The Sword of The Spirit by Shawn Boonstra

by Shawn Boonstra
and Pacific Press Publishing Association

Edited by Fred Hardinge, DrPH
Art Direction & Cover Design by Fred Knopper
Cover Illustration by Steve Creitz
Layout by Brent Hardinge
Text Typeset: 11 pt. ITC New Baskerville
Copyright 2007 by It Is Written. All Rights Reserved.
Additional copies of this book and a

host of other spiritual resources are available
from It Is Written. For more information call
toll free 1-888-664-5573 or visit
www.itiswritten.com
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible texts are from the

New King James Version, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982
by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan is included courtesy of

the Discipleship Journal and is also available on their website:
www.discipleshipjournal.com. Used by permission.
Printed in the United States of America

by Pacific Press Publishing Association
Nampa, Idaho / Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
www.pacificpress.com
ISBN 10: 081632199X

ISBN 13: 9780816321995
Contents
Introduction ................................................................5
Mary Jones and the Bible ...........................................8
Bible Study Basics .....................................................19
Getting Even More From Your Bible Study . ...........27
Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan..................41
Read the Bible in a Year ...........................................54
Bible Study Resources................................................60
For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
and of joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12
Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

Psalm 119:105
I n t r o d u c t i o n
The Bible is undeniably a most remarkable book. It

has outlived all of its critics, survived centuries of prohibi-
tion and has changed countless lives for the better. It has a
power that no other book has. It has made thieves honest,
cheaters faithful and drunkards sober. It has transformed
warring savages into upright and peace-loving people.
No wonder it continues to be the best seller of all
time, in spite of numerous authorities and governments
who have tried to ban it and the godless people who have
burned and destroyed it. Many Christians have given their
lives to protect and preserve it.
Why has this ancient book had such an impact on the
world? Because the Bible is the very Word of God. Over
a period of hundreds of years God chose faithful people
from a variety of backgrounds to write what He wanted to
communicate to this world through a process called inspi-
ration. Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:20-21, “Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for
prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke

THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Today we read God’s Word in our own language—even
though it was originally written in Hebrew or Greek, it has
been carefully translated from the original languages into
ours.
Though the Bible was written hundreds of years ago,
the message it expresses is powerful today because it is the
Word of God. Paul wrote, “All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
This special book provides encouragement, hope, guid-
ance, inspiration and comfort as well as solutions to life’s
most perplexing problems.
While it may look to the casual observer like one book,
it is really 66 books—39 of which are called the Old Testa-
ment, and 27 called the New Testament. Because 44 au-
thors wrote these books, each one is unique. There are ex-
citing adventures, beautiful poetry, inspiring stories, and
wise counsel and instruction. What is most remarkable is
that each author and each book expresses God’s love for
us and His plan to save us from our sins.
In studying this Book of books you will find intriguing
lessons in how God worked in the lives of people long ago,
from which you will learn important truths and gain the
strength to apply them in your life. As you read and study
your Bible, never forget that the Author, God Himself, is
speaking to you, asking you to follow Him. James 1:22-25
entreats, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiv-
ing yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a
Introduction
doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for

he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind
of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and
continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work,
this one will be blessed in what he does.”
Chances are that you have one or more Bibles in your
home. How often do you pick one up to read? This little
book will help you maximize the time you spend reading,
searching and meditating on God’s Word. These principles
will help make the Bible come alive for you!
C h a p t e r O n e
Mary Jones and the Bible
Just imagine, before 1907 nobody had ever vacuumed

a carpet, because the vacuum cleaner had not been in-
vented yet. Before 1914 nobody had ever run a red light,
because there was no such thing as a traffic light. Before
1914 no one had ever snagged a zipper. Before 1920 no-
body had come up with a Band-Aid solution to a problem,
because there was no such thing as a Band-Aid.
Before 1921 no one had ever been subjected to a lie
detector test. In 1928 the black and white picture tube was
invented. The first color tube did not appear until 1940.
Before 1941 nobody had ever used an aerosol can. Before
1953, no one had ever received a kidney transplant. Non-
stick cooking first appeared in kitchens in 1954, and no
one ever dreamed of laser eye surgery before 1962.
The 1970s brought us floppy disks, laser printers, test-
tube babies and VHS players.
The 1980s brought us cell phones, computer anima-
tion, space shuttles, soymilk and GPS systems. The 1990s
introduced us to the World Wide Web, gene mapping, an-

Mary Jones and the Bible
timatter and cloning.

The 20th century was a whirlwind of scientific discovery.
Technologically speaking, it may go down as the most signifi-
cant period of earth’s history. The face of human existence
was radically altered. In fact, it was so revolutionary that some
Bible scholars see it as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
Let me show you what I mean. Daniel the prophet lived
more than 2,400 years ago. He was a young, aristocratic
Jew who had been taken captive by the Babylonians. He
lived in the court of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar
as one of his special trainee captives. During his lifetime
as a royal prisoner, God repeatedly gave him visions of the
future of our planet.
These visions spelled out the world’s history from Dan-
iel’s day right down to the close of time. They are literally a
detailed timeline between Daniel’s time and the day Jesus
comes back for us. To date, not one detail in any of Dan-
iel’s prophecies has been wrong, and since most of what he
predicted has already happened, millions of people have
come to trust what Daniel says about our future.
But what does the book of Daniel have to do with the
inventions of the 20th century? Quite a lot, some people
think. There is an interesting verse near the end of the book
that has arrested the attention of many Bible scholars in re-
cent years: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the
book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and
knowledge shall be increased.” (Daniel 12:4)
The Book of Daniel plainly predicts that just before the
end of time, there will be a dramatic increase in knowledge.
Some Bible students believe this is a reference to the sensa-
10 THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT
tional explosion of technology over the last 100 years or so. I

won’t dispute it entirely—it may indirectly refer to that—but
I don’t believe that is truly what the angel had in mind.
Let me explain. If you read the book of Daniel closely,
you will find all through it – (in the ninth chapter in par-
ticular) an intense desire on Daniel’s part to understand
the things he is seeing and hearing. Then at the end of the
book, the angel tells Daniel to shut up the words and seal
the book.
In other words, it was not time to understand every-
thing yet. There would come a time at the end of the world,
near the very close of history, when knowledge would in-
crease, but in Daniel’s day, the prophecies were sealed. Is
it possible that the angel was referring to technology and
science? I suppose it is, but I believe that the angel was
primarily referring to a time—in the future—when there
would be a dramatic increase in Bible knowledge.
He was referring to a time in the future when the proph-
ecies of Daniel would be understood, because most of what
had been prophesied would have already happened. You
see, Bible prophecy is not so much about understanding
every detail about the future as it is about understanding
that God has always been at work in history.
Bible prophecy is meant to build our faith as we look
back and see its fulfillment through history. Jesus taught
this principle when He said: “And now I have told you before
it comes to pass, that when it does come to pass, ye may believe”
(John 14:29).
In other words, hindsight is 20/20. Bible prophecy
does tell us about what is going to happen in the future,
Mary Jones and the Bible 11
but our clearest understanding comes after it has been ful-

filled. The angel told Daniel that a time was coming (at
the end of history) when Bible knowledge would increase
at an explosive rate. Then the prophecies would finally be
fully understood.
I believe that the prophecy of Daniel 12:4 is being ful-
filled in our day and age. Bible knowledge and the study of
Bible prophecy have metaphorically exploded. And while
few people realize it, we might have a little girl to thank—
at least in part.
Throughout the period of history known as the Dark
Ages, which lasted for more than 1,200 years, few people
had access to a Bible. Even if they could get their hands on
one, it would have done them little good, because very few
people could actually read. Perhaps “Dark Ages” is a very
fitting name for this time period. People were literally in
the dark when it came to what this important Book said.
But then something happened. The Dark Ages ended,
because the hands of God’s great prophetic clock were
steadily ticking their way toward the “time of the end,”
when knowledge would increase dramatically.
The period of history following the Dark Ages has come to
be known by some historians as the Great Awakening. There
was a large collection of independent movements around
the world that began to promote Bible study and missionary
work. The gospel was carried to the whole world in much the
way that it had been in the days of the early disciples.
It was the beginning of the time of the end. Jesus said
in Matthew 24:14 that “…this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then
shall the end come.”

Beginning in the early 1800s, the light of God’s Word
swept across the face of the planet like a wildfire. One top-
ic of particular interest to many Bible students was Bible
prophecy. The time had come to understand what Daniel
had written.
But in order for people to understand Daniel and the
rest of the Bible, they had to have a Bible in their hands,
and very few people did. In fact, at the close of the Dark
Ages, the Bible was only available in a total of 67 out of an
estimated 7,000 world languages.
In other words, it was available to less than one percent
of the language groups on earth. To make matters worse,
even if the Bible was available in your language, chances
were that it was too expensive to buy one for yourself.
That was all about to change, and God used a faithful
little girl—born in the Welsh countryside in 1784—to make
the Bible available to the entire world. Her name was Mary,
and more than anything in the world, she wanted to learn
how to read. Why? So she could read the Bible for herself.
Like most other people, she only had access to the Bible
when she heard it read at church or prayer meeting.
She wanted more. She wanted to read it herself, but
there were no schools nearby to teach her how to read.
Finally, when Mary was 10 years old, her father came
home one night with a big smile on his face. “Mary,” he said,
“a school has opened about an hour from here, and you can
start attending next week.” It was an answer to prayer. Mary
wanted to read so badly that she didn’t mind walking an
hour to school. She quickly rose to the top of her class.
But learning to read was only half of Mary’s dream. She

still did not have a Bible of her own. A kind neighbor with
a Bible in the Welsh language allowed her to come over ev-
ery weekend and spend time reading. She lived two miles
from Mary’s house.
Every weekend Mary went and was amazed as she
read the stories of Jesus. She had heard some of them in
church, but how much better for her to read it for herself.
The Bible came alive for her, and her weekend visits soon
were not enough.
In fact, each hour spent in her neighbor’s Bible only
fueled the fire in little Mary’s heart—to own a Bible of her
own in the Welsh language. So even though they were pro-
hibitively expensive, she began to save her pennies.
She did odd jobs around the village for meager amounts
of money—a penny here and there. She began sewing for
people, raising chickens, selling their eggs, gathering fire-
wood, helping local mothers with their chores and watch-
ing over their children. There was almost no job that Mary
would not do in order to save money for her Bible.
For six long years, Mary saved her pennies, and it
wasn’t easy. At one point, her father became so ill that he
couldn’t work anymore. Some of Mary’s Bible money had
to go toward feeding the family. Owning a Bible seemed
like the impossible dream, but after six years, she finally
had enough money to purchase a Bible of her own.
However, that only introduced a new problem. Where
would she get a Bible in the Welsh language? No one in
her village had one for sale. In fact, hardly anybody had
one at all. Welsh Bibles were exceptionally scarce.
Then Mary noticed that her new schoolteacher had

one. She asked him where he got it, and he told her of a
minister by the name of Thomas Charles in the village of
Bala—25 miles away—who had Welsh Bibles for sale.
One can only begin to imagine Mary’s excitement.
Even though she wasn’t quite 16 years old, she set out on
foot and walked all day over very rough terrain to get to
Bala. It was a trip that would be immortalized in history,
and—at least in part—I believe it was also a fulfillment of
Bible prophecy.
When Mary got to Bala late in the evening, she knocked
on the door of a local minister, who took her in for the
night. In the morning, he took her to see Pastor Charles,
who lived near by.
Thomas Charles welcomed Mary and listened patiently
as she told her story. “I love the Bible,” she said. “I have
loved it ever since I was a little girl and I heard it being
read at a meeting I attended with my father and mother.
Then the school opened when I was ten, and I learned to
read. Now I want a Bible of my own.”
Pastor Charles could hardly believe his ears. “And you
have come 25 miles on foot to buy one?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, “and I have the money to pay for it
right here.”
“How in the world did you get the money for a Bible?
You said that your parents were weavers, and I don’t sup-
pose that they’re very rich.”
“Oh,” she said, “I have worked and saved for six years,
sir. I did mending for neighbors. I gathered firewood, and
raised chickens—just about everything you can think of,
and now I finally have enough.”

The money jingled softly in the little purse clutched
tightly in her hands. Thomas Charles looked over at the
other pastor and said, “Mr. Edwards, isn’t this sad? To see
a young girl, so brave, so intelligent and so consistent a
Christian, coming all this long 25 miles for a Bible, and
I have none to spare—not even one. There is no hope of
getting one, either, as the Religious Tract Society has re-
fused to print more for Wales!”
“Do you mean to say that you don’t even have one for
this poor girl?” the pastor asked.
“Not even one,” he said. “There are two or three Bibles
here that have already been promised to other people. I
have nothing left.”
The words fell like hammer blows on Mary’s ears. She
was devastated, and she began to weep uncontrollably, be-
cause she would be going home without a Bible after so
many years of waiting. The chair shook under her sobs.
Thomas Charles was suddenly moved with compassion.
He got up out of his chair and laid his hand on Mary’s
head. “Mary,” he said, “You will have a Bible, no matter
what. One of these Bibles is going to a man who can also
read English, so I will give you his.”
He went to the bookcase and got a Welsh Bible for
Mary, and an excited teenage girl walked 25 miles home
that day—to begin reading her very own Bible.
After she left, Pastor Charles started to dream. Mary’s
story so deeply touched him that he went to a meeting of
the Religious Tract Society in 1802, and told them what
had happened. When he was finished, he asked the mem-
bers to consider forming a new society dedicated to print-

ing and distributing Bibles in the Welsh language.
They liked the idea. A Baptist minister by the name
of Joseph Hughes was so touched by Mary’s story that he
stood up and said, “Mr. Charles, your appeal was very mov-
ing. The story of that young girl is heart-rending and her
story is the story of the whole world. Surely a society could
be formed for this purpose, but if we start one for Wales,
why not for Great Britain? And why not for the world?”
That December day, the British and Foreign Bible So-
ciety was born. It held its first meeting on March 7, 1804,
and £700 was raised to begin the printing and distribution
of Bibles all around the world.
In God’s version of history, it was a profound moment. The
Great Awakening had its catalyst, and the way was opened for
millions of Christians to understand the wonderful prophe-
cies of the Bible. The moment had come for knowledge to
increase. A little girl with unshakable faith paved the way for
the whole world to read what Daniel wrote.
Remember, when Mary made her famous walk to Bala
in 1800, the Bible was only available in 67 languages. By
the year 1900 it was available in 524 languages, and the
British and Foreign Bible Society had distributed almost
204 million copies.
Mary would never have dreamed that she would play
such an important role in God’s plans for planet earth. She
was a simple country girl used by God to put the Bible into
the hands of millions of people. Thanks to her, countless
thousands of people will be in heaven—maybe even you.
The very first foreign language Bible that the new So-
ciety printed was for Canada. It was in the Mohawk lan-

guage, translated by Mohawk scholars on the Six Nations
reserve in Southern Ontario. During the American Revo-
lution, Chief Joseph Brant (as he was known to the British
Empire), took the side of the loyalists who ended up in
Canada. When the war was over, the Mohawks had lost ev-
erything, including their homes.
Governor General Frederick Haldimand granted Jo-
seph Brant and the Mohawks a 675,000-acre tract of land
near modern day Brantford, Ontario. Joseph Brant, at the
request of King George III, built a church in 1785, which to
this day is still the oldest Protestant church in Canada and
the only royal chapel outside of Britain. When it was built,
Chief Brant decided that the most important thing he could
do for his people was to provide the Bible in their own lan-
guage. He translated the gospel of Mark into Mohawk.
In later years, the Bible Society in Britain recognized
the need for more of the Bible to be distributed among the
Mohawks, and so Chief John Norton (his English name)
was asked to translate the gospel of John. That translation,
completed in 1804, became the first foreign language Bi-
ble the society ever published.
Enthusiasm for distributing Bibles quickly spread from
the Six Nations reserve all across Canada, and by 1807, local
Bible societies began to appear. Many years later, in 1904,
this loose collection of Bible Societies united to form the
Canadian Bible Society, which is with us to this day. Bible
societies were formed in America and around the world.
Chances are that you have a Bible in your home that
was printed by a Bible society. I have several, and I have a
little girl in Wales to thank. She had such a love for God’s
word that she dedicated her every waking moment to se-
curing one for herself.
If God could use a humble country girl to start the ful-
fillment of a 2,500-year-old prophecy, I wonder what He
might be waiting to do with you. The work of spreading
the message of this Book is not finished yet. We’re almost
there—but not quite.
God is waiting for more people like Mary to step out in
simple faith and devote themselves to Him. He is waiting
for you. Just imagine what could happen!
Maybe you have never read or studied the Bible. May-
be you haven’t been studying it like you should. Maybe
you’ve never had a chance to see what a little Welsh girl
found in this book more than 200 years ago. Read on, be-
cause this little book will help you find out what God has
planned for you!
C h a p t e r Tw o
Bible Study Basics
It’s 5 a.m. and the alarm clock rings. It’s time for your
morning devotions. You wipe the sleep out of your eyes,
reach for the Bible on your nightstand and peruse a cou-
ple of verses from the book of Psalms.
You got to bed a little late last night and it’s kind of
hard to focus on what you’re reading. Five minutes after
you have finished, you can hardly remember what you
read. Have you ever felt you are not getting enough out of
your devotional life?
Maybe you have all the modern study tools, even a com-
puter Bible, yet when you are finished you can’t remember
what you just read. You are not getting anything out of it.
What can you do to have a better time in the Bible?
Let me suggest a few things you can do to solve this
dilemma!
Let the Holy Spirit Be Your Guide. The Bible itself
teaches that the Spirit of God is our Guide when we study
it. The same Holy Spirit that initiated the writing of the
Bible, the same Holy Spirit that impressed the hearts and
19
minds of the disciples when they wrote, will impress us as

we study! In John 16:13 we read, “However when he the spirit
of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth…”
The Bible is a divine book. It is not to be approached
like any other book. As we open the pages of the Bible, we
need to pray, “Dear Lord, open my mind to see what you
have in your word.” We need to seek God’s guidance first,
then read the Bible.
There is an amazing story that Jesus tells regarding the
Pharisees in Matthew 11:25 where He says, “…I have not
revealed these things to the wise and prudent, but unto babes.”
If you approach the Bible to prove your own ideas or
to prove other people wrong, or if you approach the Bible
from the perspective of arguing, then you will misunder-
stand the purpose of God’s Word. Before you begin read-
ing the Bible, pray for God’s guidance.
Come to the Bible with the Spirit of a Child. It is impor-
tant to have an open mind like a child when reading the
Bible. Be willing to say, “Lord, I’m coming to you today, not
to superimpose my will on the text, but I’m coming to you
so you can speak to me through your Word.” You need to
come to the Bible to learn what God wants you to learn.
Remember the fence post principle. It is very impor-
tant that we not be tempted to take one text and make a
doctrine out of it. Let’s suppose that I am a farmer build-
ing a fence. On the day I start the work you come to visit
me in the field where I have put in only one post. I look
at that post and ask, “Which way is the fence running?” By
seeing only the first post I don’t know which way the fence
will go! I might assume it will go off diagonally to my right,
Bible Study Basics 21
while you imagine it will be go straight to the left.

What happens when I put in the second post? With two
points I can draw a line between them. When the third post
goes in there is no question as to where the fence is going.
Likewise, when you study the Bible, you line up each
text as a fence post. For example, if I wish to study about
heaven, I don’t want to read only one passage on heaven, I
want to read 50. If I am studying about death, I don’t want
to read just one passage, but all the passages about death.
This is the way the Bible itself says it should be studied.
In Isaiah 28:9-10 we read, “Whom shall he teach knowledge
and whom shall he make to understand doctrine. Them that are
weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast. For precept must
be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon
line, here a little and there a little.”
God wants to teach you something deep and here is how
He does it. Precept, that is principle, must be upon princi-
ple. Line must be upon line, here a little and there a little.
It is much like making a puzzle. Suppose you are putting
together this puzzle — a scene of a boy walking down a dirt
road in the country with a fishing pole over his shoulder.
If you were to start the puzzle with a piece that has his foot
on it, and right next to that piece goes a piece with a rattle-
snake on it, you could get the impression that the snake bit
the boy and the boy died. But you are only looking at two
small pieces. As you put more pieces in place, you begin to
see that right behind the snake is the boy’s father, and he is
killing the snake. The whole point of the picture is not the
snake biting the boy, but his father protecting him.
In the same way, when you read the Bible, you take as
many texts as you can on the subject to see the whole picture!
Use the right tools in the right way. As a preacher I have
to admit that sometimes I can’t remember where a particu-
lar passage is found! That is where a concordance comes
in handy. There are great concordances available, such as
Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Bible and Strong’s Exhaus-
tive Concordance of the Bible as well as concordances in the back
of many Bibles. These are very useful Bible study tools.
The concordance in the back of your Bible is often very
limited. There will be a few texts on each topic. Young’s
Concordance and Strong’s Concordance are exhaustive concor-
dances. In other words, they will take every instance of a
word in the Bible and list it for you. For example, it lists
each time the word “Jesus” is mentioned. Every serious
Bible student should have at least one good concordance
in his or her library.
There are also many commentaries and Bible study aids
written by various authors. Some of them are excellent ex-
planations of Bible concepts and principles. But what if you
are reading one that is seemingly very good and you notice
something that is not in harmony with what the Scripture
teaches? The Bible gives us some counsel for this kind of
situation in Proverbs 19:27, “Cease listening to instruction, my
son, that will lead you to stray from the words of knowledge.”
It is very clear in this passage what we should do when
we find instruction that leads us away from the true knowl-
edge of God’s Word. We need to avoid following instruc-
tion that is not in harmony with Scripture.
Understanding God’s Word is not merely a matter of
the mind, it is also a matter of the heart. Some of the most
brilliant people in the world can be confused by the Bible.

In Jesus’ day the scribes and Pharisees spent hours every
day pouring over Scripture, but they were confused by it.
They did not even recognize that Jesus was going to come,
and the Messiah was right there before them. And so they
rejected the Him!
The Bible says in John 7:17 that understanding truth is
as much a matter of the heart as it is of the mind. “If any man
will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or
whether I speak of myself.” When I approach the Bible, I come
with a prayerful heart saying to the Lord, “Please guide me
through your Holy Spirit as I study. I am willing to do what-
ever You want me to do. I will look at all of the scriptural texts
on a topic and put them together with Your help. I will not
listen to knowledge that will lead me away from Your Book. I
come with a willingness to do what You want me to do.”
Okay, you have done all that. How are you going to get
the most mileage from your study? You do it by following
the advice found in John 6:63, “…the words that I speak to you,
they are spirit and they are life.” As you read God’s Word, your
mind is changed. The same Holy Spirit that inspired the
Bible inspires you. The same God who at creation brought
life into the world through His spoken Word, brings life
into your heart through His written Word.
My friend, Pastor Mark Finely, uses a simple little acros-
tic to summarize how we can put vigor and vitality into our
Bible Study. He calls it V-I-M.
The “V” stands for visualization. Here is an example:
As I read the story of Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee in
a boat, I hear the wind escalating, I see the boat going up
and down. The thunder is crashing, the lightning is flashing

and the waves are filling the boat. I visualize the darkness
of the night. It is as if somebody threw a cosmic switch and
turned off the stars—the clouds cover the moon. It is dark
and I feel that darkness. I watch the whitecaps as they crash
over the boat. I see the disciples trembling in fear. I watch
the wind blowing their hair. I see the rain hitting their faces.
With those disciples, I visualize what they are experiencing.
The “I” is identification. What would it have been like if
I were Peter, James or John? I feel the chill of the wind. I
hear the snap of the sails. I listen to the roll of the thunder.
I shiver as the waves come over the boat. I see the boat fill-
ing up. I identify with what it must have been like standing
there in water up to my ankles and I look away to see Jesus
sleeping. So I scream out with those disciples, “Lord, this
boat is going down. Don’t you care, Lord? Where in the
world are you? We’re perishing!”
Then I meditate on what this means to me. In my life,
many times the sea is raging. It seems like the lights are
turned off. It seems as if my little boat is filled with water
and it’s going down. And it seems like I cry out with those
disciples, “Lord, don’t you care that we’re perishing?”
The “M” represents meditation. As I see Jesus stand, lift His
hands and say, “Peace be still,” I think about those disciples
and how peace flooded into their hearts as the sea became
calm. As the stars twinkle in the heavens above, and as the
moon now reflects over the gentle waves, I see a confident
twinkle in Peter’s eye and the smile of peace on his face. As
I meditate on that, the storms of my life don’t look so large
and Jesus says to me, “Peace, be still.” I apply it to my life.
Where Should I Start?

Now I have everything in place. I have my Bible, I have
an attitude of prayer, I know about “V-I-M,” and I have
some great study tools. But where do I start reading the
Bible? At the beginning of the Old Testament in Genesis,
or maybe in the New Testament?
There are people who start with Genesis and read all
the way through Revelation, and I applaud them for doing
that. When you read the Bible through this way you get a
sense of the whole Bible story and history. There are many
others who decide to read the whole Bible in one year.
They start at Genesis but by the time they get to Leviti-
cus or Numbers (some books of the Bible that are tougher
than others) they just give up!
Many people, particularly new Christians, would do
well to start with the four gospels in the New Testament. If
you are starting to read the Bible for the first time, it might
make a lot of sense to begin this way. When you study the
gospels think about them like this: Matthew was a tax col-
lector and he faithfully recorded the sermons of Christ.
Mark wrote about the humanity of Christ reaching out and
holding people. Luke was a physician. In his gospel you
read about the miracles Christ performed as well as His
parables. In fact Luke wrote more parables than any other
Bible writer. John focuses on the divinity of Christ. It was
the last gospel written to prove to the Jewish mind that
Jesus Christ was the Messiah.
Many people read the Psalms in the evening for peace,
comfort, strength and security. Recently, I decided to do
something really different! Having read the Psalms a num-
ber of times, I decided to start at the end and read to the

beginning. As I worked my way backwards I saw things in a
different order, and was blessed.
How Much Time Should I Spend?

I am a very busy person—working 40, 50 or even 60
hours per week on the job. Plus I have children at home
with their busy schedules, and of course my wife. Where in
the world do I find time to study the Bible?
Here is what I tell people. The amount of food you eat
may not be as important as how well you chew it. Some
people set aside an hour a day, or half an hour a day for
Bible study, but that may not be realistic for every person.
For some, especially as they begin their devotional life, five
or 10 minutes set aside to pray, reading a few texts, visual-
izing the story, identifying with it, and meditating on it will
be a great blessing.
Bible reading is not a speed-reading exercise. It is not
a particular Bible reading program where we check off
the verses that we have read (even though we have includ-
ed two excellent programs in this book). The purpose of
Bible reading is to know God and communicate with Him.
He longs to communicate with you. When you come to
the Bible with a heart that is passionate to hear Him, even
for a few short minutes each day, you will want more and
more time with God!
Who knows, when you follow the suggestions in this little
book, you may discover that one hour a day is not enough!
C h a p t e r T h r e e
Getting More From Your Bible
George W. Hensley was a preacher who had the habit

of adding a little flair to his sermons. One Sunday in 1910,
he was almost finished expounding on the last chapter of
Mark’s gospel when he came to this verse: “they will take up
serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means
hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover”
(Mark 16:18).
This was an electric moment for his audience. After
allowing a pronounced silence to wash over the crowd, he
reached with a flourish into a box and pulled out a large
rattlesnake with his bare hands. He handled the snake for
a few moments in front of the shocked audience; then
declared that, unless the congregation also handled the
snake, they risked being “doomed to eternal hell.” He
made snake handling the ultimate test of faith.
Surprisingly, the practice of snake handling became very
popular for a while. It even survived the collapse of Hens-
ley’s career (when after about 10 years he left the preach-
ing circuit to make moonshine, and consequentially spent
27
time working in a chain-gang), the break-up of his marriage,

and even his death—the result of a nasty snakebite. Main-
stream churches have understandably distanced themselves
from the snake-handling movement, yet snake handling still
claims a following of about 2,500 in North America.
At snake-handler meetings, believers work themselves
into a religious frenzy, then pass venomous snakes around
the room. Some followers even deliberately drink the poi-
sonous venom. They believe if your faith is strong enough,
you will not be harmed. Of course, someone forgot to in-
form the snakes about what is supposed to happen, and
occasionally somebody does get hurt.
When you ask a snake handler why they persist in such
obvious fanaticism, they will likely point you to the text in
Mark used by Hensley saying, “Take a look for yourself. It
says that Christians shall take up serpents. We’re supposed
to do this. It’s a command!”
At first glance, it does look like a command. But when
placed in context with the rest of scripture, it obviously is
not. The practice of snake handling is remarkably similar
to Satan’s second temptation to Christ on the pinnacle of
the temple: “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.
For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and,
‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot
against a stone’” (Matthew 4:6). In other words, “Go ahead,
do something dangerous. Throw yourself off the temple.
Or pass around some deadly snakes. The Bible says that
God must protect you!”
Scripture out of context can be lethal! It is one of Sa-
tan’s favorite deceptions. Fortunately, Jesus took the devil’s
Getting More From Your Bible 29
words and put them back in the context of the rest of the
Bible: “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your
God’” (verse 7). In other words, true Christians do not
throw themselves off of high buildings or handle deadly
snakes on purpose. There is a dramatic difference between
faith and presumption!
It should be obvious to us what was wrong with George
Hensley’s theology. It was unbalanced. He took a “buffet”
approach to scripture, loading only the things that looked
appetizing or useful onto his theological plate. The rest—
the all-important defining scriptural context—he left be-
hind. That is a poor approach to studying scripture.
Sadly, it is also a common one. Christians are often
guilty of using scripture like a fortune cookie, or as a gar-
nish for their own opinion. They only turn to the Bible for
quick advice the way some people shake a “magic eight-
ball” for the answer to an important question. While this
may not always result in such extremes as snake handling,
it is still poor scriptural stewardship, and can lead to some
rather strange thinking.
Pastor John MacArthur tells the story of watching a
popular Christian television program some years ago on
which a guest explained the “biblical” basis for his minis-
try: “My ministry is based entirely on my life-verse, Matthew
19:26: ‘With God all things are possible.’ God gave me that
verse because I was born in 1926.”
The host of the program became very excited, and
grabbed his Bible to find his life-verse. He was born in 1934,
so he looked up Matthew 19:34. There are only 30 verses
in Matthew 19, so he turned to the gospel of Luke instead.
Luke 19:34 says, “And they said, ‘The Lord has need of him.’”
His eyes grew large with excitement. “Hallelujah!” he
exclaimed. “The Lord has need of me!” His excitement
disappeared, however, when his wife reminded him of the
context: “Wait a minute!” she said. “You can’t use this—it’s
talking about a donkey!”
I have heard scriptural reasoning like this from many
Christians.
Here is a simple but important question: how could this
have been avoided? How could George Hensley’s audience
have avoided falling prey to his sensationalism? It’s simple:
the same way Jesus avoided the temptation to throw Him-
self off the temple. He quoted scripture in context. That
is our safeguard, too—but in order to be able to do it, you
have to develop a broad-based knowledge of the Bible.
Tragically, biblical illiteracy appears to be more wide-
spread than ever, even among Christians! For example,
consider the troubling experience I had a couple of years
ago. I was speaking to a group of young people in church
and asked them which was the most popular show on tele-
vision. Not only were they able to give me the name of the
program, they also knew what time the show aired each
week on different networks, were familiar with the basic
plot, and knew the cast of characters by memory.
Fair enough. Sometimes it is hard to avoid knowing
such things in a world so completely saturated by the secu-
lar media. But then I asked them where you find the story
of David and Goliath in the Bible. I didn’t ask for chap-
ter and verse, just the name of the book. And they didn’t
have to tell me from memory; they were allowed to thumb
through their Bibles. An awkward silence fell over the

room. Their answers were a long time coming.
This made me wonder. What kind of a devotional life
do modern Christians have? Does the average Christian
still occasionally wrestle with God through the night for the
meaning of important passages? Do we ache for a deeper
understanding of Scripture? Does the Bible still saturate
the Christian’s thinking?
These are very important questions. The Bible reveals
that as time winds down the devil is going to pull many
tricks out of his hat—some of them much more convinc-
ing than an itinerant preacher with a box of snakes and a
bottle of poison.
The “last days” prophecy of Revelation 13 tells the sto-
ry of two beasts. The second beast performs great wonders
and even causes fire to fall from heaven. He is very con-
vincing. In fact, the whole world believes him and changes
worship from God to the first beast as a result.
It reminds me of the story of the prophet Elijah on
Mount Carmel, except that in the Revelation story the fire
falls on the wrong altar. How can that be? Is God trying to
tell us that in the last crisis faced by planet earth, you won’t
be able to rely on your senses? Your senses might tell you
that the beast appears to be right, and your faith wrong.
Your eyes will tell you the beast appears to be a trustworthy
miracle-worker. At that time, the only solid place left for
you to stand is on the scriptural foundation you have al-
ready built, if you have built one.
It is extremely important to become thoroughly famil-
iar with your Bible right now. Much so-called Christian
literature printed today reveals the scarcity and shallow-

ness of our biblical understanding. The forces of darkness
don’t mind taking advantage of our ignorance. And, it’s
not enough to merely know what you believe; you have to
know why you believe it!
Many Christians are painfully aware that their devotional
life could be much better. It’s not that we don’t want to study
the Bible. More often, the problem is that we don’t know how
to do it effectively. In the previous chapter we looked at some
very good basic principles of Bible study. I now want to build
on those by sharing some very important additional sugges-
tions that will propel your study of the Bible even more.
Develop a Good Habit: How many times have you
wished that you could “just stop doing” such-and-such? Bad
habits are powerful. They are hard to break. So why not es-
tablish a good one? They can be just as hard to break! Some
experts estimate that it takes about 21 days to establish a
habit. Habits are formed when we repeatedly condition the
neural pathways of our brains to perform a certain activ-
ity. If you were to study approximately the same amount of
scripture at about the same time each day, you would soon
find yourself uncomfortable on the days you didn’t do it!
Study With a Definite Plan: One of the reasons many of us
fail to maintain a serious devotional life is that we fail to study
the Bible systematically. Either we “spot-read” by opening to
a random passage or we start at the beginning, intending to
read through to the end, and give up somewhere in Leviticus
or Numbers. We never seem to read the entire Bible.
Try applying the “wear test” to your Bible. To a limited
degree, you can see which parts of the Bible are your fa-
vorites simply by looking at the edges of the pages. Where

do you thumb to the most often? And, which parts of your
Bible still look brand new and unread?
There are many good “through-the-Bible-in-a-year”
plans available that can help you overcome this problem.
Two are included in this book in chapters 4 and 5. Read-
ing the Bible through each year is a good way to discover
the broad ranging will of God for your life. It will keep you
honest with biblical context and keep you from handing
out snakes in church!
Read Your Bible Doctrinally: I personally have found
this approach to be tremendously useful. I keep a three-
ring binder in my desk with about 30 dividers in it. Each
of those dividers represents a fundamental doctrine of the
Bible (such as “salvation,” “prayer,” or “the Second Com-
ing,”) or some other topic I find interesting. As I read
through the Bible, I jot down important passages of scrip-
ture in the appropriate section of the binder. By the end
of the year, I have built a personal concordance. Then as
I review the notes in each section, at times I am surprised
that I must revise my understanding of a topic in light of
the weight of biblical evidence. This method can be a pow-
erful tool to help you grow in understanding!
Another good approach to studying your Bible doc-
trinally is to simply use a concordance, following the train
of thought on a given subject all the way through the Bible.
This can be powerful as long as you don’t completely aban-
don a systematic reading of the complete Bible.
Find the Cross: The great preacher Charles Spurgeon
used to say that no matter where he started in his Bible,
he always made a beeline for the cross. Every page, every

chapter and every verse is a revelation of Jesus Christ. Out-
side the context of Christ’s sacrifice for mankind, you will
not find the truth of the matter on any subject. Prayerfully
search for the cross as you study; you will be surprised how
often its shadow appears in any passage you read, whether
in the Old or New Testament.
Keep it simple: It is tempting, in a world saturated with
information, to make our Bible study time overly compli-
cated. By all means take advantage of the wonderful re-
sources available to you, but don’t spend more time in re-
sources and reference books than in the Bible itself.
I have to confess that I have many books in my library.
Books are my passion. If I had the time, I could literally dis-
appear into my study and not resurface for weeks, perfectly
content to just read. In addition to my library, I have a con-
nection to the World Wide Web, a gateway to almost limitless
information. On top of that, I have access to a variety of edu-
cational channels on television. There is almost no end to the
information I can access—but even good information can be
dangerous. In Second Timothy 3:7, Paul describes those who
are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth.” That unfortunately describes many people today. It is
easy to get lost in the flood of information that is available.
I have heard some argue that modern electronic com-
munication is a blessing from God, and I am certainly open
to that idea. (After all, I am writing this on a computer!)
I’m not entirely convinced, however, that the modern “in-
formation explosion” is always a blessing. Think about it for
a moment. There is such a glut of information in our world
that the Bible is literally drowned out, even in the lives of

well-meaning Christians. One of Satan’s best strategies has
always been to try to drown out the knowledge of God.
A few hundred years ago, Satan couldn’t do much about
the fact that the Dark Ages were drawing to a close. The in-
vention of the printing press and the instigation of educa-
tion of the common man foiled his efforts to keep the Bible
out of our hands. God made sure we all had access to the
scriptures! I personally believe that Satan then altered his ap-
proach saying: “If I can’t keep the Bible out of people’s hands,
perhaps I can flood the market with so many books and so
much information that the Bible will be hard to find!”
Check the history books. At the same time that the Great
Awakening was causing explosive Christian revival all over
the world during the 1800s, there was suddenly an upsurge
of “isms” in the marketplace of ideas. Darwinism, Russellism,
Mormonism, Spiritualism and dozens of other “isms” all ap-
peared at about the same time. Have you ever wondered
why? Perhaps it was because the fallen angels, who couldn’t
stop the scriptures from being distributed, could only exert
influence by flooding the market with alternatives!
Stop for a moment and ask yourself why there is so
much violence on television. Is it because Satan wants us
to see bad things and have bad thoughts? Perhaps. But
consider another possibility: Charles Spurgeon used to
say that when he preached the agony of the cross, peo-
ple would start weeping uncontrollably and be unable to
sleep at night. Who still responds that way today? Almost
nobody. Why? Because society has seen so much suffering
and bloodshed on TV that the story of the cross hardly
fazes them. Satan is trying to drown out the effectiveness

of the message of the cross.
To improve your time studying the Bible, try turning
off the electronic entertainment in your home for just a
few days. Get rid of the noise and superfluous informa-
tion. Turn off your radio, your satellite or cable TV, and
your Internet connection. Put away your other books and
magazines. Your phone will almost certainly ring, but there
is no law that says you have to answer it! If it’s important,
they will call back. Get rid of the noise and you will find
your devotional time much more meaningful. You will
start to hear the gentle whisper of God’s voice throughout
the day—long after you have finished reading.
Give Someone Else a Bible Study: There is no better
way to embed the truths of scripture in your mind than to
teach them to someone else. The people of the world have
honest questions about God that will continually drive you
back to the Bible for answers, and to your knees in prayer.
Christian witness is by far the most effective means of spiri-
tual growth!
Challenge Your Assumptions: See if you can prove
what you believe with your Bible. Assume that you are in
a court of law and you must prove to the jury why it is that
some fundamental Bible doctrine is important. This will
not only make you a keener Bible student, but will also
make you better prepared to share your faith with others.
You’ll be surprised how often the opportunity to witness
will come your way when you are prepared!
In recent years I have encountered an alarming num-
ber of Christians who seem to be somewhat embarrassed
by their faith. I believe that to a large degree this stems

from insecurity over its scriptural validity. If you study the
Bible systematically and doctrinally each day, such embar-
rassment vanishes in the face of the overwhelming beauty
and consistency of what the Bible has to say.
Some Christians are quite sure they know what they
believe, but their version of Christianity is nothing more
than a thinly disguised paraphrase of their own opinion. It
is often caustic and legalistic, and they often drive people
away from the God. If such people were to study the Bible
doctrinally and continually challenge their assumptions in
the light of the cross, they would present a clearer picture
of God to the people they meet.
Challenging your assumptions will also lead to humil-
ity. You may discover that you are not always right! When
the Bible proves your assumptions false, admit it and adjust
your thinking. Prayerful attempts to test your ideas against
scripture will keep you humble and growing, both in un-
derstanding and in grace.
Quit Studying to Prove Your “Hobbyhorses:” On a
number of occasions, I have met Christians who are zeal-
ous for a particular cause. When I switch the subject to
some other biblical theme, however, they fall silent. Why?
Because they have an unbalanced approach to scripture
and only study those passages that relate to their favorite
“hobbyhorse.” They spend most of their moments in the
Bible trying to gather more evidence for their side of a
particular debate. Some of them have been hammering on
the same anvil for 10 or 20 years, and as a result have never
managed to grow past their own opinion.
Sometimes our hobbyhorses can be the devil’s tool—

even when we are right! A single issue or topic can become
so all-consuming that nothing else matters to us, but when
faced with a spiritual crisis (as we almost certainly will be)
we’re going to be left defenseless, because our knowledge
of the scriptures is incomplete and unbalanced.
It is much healthier to study quietly and listen for the
voice of God as you read the Bible—let Him tell you what
is important instead of trying to set the agenda yourself.
Never use scripture as a garnish for your own opinion.
Take Notes As You Read: People occasionally tell me
that they have trouble getting anything out of Bible read-
ing. “Some of the passages are so long and boring,” they
complain.
If you suffer from this problem yourself, start taking
notes as you read. Find a new notebook and jot down any
important ideas you encounter. Write down any questions
you have about what you’re reading. You will be surprised
how often those seemingly long, mundane passages hold
the answers to your most perplexing questions. Even the
genealogies will become significant! Eventually you will
find that an hour a day is scarcely enough time for your
personal devotional life.
Read Out Loud: Some might think you are odd, but
who cares? Most of the Bible was written to be enjoyed oral-
ly. You will be surprised how much your comprehension
level will increase, and how often you’ll be able to quote
scripture from memory just because you read it out loud.
Read Backwards Occasionally: Seriously! I got this idea
from the much-loved, speaker of the Voice of Prophecy ra-
dio program, HMS Richards, Sr. Sometimes he would read

the last verse of a chapter first, then the next-to-last verse,
and so on, until he got to the beginning of the chapter. It’s
amazing how this technique will force you to pay attention
to what you’re reading and will really emphasize the con-
text of each verse.
Try Studying with a Ruler: This can prove to be an in-
teresting exercise. Try measuring how much space the Bible
gives to certain topics. For example: In my Bible, the first day
of creation takes up about 1.75 inches, the second day takes
1.4 inches, and the sixth day takes 4.3 inches! Ask yourself
why more space is given to some events than others.
Pray: The Bible is the work of the Holy Spirit. “But
the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthi-
ans 2:14). It only makes sense to begin each Bible reading
with a word of prayer, giving thanks for God’s instruction
and asking His help in understanding it. Without His as-
sistance, you will not grasp important truths.
There are many techniques to bring your devotional
time to life. But the most important advice I can offer you
is this: get started now. It’s amazing how time spent every
day in God’s Word will keep you growing and keep you
from extremes. I am confident you will reap rich rewards.
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God,

that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,
having girded your waist with truth, having put
on the breastplate of righteousness, and having

shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel
of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with
which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God…” (Ephesians 6:13-17)
C h a p t e r F o u r
Discipleship Journal
Bible Reading Plan
This Bible Reading Plan was first published in 1987 by
Discipleship Journal and has been a great blessing to me.
• Some things that I like about this plan are:
• It is organized by reading in four separate

places in the Scripture every day so you can
better grasp the breadth and unity of the
entire Bible.
• It is also built around 25 days of reading per

month, thus allowing you five “catch-up”
days each month to help prevent the frustra-
tion of falling behind.
• You can begin at any point of the year.
You can download the following chart in various for-

mats at http://www.bibleinfo.com/dailyreading
41
JANUARY
New Testament Old Testament
1. o Mt. 1:1-17 o Acts 1:1-11 o Ps. 1 o Gen. 1-2
2. o 1:18-25 o 1:12-26 o 2 o 3-4
3. o 2:1-12 o 2:1-21 o 3 o 5-8
4. o 2:13-23 o 2:22-47 o 4 o 9-11
5. o 3:1-12 o 3 o 5 o 12-14
6. o 3:13-17 o 4:1-22 o 6 o 15-17
7. o 4:1-11 o 4:23-37 o 7 o 18-20
8. o 4:12-17 o 5:1-16 o 8 o 21-23
9. o 4:18-25 o 5:17-42 o 9 o 24
10. o 5:1-12 o 6 o 10 o 25-26
11. o 5:13-20 o 7:1-38 o 11 o 27-28
12. o 5:21-32 o 7:39-60 o 12 o 29-30
13. o 5:33-48 o 8:1-25 o 13 o 31
14.
o 6:1-15 o 8:26-40 o 14 o 32-33
15. o 6:16-24 o 9:1-19 o 15 o 34-35
16. o 6:25-34 o 9:20-43 o 16 o 36
17. o 7:1-14 o 10:1-23 o 17 o 37-38
18. o 7:15-29 o 10:24-48 o 18:1-25 o 39-40
19. o 8:1-13 o 11:1-18 o 18:26-40 o 41
20. o 8:14-22 o 11:19-30 o 19 o 42-43
21. o 8:23-34 o 12 o 20 o 44-45
22. o 9:1-13 o 13:1-25 o 21 o 46-47
23. o 9:14-26 o 13:26-52 o 22:1-11 o 48
24. o 9:27-38 o 14 o 22:12-31 o 49
25. o 10:1-20 o 15:1-21 o 23 o 50
Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan 43
FEBRUARY
1. o Mt. 10:21-42 o Acts 15:22-42
o Ps. 24 o Ex. 1-3
2. o 11:1-19 o 16:1-15 o 25 o 4-6
3. o 11:20-30 o 16:16-40 o 26 o 7-9
4. o 12:1-21 o 17:1-15 o 27 o 10-12
5. o 12:22-37 o 17:16-34 o 28 o 13-15
6. o 12:38-50 o 18:1-17 o 29 o 16-18
7. o 13:1-23 o 18:18-28 o 30 o 19-20
8. o 13:24-43 o 19:1-22 o 31 o 21-23
9. o 13:44-58 o 19:23-41 o 32 o 24-26
10. o 14:1-21 o 20:1-12 o 33
o 27-29
11. o 14:22-36 o 20:13-38 o 34
o 30-31
12. o 15:1-20 o 21:1-26 o 35
o 32-33
13. o 15:21-39 o 21:27-40 o 36
o 34
14. o 16:1-12 o 22
o 37:1-22 o 35-37
15. o 16:13-28 o 23:1-11 o 37:23-40
o 38-40
16. o 17:1-13 o 23:12-35 o 38
o Lev. 1-4
17. o 17:14-27 o 24
o 39 o 5-7
18. o 18:1-14 o 25:1-12 o 40
o 8-10
19. o 18:15-35 o 25:13-27 o 41
o 11-13
20. o 19:1-15 o 26:1-18 o 42
o 14-15
21. o 19:16-30 o 26:19-32 o 43
o 16-17
22. o 20:1-16 o 27:1-26 o 44
o 18-20
23. o 20:17-34 o 27:27-44 o 45
o 21-23
24. o 21:1-11 o 28:1-16 o 46
o 24-25
25. o 21:12-22 o 28:17-31 o 47
o 26-27
MARCH
1. o Mt. 21:23-32 o Rom 1:1-17 o Ps. 48 o Num. 1-2
2. o 21:33-46 o 1:18-32 o 49 o 3-4
3. o 22:1-14 o 2 o 50 o 5-6
4. o 22:15-33 o 3 o 51 o 7-8
5. o 22:34-46 o 4 o 52 o 9-11
6. o 23:1-12 o 5:1-11 o 53 o 12-14
7. o 23:13-24 o 5:12-21 o 54 o 15-17
8. o 23:25-39 o 6:1-14 o 55 o 18-20
9. o 24:1-14 o 6:15-23 o 56 o 21-22
10. o 24:15-35 o 7:1-12 o 57 o 23-25
11. o 24:36-51 o 7:13-25 o 58 o 26-27
12. o 25:1-13 o 8:1-17 o 59 o 28-30
13. o 25:14-30 o 8:18-39 o 60 o 31-32
14. o 25:31-46 o 9:1-18 o 61 o 33-36
15. o 26:1-16 o 9:19-33 o 62 o Deut. 1-3
16. o 26:17-35 o 10 o 63 o 4-5
17. o 26:36-56 o 11:1-24 o 64 o 6-8
18. o 26:57-75 o 11:25-36 o 65 o 9-12
19. o 27:1-10 o 12:1-8 o 66 o 13-17
20. o 27:11-26 o 12:9-21 o 67 o 18-21
21. o 27:27-44 o 13 o 68 o 22-26
22. o 27:45-56 o 14 o 69:1-18 o 27-28
23. o 27:57-66 o 15:1-13 o 69:19-36 o 29-31
24. o 28:1-10 o 15:14-33 o 70 o 32
25. o 28:11-20 o 16 o 71 o 33-34
APRIL
1. o Mk. 1:1-8 o 1 Cor. 1:1-17
o Ps. 72 o Jos. 1-2
2. o 1:9-20 o 1:18-31 o 73 o 3-5
3. o 1:21-34 o 2 o 74 o 6-7
4. o 1:35-45 o 3 o 75 o 8-9
5. o 2:1-12 o 4 o 76 o 10-12
6. o 2:13-17 o 5 o 77 o 13-14
7. o 2:18-28 o 6:1-11 o 78:1-39 o 15-17
8. o 3:1-19 o 6:12-20 o 78:40-72 o 18-19
9. o 3:20-35 o 7:1-16 o 79 o 20-21
10. o 4:1-20 o 7:17-40 o 80 o 22-23
11. o 4:21-41 o 8 o 81 o 24
12. o 5:1-20 o 9:1-12 o 82 o Jud. 1-3
13. o 5:21-43 o 9:13-27 o 83 o 4-5
14. o 6:1-13 o 10:1-13 o 84 o 6-7
15. o 6:14-29 o 10:14-33 o 85 o8
16. o 6:30-44 o 11:1-16 o 86 o9
17. o 6:45-56 o 11:17-34 o 87 o 10-12
18. o 7:1-23 o 12:1-13 o 88 o 13-15
19. o 7:24-37 o 12:14-31 o 89:1-18 o 16
20. o 8:1-13 o 13 o 89:19-52 o 17-18
21. o 8:14-21 o 14:1-25 o 90 o 19
22. o 8:22-30 o 14:26-40 o 91 o 20-21
23. o 8:31-38 o 15:1-28 o 92 o Ru. 1
24. o 9:1-13 o 15:29-58 o 93 o 2-3
25. o 9:14-32 o 16 o 94 o4
MAY
1. o Mk. 9:33-50 o 2 Cor. 1:1-11
o Ps. 95 o 1 Sam. 1-2
o 10:1-16 o 1:12-24 o 96
2. o 3-5
3. o 10:17-34 o 2 o 97 o 6-8
4. o 10:35-52 o 3 o 98 o 9-10
5. o 11:1-11 o 4 o 99 o 11-13
6. o 11:12-26 o 5 o 100 o 14
7. o 11:27-33 o 6 o 101 o 15-16
8. o 12:1-12 o 7 o 102 o 17-18
9. o 12:13-27 o 8 o 103 o 19-20
10. o 12:28-34 o 9
o 104 o 21-23
11. o 12:35-44 o 10
o 105 o 24-25
12. o 13:1-13 o 11:1-15 o 106:1-23
o 26-28
13. o 13:14-31 o 11:16-33 o 106:24-48
o 29-31
14. o 13:32-37 o 12:1-10 o 107
o 2 Sam. 1-2
15. o 14:1-11 o 12:11-21 o 108
o 3-4
16. o 14:12-31 o 13
o 109 o 5-7
17. o 14:32-42 o Gal. 1
o 110 o 8-10
18. o 14:43-52 o 2
o 111 o 11-12
19. o 14:53-65 o 3:1-14
o 112 o 13
20. o 14:66-72 o 3:15-29 o 113
o 14-15
21. o 15:1-15 o 4:1-20
o 114 o 16-17
22. o 15:16-32 o 4:21-31 o 115
o 18-19
23. o 15:33-41 o 5:1- 12 o 116
o 20-21
24. o 15:42-47 o 5:13-26 o 117
o 22
25. o 16
o 6 o 118 o 23-24
JUNE
1. o Lk. 1:1-25 o Eph. 1:1-14 o Ps. 119:1-8 o 1 Kings 1
2. o 1:26-38 o 1:15-23 o 119:9-16 o 2-3
3. o 1:39-56 o 2:1-10 o 119:17-24 o 4-5
4. o 1:57-66 o 2:11-22 o 119:25-32 o 6-7
5. o 1:67-80 o 3:1-13 o 119:33-40 o 8
6. o 2:1-20 o 3:14-21 o 119:41-48 o 9-10
7. o 2:21-40 o 4:1-16 o 119:49-56 o 11
8. o 2:41-52 o 4:17-24 o 119:57-64 o 12
9. o 3:1-20 o 4:25-32 o 119:65-72 o 13-14
10. o 3:21-38
o 5:1-21 o 119:73-80 o 15-16
11. o 4:1-12
o 5:22-23 o 119:81-88 o 17-18
12. o 4:13-30
o 6:1-9 o 119:89-96 o 19-20
13. o 4:31-37
o 6:10-24 o 119:97-104 o 21-22
14. o 4:38-44
o Phil. 1:1-11 o 119:105-112 o 2 Kings 1-3
15. o 5:1-11
o 1:12-20 o 119:113-120 o 4-5
16. o 5:12-16
o 1:21-30 o 119:121-128 o 6-7
17. o 5:17-26
o 2:1-11 o 119:129-136 o 8-9
18. o 5:27-32
o 2:12-18 o 119:137-144 o 10-11
19. o 5:33-39
o 2:19-30 o 119:145-152 o 12-13
20. o 6:1-16
o 3:1-9 o 119:153-160 o 14-15
21. o 6:17-26
o 3:10-14 o 119:161-168 o 16-17
22. o 6:27-36
o 3:15-21 o 119:169-176 o 18-19
23. o 6:37-42
o 4:1-7 o 120 o 20-21
24. o 6:43-49
o 4:8-13 o 121 o 22-23
25. o 7:1-10
o 4:14-23 o 122 o 24-25
JULY
1. o Lk. 7:11-17 o Col. 1:1-14 o Ps. 123-124 o 1 Chr. 1-2
2. o 7:18-35 o 1:15-29 o 125 o 3-4
3. o 7:36-50 o 2:1-7 o 126 o 5-6
4. o 8:1-15 o 2:8-15 o 127 o 7-9
5. o 8:16-25 o 2:16-23 o 128 o 10-11
6. o 8:26-39 o 3:1-14 o 129 o 12-14
7. o 8:40-56 o 3:15-25 o 130-131 o 15-16
8. o 9:1-17 o 4:1-9 o 132 o 17-19
9. o 9:18-27 o 4:10-18 o 133-134 o 20-22
10. o 9:28-36 o 1 Thes. 1 o 135
o 23-25
11. o 9:37-50 o 2:1-9
o 136 o 26-28
12. o 9:51-62 o 2:10-20 o 137
o 29
13. o 10:1-16 o 3:1-6
o 138 o 2 Chr. 1-2
14. o 10:17-24 o 3:7-13
o 139 o 3-5
15. o 10:25-37 o 4:1-10
o 140 o 6-7
16. o 10:38-42 o 4:11-18 o 141
o 8-9
17. o 11:1-13 o 5:1-11
o 142 o 10-12
18. o 11:14-28 o 5:12-28 o 143
o 13-16
19. o 11:29-36 o 2 Thes. 1:1-7
o 144 o 17-19
20. o 11:37-54 o 1:8-12
o 145 o 20-21
21. o 12:1-12 o 2:1-12
o 146 o 22-24
22. o 12:13-21 o 2:13-17 o 147
o 25-27
23. o 12:22-34 o 3:1-5
o 148 o 28-29
24. o 12:35-48 o 3:6-13
o 149 o 30-33
25. o 12:49-59 o 3:14-18 o 150
o 34-36
AUGUST
1. o Lk. 13:1-9 o 1 Tim. 1:1-11
o Prov. 1 o Ezra 1-2
2. o 13:10-21 o 1:12-20 o 2 o3
3. o 13:22-35 o 2 o 3 o 4-5
4. o 14:1-14 o 3:1-10 o 4 o6
5. o 14:15-24 o 3:11-16 o 5 o7
6. o 14:25-35 o 4 o 6 o8
7. o 15:1-10 o 5:1-15 o 7 o9
8. o 15:11-32 o 5:16-25 o 8 o 10
9. o 16:1-9 o 6:1-10 o 9 o Neh. 1-2
10. o 16:10-18 o 6:11-21 o 10:1-16 o3
11. o 16:19-31 o 2. Tim. 1:1-7
o 10:17-32 o 4-5
12. o 17:1-10 o 1:8-18 o 11:1-15 o6
13. o 17:11-19 o 2:1-13 o 11:16-31 o7
14. o 17:20-37 o 2:14-26 o 12:1-14 o8
15. o 18:1-8 o 3:1-9 o 12:15-28 o9
16. o 18:9-17 o 3:10-17 o 13:1-12 o 10
17. o 18:18-30 o 4 o 13:13-25 o 11
18. o 18:31-43 o Ti. 1:1-9 o 14:1-18 o 12
19. o 19:1-10 o 1:10-16 o 14:19-35 o 13
20. o 19:11-27 o 2:1-10 o 15:1-17 o Est. 1
21. o 19:28-38 o 2:11-15 o 5:18-33 o2
22. o 19:39-48 o 3:1-8 o 16:1-16 o 3-4
23. o 20:1-8 o 3:9-15 o 16:17-33 o 5-6
24. o 20:9-19 o Phil. 1-11 o 17:1-14 o 7-8
25. o 20:20-26 o 12-25 o 17:15-28 o 9-10
SEPTEMBER
1. o Lk. 20:27-40 o Heb. 1:1-9 o Prov. 18 o Is. 1-2
2. o 20:41-47 o 1:10-14 o 19:1-14 o 3-5
3. o 21:1-19 o 2:1-9 o 19:15-29 o 6-8
4. o 21:20-28 o 2:10-18 o 20:1-15 o 9-10
5. o 21:29-38 o 3 o 20:16-30 o 11-13
6. o 22:1-13 o 4:1-11 o 21:1-16 o 14-16
7. o 22:14-23 o 4:12-16 o 21:17-29 o 17-20
8. o 22:24-30 o 5 o 22:1-16 o 21-23
9. o 22:31-38 o 6:1-12 o 22:17-29 o 24-26
10. o 22:39:46 o 6:13-20 o 23:1-18
o 27-28
11. o 22:47-53 o 7:1-10
o 23:19 -35 o 29-30
12. o 22:54-62 o 7:11-28 o 24:1-22
o 31-33
13. o 22:63-71 o 8:1-6
o 24:23-34 o 34-36
14. o 23:1-12 o 8:7-13
o 25:1-14 o 37-39
15. o 23:13-25 o 9:1-10
o 25:15-28 o 40-41
16. o 23:26-31 o 9:11-28 o 26:1-16
o 42-43
17. o 23:32-37 o 10:1-18 o 26:17-28
o 44-45
18. o 23:38-43 o 10:19-39 o 27:1-14
o 46-48
19. o 23:44-49 o 11:1-16 o 27:15-27
o 49-50
20. o 23:50-56 o 11:17-31 o 28:1-14
o 51-53
21. o 24:1-12 o 11:32-40 o 28:15-27
o 54-55
22. o 24:13-27 o 12:1-13 o 29:1-14
o 56-58
23. o 24:28-35 o 12:14-29 o 29:15-27
o 59-61
24. o 24:36-44 o 13:1-8
o 30 o 62-64
25. o 24:45-53 o 13:9-25 o 31
o 65-66
OCTOBER
1. o John 1:1-18 o James 1:1-11
o Eccl. 1 o Jer. 1-2
2. o 1:19-28 o 1:12-18 o 2:1-16 o 3-4
3. o 1:29-34 o 1:19-27 o 2:17-26 o 5-6
4. o 1:35-42 o 2:1-13 o 3:1-12 o 7-9
5. o 1:43-51 o 2:14-26 o 3:13-18 o 10-11
6. o 2:1-11 o 3:1-12 o 4 o 12-13
7. o 2:12-25 o 3:13-18 o 5 o 14-15
8. o 3:1-15 o 4:1-10 o 6 o 16-18
9. o 3:16-21 o 4:11-17 o 7:1-14 o 19-22
10. o 3:22-36 o 5:1-6 o 7:15-29 o 23-25
11. o 4:4-14 o 5:7-12 o 8 o 26-29
12. o 4:15-26 o 5:13-20 o 9 o 30-31
13. o 4:27-42 o 1 Pt. 1:1-9 o 10 o 32-34
14. o 4:43-54 o 1:10-16 o 11 o 35-38
15. o 5:1-15 o 1:17-25 o 12 o 39-43
16. o 5:16-30 o 2:1-8 o Song. 1 o 44-46
17. o 5:31-47 o 2:9-17 o 2 o 47-48
18. o 6:1-15 o 2:18-25 o 3 o 49
19. o 6:16-24 o 3:1-7 o 4:1-7 o 50
20. o 6:25-40 o 3:8-12 o 4:8-16 o 51
21. o 6:41-59 o 3:13-22 o 5 o 52
22. o 6:60-71 o 4:1-11 o 6 o Lam. 1
23. o 7:1-13 o 4:12-19 o 7 o2
24. o 7:14-24 o 5:1-7 o t8:1-7 o3
25. o 7:25-36 o 5:8-14 o 8:8-14 o 4-5
NOVEMBER
1. o John 7:37-44
o 2 Pet. 1:1-11
o Job 1 o Ez. 1-3
2. o 7:45-53 o 1:12-21 o 2 o 4-8
3. o 8:1-11 o 2:1-9 o 3 o 9-12
4. o 8:12-20 o 2:10-16 o 4 o 13-15
5. o 8:21-30 o 2:17-22 o 5 o 16
6. o 8:31-47 o 3:1-9 o 6 o 17-19
7. o 8:48-59 o 3:10-18 o 7 o 20-21
8. o 9:1-12 o 1 John 1:1-4 o 8 o 22-23
9. o 9:13-25 o 1:5-10 o 9:1-20 o 24-26
10. o 9:26-41 o 2:1-11 o 9:21-35 o 27-28
11. o 10:1-10 o 2:12-17 o 10 o 29-30
12. o 10:11-21 o 2:18-23 o 11 o 31-32
13. o 10:22-42 o 2:24-29 o 12 o 33-34
14. o 11:1-16 o 3:1-10 o 13 o 35-37
15. o 11:17-37 o 3:11-18 o 14 o 38-39
16. o 11:38-44 o 3:19-24 o 15:1-16 o 40-41
17. o 11:45-57 o 4:1-6 o 15:17-35 o 42-44
18. o 12:1-11 o 4:7-21 o 16 o 45-47
19. o 12:12-19 o 5:1-12 o 17 o 48
20. o 12:20-36 o 5:13-21 o 18 o Dan. 1-2
21. o 12:37-50 o 2 John 1-13 o 19 o 3-4
22. o 13:1-11 o 3 John 1-14 o 20 o 5-6
23. o 13:12-17 o Jude 1-7 o 21:1-21 o 7-8
24. o 13:18-30 o 8-16 o 21:22-34 o9
25. o 13:31-38 o 17-25 o 22 o 10-12
DECEMBER
1. o John 14:1-14
o Rev. 1:1-8 o Job 23 o Hos. 1-3
2. o 14:15-21 o 1:9-20 o 24 o 4-6
3. o 14:22-31 o 2:1-17 o 25-26 o 7-8
4. o 15:1-8 o 2:18-29 o 27 o 9-12
5. o 15:9-17 o 3:1-13 o 28 o 13-14
6. o 15:18-27 o 3:14-22 o 29 o Joel 1
7. o 16:1-11 o 4 o 30 o 2-3
8. o 16:12-24 o 5 o 31:1-23 o Amos 1-2
9. o 16:25-33 o 6 o 31:24-40 o 3-4
10. o 17:1-5
o 7 o 32 o 5-6
11. o 17:6-19 o 8
o 33:1-11 o 7-9
12. o 17:20-26 o 9
o 33:12-33 o Ob. 1-21
13. o 18:1-18 o 10
o 34:1-20 o Jon. 1-4
14. o 18:19-27 o 11
o 34:21-37 o Mic. 1-3
15. o 18:28-40 o 12
o 35 o 4-5
16. o 19:1-16 o 13
o 36:1-15 o 6-7
17. o 19:17-27 o 14
o 36:16-33 o Nah. 1-3
18. o 19:28-37 o 15
o 37 o Hab. 1-3
19. o 19:38-42 o 16
o 38:1-21 o Zeph. 1-2
20. o 20:1-9
o 17 o 38:22-41 o3
21. o 20:10-18 o 18
o 39 o Hag. 1-2
22. o 20:19-23 o 19
o 40 o Zech. 1-5
23. o 20:24-31 o 20
o 41:1-11 o 6-9
24. o 21:1-14 o 21
o 41:12-34 o 10-1
25. o 21:15-25 o 22
o 42 o Mal 1-4
C h a p t e r F i v e
Read the Bible in a Year
This yearly Bible reading plan is built around a reading

for each day of the month. The 1,189 chapters of the Bible
can be read at a rate of 3 chapters per day. There are 929
chapters from the Old Testament and 260 chapters from
the New Testament, so please expect to read more from
the Old Testament than the New.
The first month is devoted to Genesis and Exodus.
The last month is largely devoted to the prophetic books
of Daniel and Revelation. Passages from the Psalms are
included every 10th day. The New Testament starts in
the second month, and generally there will be one NT
chapter per day.
You can download the following chart in various for-
mats at http://www.bibleinfo.com/dailyreading
54
Read the Bible in a Year 55
January: 6. Lev. 19-21 & Jn. 4

1. Gen. 1-4 7. Lev. 22-24 & Jn. 5
2. Gen. 5-8 8. Lev. 25-27 & Jn. 6
3. Gen. 9-11 9. Num. 1-2 & Jn. 7
4. Gen. 12-15 10. Num. 3-4 & Jn. 8
5. Gen. 16-19 11. Ps. 17-20
6. Gen. 20-23 12. Num. 5-6 & Jn. 9
7. Gen. 24-26 13. Num. 7-8 & Jn. 10
8. Gen. 27-30 14. Num. 9-10 & Jn. 11
9. Gen. 31-33 15. Num. 11-12 & Jn. 12
10. Gen. 34-37 16. Num. 13-14 & Jn. 13
11. Gen. 38-41 17. Num. 15-16 & Jn. 14
12. Gen. 42-44 18. Num. 17-18 & Jn. 15
13. Gen. 45-47 19. Num. 19-20 & Jn. 16
14. Gen. 48-50 20. Ps. 21-24
15. Ps. 1-4 21. Num. 21-22 & Jn. 17
16. Ps. 5-8 22. Num. 23-24 & Jn. 18
17. Ex. 1-4 23. Num. 25-26 & Jn. 19
18. Ex. 5-7 24. Num. 27-28 & Jn. 20
19. Ex. 8-10 25. Num. 29-30 & Jn. 21
20. Ex. 11-13 26. Num. 31-32
21. Ex. 14-16 27. Num. 33-34
22. Ex. 17-19 28. Num. 35-36
23. Ex. 20-22
24. Ps. 9-12 March:
25. Ex. 23-25 1. Ps. 25-28
26. Ex. 26-28 2. Deut. 1-2 & Mt. 1
27. Ex. 27-31 3. Deut. 3-4 & Mt. 2
28. Ex. 32-34 4. Deut. 5-6 & Mt. 3
29. Ex. 35-37 5. Deut. 7-8
30. Ex. 38-40 6. Deut. 9-10 & Mt. 4
31. Lev. 1-4 7. Deut. 11-12
8. Deut. 13-14 & Mt. 5
February: 9. Deut. 15-16
1. Lev. 5-8 10. Ps. 29-32
2. Ps. 13-16 11. Deut. 17-18 & Mt. 6
3. Lev. 9-12 & Jn. 1 12. Deut. 19-20
4. Lev. 13-15 & Jn. 2 13. Deut. 21-22 & Mt. 7
5. Lev. 16-18 & Jn. 3 14. Deut. 23-24
15. Deut. 25-26 & Mt. 8 21. 1 Sam. 11-12

16. Deut. 27-28 22. 1 Sam. 13-14
17. Deut. 29-30 & Mt. 9 23. 1 Sam. 15-16 & Mt. 25
18. Deut. 31-32 24. Ps. 49-52
19. Deut. 33-34 & Mt. 10 25. 1 Sam. 17-18 & Mt. 26
20. Ps. 33-36 26. 1 Sam. 19-20
21. Josh. 1-2 & Mt. 11 27. 1 Sam. 21-22 & Mt. 27
22. Josh. 3-4 28. 1 Sam. 23-24
23. Josh. 5-6 & Mt. 12 29. 1 Sam. 25-26
24. Josh. 7-8 30. 1 Sam. 27-28 & Mt. 28
25. Josh. 9-10 & Mt. 13
26. Josh. 11-12 May:
27. Josh. 13-14 & Mt. 14 1. 1 Sam. 29-31
28. Ps. 37-40 2. Ps. 53-56
29. Josh. 15-16 & Mt. 15 3. 2 Sam. 1-2 & Mk. 1
30. Josh. 17-18 4. 2 Sam. 3-4
31. Josh. 19-20 & Mt. 16 5. 2 Sam. 5-6 & Mk. 2
6. 2 Sam. 7-8
April: 7. 2 Sam. 9-10 & Mk. 3
1. Josh. 21-22 8. 2 Sam. 11-12
2. Josh. 23-24 & Mt. 17 9. 2 Sam. 13-14 & Mk. 4
3. Judg. 1-2 10. 2 Sam. 15-16
4. Judg. 3-4 & Mt. 18 11. 2 Sam. 17-18
5. Judg. 5-6 12. Ps. 57-60
6. Ps. 41-44 13. 2 Sam. 19-20 & Mk. 5
7. Judg. 7-8 & Mt. 19 14. 2 Sam. 21-22
8. Judg. 9-10 15. 2 Sam. 23-24 & Mk. 6
9. Judg. 11-12 & Mt. 20 16. 1 Kings 1-2
10. Judg. 13-14 17. 1 Kings 3-4 & Mk. 7
11. Judg. 15-16 & Mt. 21 18. 1 Kings 5-6
12. Judg. 17-18 19. 1 Kings 7-8 & Mk. 8
13. Judg. 19-21 20. 1 Kings 9-10
14. Ruth 1-4 21. Ps. 61-64
15. Ps. 45-48 22. 1 Kings 11-12 & Mk. 9
16. 1 Sam. 1-2 & Mt. 22 23. 1 Kings 13-14
17. 1 Sam. 3-4 24. 1 Kings 15-16 & Mk. 10
18. 1 Sam. 5-6 & Mt. 23 25. 1 Kings 17-18
19. 1 Sam. 7-8 26. 1 Kings 19-20 & Mk. 11
20. 1 Sam. 9-10 & Mt. 24 27. 1 Kings 21-22 & Mk. 12
28. 2 Kings 1-2 & Mk. 13 2. 2 Chr. 11-12 & Acts 4

29. 2 Kings 3-4 & Mk. 14 3. 2 Chr. 13-14 & Acts 5
30. Ps. 65-68 4. 2 Chr. 15-16 & Acts 6
31. 2 Kings 5-6 & Mk. 15 5. Ps. 81-84
6. 2 Chr. 17-18 & Acts 7
June: 7. 2 Chr. 19-20 & Acts 8
1. 2 Kings 7-8 & Mk. 16 8. 2 Chr. 21-22 & Acts 9
2. 2 Kings 9-10 & Lk. 1 9. 2 Chr. 23-24 & Acts 10
3. 2 Kings 11-12 & Lk. 2 10. 2 Chr. 25-26 & Acts 11
4. 2 Kings 13-14 & Lk. 3 11. 2 Chr. 27-28 & Acts 12
5. 2 Kings 15-16 & Lk. 4 12. 2 Chr. 29-30 & Acts 13
6. 2 Kings 17-18 & Lk. 5 13. 2 Chr. 31-32 & Acts 14
7. 2 Kings 19-20 & Lk. 6 14. Ps. 85-88
8. Ps. 69-72 15. 2 Chr. 33-34 & Acts 15
9. 2 Kings 21-22 & Lk. 7 16. 2 Chr. 35-36 & Acts 16
10. 2 Kings 23-25 & Lk. 8 17. Ezra 1-2 & Acts 17
11. 1 Chr. 1-2 & Lk. 9 18. Ezra 3-4 & Acts 18
12. 1 Chr. 3-4 & Lk. 10 19. Ezra 5-6 & Acts 19
13. 1 Chr. 5-6 & Lk. 11 20. Ezra 7-8 & Acts 20
14. 1 Chr. 7-8 & Lk. 12 21. Ezra 9-10 & Acts 21
15. 1 Chr. 9-10 & Lk. 13 22. Ps. 89-92
16. 1 Chr. 11-12 & Lk. 14 23. Neh. 1-2 & Acts 22
17. Ps. 73-76 24. Neh. 3-4 & Acts 23
18. 1 Chr. 13-14 & Lk. 15 25. Neh. 5-6 & Acts 24
19. 1 Chr. 15-16 & Lk. 16 26. Neh. 7-9 & Acts 25
20. 1 Chr. 17-18 & Lk. 17 27. Neh. 10-11 & Acts 26
21. 1 Chr. 19-20 & Lk. 18 28. Neh. 12-13 & Acts 27
22. 1 Chr. 21-22 & Lk. 19 29. Esth. 1-2 & Acts 28
23. 1 Chr. 23-24 & Lk. 20 30. Esth. 3-4 & Rom. 1
24. 1 Chr. 25-26 & Lk. 21 31. Esth. 5-7 & Rom. 2
25. 1 Chr. 27-29 & Lk. 22
26. Ps. 77-80 August:
27. 2 Chr. 1-2 & Lk. 23 1. Esth. 8-10 & Rom. 3
28. 2 Chr. 3-4 & Lk. 24 2. Ps. 93-96
29. 2 Chr. 5-6 & Acts 1 3. Job 1-3 & Rom. 4
30. 2 Chr. 7-8 & Acts 2 4. Job 4-6 & Rom. 5
5. Job 7-9 & Rom. 6
July: 6. Job 10-12 & Rom. 7
1. 2 Chr. 9-10 & Acts 3 7. Job 13-15 & Rom. 8
8. Job 16-18 & Rom. 9 14. Isa. 4-6 & 2 Cor. 9

9. Job 19-21 & Rom. 10 15. Isa. 7-9 & 2 Cor. 10
10. Ps. 97-100 16. Isa. 10-12 & 2 Cor. 11
11. Job 22-24 & Rom. 11 17. Isa. 13-15 & 2 Cor. 12
12. Job 25-27 & Rom. 12 18. Isa. 16-18 & 2 Cor. 13
13. Job 28-30 & Rom. 13 19. Isa. 19-21 & Gal. 1
14. Job 31-33 & Rom. 14 20. Ps. 111-114
15. Job 34-36 & Rom. 15 21. Isa. 22-24 & Gal. 2
16. Job 37-39 & Rom. 16 22. Isa. 25-27 & Gal. 3
17. Job 40-42 & 1 Cor. 1 23. Isa. 28-30 & Gal. 4
18. Prov. 1-2 & 1 Cor. 2 24. Isa. 31-33 & Gal. 5
19. Prov. 3-4 & 1 Cor. 3 25. Isa. 34-36 & Gal. 6
20. Ps. 101-104 26. Isa. 37-39 & Eph. 1
21. Prov. 5-7 & 1 Cor. 4 27. Isa. 40-42 & Eph. 2
22. Prov. 8-9 & 1 Cor. 5 28. Isa. 43-45 & Eph. 3
23. Prov. 10-11 & 1 Cor. 6 29. Isa. 46-48 & Eph. 4
24. Prov. 12-13 & 1 Cor. 7 30. Isa. 49-51 & Eph. 5
25. Prov. 14-15 & 1 Cor. 8
26. Prov. 16-17 & 1 Cor. 9 October:
27. Prov. 18-19 & 1 Cor. 10 1. Isa. 52-54 & Eph. 6
28. Prov. 20-21 & 1 Cor. 11 2. Isa. 55-57 Phil. 1
29. Prov. 22-23 & 1 Cor. 12 3. Ps. 115-118
30. Prov. 24-25 & 1 Cor. 13 4. Isa. 58-60 & Phil. 2
31. Prov. 26-27 & 1 Cor. 14 5. Isa. 61-63 & Phil. 3
6. Isa. 64-66 & Phil. 4
September: 7. Jer. 1-3 & Col. 1
1. Prov. 28-29 & 1 Cor. 15 8. Jer. 4-6 & Col. 2
2. Prov. 30-31 & 1 Cor. 16 9. Jer. 7-9 & Col. 3
3. Ecc. 1-3 & 2 Cor. 1 10. Jer. 10-12 & Col. 4
4. Ecc. 4-6 & 2 Cor. 2 11. Ps. 119
5. Ecc. 7-9 & 2 Cor. 3 12. Ps. 120-122
6. Ecc. 10-12 13. Jer. 13-15 & 1 Thess. 1
7. Ps. 105-107 14. Jer. 16-18 & 1 Thess. 2
8. Ps. 108-110 15. Jer. 19-21 & 1 Thess. 3
9. Song. 1-2 & 2 Cor. 4 16. Jer. 22-24 & 1 Thess. 4
13. Isa. 1-3 & 2 Cor. 8 20. Jer. 34-36 & 2 Thess. 3
21. Ps. 123-126 27. Ob. & 1 Pet. 2

22. Jer. 37-39 & 1 Tim. 1 28. Jon. 1-4 & 1 Pet. 3
23. Jer. 40-42 & 1 Tim. 2 29. Mic. 1-2 & 1 Pet. 4
24. Jer. 43-45 & 1 Tim. 3 30. Mic. 3-5 & 1 Pet. 5
25. Jer. 46-48 & 1 Tim. 4
26. Jer. 49-50 & 1 Tim. 5 December:
27. Jer. 51-52 & 1 Tim. 6 1. Mic. 6-7 & 2 Pet. 1
28. Lam. 1-2 & 2 Tim. 1 2. Nah. 1-3 & 2 Pet. 2
29. Lam. 3-5 & 2 Tim. 2 3. Hab. 1-3 & 2 Pet. 3
30. Ezek. 1-3 & 2 Tim. 3 4. Ps. 139-142
31. Ezek. 4-6 & 2 Tim. 4 5. Zeph. 1-3 & 1 Jn. 1
6. Hag. 1-2 & 1 Jn. 2
November: 7. Zech 1-3 & 1 Jn. 3
1. Ezek. 7-9 & Titus 1 8. Zech 4-6 & 1 Jn. 4
2. Ezek. 10-12 & Titus 2 9. Zech 7-9 & 1 Jn. 5
3. Ezek. 13-15 & Titus 3 10. Zech 10-12 & 2 Jn.
4. Ezek. 16-18 & Phil. 11. Zech 13-14 & 3 Jn.
5. Ps. 127-130 12. Mal. 1-4 & Jude
6. Ps. 131-134 13. Ps. 143-146
7. Ezek. 19-21 & Heb. 1 14. Dan. 1-2
8. Ezek. 22-24 & Heb. 2 15. Dan. 3-4
9. Ezek. 25-27 & Heb. 3 16. Dan. 5-6
10. Ezek. 28-30 & Heb. 4 17. Dan. 7-8
11. Ezek. 31-33 & Heb. 5 18. Dan. 9-10
12. Ezek. 34-36 & Heb. 6 19. Dan. 11-12
13. Ezek. 37-39 & Heb. 7 20. Ps. 147-150
14. Ezek. 40-42 & Heb. 8 21. Rev. 1-2
15. Ezek. 43-45 & Heb. 9 22. Rev. 3-4
16. Ezek. 46-48 & Heb. 10 23. Rev. 5-6
17. Hos. 1-3 & Heb. 11 24. Rev. 7-8
18. Hos. 4-6 & Heb. 12 25. Rev. 9-10
19. Hos. 7-9 & Heb. 13 26. Rev. 11-12
20. Hos. 10-12 & Jas. 1 27. Rev. 13-14
21. Hos. 13-14 & Jas. 2 28. Rev. 15-16
22. Joel 1-3 & Jas. 3 29. Rev. 17-18
23. Am. 1-3 & Jas. 4 30. Rev. 19-20
24. Am. 4-6 & Jas. 5 31. Rev. 21-22
25. Ps. 135-138
26. Am. 7-9 & 1 Pet. 1
C h a p t e r S i x
Bible Study Resources
The following list, while not exhaustive, provides some

dependable and useful resources that will aid you in your
study of the Bible.
Online Websites:
Bibleinfo.com. This website provides what the Bible
has to say about more than 350 of life’s important ques-
tions, along with the opportunity to submit questions
about the Bible. (http://www.bibleinfo.com/)
KidsBibleinfo.com. Designed especially for children
of grade school age, this site provides big answers for little
people—from the Bible—along with character-building
stories and lessons. (http://www.KidsBibleinfo.com/)
The Word on the Web. Free Bible study guides for
developing a dynamic walk with God.
• Online Discover Bible Guides: Learn how

the major themes of Scripture point to a
God of love and mercy.
60
Bible Study Resources 61
(http://www.itiswritten.com/discover)
• New Beginnings Video Bible Studies (Eng-

lish and Spanish): View a fascinating series
of studies covering the whole Bible. (http://
www.itiswritten.com/new_beginnings)
• Search for Certainty: If you are searching

for answers to many Bible questions, these
easy-to-follow lessons are the place to start.
(http://www.itiswritten.com/certainty)
• Unsealing Daniel’s Mysteries: These studies

will help you unravel the mysteries of the
book of Daniel as you study it chapter-by-
chapter. (http://www.itiswritten.com/daniel)
It Is Written Telecast. Visit the web archives to find
Bible-based messages by Pastor Boonstra in streaming
video, podcast and complete scripts.
(http://www.itiswritten.com/tvprogram)
It Is Written Store. You will find many Bible study
tools to strengthen your faith and walk with God here.
(http://www.itiswritten.com/store)
Blue Letter Bible. This wonderful online scriptural ref-
erence commentary and study tool will help you discover
rich lessons from His Word. (http://www.blueletterbible.org/)
Bible Gateway. A free service for reading, studying
and researching the Bible in the language or translation
of your choice online. You may also listen to the Bible
here. (http://www.biblegateway.com/)
Concordances and Dictionaries (Available at your local

Christian Bookstore or online):
The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the
Bible by James Strong. This exhaustive research tool is
the legendary classic that generations of Bible students
have come to depend on for Bible study and research.
Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible by
Robert Young. A standard Biblical concordance, Young’s
casts all words in the Bible into alphabetical order and
arranges them under their respective original words. This
helps the reader to analyze more accurately the various
uses of the original Hebrew and Greek words. Includes
over 300,000 biblical references.
Smith’s Bible Dictionary by William Smith. A trust-
worthy classic of Bible scholarship, this Bible dictionary
defines thousands of biblical words, and is packed with es-
sential information such as maps and chronology tables.
Computer Software (Available online or at Christian bookstores):

e-Sword is a feature rich and user friendly electronic
Bible that makes the study of God’s Word both enjoyable
and enriching. This software is free for the downloading
and is available in many different languages. (http://www.
e-sword.net/)
QuickVerse is an electronic Bible study tool with
many features to help you in your study of God’s Word.
This software is available in PC or Mac versions.
PC Study Bible is simple enough for anyone to use,
but provides power tools to aid your study of the Bible.

The Sword of The Spirit by Shawn Boonstra

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The Sword of The Spirit by Shawn Boonstra

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by Shawn Boonstra

and Pacific Press Publishing Association

Copyright 2007 by It Is Written. All Rights Reserved.

Additional copies of this book and a

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible texts are from the

The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan is included courtesy of

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 10: 081632199X

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

The Bible is undeniably a most remarkable book. It

as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for

Mary Jones and the Bible

Just imagine, before 1907 nobody had ever vacuumed

timatter and cloning.

tional explosion of technology over the last 100 years or so. I

but our clearest understanding comes after it has been ful-

shall the end come.”

But learning to read was only half of Mary’s dream. She

Then Mary noticed that her new schoolteacher had

and now I finally have enough.”

bers to consider forming a new society dedicated to print-

ciety printed was for Canada. It was in the Mohawk lan-

Bible Study Basics

minds of the disciples when they wrote, will impress us as

while you imagine it will be go straight to the left.

brilliant people in the world can be confused by the Bible.

and down. The thunder is crashing, the lightning is flashing

Where Should I Start?

ber of times, I decided to start at the end and read to the

How Much Time Should I Spend?

Getting More From Your Bible

George W. Hensley was a preacher who had the habit

time working in a chain-gang), the break-up of his marriage,

through their Bibles. An awkward silence fell over the

literature printed today reveals the scarcity and shallow-

vorites simply by looking at the edges of the pages. Where

he always made a beeline for the cross. Every page, every

that the Bible is literally drowned out, even in the lives of

fazes them. Satan is trying to drown out the effectiveness

by their faith. I believe that to a large degree this stems

Sometimes our hobbyhorses can be the devil’s tool—

dio program, HMS Richards, Sr. Sometimes he would read

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God,

on the breastplate of righteousness, and having

• Some things that I like about this plan are:

• It is organized by reading in four separate

• It is also built around 25 days of reading per

• You can begin at any point of the year.

You can download the following chart in various for-

Read the Bible in a Year

This yearly Bible reading plan is built around a reading

January: 6. Lev. 19-21 & Jn. 4

15. Deut. 25-26 & Mt. 8 21. 1 Sam. 11-12

28. 2 Kings 1-2 & Mk. 13 2. 2 Chr. 11-12 & Acts 4

8. Job 16-18 & Rom. 9 14. Isa. 4-6 & 2 Cor. 9

21. Ps. 123-126 27. Ob. & 1 Pet. 2

Bible Study Resources

The following list, while not exhaustive, provides some