Family Bible Hour

Daily Bible Reading

First, we will begin practicing daily Bible reading together. While the goal of reading through the Bible in a year is great, sometimes we lose steam and get so far behind that we just stop altogether. No, instead, I want us to focus on establishing a daily Bible-reading practice. We will provide two Bible reading plans for everyone. Each Bible reading plan is 5 times a week. Meaning, you get Saturday and Sunday off (which, really, I hope you use Saturday to prepare for Sunday), or use it as catch-up days. The first Bible reading plan is called the “30-Day Jumpstart Reading Plan.” If you haven’t ever developed the practice of reading your Bible every day, or you have but have lost it, this is a good on-ramp. This 30-day Bible reading plan requires only 10-15 minutes a day, and in 30 days, you will have read the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts (volumes 1 and 2 of Luke). 

When you are done with that plan, we will give you the “45-Day Challenge,” which will have you read through all of Paul’s letters and the book of Psalms in 45 days. This will be more like a 20-25-minute-per-session reading plan, where you read a bit from Paul (about 10-12 minutes) and a bit from the Psalm (10-12 minutes). 

If you follow this plan, you will have read 16 of the 66 books of the Bible in 14 weeks. A pretty good start to the year! Along with Bible reading, there is the practice of prayer (which we will discuss more in this study), and I’d encourage you to pray before and after your Bible reading. 

Part of beholding Christ is storing up God’s word in our hearts. One particular passage that we will memorize together is Psalm 1.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” (Psalm 1, ESV)

Although I believe Psalms 1-2 are Christological, speaking of the only one who fulfilled the description of the “blessed man” in Psalm 1, we should follow in Christ’s footsteps and learn from Him by becoming the tree that is planted by the stream of water (the stream being Christ himself). 

You are encouraged to engage in some kind of evangelistic effort within these 15 weeks. An evangelistic effort could be: