Why we believe reading the Bible is so important

In John 15, Jesus makes a whole list of promises to those who ‘abide in Him’. Those who abide will be fruitful in life. Those who abide will have their prayers answered. Those who abide will experience God’s love. Those who abide will be filled up with joy.

Sounds good. But how do we abide in Jesus? In verse seven, He gives us a clue when He adds, ‘and my words abide in you’. A central part of abiding in Jesus is reading the Bible. The whole Bible is about Jesus and it’s the primary way that we get to know Him for ourselves.

For the coming year, one of the best resolutions you can make is to have more of God in your life. Who doesn’t want fruitfulness, more answered prayer, love and joy in their life? Jesus doesn’t just suggest that we might get these things if we read the Bible, He promises that we will.

So why not take up His, and our, invitation to follow a Bible plan this year and see what difference God’s Word can make in your life day by day?

Recommended Plans

The plan that many of us at Emmanuel follow is called, ‘The One Year Bible’. As the name suggests, it covers the whole Bible in 365 days.

We want to help make reading your bible every day as accessible and simple as possible, so we’ve set out all the readings for this plan below.

Another reason we recommend this plan is that it’s scalable, which might be particularly helpful if you’re just starting on your Bible reading journey.

Reading the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs verses for each day will take you 5-10 minutes. Reading the Old Testament passages too will take you 15-20 minutes each day.

Other Recommended Resources

This plan can also be accessed using the YouVersion Bible App which we also recommend.

There are actually thousands of Bible plans on the app which you might find helpful. As well as The One Year Bible we also particularly like those by The Bible Project who include videos alongside the readings to help you understand more about the Bible’s meaning and important themes.

A couple of years ago our members produced Daily Devotional videos to go alongside the New Testament readings. You can find them here.

Our friend Glen Scrivener has written two excellent books of daily readings which we also recommend:

If you'd like to go even deeper with your daily Bible reading, then we can recommend the following resources...

Reading Between the Lines: Old Testament Daily Readings by Glen Scrivener

For the Love of God by D. A. Carson

New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp