Scripture Reading Plan 2009

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AThornquist

AThornquist

Puritan Board Doctor
Do any of you have a Bible reading plan for 2009? Here's the thing: I really, really want to grow in Christ and in the Word of God this next year. I'm trying to figure out if I should attempt a one year plan with complimentary reading (commentaries, various books), a 6 month plan with less complimentary reading, or a 3 or 4 month plan with very little to no complimentary reading.

Most (if not all) of you are much wiser than I am. If you were in my position, what would you do?

(I was also considering doing a 3/4 month plan as an overview, then going through the rest of the year with complimentary reading as a better understanding over the primer. Oh yeah, and I wanted to do the Calvin's Institutes reading plan as well... oy)
 
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Continuing to use the Robert M M'Cheyne calendar, adapted as a two-year plan Trinitarian Bible Society.

For 2009 we will use First Year, left hand column readings for family worship and right hand column for private worship.
 
I'd go with reading the Bible in one year. I think it's a good, manageable pace, which helps you keep things in context. I keep to straight Bible reading with no commentaries. Of course, in sermon prep I use those. Works for me.
 
I'll be using M'Cheyne's plan this year. I alternate each year between reading straight through and M'Cheyne's plan. I'm considering a purchase af DA Carson's companion for M'Cheyne's plan. Below is a link to different plans:

M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
 
Thank you for your input, guys. As far as commentaries are concerned, I sometimes make the mistake of reading them before I even try to discern Biblical truth myself. Hmmm I think I may read through the Word without any commentary first. While I want to go deeper, I hate the idea of having others meditate on the Word "for me."
And M'Cheyne's plan is interesting. In my estimation it is similar to a one year plan in its manageability and realisticness(?)! Especially with something like a 3 or 4 month plan, there is just too great of a chance that I won't have time to do all of my reading.
 
AThornquist said:
Thank you for your input, guys. As far as commentaries are concerned, I sometimes make the mistake of reading them before I even try to discern Biblical truth myself. Hmmm I think I may read through the Word without any commentary first. While I want to go deeper, I hate the idea of having others meditate on the Word "for me."
And M'Cheyne's plan is interesting. In my estimation it is similar to a one year plan in its manageability and realisticness(?)! Especially with something like a 3 or 4 month plan, there is just too great of a chance that I won't have time to do all of my reading.
Click to expand...

Is this wrong? Maybe it's just a matter of balance, but I have to overcome my tendency to try to figure things out on my own.
 
I suppose it depends. My issue is that if I read a commentary first, I will be much more likely to understand a passage through the lens of that commentator and not purely on the text. I at least know that Scripture is completely right. Commentators disagree among themselves on some things, which means that some are right and others are, of course, wrong. That is why I feel the way I do.
 
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I use a Salvation-History approach (basically chronological).
Here's the one-year version (approximately three chapters per day) as a Google Docs webpage or Box.net options; and
Here's the three-year version (approximately one chapter per day) as a Google Docs webpage or Box.net options.

For details about the arrangement and assumptions behind it see Bible Reading Plans
 
Last year I read the Bible through in a year and it is really good, at least for me, it helps You contain the big picture.
I wanted to do te same thing this year but problems got in the way, but I am planning on doing it agian in 2009.
 
I use M'Cheyne, though I go much more quickly if I just read straight through. One of the nice things about M'Cheyne is that it slows me down, actually, so that I have time to meditate on the brief passages that are included each day. There's a very nice configurable RSS feed that can be included in blogs, like I've done on mine (check the right hand column). It gets updated daily with links for the readings to a range of choices - mine is set to the ESV Study Bible page, so I just have to go to my blog and can read the Scriptures for the day. I've got one of those Trinitarian Bible Society daily calendars that have the M'Cheyne readings printed in them along with daily spots for appointments, etc - but the RSS really is my main source.
 
I read through in approximately a year but allow some flexibility.
If you're rather new to this and are eager to grow I think you too might benefit as I did.
I begin Genesis on Jan 1 and read as long as my daily schedule will allow, reading also the footnotes in the Study Bible which are so informative and helpful and often read cross references as needed. I'm running behind this year as today I finished Hebrews but I have received much blessing and growth from doing this for the past 12 years and am reluctant to try a more regimented plan.
 
Some people like to read so many [Bible] chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart! --Charles Haddon Spurgeon
 
JM said:
Some people like to read so many [Bible] chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart! --Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Click to expand...

Nothing to say we can't do both...we choose those things we want to do.
 
The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.-- A. W. Tozer

-----Added 12/25/2008 at 10:14:45 EST-----

Ivan said:
JM said:
Some people like to read so many [Bible] chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart! --Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Click to expand...

Nothing to say we can't do both...we choose those things we want to do.
Click to expand...

Absolutely!

http://www.bibleplan.org/
 
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Now the church has not received the Scripture from God in order simply to rest on it, and still less in order to bury this treasure in earth. On the contrary the church is called to preserve the Word of God, to explain it, to preach it, apply it, translate it, spread it abroad, recommend it, and defend it – in a word, to cause the thought s of God, laid down in Scripture, to triumph everywhere and at all times over the thoughts of man. All of the work to which the church is called is the effort at, and the ministration of, the Word of God. It is a service of this Word of God when it is preached in the assembly of believers, is interpreted, and applied, when it is shared in the signs of the covenant, and is maintained in discipline. And in a larger sense much more is a part of and parcel of this service of the Word: this, for example, that in our own hearts and lives, in our profession and business, in house and field and office, in science and art, in state and community, in works of mercy and missions, and in all spheres and ways of life, this Word be applied, worked out, and made to rule.

(Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith: A Survey of Christian Doctrine, Chap. VIII: Scripture and Confession, pg. 118)
 
I find using the likes of M'cheynes calendar year after year is that on 1st Jan you will always be reading the same verses.

I developed a scheme of dividing the bible into 3 sections and reading each section concurrently. There is an OT cycle, Wisdom cycle and NT cycle. The OT cycle involves starting at Genesis and reading 2 chapters a day. You would complete this by the end of Nov and the next day just start at Gen 1 again.

The wisdom cycle I would read
Ps 1-41
Job (normally I would read a speech a day rather than a chapter a day)
Ps 42-72
Prov
Ps 73-89
Eccl
Ps 90-106
Song of Sol
Ps 107-150. sometimes I read Ps 119 as one psalm, others times as 22 individual psalms
This takes around 230 days to complete this cycle.

The NT cycle (1 chap per day)
Luke
Acts
Romans
Mark
1 & 2 Cor
Gal
Eph
Matthew
Phil
Col
1 & 2 Thess
1 & 2 Tim
Tit
Heb
John
James
1 & 2 Pet
1, 2 & 3 John
Jude
Rev
This keeps aprox 40 chapters betwen each gospel reading and takes around 160 days to complete.

If you begin on 1st Jan you would read Gen 1-2; Ps 1; Lk 1 whereas the following 1st Jan it would be different chapters altogether. It is quite flexible for it can be stopped for the likes of the annual holiday where I like to concentrate on a particular biblical theme for a couple of weeks.

I would also tend to read morning, lunch time and evening and every two years would rotate reading on the 1st Jan so that if I read OT in the morning I would then start reading it at night etc

An additional way of reading the bible is to read one book in one sitting. It takes aprox 2 minuters per chapter so 2-2 1/2 hours should be enough for the bigger books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah etc whilst an hour would cover Matthew and Luke in the NT. The advantage of reading books in 1 sitting is that you can make conections that you might otherwise have missed if you read just a chapter a day. You may for instance read something in Lk 19 and connect to Lk 5 whilst if you reading a chapter a day 2 weeks would have passed and you may have forgotten.
 
Ivan said:
JM said:
Some people like to read so many [Bible] chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart! --Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Click to expand...

Nothing to say we can't do both...we choose those things we want to do.
Click to expand...

:agree:

Having a structured plan exposes us to the entire Bible in a year's time, combined with meditating upon smaller portions so that we get depth of understanding. Meditation passages could be chosen from sermon texts on the Lord's Day, combined with smaller portions from your daily reading throughout the week.
 
I really like the M'Cheyne plan also. I made this page my homepage to keep me from surfing before I have done my Scripture reading. I just read all four chapters each day for private reading because we already have a different course we are on for family worship. I really like it, it does not take long to read four chapters, only about 1/2 hour. I like that it takes you through the OT once and the the NT and Psalms twice in one year. :book2:
 
I have not used a developed reading plan up to this point. Rather, I picked up the habit of reading Scripture daily many years ago and it just happens. At my regular pace, I go through God's word about every eight months, give or take a month.

I suppose that an annual plan is good as long as it is kept long enough to develop a habit of Scripture reading regardless of an intentional plan- you know you're there when you just don't feel right until you have done your daily reading. Once the habit is there, you're along for a merry ride.

Theognome
 
I've used the 2 year McCheynne plan for several years with good benefit. We also print it in the SRPC bulletin and encourage others to use it. It is good to be able to discuss what one is reading with other members of the church.
 
ESV Study Bible Reading Plan.

In the back of the ESV Study Bible there is Bible Reading Plan.

-----Added 12/27/2008 at 06:30:43 EST-----

Reply to Andrew Thornquist,

You mentioned you wanted to grow in Christ,
if I may be so bold, in addition to reading the Bible,
obedience is the primary way to grow in Christ|

-----Added 12/27/2008 at 06:52:51 EST-----

If anyone is reading challenged as I am, the ESV Study Bible has a listen to option (need to be in Internet Explorer from Microsoft) on its Web site and I follow the text as I listen. It does help.
 
I have been reading 1 chapter of the NT and 3 chapters of the OT each day. You will finish in a little under a year, but I like this method because you get to read from both Testaments throughout the year.
 
Maybe the structured plans don't work for my haphazard mind, but I've always found that I suffer from two things when I try to follow some sort of "through in a year" plan:

1) Not really retaining what I've read, especially when trying to soak up 3 chapters in an OT book of prophecy that makes reference to names of people, cities, etc. that I either haven't read about yet or have forgotten.

2) Once I fall behind, I find myself running to play catch-up and really don't retain what I'm reading!

So for the last few months, I've proceeded by picking one OT and one NT book to read concurrently. I usually read 1-2 NT chapters, which I retain much better because it's so much more familiar to me, and read 2-3 OT chapters. I find it helpful to pick a theme (i.e. names of God, or titles of Christ, or covenant promises) and highlight these as I go through. That forces me to pay attention.

Every night my wife and I read responsively through a Psalm as part of our devotions, so those are included too. I'm still trying to fit Proverbs in there somewhere :)

One thing I also intend to do is to make download lists of important places, people, etc. in the OT so that when I run across a reference to them in my reading, I can quickly remember the significance of the particular king, tribe, prophet, etc. being named.

Hope that helps!
 
I have books that I haven't even read from front to back -BUT- these two look interesting. :book2:

Sympathy of Christ with man by O. Windslow

The design of this volume is to "exhibit and illustrate the practical character
of our Lord's emotional nature - thus linking Him more personally with our
circumstances." The author accomplishes this through a discussion of
topics such as the Sigh of Christ, the Tears of Christ, the Emotion of
Anger in Christ, the Silent Sypathy of Christ, the Emotion of Love in Christ,
the Sensitiveness of Christ to Suffering, and nine other chapters. 426 pp. Cloth-Bound.

But Christ's emotion was not only in sympathy with grief, but He wept also in
sympathy with souls. We think no spectacle presents in idea so vividly the moral sympathy
of the Saviour-His compassion for the lost-as when He wept over Jerusalem. He was on
His way, accompanied by His disciples, to the doomed city. As He reached the brow of
Olivet, it burst in magnificence upon His sight. Its high encircling walls, its costly edifices,
its splendid palaces, its sacred Temple––the central seat of God's chosen people––
towering in holy sublimity above them all, was a spectacle which might have impressed
His mind at any other time with rapt delight. "But when He was come near, He beheld the
city, AND WEPT OVER IT!" And why those tears? He wept because of its impenitence and
unbelief––its rejection and slaying of His prophets––its yet more awful and fearful
rejection and slaying of Himself, "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children
together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" What
must have been its sinfulness, its guilt, its doom, to have made Jesus so sad, to have
wrung those tears from the Son of God! Christ's tears over Jerusalem!––what a life-like
picture of the compassion of Jesus for lost sinners! But more sacred, more precious tears
He afterwards shed when He agonised in Gethsemane, and hung upon the cross. Tears of
blood then gave expression to the deep, tender, loving compassion of His heart for man,
sinful man. And thinkest thou, 0 weeper over thy sins, that this weeping, bleeding Saviour
will reject you if you come to Him? Never! No, never! The tears of Christ, in their mute,
persuasive tenderness, bid you come and be saved What more could Jesus do ?

Tears of Christ
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Gospel Reconciliation by Jeremiah Burroughs

There is not more important issue for any one than how to be right with God.
In this treatise of eighty-one chapter on 2 Corinthians 5:19, 20
("God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself"), Burroughs answers
questions about reconciliation. Christ's atoning work is the only way for fallen
sinners to be reconciled with God. for a finite creature can never satisfy the
justice of an infinite God. Burroughs explains the consequences of our
reconciliation in Christ, showing that this reconciliation is a deep mystery,
that is free, sure, full, honorable firm, and eternal, but also a difficult work,
for we are only saved by divine accomplishment, not by human achievement.

Reformation Heritage Books


"That is vainly made use of by some, to prove that Christ's soul did descend into
Hell, to go and preach to the damned in Hell, but certainly that is a vain conceit, if you
observe the text, you shall find that this is the meaning of it, observe the 20th verse, It
was to those spirits which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long suffering of
God, waited in the days of Noah. Those spirits that did live in the days of Noah, and
Noah's preaching unto them; Now (the text says) they are in prison, Jesus Christ went and
preached to the spirits that were disobedient in the times of Noah, that now are in prison.
How did he go but by his Spirit? By his servant Noah, [by Noah]. The preaching of Noah
was the preaching of Christ."
Click to expand...

Have a good Lord's day,

.
 
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pmkadow said:
Reply to Andrew Thornquist,

You mentioned you wanted to grow in Christ,
if I may be so bold, in addition to reading the Bible,
obedience is the primary way to grow in Christ|
Click to expand...


Obedience. That's a lot harder than just reading da book!
 
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