The Bible in a Year – You Can Do This

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

If you saw my Facebook post this past week, you know that J and I finished our first time reading the entire Bible. We began in early March and completed this goal on December 19, 2020. Your Bible in a year – You can do this.

We got a late start because, well . . . life. What other excuse is there for many of us? Just life.

I cannot emphasize enough to you how life-altering this chronological reading has been to each of us, to J and me. We learned things we never knew, encountered people we’d never known, but now, we feel we have an intimate relationship with many of them.

 

THE INVITATION

My nephew, a pastor in Ft. Myers, Florida, and his wife were reading chronologically and they invited family and friends to join them. I wanted to do it, but just never began. Finally, in February, I jumped in and began reading on my own. J wasn’t part of this at that time.

I’m sure he got tired of my urging him to do this with me. We’d had a chronological study Bible for a number of years, but neither of us felt led to read it from cover to cover. I wrote my blogs, reading the scriptures I needed for those. But we didn’t do a daily Bible study or reading together.

So, I began alone. I have to believe it was Holy Spirit who spoke to my husband, telling him he needed to do this with me. So, I stopped for a few days while he caught up to me. We continued together from that point. And we are so glad we did this . . . together!

Some days, we read only the suggested reading for that day, but on other days, we read one or two at the most. That last month, we knew if we didn’t push through, we wouldn’t finish it by year’s end. By this time, both of us had changed so much, we longed to start it all again. But first, we had to finish our first time through.  From November 28^th to December 19^th, we completed eleven-and-a-half weeks of readings. That was almost the entire New Testament.

 

NOT JUST AN ACCOMPLISHMENT

The night we finished, we looked at one another, not with just a feeling of accomplishment, there was that, but we saw with eyes and hearts, souls renewed by God’s Word, firmly settled within each of us. Tears streamed down my face. I didn’t want it to end.

I can tell you this—our marriage is stronger, our faith is deeper, our joy is overwhelming at times. Our witness will be forever changed because we listened when God put a messenger in front of us (my niece) to invite us to His table.

So, I invite you to join us, January 1, 2021, as we begin again.

It sounds daunting, but it truly isn’t. Reading chronologically makes the entire Bible make sense. You will see that the Trinity was present from before the beginning of earthly time. You’ll see events unfold, will read them from one book, and jump into another as it tells or retells that story. As an example, we begin in Genesis, where else? But days four through fifteen are spent in Job, then right back to Genesis. Before you know it, you’re finished with the book of The Revelation.

 

NOTHING SPECIAL REQUIRED

 You won’t need a special Bible. The nice thing is, with this plan, you can use whatever you prefer. The plan we followed uses the ESV. Our Bibles are NASB. We listened along with the narrator as we read along with our Bibles.

If that sounds confusing and you have a King James, then listen to the King James narration. The lessons that follow won’t confuse you. I promise.

But, first, here are some things you need to do.

Download the YouVersion Bible app on your phone. Here, you will get to choose the version you like. We did ESV as that is what Tara-Leigh Cobble uses. Tara-Leigh is who hosts the follow- up lessons with you. You need to download The Bible Recap on your phone. Or, you can find it on your TV on YouTube. That’s what we do. There’s no video, just audio, but it’s still good, and you can put on closed caption if you need to do that.

Prior to any reading we do, we go to The Bible Project, also available via YouTube, and we watch their lesson, complete with drawings, on the book we will be delving into next. They’re all right there. Some are long, so they’re broken into two parts. These guys are good. They are Bible scholars who know their stuff.

 

HERE IS THE ORDER:

Watch The Bible Project about that day’s book. You only need to view it one time, but watch as many times as you like or need to.

Do your daily reading.

Go to The Bible Recap for Tara-Leigh explaining things to you.  They have a daily plan that is four printed pages long. You will find it at their site. Tara-Leigh isn’t a Bible scholar per-se, but she knows what she’s doing. She’s done at least a dozen read-throughs of the Bible. Her goal is to acquaint you with the character of God, so that you see Him and how consistent He is from OT to NT. You will learn things you never knew before. I know we did!

It sounds complicated, but truly it isn’t. If you get lost, PM me and I’ll send you my phone number and I’ll walk you through it, step by step.

You have plenty of time to get ready. Go to YouVersion (again, if you get confused, contact me) and listen to several of the narrators. There is one for each version. We like the man who reads the ESV. He is sooo good. KJV is British if that’s your choice. Choose the one you like best. If you can, get that version of the Bible. We used our regular Bible this first time, but we have an ESV journaling Bible for this next year. It has one column per page with a two-inch, lined margin.

I’m so glad you’ve chosen to do this. Abundant blessings await you!

Wishing you all a faith-filled, blessed Christmas. He’s the Reason for the Season.

 

[bctt tweet=”The Bible in a Year – You Can Do This #writing #faith” username=”ddupreewilliams”

 

HERE ARE THE LINKS YOU WILL NEED:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+bible+project

https://www.thebiblerecap.com/

https://youversion.com/

 

The hope plaque featured in the photograph was created by my friend, Patricia Tiffany Morris.   https://www.patriciatiffanymorris.com/