Every day is a good day to develop good habits. Many Christians I talk to long for a way to develop better spiritual habits, especially related to systematic Bible study and regular prayer. For about eight years during my first years in ministry, I read the New Testament through each month. I developed a reading schedule and followed it diligently. I challenged myself to read the entire Bible through each year. I confess that for many years I failed in this effort–until I developed a plan. Now I keep a Bible reading schedule in my Bible and completing the reading is much easier. Earlier this year, I read the Spanish New Testament through over a two-month period. I challenged myself to read a certain number of pages each day as I read through the NT books consecutively. Such efforts require a constant awareness of the Bible reading task and use of every spare moment. The value of having a reading plan is that we know what we are supposed to do with those spare moments that come our way during the day. Having a reading plan keeps Bible study at the forefront of our thinking. I will be the first to admit that such Bible reading and Bible study is difficult without a plan. The details of the plan and the way it works are less important than having a plan (although some plans are too ambitious and one becomes discouraged when one rapidly falls behind in the reading schedule).
During 2011, I am web-publishing a Bible reading and devotional guide designed to read through the entire New Testament in a year. The devotional guide uses a unique schedule with readings assigned only five days each week. This gives two days each week for catching up and for alternate devotional readings (such as the Psalms or Proverbs, or assigned readings from church Bible classes, etc.). This approach uses five days each week, 52 weeks each year, to read the 260 chapters of the New Testament (5 x 52 = 260). The devotional guide provides an overview of many of the chapters with thematic explanations and summaries, as well as an alternative Bible reading from the chapter for those who may not have time to read the entire chapter. The guide also provides questions and ideas for personal reflections along with a brief prayer. For those who would like to explore this approach further, you may check out my Devotional Index. I plan to republish the guide in 2012 with a slightly different reading order and some editing.
You may also find helpful ideas for developing a reading plan in the blogs which are included in the Bible Study category. (You may follow the link, see category lists further down the page, or click on the Bible Study category link at the bottom of this blog, depending on which “blog view” you are using). I encourage you to begin now to develop your plan for 2012. Choosing a plan and developing good habits during the last few weeks of this year will make next year’s efforts much more rewarding. May God bless you in your efforts to hide his word in your heart!