What is your daily Bible reading / devotional / prayer?

[a mere housewife]

I have trouble reading a large portion of Scripture a day: not that I don't consider it the most important book in life, but I feel that I am not understanding it very well without time to think about it. Sometimes I will read a chapter and have to reread the next day, and the next, because it is so wonderful and I don't feel able to leave it yet: I don't feel that I have understood it well enough. I wish I were more reasonable in this regard, but it is a struggle I've had since as a child, we were to be reading all sorts of Scripture and commentaries which I read through without any comprehension simply to cross them off a list. It is also typical of some people that we reach 'system overload' very quickly with all sorts of experiences/data/sensory stimuli, and this contact with the Word of God is the most significant. I am not by any means *advocating* that others do as I do (I wish rather that I could do as others): I just wanted to add an encouragement to those who struggle with reading a large amount daily at least to read something: not to feel overwhelmed and overcome with frustration and guilt and avoid the Bible altogether. Read what you can and treasure it every day.

 

[Solparvus]

I go consecutively through the Bible. A year ago I was trying to do 2 OT/1 NT/1 Psalm per day but wasn't profiting. Went down to 1 OT chapter per day, and thinned it out even more. Just so you know, I take notes when I read, so I might produce a handful of notes on a small passage. I decided to revert to Proverbs as it's the most profitable for me at this stage of life. I go through bit by bit, and just work at pressing the passages on my conscience.

I pray over the passages that I've read, or the insights I've gained, in addition to praying over other matters.

 

[sevenzedek]

No. You're supposed to read this many chapters per day; or that many chapters per day. It would give me a frowny-face to hear someone talk like that!

 

[Vladimir]

The reason people use reading plans and stick to a routine is need of discipline. Oftentimes I need to power through to love Him with my mind, and knowing that I have a system to stick to really helps.

 

[a mere housewife]

Vladimir, I think you and Austin both make very good points. Discipline in our walk with God is important. My pastor was remarking a few weeks ago that the virtue of 'self control' is one involving the mastery of our hearts, in which our desires are primarily set on God, and where we guard that in the way we seek Him first in our routines of life. Ruben is often telling me just what Austin said about the grasp that reading large tracts of Scripture gives you. I have an easier time, with large portions, listening rather than reading: the reader continues even though I may feel like I am not understanding very well, and so one is inevitably carried along. I did not at all wish to say anything against reading large portions. Yet I have in the past given up on reading at all at various times, because of an inability to read as much as I felt like I *ought* to be able to in a day. It is better to read even a portion of a chapter and think about it, to listen to God speak and speak with Him every day, than to feel an additional barrier of guilt in approaching Him because of aiming for something it is sometimes not possible circumstantially (as with mothers kept running with little ones) or psychologically to perform. I can listen to large tracts of Scripture occasionally, but even that I simply can't do daily at present (unless it is the same book over and again for awhile): I can't do that with any kind of literature, or even any kind of experience (I don't watch much media, and mostly what I do is rewatching: I relisten to a lot of music fairly regularly). It takes me a long time to work through and think about and feel that I have 'processed' contact with anything. I have struggled against it, but I function better coming to terms with it. God made me that way. People are all different; it is not always possible to do what works best for another, or even for everyone to achieve a desirable balance. We are here to walk with the God who made us each uniquely for Himself.

 

[AlexanderHenderson1647]

Mc'Cheyne's reading plan, Greenville Seminary's WCF/WSC/WLC reading plan, Psalms for Singing rehearsal a couple times a week in preparation for the Sabbath.

 

[AndrewOfCymru]

I am using the M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan for the third time. I find that I am able to pick up a broad view of the scripture and am gaining more of an appreciation for some of the similar themes that are present throughout the passage that have been chosen. Prayer time is usually before, but never near enough time it seems.

Recently, I've been thinking of incorporating the personal singing of Psalms.

 

[Vladimir]

Heidi, I simpy spoke against treating the systematic reading approach as something artificial. I was not saying that reading less is being mentally lazy or somehow failing. Dr. Joel Beeke once spoke about the way he reads the Scriptures: read one verse, pause, is there something to meditate upon? Pray about? Then go to next verse. Your approach sounds similar to that. You can never gulp down 9 chapters a day reading like this! So God bless you and your studies, no matter how many verses a day you do.

I also love reading Scriptures out loud even by myself. So sweet to mind, mouth and ear.