The KINGDOM Bible Reading Plan

The KINGDOM Bible Reading Plan

I am sure you can easily find something to complain about. You don’t have to look far to find things that discourage, frustrate, irritate, anger, and disappoint you. But where do you turn for relief? Netflix? I-Tunes? Online shopping? Jack Daniels? A joint? Believers throughout the centuries have found their solace in God’s Word. Even when Job was agonizing through his losses and his pain and torment he could say to Eliphaz, “I have not departed from the commands from his lips; I have treasured the words from his mouth more than my daily food” (Job 23:12).

God’s Word has the power to lift our spirits like nothing else in this world because it is not the opinions of people; it is the Word of God himself, which means it is true (Ps 119:142), pure (Ps 12:6), right (Ps 119:172), enduring forever (Ps 119:160), and cannot be broken (John 10:35). As Jason S. DeRouchie says in How to Understand and Apply the Old Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2017), “Scripture’s teaching is infallible—a sure and safe guide… Scripture’s claims are inerrant—entirely true and trustworthy” (pp. 3-4).

The psalms might have begun by praising God for one or more of his marvelous attributes, but instead, they open with a simple explanation about how to be happy. And the way to happiness, says Psalm 1, is by delighting day and night in what God says in his Word (vv. 1-2). We don’t have to make things complicated. God didn’t. He didn’t lay out some twelve-step program. He just told us to delight in what he says as we go through all our waking hours and we will be happy. That simply means we are to take great pleasure in God’s Word.

So consider this your invitation to come to God’s Word if you aren’t currently reading it, or your encouragement to keep reading it if you are already doing so. And if you would like to use a reading plan, Jason DeRouchie has one that I am currently using and enjoying a lot. There are 25 readings per month which means you get a few days off each month or a few days to catch up if you happen to miss a day or two here and there. Each day contains readings from four sections of Scripture: Old Testament Law, Old Testament Prophets, Old Testament Writings, and the New Testament. The plan is called The KINGDOM Bible Reading Plan. Just Google it and you can print it out yourself or let me know and I will get you a copy.

Here’s a tip: As I conclude reading each section I pause and find something in that section to pray about before I move on to the next reading. By knowing that as soon as I finish each section I will be turning something from that reading into a prayer, I have to pay attention to what I am reading, otherwise I won’t know what to pray. Consequently, I am comprehending the Scriptures better. But I am also praying better prayers, I think, because I am responding to what God has just said to me in his Word, which makes the whole experience feel more like a real conversation: God talks to me in Scripture and I talk back to him in prayer. He initiates the conversation (Scripture) and I respond (prayer). So, I am getting two benefits: better comprehension of Scripture and better focus in prayer. I recommend you try it. It’s simple, but it helps me. I think it will help you too.