Get in the Word This New Year!

Many people I talk to say that they struggle to get into Scripture regularly and/or meaningfully.  Recently I've been desiring to and attempting to (but failing miserably) memorize larger portions of Scripture, specifically the book of Philippians.  The idea of memorizing this particular book just keeps popping up over and over again from different sources in my life.  This leads me to a resouce I found just the other day that I want to commend to whomever might be interested.  It is a sixteen week plan for memorizing the book of Philippians (just click the last sentence to see the blog post).

We desperately need to work to not be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).  I've learned again and again that if I am not being transformed to the mind of Christ then I am, by default, being conformed to this present age in which I live (and so are you).  I hope that some will join me in this endeavor to memorize the book of Philippians.  Shelly and I plan to begin next week.  As a side note if you are looking for the Moleskine notebooks they have some of the 3.5 x 5.5 plastic cover versions at our NSU bookstore.  I actually like these better than the ones suggested in Tim's blog.  The ones at NSU are 80 pages long allowing you to space out the sixteen sections a little more widely so that there is more room to journal your meditations for the week :)

Also here are a few options you could use for your Bible reading program for this year:

Discipleship Journal
This plan from NavPress's Discipleship Journal lays out four daily readings, but only for 25 days per month (let's face it we all get behind).  This is my personal favorite for someone who wants to read through the whole Bible in one year (which I have never accomplished).

For Shirkers and Slackers
I just came across this one today and it now is probably my favorite plan for someone who wants some structure in their Bible reading and who wants to eventually read the entire Bible.  There are no time limits, and no way to get behind, yet it allows you to keep track of what you have read.

Chronological Bible Reading Plan
You may or may not know this but our Bible's are not compiled in chronological order.  The goal of this plan is to read through the Bible in a year taking the sections of Scripture as they would happen in chronological order.  I've not done this yet, but is sounds interesting.

Whatever you decide to do - do it!  Don't let yourself merely float or simply think that you can get your spiritual nourishment on Sundays and Wednesdays.  If you are feasting on Christ and His word throughout the week then you will come to church hungry for more; but conversely, if you feast on the white bread of laziness during the week you will come to church not hungry at all and will receive little to no nourishment.  Fight the fight of faith.

Wanting to hunger more,

~Ryan