3 Year Bible Reading Plan

3 Year Bible Reading Plan

Hello Friends

(1) Read and Benefit

I have attached a 3 Year Bible Reading Plan for you ( click on the words above and see it) . If you follow the plan and read one chapter a day, you would have read through the Bible at the end of 3 years.

Over the years, I have, in my blogs, shown you  how to apply God’s  Word to daily living . To benefit more, you need to read God’s Word for yourself. To encourage you , I plan, with God’s  help, to write blogs that are taken from your daily readings. In this way, you can see how God’s Word applies in your world even as you read it. Feel free to share your comments in each blog so that we can learn from one another.

(2) Spiritual Immunity

God’s Word is not merely ink on paper. Jesus said that God’s Word is Spirit and life ( John 6:63) which means that as you read His Word, they mingle with your spirit and rejuvenate you. It is a spiritual phenomenon unique to Christ’s believers. If you can take a vitamin pill each morning to bolster your body’s immune system so that you can overcome the physical pollutants in this world, surely you can read a chapter a day to bolster your spiritual immunity to overcome the world’s polluting thoughts and ideas.

(3) God will draw near to you

Let’s do it together so that you are not alone on this journey. My Care Group, Adult Bible Class and friends who went with me to the Holy Land recently have  also been encouraged to read through the Bible using this 3 Year Plan. God will draw near to us as we draw close to Him by reading His Word.

(4)  A Renewed Mind

I know your life will change as God’s Word soaks into your spirit and transforms your mind to think like His Son, Jesus. You will no longer think like how others around you think but will be changed inside and have a renewed mind. That is what has been happening to me and I know will also happen to you

Try it and see that God is always right when He says we cannot live on bread alone but need every word that God speaks ( Matthew 4:4).

Extracting Practical Truths From The Bible

 

(A) Methods Of Bible Study

 

There are many methods of studying  the Bible to extract Biblical truths. Some of them are so complicated, we find the methods more complex than the simple truths we  learn from the Bible passages. This can put us off when it comes to studying the Bible. For some Christians,the Bible itself is hard enough. To study the Bible is even harder.

 

(B) Bible Interaction

 

Instead of the word ” Bible Study “ which has a connotation of something dry and academic, I prefer the word ” Bible Interaction “. When I come to the Bible, I see it as a time when I interact with God. I talk to Him through my prayers and He responds to me as I reflect on His word.It is a time when God and I have a good chat. I tell Him what’s happening in my life and He shows me practical truths I can use in my daily life to deal with the issues I face.

 

(C) SIA Method

 

How can I do ” Bible Interaction “ instead of ” Bible Study “? I have learned that when interacting with the Bible, we can use 3 simple steps which I call the ” SIA ”  Method. “S” stands for “See”, “I” stands for “ Interpret” and “A” stands for ‘Apply”.

 

     (1)   S - What do I see?

 

When we read the passage, ask the questions (who, what, when, where, why, how). For example, ” Who are the people involved in this story? “ “What” are the people saying or doing. “When” did this event take place? “Where” did it take place. Why did it take place? How is he going to get out of this?

We imagine ourselves in their situation. As we reflect,we can use the “ S.E.C.R.E.T “ approach  to extract practical truths from the Bible passage which we can apply to our own situation. “ S.E.C.R.E.T “ stands for Situation, Emotions, Choices, Relationships, Errors , Truths

When reflecting on the passage, we :-

(a)  Imagine ourselves in the same Situation the Bible characters  are in. Are they in danger, in a family setting, in the work place etc. ?

(b)  Feel the Emotions they are feeling. Is there fear, inadequacy, worry, anger, bitterness ?

(c)  See how the Bible characters make their Choices given the situation they are in. Why did they decide the way they did ?

(d)  Look  at the Relationships involved in the story. Is someone in authority talking to another person who has a lower status? 

(e) Are there Errors to avoid ? How did the sin arise?

(f) What Truths can we learn from this passage? Is this a belief I can hold on to ?

 

(2)   I- What does it mean?

 

After we understand what the passage says, we then reflect on the meaning of the event taking place. What did it mean to the people undergoing the event? Is their situation similar to what we encounter today ?   

 

 

(3)   A- Apply the lessons to your life

 

Finally, we take the practical truths we learned during step 2 and apply it to our lives. How was the Bible character’s inadequacy dealt with? Can my own inadequacy be dealt with in a similar way? How did the Bible character decide in  the master-servant type of relationship he was in? Can I also decide in the same way in the type of employer-employee relationship I am in ?

 

I hope you will have fun using the ” SIA “ method of ” Bible Interaction ” and using the ” S.E.C.R.E.T. “ approach to extract practical truths from the Bible.     

5 Minutes To Remember The Order Of The Old Testament Books ( B )

In my previous blog, ” 5 Minutes To Remember The Order Of The New Testament Books ” ( A ) dated Thursday, 15 May 2008, I shared a simple story to help you remember the sequence of the N. T. books. You can also remember the order of the Old Testament books  by using the following story which has mental pictures that you can either draw or imagine. The words in bold either sound like the Books of the Old Testament or are the names of the Books themselves. In one instance, alphabets e.g. P.E. are used to represent Proverbs and Ecclesiastes :-

(Genesis) is the book of the beginnings.  (Exodus) describes how the Israelites begin to leave (Leviticus) in large numbers (Numbers) due-to-their-enemy (Deuteronomy).

(Joshua) was their first judge (Judges) who fought ruthless (Ruth) wars.  Samuel (1 & 2 Samuel) was their last judge who anointed Kings (1 & 2 Kings) and wrote Chronicles (1 & 2 Chronicles) about rulers who have extra (Ezra)  need (Nehemiah) for queens like (Esther).

Esther’s job (Job) was to do her sums (Psalms), P.E. (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes) and sing songs (Songs of Songs).  Her favourite song was entitled  “I-Sigh” (Isaiah) sung by (Jeremiah) who laments (Lamentations)  how the people are more  easily-killed (Ezekiel)  than-nailed (Daniel).

Esther has a Hot-Sea (Hosea)  jewel (Joel) shaped like a famous (Amos) cookie.  It was stolen by ” O-Bad Jonah “(Obadiah, Jonah) who hid it in my-car (Micah).

My car was parked outside “a-humburger‘ (Nahum)  restaurant which half-cook (Habbakkuk) and zap-on-fire (Zephaniah)  Haggai’s black-rye (Zechariah) bread from Malacca (Malachi).

5 Minutes To Remember The Order Of The New Testament Books ( A )

To remember the order of the New testaments books, I have found it useful to link up the books by way of a story. You can create your own story too. But if you like, you can use the following story to help you remember. The key words or alphabets in the story which will trigger your memory are in bold letters. They provide links to the actual names of the Books which are in bracket. Explanatory notes are provided where necessary. :-

~Matthew marks his paper as he looks at John. ( Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)

~who is acting like a  Roman in Corinth.  (Acts, Romans, 1& 2  Corinthians)

~In Corinth, John saw that the Gentiles Eat Pork Chops. (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,  Colossians).

  NOTE: Each alphabet represents a Book written to the gentile ( non Jew ) church

~and drink three cups of Tea as they watched TV. ( 1& 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus).

 NOTE: The 3 “Ts” are in alphabetical order ( Th, Tim, Tit ) beginning with Thessalonians which follows the “ians” after Colossians.

~John saw on TV a replay of the Olympic Games. He saw the athletes Filing up for the High Jump.(Philemon, Hebrews, James).

  NOTE: The first syllable in “Filing” sounds like the “Phi” in Philemon. Alphabets “H” and “J” each  represents a book

~The guest of honour at the Games was Peter. ( 1 & 2 Peter )

~who invited John to give away the 3 prizes. ( 1 John, 2 John, 3 John)

~The winner of the high jump was a Jew named Jude ( Jude )

~The news of the win was published in the city’s newspaper called “Revelation” (Revelation)

There you are. Remember the story and you will get the order of the New Testament Books. Some of my friends have tried it and it works.

Now, is there another story for the Old Testament Books?

Watch this blog!