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Year of Preparation: Build the Altar in 2024 (resources for worshiping Christ in His Word)
Happy New Year!
Twenty Twenty-four can be an epic year. How’s how…
Make one resolution this year:
I will build an altar to God each day.
My voice shall You hear in the morning, O LORD;
in the morning will I direct my prayer to You, and will look up.
—Psalm 5:3
Begin each day looking up to God, worshiping Him and responding to His ever-present love! Though you may fail (repeatedly), His love never fails and His faithfulness never runs out.
Whether we turn aside to the left (in apathetic self-pleasing, essentially apathy) or to the right (in stressed-out self-effort, aka angst), Jesus is willing to come rescue us, put us back on the good path, and lead us onward with grace-driven effort!
“The most transformative thing you can do is begin to spend unhurried time with God on a regular basis for the rest of your life.
There’s lots of other things, of course. But this is the one thing; the spring.”
—John Starke
Here’s a quick word about some good Bible reading plans, with brief descriptions of the features of each.
“Nothing but the simplest impulses gets accomplished without some forethought, which we call a plan.”
—John Piper
First off: a plan is merely a guide, a tool to help. Know this about yourself: are you already a self-starter and follow through with your goals? (If you already have motivation, then a plan might feel constraining.) Or do you need structure to order your days? Most of us — your pastors included — tend to need a gentle reminder about what to do each day. Plans are helpful guides. They remind you of commitments made long before you didn’t feel like following through on a given day.
“The most important daily habit we can possess is to remind ourselves of the Gospel.”
—Charles Spurgeon
This is why we began 2024 building the altar to God in our lives. This continues with each new year, on every NEW DAY!
Now for the plans … (note: there are mobile links below as well, including the helpful smartphone/tablet app YouVersion Bible).
Have a plan.
New: Bible Project read the whole Bible in a year (PDF with links here). Spent the year in Scripture, tracking with one unified Story that leads to Jesus. This daily Bible reading plan runs from Genesis to Revelation, from Creation to Heaven, over twelve months, with relevant links to book guides, overview videos (Bible Projects noted animations), thematic videos, and helpful articles. (Bible Project had many other reading plans as well, plus a new mobile app.) All of these instructive and helpful illustrated videos and articles produced by Bible Project (locally in Portland).
More Reading Plans
First up, the ESV Study Bible Reading Plan, a year-long adventure following four ‘streams’ of writings. You’ll track with four genres of types of writings all throughout the year. Rather than plow through the Psalms and Proverbs all at once, you’re revisit a new one each day. The same with the New Testament, the doctrines of grace and redemption found in Jesus will be on display each time you open the Bible. (Seem daunting? Try the two-year plan outlined below.)
Reading Plan
Format
ESV Study Bible (One-Year Plan)
Daily readings in four places: Psalms or Wisdom Literature; Pentateuch or the History of Israel; Chronicles or Prophets; and Gospels or Epistles. Suggest reading three chapters in the morning and revisit for fourth in the evening. The printed plan can be cut into bookmarks for the four ‘streams’ in your Bible, or let a smartphone app be your bookmark and read with Bible in hand.
webpage
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email
Reading through the whole Bible in a year takes a time investment of 10-15 minutes each day. Yet, if you will carve out the time to know Jesus, He will change you. Plan to linger a bit, praying over the needs around you and ask God to give you light for your path.
M’Cheyne One-Year Reading Plan
Daily Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Gospels. Can read from all four columns in order, or pause at different times of the day. (This is the plan I’ve been following for a few years.) Alternative idea: spread it over two years by reading two columns this year, and two next.
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email
Shorter or Slower
But what if tackling the whole Bible seems daunting? Well it is an epic goal. In the same investment each morning, about ten minutes, you can read through the New Testament in six months. That’s a great start!
Reading Plan
Format
Outreach New Testament
Daily New Testament. Read through the New Testament in 6 months.
webpage
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email
Or, go half the pace for twice the effect: reading the whole Bible over two years, since it is better to read the whole Bible through carefully one time in two years than hastily in one year.
Reading Plan
Format
Two-Year Reading Plan
Take in half-speed, reading through the whole Bible in two years; daily readings in both Old and New Testaments. At the end of two years you will have read through the Psalms and Proverbs four times and the rest of the Bible once. There actually is some ingenius wisdom behind following a two-year plan.
Print
—
There are many more good plans out there. Trent Hunter’s “The Bible-Eater Plan” is an innovative new approach that has you reading whole chapters, along with quarterly attention to specific books (sit down and read a whole book every few months). The plan especially highlights OT chapters that are crucial to the storyline of Scripture and redemptive fulfillment in Christ.
Whatever plan you choose, don’t sweat it. Just find a plan and run with it. We didn’t want to overwhelm you with a vast menu. Feel free to browse and well as others thoughtfully constructed whole Bible reading plans to help you learn from Jesus.
There are other Reading Plans for ESV Editions too. Crossway has made them accessible in multiple formats:
You can also access each of these Reading Plans as podcasts (to listen to an audio reading):
We don’t have devotions and pray in order to avoid the guilt of not having devotions and not praying. We have devotions and pray to know Jesus and his Gospel, and revel in all that he is for us and all that he has won for us.
Realize this is a community project.
You need to share what God is saying to you and have others share what God is saying to them. Consider doing one of the above plans with a group of people, a spouse, a roommate, in your Community Group or your church leaders.
“If God doth such great things to teach us, we ought not to do little to learn.”
—Jonathan Edwards
Don’t give up.
I have missed meals in the past, but never gave up on eating. I just made sure I did not miss the next meal (and usually made up for it). You are going to miss days, often times multiple days. Repent of your neglect of God and press on in knowing him. Your righteousness is not in how consistent your devotional life is; it is in Jesus Christ who is constant and ever faithful. So, relax and pick up where you left off.
In previous years, I’ve outlined some wisdom on cultivating a Godward life, and Kari shared what it means to look up each morning, plus how she approaches daily Bible reading (listen here).
The beauty and joy of 2024 will not depend upon your circumstances, but upon your experience of the One you were made for. He has made exceedingly great promises to us. Let us seek Him first!
As much of Him that you want to experience, you will experience. He promises to reward those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
You may remember we studied God of Promise a few years ago, because God had a plan long before we ever did. Because He made promises to us, we repeat them back to Him. Because He first loved us, we respond by loving Him as the first priority in our lives. This is where we build an altar to God.
How much more powerful and life-changing is the movement of God’s Spirit when in the Renew family we’re all reading God’s Word in our homes, embracing and embodying the grace and truth of Jesus our King!
“The man who would truly know God must give time to Him.”
—A.W. Tozer
View all episodes
By RENEW ChurchHappy New Year!
Twenty Twenty-four can be an epic year. How’s how…
Make one resolution this year:
I will build an altar to God each day.
My voice shall You hear in the morning, O LORD;
in the morning will I direct my prayer to You, and will look up.
—Psalm 5:3
Begin each day looking up to God, worshiping Him and responding to His ever-present love! Though you may fail (repeatedly), His love never fails and His faithfulness never runs out.
Whether we turn aside to the left (in apathetic self-pleasing, essentially apathy) or to the right (in stressed-out self-effort, aka angst), Jesus is willing to come rescue us, put us back on the good path, and lead us onward with grace-driven effort!
“The most transformative thing you can do is begin to spend unhurried time with God on a regular basis for the rest of your life.
There’s lots of other things, of course. But this is the one thing; the spring.”
—John Starke
Here’s a quick word about some good Bible reading plans, with brief descriptions of the features of each.
“Nothing but the simplest impulses gets accomplished without some forethought, which we call a plan.”
—John Piper
First off: a plan is merely a guide, a tool to help. Know this about yourself: are you already a self-starter and follow through with your goals? (If you already have motivation, then a plan might feel constraining.) Or do you need structure to order your days? Most of us — your pastors included — tend to need a gentle reminder about what to do each day. Plans are helpful guides. They remind you of commitments made long before you didn’t feel like following through on a given day.
“The most important daily habit we can possess is to remind ourselves of the Gospel.”
—Charles Spurgeon
This is why we began 2024 building the altar to God in our lives. This continues with each new year, on every NEW DAY!
Now for the plans … (note: there are mobile links below as well, including the helpful smartphone/tablet app YouVersion Bible).
Have a plan.
New: Bible Project read the whole Bible in a year (PDF with links here). Spent the year in Scripture, tracking with one unified Story that leads to Jesus. This daily Bible reading plan runs from Genesis to Revelation, from Creation to Heaven, over twelve months, with relevant links to book guides, overview videos (Bible Projects noted animations), thematic videos, and helpful articles. (Bible Project had many other reading plans as well, plus a new mobile app.) All of these instructive and helpful illustrated videos and articles produced by Bible Project (locally in Portland).
More Reading Plans
First up, the ESV Study Bible Reading Plan, a year-long adventure following four ‘streams’ of writings. You’ll track with four genres of types of writings all throughout the year. Rather than plow through the Psalms and Proverbs all at once, you’re revisit a new one each day. The same with the New Testament, the doctrines of grace and redemption found in Jesus will be on display each time you open the Bible. (Seem daunting? Try the two-year plan outlined below.)
Reading Plan
Format
ESV Study Bible (One-Year Plan)
Daily readings in four places: Psalms or Wisdom Literature; Pentateuch or the History of Israel; Chronicles or Prophets; and Gospels or Epistles. Suggest reading three chapters in the morning and revisit for fourth in the evening. The printed plan can be cut into bookmarks for the four ‘streams’ in your Bible, or let a smartphone app be your bookmark and read with Bible in hand.
webpage
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email
Reading through the whole Bible in a year takes a time investment of 10-15 minutes each day. Yet, if you will carve out the time to know Jesus, He will change you. Plan to linger a bit, praying over the needs around you and ask God to give you light for your path.
M’Cheyne One-Year Reading Plan
Daily Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Gospels. Can read from all four columns in order, or pause at different times of the day. (This is the plan I’ve been following for a few years.) Alternative idea: spread it over two years by reading two columns this year, and two next.
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email
Shorter or Slower
But what if tackling the whole Bible seems daunting? Well it is an epic goal. In the same investment each morning, about ten minutes, you can read through the New Testament in six months. That’s a great start!
Reading Plan
Format
Outreach New Testament
Daily New Testament. Read through the New Testament in 6 months.
webpage
RSS
iCal
Mobile
Print
Email
Or, go half the pace for twice the effect: reading the whole Bible over two years, since it is better to read the whole Bible through carefully one time in two years than hastily in one year.
Reading Plan
Format
Two-Year Reading Plan
Take in half-speed, reading through the whole Bible in two years; daily readings in both Old and New Testaments. At the end of two years you will have read through the Psalms and Proverbs four times and the rest of the Bible once. There actually is some ingenius wisdom behind following a two-year plan.
Print
—
There are many more good plans out there. Trent Hunter’s “The Bible-Eater Plan” is an innovative new approach that has you reading whole chapters, along with quarterly attention to specific books (sit down and read a whole book every few months). The plan especially highlights OT chapters that are crucial to the storyline of Scripture and redemptive fulfillment in Christ.
Whatever plan you choose, don’t sweat it. Just find a plan and run with it. We didn’t want to overwhelm you with a vast menu. Feel free to browse and well as others thoughtfully constructed whole Bible reading plans to help you learn from Jesus.
There are other Reading Plans for ESV Editions too. Crossway has made them accessible in multiple formats:
You can also access each of these Reading Plans as podcasts (to listen to an audio reading):
We don’t have devotions and pray in order to avoid the guilt of not having devotions and not praying. We have devotions and pray to know Jesus and his Gospel, and revel in all that he is for us and all that he has won for us.
Realize this is a community project.
You need to share what God is saying to you and have others share what God is saying to them. Consider doing one of the above plans with a group of people, a spouse, a roommate, in your Community Group or your church leaders.
“If God doth such great things to teach us, we ought not to do little to learn.”
—Jonathan Edwards
Don’t give up.
I have missed meals in the past, but never gave up on eating. I just made sure I did not miss the next meal (and usually made up for it). You are going to miss days, often times multiple days. Repent of your neglect of God and press on in knowing him. Your righteousness is not in how consistent your devotional life is; it is in Jesus Christ who is constant and ever faithful. So, relax and pick up where you left off.
In previous years, I’ve outlined some wisdom on cultivating a Godward life, and Kari shared what it means to look up each morning, plus how she approaches daily Bible reading (listen here).
The beauty and joy of 2024 will not depend upon your circumstances, but upon your experience of the One you were made for. He has made exceedingly great promises to us. Let us seek Him first!
As much of Him that you want to experience, you will experience. He promises to reward those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
You may remember we studied God of Promise a few years ago, because God had a plan long before we ever did. Because He made promises to us, we repeat them back to Him. Because He first loved us, we respond by loving Him as the first priority in our lives. This is where we build an altar to God.
How much more powerful and life-changing is the movement of God’s Spirit when in the Renew family we’re all reading God’s Word in our homes, embracing and embodying the grace and truth of Jesus our King!
“The man who would truly know God must give time to Him.”
—A.W. Tozer