How well do you know your Bible? Are you familiar enough with it to inspire your children to want to learn from the Bible, or do you hope they don’t ask you any questions that you can’t answer?

Children pick up more about our attitudes about the Bible by what we do with it, than by what we have to say. Do they see you reading your Bible, or do they only hear you giving lip service about how important it is?

We need to spend time in the Word every day. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (1 Timothy 3:16 NIV) We don’t have to question the authority of the Bible. We know it is inspired. By spending time in the Word every day we will be prepared for whatever comes our way.

There are many ways to study the Bible, but in my opinion, the best is to pick it up and read it for yourself. The world is full of people eager to tell you what the Bible says – even if they only know a few verses and the rest is assumptions about what they think it says, or should say. You are less likely to be misled by popular false teachers if you read the Bible for yourself and know what it says.

There are many reading plans available for reading through the Bible in a systematic way. One is to start with Genesis and read straight through to Revelation. Other plans select passages from both the Old Testament and New Testament every day. Some Bibles are printed with passages from both the Old and New Testaments, Psalms, and Proverbs every day. Other Bibles have been rearranged so everything falls into the order in which events happened.

I am excited about reading through the Bible in chronological order next year. This plan is widely used by several reputable Christian organizations.  I have been setting up a blog series to promote the plan with:

• Downloadable PDF files with the year’s reading schedule
• Downloadable PDF weekly tri-fold bookmarks with the weeks’ readings and space for taking notes.
• Links to pre-selected online Bible passages for each day
• Links for listening to the passages for those who prefer to listen to the Bible.
• Even a blind person with special software for the blind should be able to navigate the weekly blog posts and listen to engaging recordings of the daily Bible readings with these links.

I hope people all over the world will empower themselves using these files individually, or in groups.

Any version of the Bible can be used. A family might consider reading together using the New International Reader’s Bible with children or The Message with teenagers.

One way to adapt the plan for children is for the parents to read through the Bible following the plan, and watch for passages that would be most interesting for children. Then share these passages either by reading them or telling about them during daily devotions or at mealtime.

Another alternative for those who feel overwhelmed with reading the entire Bible, is to use the same plan, but start with the New Testament and stretch it out over a whole year. That won’t be hard to work out, as there are 13 weeks devoted to the New Testament. This way you can spread each week’s readings over four weeks, or spread each day over four days, and the New Testament can be read in a year.

Whatever you do, make a commitment to read the Bible every day and follow a plan that will give you the big picture, and not just a few “cherry picked” verses that you read over and over.

I will be posting weekly throughout the year on my Bible Bites 4 You blog. Click here => Read the Bible in Chronological Order to access one post that includes the full year plan in a PDF file, plus weekly bookmarks in separate PDF files with the selected readings you can use in your Bible as you read.