On Jan 1. 2016, I sat down in my usual spot, near my bed on the mat. As I turned my The 365 Day Bible to the page that says, January 1, I was overwhelmed with a sense of awe. I have been using this Bible for over 20 years. Thus I have turned to this page numerous times. So nothing new, a routine by now! Then why did I have the emotions I experienced? Why was I filled with a new expectation, a new apprehension and a new hope? Of course, the New Year has something to do with it. But that’s not it.
I realized that it has to do with my spirit tuning in to the Spirit of God to listen to what He will speak to me through His Word. As I have quieted my spirit, mind and body, I was ready to listen to Him. And He spoke. As I journaled my reflections from my reading for the day, my eyes welled up with tears. I knew my spirit was connecting with His Spirit. Something I want to experience all throughout my days.
I have shared my thoughts about spending Time Alone with God in my earlier blog, A Habit Worth Investing Your Time. There I shared a method for reflective reading of the Scripture. In another blog, A Gift and a Shift I have penned how I was drawn to the desire to read the entire Bible in one year through the gift of my great uncle.
I want to encourage all of us to enjoy the experience of spending the Time Alone with of God through reading of the Bible. Besides, I encourage all of us to read the whole Bible in one year. There are many Bible reading plans to guide us in this process. The one I follow is found in http://www.biblica.com/en-us/bible/reading-plans/ This guides us to read the entire Bible in a year. Recently I heard about M’Cheyne’s Bible reading plan http://www.mcheyne.info/calendar.pdf. Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843) developed this plan to guide the reader through the New Testament and Psalms twice, and the rest of the Bible once, each year.
It is not about deciding which plan is the best, but adjusting our schedule and prioritizing our time to escape to a quiet place with the Bible and see what God wants to speak to us every day. As the years go by we will find ourselves in the same page but with renewed expectation to hear from our Master and Lord. May we enter into His presence to taste and see that His mercies are new everyday!
Thoughts For You 