Receiving daily intake of the Word of God is vital for the spiritual health of any Christian. One of the ways to create the habit of being in the Word and also to expose yourself to all of the Word of God and not just your favourite portions is by using a Bible Reading Plan.
January 1st marks the beginning of a new year and the beginning of a new decade. It is the perfect time to evaluate your current reading habits and determine to dig deeper into God’s Word during 2011.
Here is a list of Bible Reading Plans that may help:
52 Week Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year, with each day of the week dedicated to a different genre; Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy, and Gospels.
5x5x5 Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the New Testament in a year, reading Monday to Friday. Weekends are set aside for reflection and other reading. Especially beneficial if you’re new to a daily discipline of Bible reading.
Bible Reading Chart [WWW]
Not technically a “plan”, but have total freedom and control with this minimalistic, yet beautifully designed, Bible Reading Chart to track what you have read over 2011.
Chronological Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year in the order the events occurred chronologically.
The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year. Four chapters a day beginning in Genesis, Psalms, Matthew and Acts.
ESV Daily Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year taking a reading from each of four lists; Psalms & Wisdom Literature, Pentateuch & History of Israel, Chronicles & Prophets, and Gospels & Epistles.
Professor Grant Horner’s Bible Reading System [PDF / NEW Bookmarks + .PSD File]
Read through all the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters 4-5 times, the OT wisdom literature six times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the OT History and Prophetic books about 1.5 times each year.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan [WWW]
Read through the New Testament and Psalms twice and the Old Testament once in a year. Also contains Don Carson’s modified version spread over two years.
Straight Through the Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read straight through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, in a year.
Tabletalk Bible in a Year [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year. Two readings each day; one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.
The Legacy Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year. What makes this plan different is that it doesn’t have set readings for each day. Instead, it has set books for each month. The aim is to give you more flexibility, but also to ground you in “a book” and its message.
Two-Year Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible over two years, with Psalms and Proverbs being read four times during those two years.
It’s not so important which Bible Reading Plan you select, but rather that you are reading your Bible. May God be glorified and you edified as you immerse yourself in God’s self-revelation to mankind.
So which Bible Reading Plan will you use in 2011?
If you used one in 2010, which one and will you be using it again next year?
Do you have a favourite plan not in the list?
Leave a comment, discuss it on Facebook, or send me on a tweet on Twitter.
One of the approaches I took in 2010 was a Bible in 90 days plan which I successfully completed. While I wouldn’t recommend such a quick read through being your only approach because you tend to miss some detail, I think it does have some merit to do occasionally. You get the bigger picture easier and don’t get so bogged down in the harder sections. It also helps your discipline because you don’t wanna fall behind with that much to read every day!
I used the ESV Study Bible Plan, and I liked it a lot. This
year, I’m using the M’Cheyne plan, along with D.A. Carson’s book on
it, For the Love of God.
Professor Grant Horner’s system, in my opinion, is the best system around. Yes, there are 10 chapters of reading per day, which sounds like quite a bit at first. But when you are reading from 10 different books each day, it is actually easier to read (because of the variety).
I have to echo Ethan. I started Professor Grant Horner’s
system abot 3 months ago and it’s by far the best system I’ve ever
used. I was a little concerned about reading 10 chapters a day but
it really is quite easy when they are from 10 different
books.
I’ve tried a few times to complete one of the reading
plans, but regretfully, I have not. I tried to keep up with Dr.
Horner’s plan and I am curious to try M’Cheyne’s reading plan.
Sometimes I feel too ambitious and want to go all out for reading
the bible in 90 days, but I know that it’s just unrealistic for me.
One of these will be my focus for 2011.
Excellent. Thank you. I’m going to look at all the ones I’m not familiar with.
Jeff
I agree with Joanna. This is a great thing to do. You remember a lot of the Bible for a while after that. I did it chronologically and getting to the beginning of Luke was like reaching the summit of a mountain and looking over it. Incredible. Also, the only thing you’re reading is the Bible, or at least it’s the vast majority of it.
Jeff
I chose to read the Bible in alphabetical order by book.
(Acts, Amos, etc.) I also chose to read all the notes and
background information in the Lutheran Study Bible. I wish icould
say that I’m close to finishing, but as of December 29, I’m only on
Psalm 1.
I’ve used the Bible in a Year (BIAY.org). It was simple (they’ve redone their site recently) and everything was emailed to me. Very nice. This year I think I might do the 90 day program.
Thanks all for your comments. It is terrific to read of the different ways you are digging into the Word of God.
I did a 90 day program (I divided the chapters by 90 and just began reading Gen->Rev) a few years ago. It was well worth it, and did bring the whole Bible together.
I did Horner’s System in 2009.
This year I used M’Cheyne’s Reading Plan.
For 2011 I think I will stick with M’Cheyne’s, but maybe reduce it to the two-year program. I want to spend more time considering, praying through, and applying what I’m reading each day. I know I will return to Horner’s (or at least a modified version) again – and many times – in the future.
I also think I may select a Psalm each month. Each day in that month I will read the Psalm and begin doing my own further study and application of it. Over the year that is only 12 psalms, but I know I’ll benefit from it and I will be grounded in those 12 better than all the others. Who knows, that may be a task I continue every month for many years to come.
My church distributes the Discipleship Journal one above, which I like because of the 25 readings per month feature. It’s nice to have that little bit of grace.
And Bible reading plans are good, but also you might want to consider confessional reading plans, of which I offer two:
Westminster in one year
Westminster and Three Forms in one year
I am unable to open the .PSD file for the new bookmarks. Can it be converted to another file type or can you suggest a resolution?
Thanks
Thanks for the list. I hope it is ok for me to share the list on my church’s blog!
RubeRad: Very true. I did a 40 day program to read the Westminster Standards recently. Here is the blog post.
Bob: The .PSD is a Photoshop file for people who wish to edit them. You still have access to the images if you want them to print out even if you don’t have Adobe Photoshop.
Ben: Yeah that’s fine. If there is opportunity, I’d appreciate a link to my blog.
I really to pray about all of this before I say I am going to start anything. I really desire to be reading my bible chronologically this year. I’m excited to possibly start one, Lord willing, because I’ve never done a bible reading plan before!
Thanks for this resource list; my wife and I decided we want to try a 2-year plan this year (and next!) because we’re both tired of starting in Genesis and crapping out in June. So we checked out both of the 2-year plans linked here, and chose the M’Cheyne/Carson one. It’s simpler (whole chapters), smaller (1 pg/yr), smaller (Psalms only once per year), and it’s got D.A. Carson’s name attached to it. (The most attractive plus about the Fee/Stuart plan is the grace days)
So anyways, in 2011 my wife and I are doing Year 2 of the M’Cheyne/Carson 2-year plan. This way we get to read the back half of the O.T. for once! (And we still get the whole N.T.) And hopefully the half-load will help us persevere.
I really like to recieve some insight in my mail everyday from you….may God Richly Bless You.
Pau