Read - habit two
How often do you read your bible? Are the pages well thumbed or does it sit on the shelf with the other books that you read once and then set aside?
We believe that the bible is the living word of God.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16–17.
Jesus says that the best way to live is by building a strong foundation on his words. This is not an empty academic exercise, but rather as we look at the word of God (the bible) so we are led in the way of Jesus.
There are lots of different ways to read the bible. One thing that unites them all is that when we make reading the bible a daily habit, we build a rich deposit in our hearts and minds. This creates even more space for us to be transformed. Reading the bible is the second habit that we are encouraging everyone at All Saints to take up. Pray, Read, Join, Commit and Give.
Starting to read
The bible is a library of lots of different sorts of books. In order to develop a daily habit of reading, you will need a plan, otherwise you are likely to give up after a few weeks. Here are two great places to start and both are free.
Bible App from Life.Church
This is a fantastic free app that is available for both Apple and Android. There are two stand out features: 1. Loads of free bible reading plans (I am currently using The One Year Bible Plan - a classic way to read the bible in a year). 2. Audio versions of lots of bibles so that you can have the text read aloud to you (this is my preference as it really helps me concentrate and pray as I am reading)
Bible in one year from HTB
Holy Trinity Brompton have a very well received bible reading plan with a daily thought from Nicky Gumbel. A great place to start if you want some commentary to go with your readings. They have a web version, email version and apps for both Apple and Android.
You can find HTB bible in one year website here: https://www.bibleinoneyear.org/
A Challenge
Whether you read a bible with real paper pages or read with the help of an app, try to make reading the bible a daily habit. How would your day be different if the first thing you did each day was to read the bible and took the time to be still and pray?