The Bible Reading Plan: Structure and Methods
I remember in 2017, sitting at my desk during work at break time and reading through Exodus on my iMac. I had embarked on a year-long plan to finish the Bible in chronological order. During this time, I didn't have a physical Bible but relied heavily on apps and websites, using my iPad to pore through devotionals. I had forgotten about the importance of having a physical Bible, having forgotten a lot what I knew about Christianity from my youth and younger days.
Now I have 7 Bibles. 3 NIV, 1 ESV, and 3 King James (don't ask, I was going through something). 3 Study Bibles, the Life Application Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible, and the Women's Study Bible, that I bought off of Amazon. I don't rely on apps as much anymore, but rely more on the Living Word to nourish my spirit and feed my mind. Though apps still are useful in organizing and planning your bible study (more on this later).
I never finished my Bible reading plan in 2017, but since 2019, I started reading at least 1 line of the Bible every day. Gradually growing momentum, in my faith and my understanding of Scripture, I grew closer to the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and the Lord as time went on. The darkness had taken away many of my memories of my childhood, and I had forgotten I had entered the Catholic Church when I was three years old, being baptized and taking First Communion and Confirmation when I was young. In going back to my faith and back to the Catholic Church, I battled demons and traumas, depression and anxiety. It was an uphill battle, but I fought to regain my place as a Christian, to become consecrated and earn my place in salvation and become lifted up.
I started taking Communion at a Catholic Church again recently, taking the bread and blood of Jesus Christ. I visibly felt a change in my body after taking it. Before, I was ridden with impatience and anxiety, reacting to the smallest stimulus. But afterwards, I became calm and at peace, and I was unhurried, no longer impatient but more patient, more like Jesus.
I’m reading The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer as well as most of his other books such as Garden City and Practicing the Way of Jesus. I love the way he writes, practically but relatedly and I aspire to write like him and inspire like him.
I wanted to share what I know about studying the Bible, for those who need guidance in reading the Word every day. In the toil of the modern world, it's hard to keep up the practice of reading the Bible every day when you're tired from work and when you need rest and just want to binge watch Netflix.
Something that helped me was this Renewing of Your Mind devotional I read on the Holy Bible App. The verse it quoted was Romans 12:2: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
It talked about how neurons that fire together and wire together, and how the patterns of this world become prevalent thinking patterns in our minds. I wanted to cultivate new patterns of thinking, as I had acquired bad habits and unhealthy ways of thinking. Instead of watching Emily in Paris on Netflix, I started watching The Chosen Series (available on Peacock and the Chosen website) and started scrolling social media less. I started using social media with more intention, to be influenced by those who will foster improvement in my life instead of deterring from it. I read the Living Word every day, filling my mind with the Holy Spirit, who transformed my ways of thinking and replaced my negative thinking patterns with healthier ones. I read John and Psalms every day, to speak with Jesus and exalt the Lord, and I started journaling what the Holy Spirit tells me as well as insights from the Bible.
It changed me. It really, irrevocably changed me. The verse from Romans made a big impact on me, the me who thought that reading productivity books like Atomic Habits and Cal Newport would help change my habits and improve me but whose advice never really lit a fire in me until I started making reading the Bible a daily habit. Reading the Bible, aloud and in my mind, created momentum in my life and transformed my mind.
I want to help others improve their minds and lives as well through reading the Bible. I think a lot of people function on acquired thinking patterns that don’t serve them entirely too well, that yield unhealthy fruit. That was me and is still me to some extent, but I'm healthier in most areas of my life that I was previously, thanks to the Word.
Matthew 13:31 - “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds but it becomes the largest of garden plants, it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests into its branches.”
Here’s some ways that I think that you can structure your Bible reading to yield fruit.
Read the Bible both morning and night
"The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter". - Psalm 74: 16-20.
Day and night hold huge significance in the Bible. God created the light which he called Day and the darkness which he called Night, and I think that both are necessary just as filling both your mornings and nights with Scripture is necessary. After I get up in the morning, I read a passage, meditate on the Word. Before I go to sleep or after dinner, I read the Word again and meditate on it.
2. Read John and Psalms every day.
I read John to connect to Jesus. I also read Psalms aloud to celebrate and exalt the Lord, to receive His blessings.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” - John 15:1-4
3. Get a Bible app. I use the Holy Bible app. I also use She Reads Truth. You need them for devotionals, reading plans, memorizing bible verses, and journaling.
“But all things should be done decently and in order.” - 1 Corinthians 14:40.
4. Get a study Bible. This is hugely important. Getting the Women’s Bible off of Amazon helped me so much and helped me learn about Christianity and defeat the traps and messages of secularism that used to have power over my mind and my life. I got the Life Application and ESV Bible as well and they’ve been helping me understand Scripture better.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 1:18
5. Use a Reading Plan. This helps you progress through the Bible.
6. Journal. Journaling helps a lot with understanding Jesus’s messages and remembering themes from the Bible.
7. Meditate on the Word. Connect with the Holy Spirit. But first, get Baptized and receive Communion so Holy Spirit can enter your life.
