How to Actually Read the Bible in a Year
7 Tips to Help you Complete your Reading Plan
"but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night."
I finally did it. I read through the entire Bible this year.
Maybe that’s not a big deal. There are people, like my pastor, who read through the entire Bible every year, and reading plans abound to organize your reading.
But for many years now, I have not even considered trying to read the entire Bible in a year.
For a long season, I was focused on intensive study of one book at a time. In my morning quiet time, I slowly worked my way through the Bible, reading about a chapter a day, but most of my time was devoted to Bible Study, not Bible Reading. (Those are not the same thing.)
At the beginning of the year, however, I found myself with a hunger to tackle the task of reading through the whole Bible again. My current study project is more topical than in the past, and has me all over the Scriptures. So, I decided it was time to return to the bird’s eye view, take in the whole Book again, reading each and every book of the Bible in the context of the overarching story.
In this post I will share some tips that helped me succeed, and link you to the reading plan I used and HIGHLY recommend.
Here are my top 7 tips for actually completing your Bible reading plan this year:
1. Find a Reading Plan You Love
Hands down, the choice of reading plan was the number one key to my success this year.
Reading plans abound, (here are a bunch) but by far, my favorite reading plan is the Five Day Bible Reading Plan.
Download it for free: Five Day Bible Reading Plan
You can read my detailed review of this reading plan, but I can’t say enough about how interesting, logical, and helpful this plan is. It is masterfully crafted to take you chronologically through the Old Testament History, placing the books of prophecy, the Psalms and the wisdom literature where they make the most sense. Instead of reading the New Testament in order, you read the books where they are most helpful in interpreting what you are reading in the Old Testament. (Hebrews with Leviticus, for example.)
Make sure to print your plan so you can check off your progress. Here is the printable plan for this year.
2. Pick Your Time and Place
Have a consistent time of day and place where you will do your reading. It takes 4-5 chapters a day to get through the whole Bible in a year, so you’ll need to set aside 30-60 minutes a day.
First thing in the morning works best for most people, but look for a time and place when you are not likely to be interrupted. Pick a time and stick with it. It must become a habit if you really want to see success.
The rule in our house is, “Bible Before Breakfast,” and most of us have our own spot, our own special mug and our choice caffeinated beverage on repeat every single morning. Habit is a powerful thing.
3. Start Fresh With a New (Cheap) Bible
Get a new, inexpensive Bible to use for this year alone. Mark it up like crazy as you read. Underline, circle, make notes in the margin when you see connections.
Doing lots of marking helped keep my attention in the early mornings, and helped me notice patterns and repeated ideas.
It also helped me track my progress. I was encouraged to persevere to the end of the year as I saw the Book get more and more full of my markings. Passages I had read were heavily marked, while the remaining chapters were sparkling clean, begging to be underlined.
4. Find a Reading Buddy
Invite a friend to join you so you can discuss all the great connections you are seeing and hold each other accountable. My buddy often had the same questions as me, which made for great conversations over breakfast.
5. Pray
Pray before reading, inviting God to speak to you from His Word. And pray about what you read each day. If He speaks to you, speak back to Him!
I kept a notebook where I tried to follow “P.R.A.Y.” each day based on what I read, writing a prayer of:
P-Praise for Who God is and what He has done.
R-Repentance of sin brought to mind while I read.
A-Asking God to act in accordance with His Word.
Y-Yielding control and fear and declaring trust in God based on Who He is.
I was not consistent with this prayer-journaling throughout the whole year, but when I did it, my Bible reading blessed me much more.
6. Go Ahead and Use Commentaries
Normally I am hesitant to suggest running to commentary with every little question. There is so much to be gained in Bible Study from taking time to puzzle through hard passages with the help of the Holy Spirit before consulting a commentary.
But Bible Reading is not the same thing as Bible Study, and for this read through of the Bible, I chose to use commentary whenever I came across something puzzling.
- I used biblehub.com on my phone to quickly look up words or verses I had questions about.
- I also utilized the great videos from Bible Project to give me overviews of each book of Prophecy that I read. Wow. So helpful, particularly for the Prophets. And Job!
- The Five Day Reading Plan also has a reader’s companion, which I chose not to use, but I imagine would be very helpful.
7. Give Yourself Lots of Grace
Don’t worry about following the reading schedule exactly.
Thankfully, with the Five Day Bible Reading Plan, there are 2 days built in each week for catch up! I often left New Testament letters to read on the weekend in one sitting, the way letters are meant to be read.
You don’t have to start January 1, either. I started the reading plan 2 weeks late, but was able to catch up by the end of November. My accountability partner won’t finish by the end of the year, but I’m encouraging her to just keep pressing on and finish it when she finishes it.
There’s nothing special about 365 days, unless having a deadline motivates you. Work at the pace your time and interest allow. Give yourself lots of grace.
Bible reading is not a one and done kind of thing. If you desire to grow in Christ, you will keep on reading the Bible until the day you die. And God will give new insights every single year. The book is glorious and infinite. It is the very Word of God! So if you’ve never read the whole Bible, or if you haven’t done it in a while, I invite you to take the plunge! And I hope sharing these tips with you will help make it happen!
Happy Bible Reading! And if you have tips of your own to share, I’d love to see them in the comments section!
7 Tips for Reading the Bible in a Year:
- Find a Plan you love.
- Keep a Consistent Time and Place.
- Get a Cheap New Bible. Mark it up!
- Find a Buddy.
- Pray.
- Use Commentary if Needed.
- Give Yourself Grace!
The Best Bible Reading Plan: A Review
Looking to read the Bible in a Year? Check out the “Five Day Bible Reading Plan.” For the first time in many years, I actually finished reading the whole Bible in one year. This reading plan made all the difference. Here are all the reasons I simply love this plan and give it my whole-hearted endorsement.
I (Probably) Won’t Read the Whole Bible this Year
Can I let you in on a little secret? I don’t think I have ever actually read through the entire Bible in a year. And I’m okay with that.
Bible Reading vs. Bible Study
Devotional Bible Reading is not the same thing as Bible Study. Both are important, but it is helpful to know the difference.
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