Here’s some advice from those of us who have been on this journey before:
- It takes 6 weeks to create a habit, so try to carve out a certain time and quiet place every day to read. It will be hard at first, but after about 6 weeks, it becomes part of your life.
- When is the best time? Answer: Whenever you’re at your best. Most prefer the morning, but some “night owls” prefer reading before bed.
- If you miss a day, don’t try to make it up. Stay on the appropriate day for your daily reading. Those who get behind often lose heart and quit. Just keep reading. You’ll get to that missed day next year.
- Include prayer in your reading time. Pray: “God, speak to me through Your Word today.”
- Make regular posts on my OYB Facebook group. It will encourage the rest of us.
All of my daily devotions are based on readings from oneyearbible.com
You can subscribe to my podcast of daily devotions based on the One Year Bible wherever you get your podcasts.
For those that are new to the One Year Bible reading approach, you may not realize that there are several reading plans out there. You can purchase hard copies of the “One Year Bible” in several translations. These OYB systems usually give you a balanced reading diet of a section from the Old Testament, the Psalms, Proverbs, and the New Testament.
You can also follow the Chronological OYB, which takes you through daily readings that are organized according to the time in history when they took place. For instance, the book of Job would come during the time of the patriarchs found in Genesis. But the Chronological OYB is a little more difficult. Probably not the best for those who have never read through the Bible before.
Most people need the variety of a daily dose of OT, Psalms, Proverbs and NT. When you follow the chronological version there will be days where you live in the prophetic books of the OT. Some lose heart there. However, having said this, some believe that the chronological version gives you a better immersion experience and a better sense of the order of things.
Here’s a helpful chart for the Old Testament that might be helpful as your begin reading through the Bible:
Here’s another chart that shows how the Old Testament books are arranged:
Here’s a chart that shows how the 27 books of the New Testament are arranged:
