I’m Using My One Year Bible Again

From the Amazon page ($15.19 Paperback, $8.10 Kindle.)

The One Year Bible makes reading through the Bible achievable with daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs and is today’s #1-selling daily reading Bible. The One Year Bible divides the entire text of the New International Version into 365 sections, so you can read through the entire Bible in one unforgettable year―in as little as 15 minutes a day.

There is also a web site: One Year Bible Online

I had quit reading my One Year Bible. I was trying to cover enough scripture in my daily Bible study to go over the entire Bible in a year, but it just wasn’t happening. I frequently dive down into the Hebrew and Greek. Though I spend a lot of time in Bible study, I don’t sometimes cover very many verses. 🙂

Is there Scripture for “volume” Bible reading? I think so. Meditate on these.

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV

But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
Matthew 4:4 BSB

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
John 14:26 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1-3 ESV

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.
Proverbs 8:34 ESV

This is my prior post on the subject: Bible Reading & Bible Study

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 KJV

Are you following God's plan for your life? 
   You should.
      Your plan sucks.
      It really, really sucks.
      Suckage Maximus.

Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Jesus is coming.
   Are you ready to meet Him?
   Give your life to Jesus Christ.
   Time is running out.

 

Bible Reading & Bible Study

When I first thought about this post I thought it would be about the superiority of Bible study over mere Bible reading. I’m not so sure anymore. For me, Bible study is Bible reading with a large notebook open, and pen handy to write notes, verses, related verses, categories, items for prayer, and so on. When a thought strikes, I may spend a lot of time searching and studying related passages for additional understanding. It is a very valuable process. I learn a lot. But I don’t necessarily cover very much of the Bible in a given amount of time. I’m starting to think I need to spend more time just reading the Bible, to simply read lots of its words. The only notebook I should allow myself to have open is my pocket notebook, to capture only the most important thoughts.

Which brings me to The One Year Bible. For each of the 365 days of the year, it has slices of the Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, and the New Testament. After a year, you will have read the entire Bible. It only needs one bookmark to read the whole Bible in a year. If you miss a day, week, or month (been there) just go to today’s reading. Forgive yourself, forget the past and press on to the future. As someone (*) has said, “If you miss a goal, cut it in half and start over.” If you don’t have a regular Bible reading system, I suggest you get a copy of The One Year Bible (OYB) and use it. I’m on my 3rd copy. (I’m just a satisfied customer. I’m not getting paid to write this.) First I used a King James OYB for over a year. I can see now that it was “training wheels” for regular Bible study. When I was a young Christian I was lazy. It seemed that moving 4 place marks would be too difficult. The OYB worked nicely. Eventually I got tired of not being able to easily find passages I had read recently, and I moved to a “real” Bible. I found that moving 4 place mark ribbons wasn’t that difficult at all. 🙂

Then there was a dark time in my life, and I fell out of daily Bible reading and study. When I knew I needed to get going again, I bought a NIV OYB. I used it to get going again. I recently bought another NIV OYB to get going again, to come out of my recent time in the desert. (My previous NIV OYB was left behind somewhere in my many post-separation address changes.)

Do I need to use the phrase, “get going again,” again? Remember, what is not doing something you know you should do called? That’s right. Sin.

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
James‬ ‭4:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Make straight paths for your feet,” the Bible says. That is, make it easy for you to do what you need to do. The OYB is an excellent tool for reading the Bible in a year.

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I left this post in draft a couple days, to see how I would end it. I am now using the OYB for daily reading, only allowing myself to use my pocket notebook to record the most important of notes and thoughts. I feel I am to continue to use the OYB to just simply read the Bible in a year, and use my “real” Bible and notebook for the in-depth study I so enjoy. Yet another time a post has turned out quite differently from how I imagined it. Writing is a cool way to meditate.

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(*) When I heard him speak at ALFC, William Van Crouch said, “If you miss a goal, cut it in half and start again.” The quotes in this post vary; I don’t remember his exact words. The 1980’s were some time ago. 🙂 Three other things he said I have repeated often:

“We lived so far back in the woods we had to go towards town to hunt.”

“I came from such a large family, I never slept alone until I got married.”

(On being the chaplain for a pro sports team, the Chicago Bears IIRC.) “You think you have problems. Try getting a bunch of young, healthy millionaires to go to bed at 10 PM.”

Are you following God's plan for your life? 
   You should.
      Your plan sucks.
      It really, really sucks.
      Suckage Maximus.

Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Jesus is coming.
   Are you ready to meet Him?
   Give your life to Jesus Christ.
   Time is running out.