Read through the Bible in a Year

Ahhh....New Years Resolutions are upon us. Every year, for as long as I can remember (since like second grade??)...I have had a "new years resolution" to read through the Bible in a year. And every year, I have failed dismally. In order to read through the Bible in a year, I have always tried to read a little each day in order to not have to read like 6 books in one day to get caught up. Last year, i had my reading for the day emailed to me. That worked till about April, when I got so far behind that I gave up on the read through in a year thing. The positive thing about 2009's attempt at reading through the Bible is that I now carry my Bible around with me at all times. So i can read it whenever I have a spare minuet, or if I am thinking of a verse and want to remind myself just how it goes, or if I ma facing a particular struggle and need to remind myself what the word of God has to say about it, etc. But the effects of my abandoning the Read the Bible in a Year plan is; My "quite time" gets reduced to a few minuets a day, a few days a week and my spiritual walk suffers. Its sad. Whats even sadder is that this has repeated itself for nearly two decades, year after year. While I am POSITIVE I have read the Bible in its entirety, I think its important for me to read the whole thing in a relatively short period of time so I can see some themes, patterns and so forth. In addition to the "reading in a year" I also usually do a devotional to help me focus on a specific part of scripture and really just dig in, looking for personal applications. "Better is a little with understanding" as the old expression goes. So, once again I am making it my goal to read through the Bible in 2010. sigh. I have renewed dedication this year though, Over the last several months I have seen some heresy develop in some of my friend's faiths. These are friends with whom I was raised side by side, and fed on a relatively similar diet of Biblical teaching. Ive given a LOT of thought to how this happens and the conclusion i have come to is that in my upbringing, and in my friends upbringing there was a strong emphasis on Spiritual connectedness with God. On the Spiritual feelings and leadings. I am not saying I don't believe these things are important they are, but these things I think were emphasised OVER Bible reading. My friends and I have all probably read through the Bible at some point. We memorized Scripture and some of us still do, but I think the danger came in when we "pretty much know what the Bible says." The Enemy will use any and all opportunities to poison of minds, and even our religion. The blessed thing about the Word of God is that if you follow its teaching and hold everything up against it as a measurement of accuracy, you can scarcely go wrong. I believe its a lack of being entrenched in the Living and Holy Word of God that breeds this heresy and in some extreme cases for people to abandon the faith all together. While trying to determine what to say to my friends who have adopted strange faiths, I realized Im at JUST AS MUCH RISK of believing a false doctrine when I am not studying the scriptures daily. AND, I cannot effectively talk with my friends about the things they now believe that are unbiblical, because I have a hard time finding specifically in the Bible where it teaches contrary to what they now believe. So, Read through the Bible in a Year, take 18 (or so)....

• This year I am going to print out a chart with all the chapters of the Bible and cross them off as I go. I think this will encourage me and help me not fear when i get off track for a few days, because I can pick up again anywhere.
• I think I will also start reading in the minor prophets and the epistles, instead of the books of Moses and the Gospels...just to mix things up....
• I'm going to blog about my reading progress and about the treasures I find in the Word.
• I'm going to once again enlist the support of my Christian Mentor...but in order to do that I have to start working on my devotional again because she believes that was helpful to me when I was doing it before. It really, really was. And, as my Mentor, I respect her opinion on the matter....I need to do a devo with this Bible reading anyways....
• I'm going to look for other people who are reading through the Bible in a Year OR who are working on reading PART of the Bible every day or however many times per week...

Any of you doing the "read the Bible in a year" as your new years resolution? Any old pros out there who can offer me tips? Anyone looking for an accountability partner? I want to make this my New Years REVOLUTION!!!!

Uncompromising, but lonely

Psalm 42

¹¹Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

Psalm 43

¹Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! ²For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? ³O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. ⁴Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God. ⁵Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. Hmmm...I think these verses flow well THIS way. Remember the Bible was not written with chapter and verse, those were added later t make it easier to find things, anyways.... I feel like this tonight. I feel the ungodliness of my nation causes me much grief. An interaction with a friend caused me to feel really depressed and the verse 42:11 popped into my head...I looked it up and read on...the rest of the following verse was actually exactly what made me sad about my interaction with my friend. I feel like I just see so many Christians around me making compromises. Compromises I cannot understand. I feel like the Christians I know should be with me, standing by my side on these issues and encouraging one another to live boldly according to the Word. Instead, I find many of my Christian friends don't share my convictions about contemporary social issues and about major life decisions, they actually attack me for my beliefs accusing me of being self-centered and self-righteous. But I just don't feel like I can compromise on some things, I feel convicted...I don't say this judgmentally of these people and their choices, its not to me to judge the heart, but I don't understand how they can attack me, judge me. Oh, this is the worlds lamest first entry...I can't be specific about the situation and there's no way for you to know if me or my friend are in the right or wrong without specifics, but that's not the important part. I guess I'm just hurt when I see people make decisions and then accuse me of being the one with the problem when I don't join them in something I feel convicted about. It makes me feel so very lonesome, which is not how I want to feel when the task of witnessing to the world seems so very big and I feel very small. I guess just this verse captured what I was feeling tonight and it helped to know I'm not the the only God-fearer who has ever felt like I was standing on the truth all alone...Ill just cry out to God like the Psalmist did. Take cheer, friends! -Zealia