Losing weight. Paying off debt. Less chill and Netflix. More reading. These are some of the few decisions that people will make to see changes in their life.

I truly believe that the best decision you can make in this upcoming year is to read the Bible every day at least 4-5 times a week.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

God lives in His word. His word has life and spirit. Jesus said that if we abide in Him and His word abides in us – then we will be set apart to see answers to prayers and produce great fruit. His presence and His word are not separated.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7

A key discovery from the CBE research is that the life of someone who engages scripture 4 or more times a week looks radically different from the life of someone who does not. In fact, the lives of Christians who do not engage the Bible most days of the week are statistically the same as the lives of non-believers.

Someone who engages the Bible 4 or more times a week is:
228% more likely to share faith with others
407% more likely to memorize scripture
59% less likely to view pornography
30% less likely to struggle with loneliness

Think about this, reading God’s word only 4 or more times a week change change your life in dramatic way. Maybe instead of focusing on changing our life, we should spend time investing time in God’s word.

How to do read the Bible every day in 2020:

Make it a priority. Make up your mind right now that you will read the Bible at least 4 times a week in the upcoming year. What helps to make it a priority is making a decision. do that. Stop making excuses, start making progress. You just read the benefits of being in God’s word, it will be the best, wisest investment of your time to spend time in the Bible.

Make a plan. Priorities fail when they don’t have a plan. Plan is choose a Bible reading plan that will help you to stay on track. If you fail to plan, you will plan to fail. Many priorities don’t take off the ground because they are not supported by simple, doable, sustainable plan. For example, if you have not read the whole Bible at least once, start in 2020 to read the whole New Testament in one year. I know at first it may seem like, its just one chapter a day but one chapter a day for whole year will do more for your spiritual life than reading it once in a while.

Here is the plan I would encourage:
New Testament Reading for One Year
Reading the Whole Bible in One Year

Don’t start something you can’t keep on doing for the whole year. Don’t start with something huge. It’s like in running, you can’t run a marathon if you haven’t ran one mile. Start with one mile. Start with reading New Testament before deciding to reading the whole Bible only to stop by January third week.

Overcome procrastination. Things don’t get done because we don’t make a priority. Priorities fail because we don’t have plans. Plans fail because of procrastination.

My best secret to overcoming procrastination is reading the Bible with the group of friends like a small group. YouVersion Bible app allows you to read a Bible reading plan with friends. It’s motivating and encouraging. Friends have a way to influence you toward good goals. Have your friends and mentors hold you accountable. Read it with them together. Meet together to discuss what you read. This way it becomes a community engagement.

So, let’s read the Bible in 2020 more. One of my habits is to combine my Bible reading with prayer. I also, read the Bible with my life group or my pastoral team. I am looking forward to getting into God’s word in the coming year. Let’s do it together.

Source: https://www.backtothebible.org/research

This blog was written by Vladimir Savchuk.

Pastor Vlad is the lead pastor of Hungry Generation Church, an author of “Break Free” and “Single, Ready to Mingle” and a founder of free online school “Vlad’s School.” To download free e-books, sermon series, small group study guides go to vladimirsavchuk.com