Some Christians have not yet read through the New Testament. Others have read through their Bibles many times. No matter where you are in your personal study of Scripture, you would be well served by the structure of a Bible reading plan.

There are several Bible reading plans available--each have their strengths. We'd like to encourage you to consider taking one of these and pursuing a year in personal Bible study in 2010.

Faith Baptist Bible College's Bible Reading Schedule: This reading plan has you reading 2 chapters from the Old Testament every day, 1 chapter from the New Testament and one chapter from a poetic book during the weekdays. At the end of the year the reader will have completed the entire Bible.

Discipleship Journal's 5x5x5: This reading plan requires a reading investment of 5 minutes a day, 5 days a week. At the end of the year the reader will have completed 260 chapters of the New Testament. If you're just beginning to read through the Bible, or if you've really struggled to complete the Bible in a year, this might be a good place to gain traction.

Discipleship Journal's Bible Reading Plan: This reading plan requires close to 25 minutes of reading a day, 25 days a month (this builds in some cushion in case  you miss a day). At the end of the year the reader will have completed the entire Bible. Another advantage of this plan is that every day you read from 4 different genres of biblical literature. This plan is easily customizable.

Discipleship Journal's Book-at-a-Time Plan: This reading plan will require about 25 minutes a day and allows for 3 "reflection" days a month. At the end of the year the reader will have completed the entire Bible. If you struggle jumping around in your Bible reading this will allow you to stay focused on the book you're reading, but then alternates between the New and Old Testaments month to month. Each day you will read from Psalms or Proverbs.

Bethlehem Baptist Church's Bible Reading Plan: This plan is exactly the same as Discipleship Journal's Bible Reading Plan. At the end of the year the reader will have completed the entire Bible. The difference is that it is formatted as 4 separate bookmarks allowing you to place your bookmarks at every place in the Bible that you are reading.

Disclaimer: The Apostle Paul commended the Bereans for daily comparing his teaching to God's Word "to see if these things were so" (Acts 17:11). The Author of Hebrews further exhorts believers to be discerning, saying, "solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:14). In light of these texts we encourage readers to digest the resources we provide on our website with discernment (including our own material). These resources may contain ideas that we do not fully embrace. To learn more consider listening to this lecture on biblical discernment.