Do you follow a set Bible Reading Plan each year?
Do you try to read certain books of the Bible each year?
Do you like to try to read through the whole Bible in one, two or three years?
Tim Challies recommended a bible reading plan and this was not just a read from the beginning to the end of the bible in one, two or three years, this was a read through the bible in one year in chronological order - A 5 Day Bible Reading Plan
I had already been talking with some of our family about wanting to get a chronological Bible to read through in (what I call) a logical way, so I thought I would look at this Chronological Bible Reading Plan and try it out.
The name of this plan:
The 5 Day Bible Reading Program
The order of this plan:
It is organised so that the reader will read through all of the Bible in Chronological order in one year.
The cost of this plan:
It is free to download but will cost you time and determination.
The structure of this plan:
It is reproduced anew each year to suit the days and dates because it is a 5 day reading plan working on a weekly basis.
This means you have only 5 days listed each week with readings allotted to them and so if you cannot read all the sections for each day you do not need to worry about getting very disheartened and giving up because you have 2 days to catch up.
The starting date of this plan:
For This Year 2020 the start date is Sunday 5th January.
This means I had the first 4 days of the year to think seriously about how I planned to do this - which days would I plan to read on and which would be my 2 catch-up days because I was sure I would need these catch-up days each week.
I enjoyed doing the Advent Reading Plan of The Gospel of Luke which included one chapter a day for the first 24 days of December.
So knowing that I would probably want to blog about this reading plan as well I know I will need a 2 day buffer each week to help with that as well so that I do not feel as if I am under too much pressure.
As I started to write this post I had not started to read any of the passages.
It is Sunday 5th January already
So I feel that I will probably not read all of the passages set for today
NOTE: above is for 2020 but the links take you to this year's plan
So what did I have to think about before I started?
I needed to think about which bible version I would read.
How I would take notes.
Which sections I would take notes on because I was being realistic and knew that I would not take notes on everything.
(It is a reading plan of course and not a bible study plan.)
What am I using to read through the plan?
I am reading through this plan on a new Bible App on my iPad.
I had already agreed to be a beta tester for this ESV version App so felt that reading this plan on this App would be a good test of the App.
You can see the app bottom centre on my iPad screen below.
How am I taking notes?
The App is compatible with the iPad Pro pencil so using it I am taking notes in the notes section giving myself headings of one verse or a short passage.
I am also using the favourites part of this to make a note of any verses I want to make Bible Verse Graphics of later.
I needed to think about which bible version I would read.
How I would take notes.
Which sections I would take notes on because I was being realistic and knew that I would not take notes on everything.
(It is a reading plan of course and not a bible study plan.)
Well I am now almost 4 weeks into the plan.
What am I using to read through the plan?
I am reading through this plan on a new Bible App on my iPad.
I had already agreed to be a beta tester for this ESV version App so felt that reading this plan on this App would be a good test of the App.
You can see the app bottom centre on my iPad screen below.
How am I taking notes?
The App is compatible with the iPad Pro pencil so using it I am taking notes in the notes section giving myself headings of one verse or a short passage.
I am also using the favourites part of this to make a note of any verses I want to make Bible Verse Graphics of later.
UPDATE:
Because this was a beta test on this app I lost all my notes on the app when it disappeared at the end of the testing time. Lesson learnt always make sure to back up notes from apps too.
Which sections am I taking notes on?
Taking notes really adds to your reading time so I knew that choosing the old or New Testaments as a section was not a good idea.
So I would have to choose one or more individual books of the Bible instead.
My next thought was that I would take the Gospels because while I was going through the Gospel of Luke for the Advent Reading Plan I had often thought about doing a detailed comparison between the gospels.
Also scanning through the plan it appeared that only one chapter of the Gospels would be covered in any day.
This lead me to start with the Gospel of Mark (as that is the first Gospel introduced in the plan) and if this was not too time consuming I would then go on to take notes from Matthew and John.
If I was not getting overwhelmed with the note taking at the end of those 3 Gospels I would consider tackling another book later.
How am I managing so far?
Well I started off great and then we went on holiday for a week from 16th - 23rd January which overlapped week 2 & 3.
However it was a relaxing holiday so not a lot of plans to be out and about except by the pool so I was able to keep up there.
My only problem was that my iPad got left on the plane - not entirely my fault!
This meant I had to use my old kindle to read and hence had to use a different Bible version and also had to make my notes on letter paper the hotel had in the room.
Since I came back I have been suffering badly with sinus problems and neck problems and I have to admit I am a little behind now.
By date I should be well into week 4 but I have not started Galatians yet so if you look at the plan above you will see I have not done very much of week 4 yet.
Last Question is - Why do we use a plan to read our bible?
Everyone will probably have a different thought as they read this question but right now I'm thinking about not just now but of in previous years.
When I was a young Christian it was good to have some kind of guide to keep me reading.
When I got more disciplined I would sometimes use a plan and sometimes not because I felt like I could trust myself to read regularly.
Now I want to give myself the challenge of reading in the chronological order to understand more of the timing and setting of different parts.
Looking back I see one great reason that I probably had not really thought about so much before - setting a good example to our families of planning to read and structuring out thoughts.
Something to Note:
I took more detailed notes while I was away on holiday and even took notes on Genesis and the Psalms as well as Mark
UPDATE:
I did not finish the reading plan in the one year so I continued over into the second year - reason being that I took too many notes.
However no plan should ever make us conform exactly to it as we are all individuals and the most important thing is that we actually read all of the Bible.
I Would Still Recommend the Reading Plan