Did you realize that most Christians have never read the whole Bible? Yet, this is God's Love letter to each one of us!
Do you spend time reading God's Word?
Have you ever read through the entire Bible in one year?
If you are like me, you may have begun a daily reading plan in the past but never actually completed your goal within one year. Once I got side-tracked, I found it difficult to get back on course or get caught up. Soon the idea to read through the Bible seemed too overwhelming to complete within the original time frame and I walked away from my goal. In subsequent years, I reconsidered returning to this goal, but thought it would be too challenging so I put it off. I lacked a successful mindset and plan to have success.
I am grateful to be at a different place in my life as well as in my relationship with the Lord, and I am on track to read through the entire Bible this year. I would like to invite you to join me on an exciting adventure to read through the entire Bible in 2012 together.
I have a few things in mind to help me have success. I think they will help you, too.
First, I am not looking at this as a way to accomplish some great goal or to consider myself to be super spiritual. I am looking at it as a plan to spend regular time in God's Word. Without a plan, I typically lose track of time and and other things tend to get my time and attention.
Secondly, I regularly spend time listening for the Father's heart. He longs to have intimate time with His children every day. He wants you and me to come to Him with our fears and challenges so He can help us with them. And, He wants us to come to Him with our hopes and dreams, too. His plans for our lives are some much greater than we can hope or imagine. He longs for us to spend time with Him so we can have the insight, understanding and resources to accomplish our dreams.
When we walk with Him, those dreams are His dreams for us; He put them in our hearts. He wants us to succeed. In fact, He is cheering us on!
Too often, we attempt to accomplish things on our own; in our own strength and understanding. When we fail or when we are not able to see our dreams become a reality, we become discouraged. We might tell oursleves that we had grandiose ideas or we believe the lies the enemy of our soul wants us to believe because he doesn't want us to fulfill the call upon our lives. Either way, we are left with a sense of disappointment and live an unfulfilled life.
The Bible is filled with true stories of people who went through all sorts of challenges. Some had incredible blessings and success while others suffered tremendous heartache and challenges. When we read God's Word, we are reminded of how much He loves us. We can learn from the mistakes of others. We can be encouraged as we read the words of others who felt similar feelings to our own. We not only read the words that tell His story, we can find ourselves in the story as well! That is the point. God wants us to see that His Word is personal!
As we come to God, with a desire to know Him and be known by Him, He speaks to us through His Word. You may not understand the text you are reading. That is ok. Read it. Ponder it. Ask Him to help you understand it. Ask Him how it relates to you and your own life. The more time you spend reading His Word and interacting with God as you do, the more it will make sense and the closer you will feel to Him. Since it is God's desire to spend time with you and have an intimate relationship with you, you can count on Him showing up when you take the time to ask Him to join you in this way.
My hope is that you have a desire to grow closer to God and to spend more time in His Word. Perhaps you are not currently doing anything to grow closer to Him, or you simply don't know what to do. Spending time reading your Bible and talking with Him about what you read is a wonderful way to get started.
Whether or not you chose to read through the Bible in one year, spending time reading your Bible and talking with God about what you read is a wonderful way to get closer to Him. You will realize that your faith is growing like never before. You will receive daily reminders of how much He loves you; how much you matter to Him; how greatly He values you! Spending time with God in this manner will help to develop self-discipline and will soon become a very precious part of your day.
Regardless if you choose to read the first thing in the morning, the last thing before you go to bed or any other free moments you have, you will soon come to enjoy and look forward to this special time reading God's Word and having intimacy with Him.
Although you should read at your own pace and on your own schedule, it will be helpful for you to actually set aside this time on your calendar each day; otherwise other things will easily steal your precious time.
So what is my plan for success?
1. Set the Goal!
* Research shows that people who actually set goals and and write them down, tend to be far more successful at attaining their goals.
* Regardless of what your goal is, it needs to be specific and measurable.
* My goal is to read the entire Bible within 1 calendar year.
2. Make the Goal Public!
* Research also shows that making your goal public adds accountability and increases the likelihood of successfully achieving your goal.
* It also reminds me that I am serious about achieving this goal and I want the support of others to make this become a reality.
* Habakkuk 2:2 (Amplified)
And the Lord answered me and said, write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by.
* I have intentionally told you, as well as my closest friends that I intend to read the entire Bible this year, and I have invited you to join me so that I have your support. When I am tired, busy, or don't feel well, you have my permission to check in with me and remind me of how I REALLY want to be spending my time.
3. Find a Good Supporting Resource.
* The daily reading plan that I will be using this year is structured in a way that will take the average reader 20-30 minutes per day to read through the entire Bible within one calendar year. It also includes one day per week for either review or a day to catch up if I have become behind or miss a day.
* An organization called "Family Matters" has a resource available which will email you an "assignment" for the day. Otherwise, you can print out the reading plan and keep it in your Bible.
* If you don't have a Bible, or want to read in a different translation than you currently have, you can find numerous translations at www.Biblegateway.com. www.Biblegateway.com is a free resource.
4. Set Periodic Checkpoints
* This may be the most important thing for you to keep up your momentum throughout the entire year and help you successfully achieve your goal.
* Set a rule of thumb, that on the first of each month, you need to be caught up on your reading. You may find that certain portions are easier than others to read and to stay on schedule. Or you may have life circumstances which interfere with your ability to continue reading at the set pace.
* Don't let yourself get too far behind. Once you do, you begin to justify why you didn't really mean it when you set that goal.
* Regardless of the issue or the goal involved, by setting periodic checkpoints, it will allow you to make the necessary adjustments and get back on track. There is no need to beat yourself up or to completely abandon your goals when you can make this sort of adjustment.
As I look forward to 2012, with excitement and anticipation it is because I know that God has a
plan for my life. When I spend intimate time with Him and spend time reading His Word, I am encouraged. I am reminded of who He says I am and I am able to do the things He is calling me to do, because we are doing them together. My hope is that your relationship with God is more intimate and personal in 2012 and that as you walk with Him, you realize how much He loves and values you!
Do you spend time reading God's Word?
Have you ever read through the entire Bible in one year?
If you are like me, you may have begun a daily reading plan in the past but never actually completed your goal within one year. Once I got side-tracked, I found it difficult to get back on course or get caught up. Soon the idea to read through the Bible seemed too overwhelming to complete within the original time frame and I walked away from my goal. In subsequent years, I reconsidered returning to this goal, but thought it would be too challenging so I put it off. I lacked a successful mindset and plan to have success.
I am grateful to be at a different place in my life as well as in my relationship with the Lord, and I am on track to read through the entire Bible this year. I would like to invite you to join me on an exciting adventure to read through the entire Bible in 2012 together.
I have a few things in mind to help me have success. I think they will help you, too.
First, I am not looking at this as a way to accomplish some great goal or to consider myself to be super spiritual. I am looking at it as a plan to spend regular time in God's Word. Without a plan, I typically lose track of time and and other things tend to get my time and attention.
Secondly, I regularly spend time listening for the Father's heart. He longs to have intimate time with His children every day. He wants you and me to come to Him with our fears and challenges so He can help us with them. And, He wants us to come to Him with our hopes and dreams, too. His plans for our lives are some much greater than we can hope or imagine. He longs for us to spend time with Him so we can have the insight, understanding and resources to accomplish our dreams.
When we walk with Him, those dreams are His dreams for us; He put them in our hearts. He wants us to succeed. In fact, He is cheering us on!
Too often, we attempt to accomplish things on our own; in our own strength and understanding. When we fail or when we are not able to see our dreams become a reality, we become discouraged. We might tell oursleves that we had grandiose ideas or we believe the lies the enemy of our soul wants us to believe because he doesn't want us to fulfill the call upon our lives. Either way, we are left with a sense of disappointment and live an unfulfilled life.
The Bible is filled with true stories of people who went through all sorts of challenges. Some had incredible blessings and success while others suffered tremendous heartache and challenges. When we read God's Word, we are reminded of how much He loves us. We can learn from the mistakes of others. We can be encouraged as we read the words of others who felt similar feelings to our own. We not only read the words that tell His story, we can find ourselves in the story as well! That is the point. God wants us to see that His Word is personal!
As we come to God, with a desire to know Him and be known by Him, He speaks to us through His Word. You may not understand the text you are reading. That is ok. Read it. Ponder it. Ask Him to help you understand it. Ask Him how it relates to you and your own life. The more time you spend reading His Word and interacting with God as you do, the more it will make sense and the closer you will feel to Him. Since it is God's desire to spend time with you and have an intimate relationship with you, you can count on Him showing up when you take the time to ask Him to join you in this way.
My hope is that you have a desire to grow closer to God and to spend more time in His Word. Perhaps you are not currently doing anything to grow closer to Him, or you simply don't know what to do. Spending time reading your Bible and talking with Him about what you read is a wonderful way to get started.
Whether or not you chose to read through the Bible in one year, spending time reading your Bible and talking with God about what you read is a wonderful way to get closer to Him. You will realize that your faith is growing like never before. You will receive daily reminders of how much He loves you; how much you matter to Him; how greatly He values you! Spending time with God in this manner will help to develop self-discipline and will soon become a very precious part of your day.
Regardless if you choose to read the first thing in the morning, the last thing before you go to bed or any other free moments you have, you will soon come to enjoy and look forward to this special time reading God's Word and having intimacy with Him.
Although you should read at your own pace and on your own schedule, it will be helpful for you to actually set aside this time on your calendar each day; otherwise other things will easily steal your precious time.
So what is my plan for success?
1. Set the Goal!
* Research shows that people who actually set goals and and write them down, tend to be far more successful at attaining their goals.
* Regardless of what your goal is, it needs to be specific and measurable.
* My goal is to read the entire Bible within 1 calendar year.
2. Make the Goal Public!
* Research also shows that making your goal public adds accountability and increases the likelihood of successfully achieving your goal.
* It also reminds me that I am serious about achieving this goal and I want the support of others to make this become a reality.
* Habakkuk 2:2 (Amplified)
And the Lord answered me and said, write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by.
* I have intentionally told you, as well as my closest friends that I intend to read the entire Bible this year, and I have invited you to join me so that I have your support. When I am tired, busy, or don't feel well, you have my permission to check in with me and remind me of how I REALLY want to be spending my time.
3. Find a Good Supporting Resource.
* The daily reading plan that I will be using this year is structured in a way that will take the average reader 20-30 minutes per day to read through the entire Bible within one calendar year. It also includes one day per week for either review or a day to catch up if I have become behind or miss a day.
* An organization called "Family Matters" has a resource available which will email you an "assignment" for the day. Otherwise, you can print out the reading plan and keep it in your Bible.
* If you don't have a Bible, or want to read in a different translation than you currently have, you can find numerous translations at www.Biblegateway.com. www.Biblegateway.com is a free resource.
4. Set Periodic Checkpoints
* This may be the most important thing for you to keep up your momentum throughout the entire year and help you successfully achieve your goal.
* Set a rule of thumb, that on the first of each month, you need to be caught up on your reading. You may find that certain portions are easier than others to read and to stay on schedule. Or you may have life circumstances which interfere with your ability to continue reading at the set pace.
* Don't let yourself get too far behind. Once you do, you begin to justify why you didn't really mean it when you set that goal.
* Regardless of the issue or the goal involved, by setting periodic checkpoints, it will allow you to make the necessary adjustments and get back on track. There is no need to beat yourself up or to completely abandon your goals when you can make this sort of adjustment.
As I look forward to 2012, with excitement and anticipation it is because I know that God has a
plan for my life. When I spend intimate time with Him and spend time reading His Word, I am encouraged. I am reminded of who He says I am and I am able to do the things He is calling me to do, because we are doing them together. My hope is that your relationship with God is more intimate and personal in 2012 and that as you walk with Him, you realize how much He loves and values you!
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