Daily Truthbase has the following format so you can have devotional time ranging from one to ten minutes, and get through the Bible in a year. Of course, your results will vary with the effort expended.
Psalm of the Day:
If you want to know God and develop a deep intimate relationship with Him, you need the largest book in the Bible, Psalms. There are 150 of them. Saints of old always spent some daily time in Psalms. We skim usually half or a whole Psalm a day, visiting each one over the course of a year. Eventually we'll develop a commentary on each. Psalm 1 serves as the intro to the Book, and basically tells us what we need to do to get blessed. The open secret is meditation, Thinking through the Implications for Applications.
Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success."
Since the essence of worship is Response to Revelation, you will find two possible ways to apply the passage: a suggested application, and a prayer response to what you have read. By all means, please personalize and expand the suggestions to express your heart. I first learned to have a Quiet Time by praying back the words of a Psalm to God, in my own words. For suggestions, see How to have Quiet Time in the sidebar or in the Tools to Manage your Spiritual Life section of TOYL on Truthbase.net, where you just might find a sermon or two on the topic.
Proverb of the Day:
If you want to be wise, you will need Proverbs, written to give you wisdom (which is a choice of both the right objectives and the right means of attaining them). There are 31 chapters of Proverbs, and 30-31 days in a month. Wise people read the chapter that corresponds to the day of the month. Each day we focus on a few choice verses which correspond to the Psalm or passage, or are just good to know for smart living. Look to see how the Truth should impact what you think, feel, value, and do. We will visit each Proverb about a dozen times during the year.
Passage Excerpt of the Day:
Here you will find excerpts from the sequential chapters of the Bible. You can make it through these in about a minute or so. They contain key ideas for understanding the author's argument and the rest of Scripture. All Scripture is inspired and profitable, but not every verse needs to be dissected and digested the first time through. You've got the rest of your life for that.
There are a couple of key observations from looking up the meaning of the word in the original language, plus some useful questions to help you think about the passage (hopefully). And a couple of suggestions for a God-pleasing response.
Community Commentary:
You can become a Bible Commentator by commenting on the passage. Maybe you have questions, or answers to someone else's question, or an additional insight, or how God used this passage of Truth in your life. Click and comment. Please put your initials in the comment, because when we compile the comments into a commentary, we want to give credit where it is due. We aren't interested in opinions about the text, or what Revelation says about Genesis, but in what will help us understand what the author (and God) intended the original audience (and us) to do in response to the Truth (that which best explains ALL the facts). We have a lot of debaters and critical thinkers but let's not be critical in our comments, but keep the quest for Truth, love, and the glory of God somewhere on the page. Also avoid comments that might incite the thought police bot from suspending the blog. I might answer questions during the day or direct you to resources that might shed some more light on the issue.
Digging Deeper:
This section is the spot to mine additional gems and find resources for more study. The objective is not just to read the Bible but to develop skill in interpreting and applying it. The better you observe what is written, the better you can interpret and apply it. We get into the nitty-gritty only when the normal meaning of a word doesn't reflect the author's intent. There is a way to determine the author's intent, which is the purpose of the Seven Passages study. (See How to Study the Bible like Sherlock 'Olmes or Be a Sleuth for the Truth, on Truthbase.net)
You want to learn to read the Scriptures as written to the original audience. Genesis isn't a chronicle of creation but a preface to giving the basis of blessing (God's Revelation), in the promised land, to the Israelites, after the exit from Egypt (Exodus). As we read and apply, we want to emphasize what God emphasizes.
You want to ask three questions:
- What does this passage reveal about God? (God in a nutshell)
- What does it reveal about myself? (Us in a nutshell)
- What does it tell me about the relationship between the two (God and me)?
These questions lead to two more:
- What can I expect of God?
- What does He expect of me?
The Full Passage in Context:
It takes between fifty and sixty hours to read the entire Bible straight through. That's about ten minutes a day over the course of a year. So, if you've got the time, go for it. In the first days, we'll leisurely stroll through a couple chapters a day, so you can make sure you grasp what you're reading. Later we pick up the pace and sprint through a handful of chapters. We should average three to four chapters a day, but the cream will be in the excerpt after the Psalm and Proverb.
Translation Note:
The original writings are inspired, the translations aren't. There is no perfect translation. I put the World English Bible in the email because it is copyright-free. When I taught the Evangelical Teacher Training Survey Courses, I encouraged people to use the NIV, because it does a good job of making the OT readable. I recommend folks use the NKJV and AV for exegetical study in the NT because there are so many study tools linked to them, and I like the Majority text. I'll always compare what the NASB, NET, Holman, RSV and ESV say on a difficult passage. For the most part the sense is the same. So go to BibleGateway or Biblos online, or download the Berean Bible (Free ESV, NASB, NET, NKJV etc) on your desktop (after you download the starter pack, scroll down to get the WEB version used on this blog) or YouVersion for your phone. While downloading, get the OnlineBible.net (simpler) or theWord (more info but harder to use) for being able to look up a word in the original language without having to know Hebrew or Greek.
If you already believe in the God of the Scriptures, are you planning on being a believer for the rest of your life? (Most people answer in the affirmative.)
So then, shouldn't you learn to read it well?
Godspeed.
