My biggest goal here at Growing4Life is to encourage you, my reader, to study the Word of God. I realized as I headed into my 40s that, although I called myself a Christian for most of my life, I didn’t know the Bible very well. As I made a concerted effort to read and study it over the course of the next few years, it completely changed my life. And this is why I want to encourage you to do the same thing! The power for the Christian life is not found in our favorite teacher or author. It’s not in experiences or mysticism. And it’s not in our church or any religious organization. It is found in the Word of God alone!
So are you ready for a new Bible Reading Challenge? All are welcome, whether you’ve done several Bible-reading challenges here at Growing4Life or this is your first one.
This year we are going to study the Bible a little more in-depth. Here’s the challenge:
We will read the assigned portion every day for one month. By the end of each month we will be super familiar with the content—even if we don’t do anything further. You can choose how dedicated you want to be. If you have other studies going on or in the midst of a busy time of your life, you may want to shoot for three or four days per week to get started. Or perhaps you want to commit to six or seven days. If you are like me, the amount of times we can read each week may even change throughout the year. This is fine, because each month gives us a new beginning. Just remember: The more often we read a passage, the more familiar it will become.
Here is the schedule–
January: I John
February: John 1-7
March: John 8-14
April: John 15-21
May: Colossians
June: Romans 1-4
July: Romans 5-8
August: Romans 9-12
September: Romans 13-16
October: Philippians
November: 2 Thessalonians
December: Jude
Here are a few suggestions that may help deepen your study, if you so choose—
1. Use the same Bible to read throughout the year. One in which you feel free to mark and write notes.
2. Outline the books and chapters.
3. Research passages that you don’t understand using biblical commentaries and other resources.
4. Join the Growing4Life 2020 Bible Reading Challenge Facebook group dedicated to this challenge, where you will find encouragement and discussion about what we are currently reading. There you will also find biblical resources and articles that pertain to what we are studying.
(Click here to find a printable pdf of this page)
(Click here for an Inductive Chapter Study Worksheet)