical and doctrinal flow of the Scripture.

Bible reading for the devout believer must also be regular and systematic to be effective. As a Christian consistently reads the Bible, it will take on patterns: the names of the personages and places will become familiar along with their associative events; the divine truths and principles which the Christian can relate to his or her own life will become real and viable; the wisdom of the Word will begin to ingrain itself in one’s inner-personal relationships; a sensitivity to when one is right or wrong in his or her personal relationship with God will become more and more consciously evident; and, problems will become less and less formidable as scriptural solutions for every human predicament become more and more programmed into the mind.

Here are a couple of suggestions for systematizing your Bible reading. These do not cover the great variety of systems available, but they are easy and effective.

FIRST SUGGESTION:

Old Testament: Read it straight through once a year. Mark in pencil in the margins a little question mark (?) by passages you do not understand. As you grow in your knowledge of the Word by reading regularly, you will find that you have fewer and fewer question marks and greater and greater understanding. By reading three chapters in the Old Testament per day you can read it through in less than a year (923 chapters).

New Testament: You might try reading it in a different way:

1. Repetition works. Take a small book, like 1 John, and read it straight through in one sitting. Do this for thirty days. At the end of thirty days you will know 1 John pretty well. It is helpful to stay in the same version.

2. After that, choose a long book like the Gospel of John, which has twenty-one chapters. Divide it into three sections of seven chapters each. Read each set of chapters for thirty days. At the end of ninety days, you will have read the book of John thirty times. You will begin to have a photographic memory of your own Bible if you stay in one version.

3. Then choose a short book again and repeat the process explained in ‘1’ above. At the end of two and a half years, you will have read the New Testament thirty times!