Start Reading the Bible TODAY!

ENCOURAGEMENTS: August 3, 2022

I always wanted to read the Bible from beginning to end. For so many years, I would start by finding a "Read Your Bible in a Year" guide. I would do good the first few weeks, but then I would be too busy one day or the weekend would go by and I wouldn't get around to reading it and would get off schedule. Feeling defeated and unable to catch up, I would give up and try again the next year. I just wasn't consistent about my Bible reading.

On January 26, 2018, I bought a new Bible. It was a huge, 2,000+ page study Bible with half of the page dedicated to breaking down each verse. I told myself I wouldn't give myself a deadline on when to finish. I would just start in Genesis and take my time making my way to Revelation. Well, it took me a lot longer than I would have liked, but I finally finished my Bible on July 26, 2022! And it's because I started taking my Bible reading more seriously this year.

While, I don't think you have to set a rigid deadline of when to start and finish the Bible, I do think it's important to create and maintain a schedule of being in the Word. For me, my kick in the butt came from a sermon by my incredible Pastor Jay Richards earlier this year. He preached about the importance of growing in the Word and how it's not so much about retaining all the information (because there's a lot of information in the Bible), but it's about seeing the transformation. His sermon challenged me to read my Bible 20 minutes a day. Just 20 minutes a day. So what I would do is set a timer and just see how far I got. I would start my quiet time by praying for God to open my eyes and heart for what it was He wanted to teach me. There were some days I would only read one chapter and other days I would read four. I started to find my quiet time enjoyable in a way I never had before. I felt like I was doing out it of desire versus feeling like it was something I had to do.

The Bible is a book I will read cover to cover for the rest of my life. Right now, I'm back in Genesis, but my new study plan is to read one chapter a day. I want to dig much deeper this go-around, so I have a little notebook that I write down everything that happens in a chapter, things that stand out from the commentary in my study Bible, and how I can apply the chapter to my life. I'm so excited to learn so much more this round!

I write this to encourage you to pull out your Bible today. Maybe it means going out and buying one, maybe it means pulling it out of storage or maybe it's opening the drawer next to the bed. Whatever it means for you, flip to page 1 and pray for God to lay a burning desire in your heart to want to learn from Him. It will change your life!