Do any one use bible reading plans?

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Friends of Jesus

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As I start the new year I try to make it a goal to read cover to cover in the year. Last year, i used One Year Bible Blog which is very good. It takes each day of reading from the old and the new, plus from psalms and proverbs. Each day there is a chap on there zoning in on each of the day's readings and being recorded as a daily blog. This year I am following that plus the other plan i have started is from bible gate way Bible Reading Plans - Beginning - NIV - Today's Reading
This starts of in Genesis and each day you read between 3 -4 chapters a day. (Today it will be Jan 2nd but you can step back on any you have missed).

Anyways, what are your thoughts on bible reading plans? Do you use them or do you follow your own routines etc?
 

Pearl

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As I start the new year I try to make it a goal to read cover to cover in the year. Last year, i used One Year Bible Blog which is very good. It takes each day of reading from the old and the new, plus from psalms and proverbs. Each day there is a chap on there zoning in on each of the day's readings and being recorded as a daily blog. This year I am following that plus the other plan i have started is from bible gate way Bible Reading Plans - Beginning - NIV - Today's Reading
This starts of in Genesis and each day you read between 3 -4 chapters a day. (Today it will be Jan 2nd but you can step back on any you have missed).

Anyways, what are your thoughts on bible reading plans? Do you use them or do you follow your own routines etc?
I have tried following a number of bible reading plans - Bible in year, and chronological plans, but have never got very far. I find that the bible in small doses, like a daily devotional, is better for me as I can take more in. At the moment I have three which I use at different times of the day. I tend to get too bogged down reading long passages or full chapter. Often when a short passage is used in a devotional, I will read the full chapter. This works well for me
 

Friends of Jesus

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I have tried following a number of bible reading plans - Bible in year, and chronological plans, but have never got very far. I find that the bible in small doses, like a daily devotional, is better for me as I can take more in. At the moment I have three which I use at different times of the day. I tend to get too bogged down reading long passages or full chapter. Often when a short passage is used in a devotional, I will read the full chapter. This works well for me

I like the devotionals too. My wife and I read the 'Our Daily Bread Devotional' together and then read the whole chapter of where the readings come from. Your idea is great and at least you get to follow something that you can daily commit too.
 

Pearl

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I like the devotionals too. My wife and I read the 'Our Daily Bread Devotional' together and then read the whole chapter of where the readings come from. Your idea is great and at least you get to follow something that you can daily commit too.
That's the one I use and I have a Joyce Meyer one and one called pray the Psalms as well as a 365 day one about the Holy Spirit a Bob Gass and a Selwyn Hughes which I have used in the past but have kept to use again.
 
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Wrangler

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I just finished One Year Bible Online.

Before that, I used the reading plan that came with my Every Man's Bible NLT.

Before that, my wife gave me a Devotional Bible automatically broken up into daily reading plans. Unfortunately, it is NKJV translation, which was essentially unreadable to me. Besides Scripture, one thing that was very nice about it was that it had a modern story that applied one of the principles from the OT, Psalms, Proverbs or NT, which was very memorable.

Hope this helps.
 
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Ferris Bueller

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Anyways, what are your thoughts on bible reading plans? Do you use them or do you follow your own routines etc?
I, personally, have never gotten anything really enlightening or useful out of a Bible reading plan or devotional. I recommend picking out a chapter and reading it in a quiet place, uninterrupted, for 10 to 15 minutes a day. If the chapter you've picked isn't pulling you in, pick another one. Quality over quantity rules the day. Don't try to squeeze the whole Bible into a one year plan. I don't think you'll get much out of it if you end up trying to meet a deadline.
 

Lambano

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I have tried following a number of bible reading plans - Bible in year, and chronological plans, but have never got very far. I find that the bible in small doses, like a daily devotional, is better for me as I can take more in. At the moment I have three which I use at different times of the day. I tend to get too bogged down reading long passages or full chapter. Often when a short passage is used in a devotional, I will read the full chapter. This works well for me
Yeah, same here.

I was once in a Bible Study group that was doing the UMC's Disciple "Read the whole Bible in one year" program that had daily reading assignments. It burned me out on Bible study. By the time we got to Revelation, I didn't care if God wins in the end; I just wanted to get it over with. That program was spiritually counterproductive.

Small doses work better - for me.
 

Ferris Bueller

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When you read the Bible, deliberately seek to understand every sentence. Note word choice. Compare it to other translations if something piques your interest with a '?'. And as you go along keep each sentence in mind as you go to the next. The Bible is a textbook and should be studied slowly and deliberately, but comfortably. No cramming allowed. Don't set deadlines. Learn. And if something chaffs against something you've believed and have been taught SEARCH IT OUT FOR YOURSELF. Don't just assume your denomination or your teacher got it right.
 
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Ferris Bueller

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I remember one time studying up on Abraham and how he was justified by faith. I just didn't get how it even remotely compared to how we are justified by faith. I read it over and over, deliberately seeking insight, and <BOOM> there it was. God rewards the diligent gold miner.

And don't be afraid to come out of the mine empty handed. Too much false doctrine comes from not being able to just say 'I don't know, I can't see anything, yet'. Instead, people seem to think they have to have something and what they come up with is often just plain false.
 
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Wrangler

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Yeah, same here.

I was once in a Bible Study group that was doing the UMC's Disciple "Read the whole Bible in one year" program that had daily reading assignments. It burned me out on Bible study. By the time we got to Revelation, I didn't care if God wins in the end; I just wanted to get it over with. That program was spiritually counterproductive.

Small doses work better - for me.
I did read a headline of a 2 year reading plan and why they are better.
 
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Wrangler

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I remember one time studying up on Abraham and how he was justified by faith. I just didn't get how it even remotely compared to how we are justified by faith. I read it over and over, deliberately seeking insight, and <BOOM> there it was. God rewards the diligent gold miner.

I call this "Spirit led" reading.

I have been deeply into the Bible over the last 3 years, since my wife got me into it. I tend to do 1 year devotional reading in the morning + "Spirit led" reading in the evening. However, I confess that I am beginning to feel a bit burnt out.

I think the reason is that I bought the 2017 Bible of the Year, the NSRV Cultural Bible. It literally has 10,000 footnotes, most of which are too academic for my taste.
 

Ferris Bueller

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Yeah, same here.

I was once in a Bible Study group that was doing the UMC's Disciple "Read the whole Bible in one year" program that had daily reading assignments. It burned me out on Bible study. By the time we got to Revelation, I didn't care if God wins in the end; I just wanted to get it over with. That program was spiritually counterproductive.

Small doses work better - for me.
I learned the Bible from sitting in my car during lunch at work out in the middle of no where. I needed something to do because it only took a couple of minutes to eat my sandwich, lol. Just 10 or 15 minutes a day in uninterrupted silence for two years and, wow, I was learning stuff!
 

Ferris Bueller

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I confess that I am beginning to feel a bit burnt out.
In the world that means 'take a break'. But for some reason in the church that means 'full steam ahead', lol. IMO, nothing wrong with taking a spiritual break. Continue to read, but read less, and perhaps more casually.

Don't tell God but there were days when I skipped my lunch time reading at work to just relax, lol.
 

Ferris Bueller

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I just now had to put my hands over my face and start crying thinking about how good God has been to me all these years in showing himself to me in the pages of my Bible. My time in the Bible, just me and God, has been the bedrock of my life. A somewhat difficult life. And God has been there every inch of the way in the pages of my Bible. Thank you, God.

I want everyone to have that same experience. I try to lure people into that same revelation so they can see God and experience him too. You, your Bible, and the Holy Spirit. Then bring what happens in that time to the fellowship of other believers and sharpen up what you're learning.
 

Ferris Bueller

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I think the reason is that I bought the 2017 Bible of the Year, the NSRV Cultural Bible. It literally has 10,000 footnotes, most of which are too academic for my taste.
Yep, I agree.
Throw out those notes and write your own.
I'm just one of those people that believes you have to do your own learning when it comes to the Bible. After reading it for a while you begin to make connections with other passages you've read and you start maintaining your own catalog of footnotes.

I'm not dissing other people's notes altogether. Some can be very useful. Especially when it comes to language issues. And we certainly need teachers. But spiritual learning is an individual thing. It's a relationship. And we all have our different relationships with God. So let him be your personal tutor and don't let yourself get pushed along by other people's notes and sermons, etc. Write your own. Then bring them to class and talk about them and sharpen them with other like-minded believers.