It's 2012: What's your devo plan?

  • Deb Hvass
  • Jan 5, 2012

It’s 2012: Do you have a devo plan?

Happy New Year! January is a popular time to create a fresh plan for increasing our hearts’ devotion to the Lord. Here’s a collection of thought-starters that we and others have found helpful for abiding in the Lord and letting His word abide in us: 

Search the Scriptures. This is a read-through that takes you through the entire Bible in three years at 20 minutes per day, and supplies several questions for reflection with each reading. I think it would be my pick this year, except that I’m already enjoying the Daily Office readings (see below). For Search the Scriptures, start here: http://www.amazon.com/Search-Scriptures-Three-Year-Daily-Devotional/dp/0830811206/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325361205&sr=1-2.

Book of Common Prayer’s Daily Office readings. I’ve been using the print BCP since last summer, and enjoying the variety it provides. There are Psalms in the morning and evening, plus daily OT, Gospel and NT readings. Here’s a newish resource that supplies online the complete visual and audio readings in the English Standard Version of the Bible: http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/bcp/. Briefly, the Daily Office lectionary gives you most of the Scriptures in two (in some versions three) years, with the OT passages organized to relate to the NT ones. It also follows the church year so you are reading Advent passages at Christmas, not at some other time of the year; and you’ll find a refreshing focus on the Persons and work of the Trinity.

Chronological Bible. Our friend Jeanette is planning to use this tool for her read-through plan in 2012. The entire Bible is arranged according to when the books were written, and parallel passages are integrated so you get different perspectives on the same passages/stories. Start here to find out more: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=chronological+bible&x=0&y=0.

New Testament. Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer, often tells about his first reading plan: 10 chapters a day in the New Testament (start in Matthew). This will take you through the New Testament once per month. Listen to Mike’s OneThing 2011 talks here: http://www.ihop.org/onething/. To hear much of Mike's early faith story, go to Session 2 and scroll to about 1:20.

Proverbs and Psalms. Gary’s favorite devotional plan is to read through the Psalms and Proverbs in six months. There are 150 chapters in Psalms, so you can read through the Psalms in five months by reading Psalms 1-30 during the first month, then adding 30 to the day of the month on month two, 60 on month three, 90 on month four and 120 on month five. On the sixth month, read a chapter of Proverbs each day. Repeat for the second half of the year.

Memorize His Word. This little program ($19.95 after a 30-day free trial) pops up and reminds you to review the passages you’ve loaded from http://www.biblegateway.com/, removing a few words each time to make you think. Download it here: http://www.memorizehisword.com/.

The Journal 5 (PC). I’ve been using this software for several months, and really like it. You can write multiple entries each day, plus start an endless number of notebook categories. You can add tags and categories for ease of searching later. This tool has already reduced all the paper pads with jottings that I’m constantly trying to figure out where to file. There’s a 45-day free trial before you pay $49.95, and there are 20% discounts for students, seniors and others. Check it out at http://www.davidrm.com/. There are lots more journaling apps for both Apple and PC users. Start  here: http://lifehacker.com/5246819/five-best-journaling-tools.

The Jesus Storybook Bible. We heard compelling stories from this book as our kids read to their kids at Christmas. It's true that "every story whispers His name," as the subtitle says. The stories tie in Jesus' redemptive role from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end of the New. This is a great way to get introduced to the Scriptures if you're new to the faith--or not. We never outgrow children's sermons! Go to http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Storybook-Bible-Every-Whispers/dp/0310708257/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325385724&sr=8-1.

Scripture Union. Since we sent out this Blurb via e-mail, two friends have recommended another resource they've been using for years: daily reading plans from Scripture Union (http://www.scriptureunion.org/). One of these plans, Encounter with God, takes you once through the OT and twice through the NT and Psalms in five years, with commentary by international clergy, scholars and writers. There are lots of other resources you can download or subscribe to on this site.

We hope you find these ideas helpful as you make a plan for spending time in God's presence this year. Please give us a shout back with other good ideas!