BIBLE READING PLANS
Having a strategy is beneficial when it comes to Bible reading. Let's face it. The Bible is a big book and reading it can be difficult and intimidating. Having a strategy provides a goal and a degree of accountability for reaching the goal. Training, like developing any other skill or habit, is important to successfully develop a habit of Bible reading. It's OK to take small steps at first. Finish a plan. The next time around try increasing how much you read.
There are a lot other plans out there. The following four can be very helpful in developing your habit and appetite for scripture. Give one a try and see how it works. The most important thing is to keep working at developing your habit of Bible reading!
NEW TESTAMENT - 1 YEAR
By reading one chapter a day and including days for reflection (or catch up) you can read the entire New Testament in one year. The authors of this plan expect that all you'll need is to find five minutes, five times per week to complete this plan. This is a good place to start developing a Bible reading habit. This plan comes from navigators.org.
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Ready to take a bigger step? Read two chapters a day. When you're consistently reading 3-4 chapters every day, it's likely time to try either the "Cover to Cover" or "Chronological" plan.
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cover to cover - 1 year
This simple plan will guide you straight through the entire Bible in 1 year. To accomplish this goal, you will read 3-4 chapters (15-20 minutes depending on your reading speed) each day.
The challenge here is some days get busy and you may not get your reading in. Don't feel like you need to try to "catch up." You may find yourself feeling defeated & give up. Instead, get back into scripture on the current day's reading. The plan comes from https://www.southeastchristian.org/resources/bible-studies/2019-bible-reading-plan.
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Ready to take a bigger step? Double the number of chapters you read each day. When you're consistently reading the entire Bible two times every year, it may be time to try the "90 Day" plan.
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Click on the heading to view & print this plan.
chronological - 1 year
Like the plan above, this one will take you through the entire Bible in 1 year. However, I like this plan because it reduces the feeling of "haven't I read this before?" by taking you through the stories of scripture 1-by-1. It places the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the prophets in context of when they were written. This also introduces variety into your reading which can make it easier to stay interested in what you're reading.
The challenge here is some days get busy and you may not get your reading in. Don't feel like you need to try to "catch up." You may find yourself feeling defeated & give up. Instead, get back into scripture on the current day's reading. This plan comes from https://static.crossway.org/excerpt/6-esv-chronological-reading-plan.3.pdf.
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Ready to take a bigger step? Double the number of chapters you read each day. When you're consistently reading the entire Bible two times every year, it may be time to try the "90 Day" plan.
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Click on the heading to view & print this plan.
through THE BIBLE IN 90 days
Depending on your reading speed (and your attention span) some of these readings will take 30-60 minutes/day.
This plan has been adapted from the YouVersion 90 Day Bible reading plan. The printable version is sized to be very mobile. If you print it double sided, trim & fold in half, it will fit in a 5.5"x3.5" notebook.
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Click on the heading to view & print this plan.