By: Donna Bucher
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
In this season of
Lent, I find my soul prefers a slower, more deliberate walk with Jesus. In
fact, no other way offers the deep intimacy garnered journeying with Christ to
the Cross.
Lent invites us
aside into a time of stillness and contemplation; a time of seeking Him and a
fuller understanding of His sacrifice of Love. We do this by walking slow,
lingering long, and listening with our hearts.
Wooing us from the
mundane and busy, Lent moves us to experience the extraordinary in His Presence.
A welcome fast from things vexing our souls, assaulting our ears and blinding
our eyes, we look to His Way: The Way.
Spending time together
the past three weeks marveling at God’s Word and ways we can seek to know God, His
Ways, His Thoughts, His Identity, His Love, and His Penultimate Plan for
dwelling with us for all of eternity. We explored methods for reading the Bible
perhaps a bit differently than you have before.
Given the Bible is God’s
Story, his memoir if you will, we want to read it to know Him more intimately.
As Lent turns our
minds more towards Jesus Christ, this week I share two plans for reading
through the Gospels. The Gospels fully share every aspect of Jesus’ birth,
life, death and resurrection, providing the perfect plan for knowing Christ
more intimately.
The first plan
encompasses reading all four Gospels in forty-five days, simply reading two
chapters each day, starting with the Gospel of Matthew. Simply begin day one
with reading Matthew chapters one and two.
Continue in this
fashion until you finish reading all four Gospels.
The second plan
encompasses forty days, and incorporates grace days for rest in between the
chapters read. For this plan you begin on day one with reading chapter one of
Matthew, Luke and John. On day two you will read chapter two of Matthew, Luke
and John; you read in this manner for five days, concluding with chapter five
of Matthew, Luke and John. Then take two Grace Days (days six and seven).
Then begin again
on day eight with reading chapter 6 of Matthew, Luke and John. Continue for
five days, concluding with chapter ten of Matthew, Luke and John. Then take two
Grace Days (days thirteen and fourteen). Pick up on day fifteen as above.
Reading in this manner concludes the Gospel of John on Day twenty-nine at which
point you begin reading the Gospel of Mark in sequence concluding all of the
Gospels on day forty. Here is a handy diagram for better illustration.
I prefer the
second Bible reading plan for the Gospels as it allows you once again to see
connections between the Gospels instead of a straight read through each one in
order.
If you missed any
of the previous posts on God’s Word, check them out here:
Let’sREAD the Bible! (READ Technique for Bible reading)
WhenReading the Bible Feels Hard
Find more encouragement and FREE Resources at Serenity in Suffering!
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Donna, thank you for this. I love reading the Gospels! ♥
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