• Home
    • Resources
    • The Gospel
    • Statement of Faith
    • Church Finder
    • Homemaking Courses
    • Privacy Policy
  • About
    • About Me
    • My Church Home
    • The Bar Podcast Network
  • Start Here
  • Free Library
    • Sign Up for Access
    • Enter Library (password required)
    • Meal Planning PDF
  • Shop
    • Homemaking Courses
    • TH Gear
    • Bookstore
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Thankful Homemaker

Gospel-Driven Encouragement for Homemakers

  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Homemaking
    • Menu Planning Made Easy Course
  • Marriage
    • Marriage Series
  • Motherhood
  • Christian Living
    • Spiritual Disciplines Series
    • Sermon on the Mount
  • Homemaking Courses
  •  

EP 95: Developing a Daily Bible Reading Habit

by Marci Ferrell
Bible Study Podcast Spiritual Discipleship Theology

1573shares
  • Facebook 386
  • Twitter

I’d love to help you simplify your meal planning. Check out my new menu planning course here.

 

Developing a Daily Bible Reading Habit #biblereadingplan #dailybiblereading #yearlybiblereading @mferrell

We're getting ready to turn the calendar and on most of our lists or resolutions is to start a daily Bible reading habit. Daily time in the Word is a good thing.

Sitting with Jesus daily to hear from Him through His Word and speak to Him through prayer is the best way to start each day.

We're getting ready to turn the calendar and on most of our lists or resolutions is to start a daily Bible reading habit.Click to Tweet

Listen to the Podcast Below or Subscribe on Your Favorite App:

 

Related Resources:

Ligonier Bible Reading Plan List

5 Day Bible Reading Plan

Chronological Plan from Blue Letter Bible PDF

Free PDF – Guide to Daily Time with the Lord

Spiritual Disciplines Series

D.A. Carson's – For the Love of God Volume 1 & Volume 2

Tabletalk Magazine

EP 81: Elisabeth Elliot's Hints for a Quiet Time

Praying the Bible by Donald Whitney

 

Praying with Paul by D.A. Carson

Feelings and Faith: Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life by Brian Borgman

Picking a Plan:

There are so many options out there for various Bible reading plans  Michelle Lesley and Ligonier have helpful lists but please remember there is no perfect Bible reading plan out there you just need to pick one and use the plan you choose.

Please remember there is no perfect Bible reading plan out there you just need to pick one and use the plan you choose.Click to Tweet

I'm going to use the 5 Day Plan using the Reading Plan app to keep track of my reading and I'll be reading from this Bible and listening along while reading using the Dwell App. I just tend to focus better on the text when I have it read to me and I read along at the same time. Tim Challies describes the 5 Day Plan a bit more here. 

You Might Also Like:
Waiting on God
Bible Study Helps for Busy Moms
EP 18: Putting on an Attitude of Love in Our Homes

Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.  ~ Jonathan Edwards

Making the Time:

So, you've picked the plan and gathered the resources you will need to sit with Jesus daily. Now you need to make the time.

The time just won't happen on its own. You need to plan. I'm naturally a morning person, so this one is easy for me. Maybe you want to read in the morning so you may need to set your alarm 20 minutes earlier to get up and make time to read. You may do better mid-morning or afternoon or evening. You need to determine this and get it on the schedule to make it happen. Good habits don't just occur by accident they take discipline to develop but are worth it long term. 

When this habit becomes part of your day is the moment it turns as John Piper would say, from “duty to delight.”

I have found it helpful to begin my day by systematically reading the Bible and giving God the opportunity to direct my attention to certain truths. These truths become the springboard to begin speaking to the Lord.  ~ Bill Thrasher

Taking Notes:

Keeping track of your reading is helpful to see where you've read and what you've missed from year to year. If you use the same Bible, take the time to mark the date or make some kind of note (or highlight) of the chapters you've read.

If you're comfortable writing in your bible, mark notes or reflections or prayers in the margins, there are some great journaling Bibles available if you'd like more room to do this.

If you'd like to keep a journal along with your reading instead of making notes in your bible read this post on Elisabeth Elliot's Hints for a Quiet Time. 

The other reality is you're probably going to fall behind. If it's just a day, you may desire to catch up but if it's more than a day I recommend from experience to just start on the current days reading. This is where marking the chapters read comes in handy. You can see your progress from year to year, and in a few years, you will have read every chapter and verse. Don't quit friend, just pick it back up and keep going. You'll be glad you did.

“I won't close my Bible until I can prayerfully think of at least one way to apply what I've read.”                

~ Donald Whitney

Reviewing the notes and reflections you've made over the years is encouraging to see where the Lord has been at work in your life and to see your spiritual growth.

The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.  ~ D.L. Moody

Praying the Word:

You can incorporate your prayer time right in your daily reading by praying through the Word. Two good resources to read on this are Donald Whitney's book, Praying the Bible and D.A. Carson's, Praying with Paul.

Learn to distill what a passage is saying, and pray it back to the Lord—whether in petition, thanksgiving, praise, or frank uncertainty. In time your Bible reading will so be linked with your praying that the two will not always be differentiable.” ~ D.A. Carson, For the Love of God, Volume 1

Benefits of Reading the Word:

I want to share two verses we recite together as a church family before we delve into our scripture memory verses each week:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.   ~ Colossians 3:16

How are we continually filled with the Spirit? By letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. This is a choice we will make to determine to let God's Word fill our minds and hearts. It is a diligent, prayerful reading of the Bible.

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.   ~ Psalm 119:11

It doesn't get any simpler than this verse. We take the treasured gift of God's Word, keep it in our hearts by reading, studying, and meditating on it, and the outcome is we will not sin against Him. 

No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture… Therefore if we would know God and be Godly, we must know the Word of God intimately.  ~ Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

Grab a free copy of my guide to Daily Time with the Lord. It is to walk you through time in the Word and help you to meditate on and apply what you've read.  @mferrell

 

 

Related Resources:

My Favorite Bible Study Tools

Bible Study Helps for Busy Moms

Podcast EP 15: Prioritizing God's Word When Life is Busy

Starting Your Day With Jesus

10 Suggestions for Your Personal Devotions in 2019

Related posts:

  1. Podcast EP 53: Daily Bible Reading (Spiritual Disciplines Series)
  2. Podcast EP 55: How to Study the Bible (Spiritual Disciplines Series)
  3. Podcast EP 56: Prayer (Spiritual Disciplines Series)
  4. EP 52: Introduction to the Spiritual Disciplines


Free Resource Library

Get more posts like this in your inbox!

And while you’re at it, you’ll receive access to our FREE library of resources to help you in your homemaking!.

(I will not spam you. Read my privacy policy.)

« My Top 10 Books of 2020
Guide to Daily Time with the Lord – Free PDF »

Comments

  1. Holly says

    at

    I love the Ligonier resource! Thank you for posting that. I used the Bible reading plan generator they have referenced on that page to create a reading plan that works, and also found another plan I saved! Thank you so much for your ministry and discipleship.

  2. Michelle Lesley says

    at

    Hi Marci- What a wonderful article! Thank you so much for linking my 2018 Bible reading plans list. I just wanted to let you and your readers know that my updated list for 2019 will be posting the morning of January 31. It has several more plans and resources on studying the Bible than the 2018 article had. The title is “Bible Reading Plans for the New Year – 2019”. You can click on my name above, type that title into the search bar, and it should pop up. Blessings to you! :0)

    • Marci Ferrell says

      at

      Michelle thank you – your site is a great resource and I love referring readers to you. I will definitely look for your updated list and link to it.

WEEKLY HOME CLEANING SCHEDULE SIDEBAR AD

Welcome to Thankful Homemaker

So thankful you’ve stopped by for a visit. Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit a bit. I hope to remind you that contentment in our role as homemakers begins with finding our satisfaction in Christ.

read more…

MENU PLANNING MADE EASY SIDEBAR AD

Categories

  • Bible Study
  • Christian Living
  • Holidays
  • Homemaking
  • Marriage
  • Menu Planning
  • Motherhood
  • Podcast
  • Time Management

thankfulhomemaker

Marci Ferrell
I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wi I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wives, and mothers.  How many times do we focus on our needs that aren’t met?  Unfair situations or circumstances?  Self-pity is a selfish tendency that takes our eyes off Christ and puts them on ourselves.  We forget that “God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Are we able to give God “thanks in all things”?⁣
⁣
Come take a listen to EP 105: Practical Steps to Overcome Self-Pity at the link in my profile (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"Your household is the most important schoolroom y "Your household is the most important schoolroom your children will ever know. And the lessons they learn don't begin and end when you crack open the family Bible. They are always watching and learning from your example—often without even realizing it. That's a tremendous responsibility and opportunity for Christian parents—one that we must make the most of, for God's glory and our children's good."⁣
 ~ John MacArthur⁣
⁣
Come listen to EP 20: The Blessings of Loving Our Children at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"The visible church is where you will find Christ' "The visible church is where you will find Christ's kingdom on earth, and to disregard the kingdom is to disregard its King."⁣
~ Michael Horton⁣
⁣
Read - Building Loving Relationships In Your Church Family at the link in my bio @thankfuhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Isaiah 48:10:Behold, I have refined you, but not a Isaiah 48:10:Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;  I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.⁣
⁣
Israel is being refined for the honor and glory of the Lord. I need the reminder that everything the Lord allows in my life is for my good and His glory. All that He does and allows is to further His eternal purposes. ⁣
⁣
He continues to remove the dross from my life in the furnace of affliction, and through each trial and circumstance of my life, the hope is I'm becoming more and more molded and shaped into the image of Christ. ⁣
⁣
Susan Huntington shared on this passage:⁣
"...if our blessed God sees that the disciple, like his Master, must be made perfect through sufferings, ought we not to welcome every means which will conduce to this blessed end? Can we desire to be babes in Christ all our days? If it is a proof of sonship to be chastised, may it not prove a special favor to be greatly chastised? ⁣
⁣
If we were asked what the greatest good is, should we not answer that it is conformity to God? If we were asked what the best circumstances are for the Christian to be placed in, should we not answer that they are those that will, most constantly and most effectually, promote his conformity to God? Shall we then pray for afflictions? By no means. We are weak, and are crushed before the moth. We should not pray for what we do not know that we could bear. ⁣
⁣
We should habitually pray for conformity to God, and quietly leave it to Him to determine by what means He will effect this blessed end."⁣
⁣
-Excerpt taken from my favorite devotional - Seasons of the Heart: A Year of Devotions from One Generation of Women to Another by Donna Kelderman (link to the book is in my profile @thankfulhomemaker - click on the link under the blue arrows, and then this image).
Preaching the gospel to yourself. It's a phrase we Preaching the gospel to yourself. It's a phrase we've all heard, and we all agree with, but deep down, we're like, okay, what does that look like? Or how do I make that practical in my day-to-day life when my marriage is hard? Or the kids are out of control? Or there's an illness in my family, or I'm just stuck in a sinful pattern? Or the house is in chaos, and I don't know where to begin? ⁣
⁣
The reality is we're always saying something to ourselves in our minds, especially in those moments of chaos or difficulty. ⁣
Is what we're speaking to ourselves centered on the truths of God's Word, or are we buying into the lies of the world? ⁣
We need to be talking to ourselves and not just listening to ourselves. But what do we need to be talking to ourselves about? ⁣
⁣
This is what we're going to work through together in EP 69: Preaching the Gospel to Yourself - link in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"Your worst days are never so bad that you are bey "Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."⁣
~ Jerry Bridges⁣
⁣
Read more at God's Blessing Does Not Depend On Our Performance at the link in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
How many times at church do you find yourself disc How many times at church do you find yourself discussing non-spiritual things? As believers, our relationships with others in the body of Christ are unlike anything non-believers will ever experience. It is such a joy when you come across another Christian that you haven't met before, and because of the common bond of Christ, it is as if you have known them forever.⁣
⁣
I have a favorite book that gets used quite often by Donald S. Whitney called Simplify Your Spiritual Life. In the section, Simplifying our Spiritual Life with Others, he guides us to drive the conversations into the spiritual. Wouldn't we all as believers like our conversations with other believers to be directed towards things related to knowing God, Bible reading and application, theology, evangelism, and prayer, to name a few.⁣
⁣
Mr. Whitney shares some questions that are a natural help in directing your conversations with your brothers and sisters in the faith to the spiritual.  This is a handy list to keep in your Bible, planner, or purse.⁣
⁣
The link to the questions is in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"If there is one maverick molecule in all the univ "If there is one maverick molecule in all the universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God."⁣
~R. C. Sproul
Thoughts to ponder on the resurrection from John M Thoughts to ponder on the resurrection from John MacArthur:⁣
The basic truth of the resurrection undergirds a number of other truths.⁣
⁣
1. It gives evidence that the Word of God is totally true and reliable. Jesus arose precisely when and in the way He had predicted (see Mt. 12:40; 16:21; 17:9, 23).⁣
⁣
2. The resurrection means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, as He claimed to be, and that He has power over life and death.⁣
⁣
3. The resurrection proves that salvation is complete, that on the cross Christ conquered sin, death, and hell and rose victorious.⁣
⁣
4. The resurrection proves that the church has been established. Jesus had declared, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Mt. 16:8)… His resurrection proved that death itself could not prevent Christ from establishing His church.⁣
⁣
5. The resurrection proves that judgment is coming. Jesus declared that the heavenly Father “has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn. 5:22), and since the Son is now risen and alive, His judgment is certain.⁣
⁣
6. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that heaven is waiting. Jesus promised, “In My house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you” (Jn. 14:2). Because Christ is alive by the resurrection, believers have the assurance that He is now preparing a heavenly dwelling for them.⁣
⁣
~Above via John MacArthur - Matthew Commentary 24-28, Moody, 1989, p. 314-315.
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Access the FREE Library!

Copyright © 2021 Thankful Homemaker · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy & Disclosure

Copyright © 2021 · Divine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Email