ApprehendingGrace.com

¹ Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

The man or woman who delights in the Word of the Lord is blessed – because God has hidden precious treasures in His Word. They’re just waiting for you and me to find. Even if we’ve read it many, many times before, there are new treasures to find. That’s why we provide a new reading schedule to encourage you to read through the Bible and to help you stay on track.

You can download each of them below.

[button_round color=”blue” url=”http://apprehendinggrace.com/downloads/treasure-seaking-in-gods-word-download-2014-reading-bible-schedule/”] Treasure Seeking in God’s Word – Bookmarks [/button_round]

[button_round color=”red” url=”http://apprehendinggrace.com/downloads/treasure-seaking-in-gods-word-download-2014-reading-bible-schedule/”] Treasure Seeking in God’s Word – Large Print Bookmarks [/button_round]

[button_round color=”purple” url=”http://apprehendinggrace.com/downloads/treasure-seaking-in-gods-word-download-2014-reading-bible-schedule/”] Treasure Seeking in God’s Word – Excel Spreadsheet [/button_round]

“How can anyone read through the Bible in a year? I could never do that!”
This is an objection I hear often. In fact, I’m sure there was a time when I also believed I could never read through the Bible in a year. It’s such a huge book! And some of it is quite confusing!

But it’s really not that hard. It is easily do-able. Reading through the Bible requires reading just four to five chapters five days a week. If we scheduled readings for every day, it would only be 3.25 chapters a day! Everyone can find time to read 3.25 chapters a day. Reading four to five chapters is about a twenty minute commitment for most people. Add ten minutes of prayer and reflection and you’ve spent a wonderful half hour with the Lord, Creator of the Universe, King of Kings, Abba Father.

So, hey — you can do it! At the very least you deserve to try! So what happens when you get off track after a few months (or weeks or days)? No problems. Don’t beat yourself up. Just continue reading. You may not finish the whole Bible in a year, but you’ll read a whole more than if you never started.

God’s Word is full of treasures just waiting to be found. Each day before you read, ask Him to reveal them to you. Then just go for it!

This year’s schedule has three columns:

• The Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) and history books.
• The New Testament. – Follow the readings in this column and you will read through the New Testament in 2014.
• The poetry and books and books by the prophets

If you read through the selections in all columns, you will read through the entire Bible in 2014.

We’ve scheduled readings only Monday through Friday. It’s not that we don’t intend you to read on the weekend — please do! It’s just that we live in the real world and recognize that it’s always nice to have “catch-up days” to make up for those times when life is hectic — which seems to occur nearly every week!

You’ll find that many of my blogs relate to the daily readings – because that’s when God “speaks” to me, giving me messages to share. Follow the reading schedule, then join our conversation!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ApprehendingGrace/

E-mail:  Sandy@ApprehendingGrace.com

How to Get the Schedule
We’re providing three different versions of the Schedule:

• Bookmarks with normal size print (in PDF format)
• Bookmarks with large print (in PDF format)
• A Microsoft® Excel® file

You can download each of them below.

[button_round color=”blue” url=”http://apprehendinggrace.com/downloads/treasure-seaking-in-gods-word-download-2014-reading-bible-schedule/”] Treasure Seeking in God’s Word – Bookmarks [/button_round]

[button_round color=”red” url=”http://apprehendinggrace.com/downloads/treasure-seaking-in-gods-word-download-2014-reading-bible-schedule/”] Treasure Seeking in God’s Word – Large Print Bookmarks [/button_round]

[button_round color=”purple” url=”http://apprehendinggrace.com/downloads/treasure-seaking-in-gods-word-download-2014-reading-bible-schedule/”] Treasure Seeking in God’s Word – Excel Spreadsheet [/button_round]

Join us as we read through God’s Word a few chapters each day. Our Resting at the River’s Edge schedules help you stay on track with us…but if you fall behind, don’t worry. Just keep reading. Before you begin reading, ask God to reveal Himself to you – He promises that He will.  God will meet you and you will be blessed.

Our Resting at the River’s Edge schedules provide two reading plans. The first two columns of the schedule allow you to read through the entire Bible over a two-year period. During those two years we read through the New Testament twice and the Old Testament once. The “Additional Readings” in column 3 put you on a one-year reading plan. If you read through both the scheduled and additional readings, you will read through the entire Bible in 2013.

I hope you’ll join us! Reading through the Bible each year is one of my favorite things to do. I know that God will speak to you and your needs as you read. Since God usually speaks to me as I am reading His Word, you’ll find that many of the blogs I write relate directly to the Resting at the River’s Edge readings for that week (or sometimes from the previous week because I fall behind in the readings sometimes, too).

Click on one of the following buttons to open a PDF file of the May/June bookmark or all bookmarks. After the file has opened, you can print it or save it to your hard drive from your browser’s file menu.

[button_round color=”blue” url=”http://apprehendinggrace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Bookmark-2013-03May-Jun.pdf”] Click here for the May/June 2013 recommended reading bookmark. [/button_round]

[button_round color=”purple” url=”http://apprehendinggrace.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2013-RARE-Bookmarks.pdf”] Click here to download all bookmarks for 2013. [/button_round]

I hope you’ll join us in Resting at the River’s Edge, and that you’ll email me, telling me how it’s going. You can also leave a message on our Apprehending Grace Facebook page, or post a comment at the end of any blog. What has God spoken into your heart today? Share it with us so that we might also know Him better.

Blessings, Friends!
Sandy

The recommended reading schedule for June is below.

People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the LORD’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.
Micah 4:2a (NLT)

My husband Phil was reading Scripture recently and realized that as he was reading, he was thinking about how he would teach the passage – how it would be broken into sections, what points he would draw out, etc.

I frequently find myself falling into the trap of reading through the lens of preaching – how the passage would be preached, what points should be drawn out, what illustrations might make the lesson more real to the listeners, etc.

And then there are always the times we read Scripture just to meet our assigned reading for the day. Maybe you never do that, but there are times I realized that I’ve progressed quite far down the page without really having a clue what the topic is.

We’ve stopped reading Scripture as a letter from God to us. God has something very special that He wants to speak to each of us each time we read His Word. He has taken great care to have His Word written and then preserved for thousands of years. The writing and preservation of Scripture is a miracle that we often overlook when considering miracles of God. If you ever have an opportunity to go through a good museum or display about the history of the Bible, it’s worth your time. We went through one at the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, FL. It was something I was doing for Phil (he’s more geeky than me)…or so I thought. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it!

God’s letters are as relevant for us today as they were to the audience for which they were originally written. Yet we often breeze through them or read them in a clinical or scholarly way. Sometimes scholarly is appropriate…so long as there are also times when we read Scripture as God’s letter to us.

When Phil and I are about to have conversation, I “settle in.” I sit across from him, get comfortable, look him in the eyes and watch his face as I listen to his words. I get ready to enjoy him before he actually speaks. Our conversation might be about something as mundane as how his workday was or as meaningful as what God has been speaking to him during his devotional time with Him. Either way, I’m interested so I put myself in a place to pay attention and enjoy our interaction. I look forward to these times every day and miss them when our schedules don’t mesh enough to allow for them.

Treating our times with God in a similar fashion will do wonders for our ability to hear from Him. “Settle in” before you begin to read. If possible, have a special place for meeting with God. It doesn’t have to be a place reserved only for Him – simply a place where you usually meet with Him. I sit in my recliner when I meet God on Saturday mornings. Because I do it almost every Saturday morning, I’ve had some really special times with God there. The chair holds memories with God for me. Now I also sit in that chair to watch television, but there’s a difference when I meet with God. I settle in with a cup of tea and a piece of toast. I start up my computer and I read and write and pray and worship. And God honors my time by sharing His heart with me as I do those things. I often wake Phil a few hours after I’ve gotten up with excitement about something I’ve read in God’s Word.

Treat reading God’s Word as you would treat meeting a special friend – protect the time, prepare for it, set it aside in your calendar as a special event, and be fully “present” as you read. Our Resting at the River’s Edge schedule last week included readings from the prophet Micah. In the last chapter he wrote this:

¹In the last days, the mountain of the LORD’s house will be the highest of all — the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.

²People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the LORD’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.
Micah 4:1-2 (NLT)

We are in the last days. Let’s approach our time with the Lord with the enthusiasm the passage holds. When I read this passage, it sounds to me like they are preparing for a picnic with the King of Kings. They are gathering their things, climbing the highest mountain (but it’s a fun climb, a carefree climb, not a treachurous or arduous climb) to sit face to face with God talking about life. Read to enjoy God. He is the creator of the universe and He’s ready and waiting to have a conversation with you!