2006 Bible Reading Plans

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,

One of the programs I have participated in for the last 10 years is the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan. Discipleship Journal has several plans to either read the entire Bible in one year or to read the New Testament in a year. I will be starting another reading plan on New Year’s Day and wanted to invite each of you to participate. Nothing replaces in-depth Bible study and prayer for growing and deepening your walk with the Lord and increasing your knowledge of God’s will, but I also enjoy the daily reading programs to help me get a better overview of how the Bible is written and how it flows together into one story, a love story of God’s love for us. I once read that the average Christian only reads 2 chapters of the Bible per year, so it is no wonder that we get chewed up and spit out by the world when we try to relate our faith to those living around us.

This webpage includes highlights of the plans that Discipleship Journal offers. They are all free and downloadable off the web: http://www.navpress.com/Magazines/DJ/BibleReadingPlans.asp

The main plans Discipleship Journal offers are:

1. The 5 x 5 x 5 Reading Plan located at: http://www.navpress.com/Assets/PDF/Magazines/DJ/5x5x5_BRP.pdf
This plan is a New Testament reading plan that only requires 5 minutes a day for 5 days per week. If you haven’t tried a Bible reading plan before or have never committed yourself to reading the Bible daily this is a good plan. It requires minimal amount of time to make it through the New Testament.

2. The Book At A Time Reading Plan located at: http://www.navpress.com/Assets/PDF/Magazines/DJ/Brp2.pdf
This plan takes you straight through from Genesis through Revelation in a year by reading 6 days per week, two readings per day. It requires a little more time and dedication (3-5 chapters per day), but still helps keep you on track. The plan is printed out on a paper and folded to insert into your Bible.

3. My favorite and the one I will do again next year is the Original Bible Reading Plan located here: http://www.navpress.com/Magazines/DJ/OriginalBibleReadingPlan.asp?opt=old
There are PDF and Word versions for you to download. The Original Plan gives you four readings per day; one each from Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament, and Gospels. The amount of reading is also between 3 and 5 chapters per day. The plan uses 25 reading days per month, so there is time to get caught up if you fall behind. I like this plan because it keeps me fresh from reading from four different places.

One of the cool things about the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plans is that they are dated, so if something happens and you miss a few days you can pick right back up and start the program again.

Take care and God bless you as you begin the journey into god’s Word. If you care to join me please let me know in the comments section below and we can keep a running dialog going all year.