Nearly seven years ago I read the Bible cover to cover for the first time. And I did it in 97 days.
(Yep, I failed on the official timeline my first time, but I succeeded in that I attentively read every single God-breathed word of the Bible in a row. And that was still pretty awesome and exhilarating! I’ll take admitting that ‘failure’ any day over not trying at all!)
My prayer is that you are also considering taking that challenge and reading the Bible with me in 90 days, January 1- March 31, 2010.
I’m sure you could come up with lots of reasons NOT to do it, but I hope that you will find many more to say “YES!, I’m in!” And I pray that you won’t let fear keep you back. Fear of failing and not finishing.. or not finishing on time.
We all have ‘lots’ to do. And we all have reasons for doing what we do.
When I participated in the Bible in 90 Days for the first time, I was heading into my second trimester with my second pregnancy. My obstetrician gave me a 90% chance of having to go on total bed-rest at some point in the pregnancy. Our first child was 16 months old and we were in the home-stretch of building a custom home about an hour from where we lived. I was busy… but I wanted to achieve this goal, so I put my heart and mind to it.
I carried my Bible with me nearly everywhere I went. And I read it at many of those places… waiting for friends, waiting on doctor’s appointments, flying on airplanes, in restaurants, while waiting in line in stores… I read it everywhere. (And before this, I am embarrassed to admit now, I would have been embarrassed to have been seen reading a Bible in so many ‘normal’ places. I didn’t want to be one of ‘those’ people. But the challenge made me pony up and take every opportunity to read.)
While my husband watched TV to unwind in the evenings, I stole away into the bedroom and read. And read. And read. While he laughed out loud at funny sit-coms, I read genealogies and I read through Numbers and I read of the prophecies of the coming King. And I saw the prophecies fulfilled and I really learned about our Savior, and our Father. And I was transformed.
I fought that fear of failure, those whisperings of Satan telling me that I could do something better with my time. And I grew much closer to my Father than I had ever been. And I haven’t let go.
If you have a fear of failure holding you back, I am not going to lie to you: Reading the Bible at this pace isn’t easy. Challenges will present themselves. To do it you are going to have to be intentional and cut out a few things from your schedule. It takes a lot of time and life takes a lot of time, too.
But you will be rewarded by hearing His voice, and when you are finished, you will know that He was just talking to you as you read. It will be amazing and worth all the challenges you will face.
(And if you’re going to Blissdom we can even keep each other accountable and read together. :) )
Of course I want you to succeed… And I’ll do my best to help you every step of the way.
But it is up to you. Pray about it if you are trying to decide. And once you are in, fully commit yourself. Don’t give yourself an out… and then let’s really celebrate Easter together when we are finished!
Once you are ready to join the challenge, swing by this sign-up post, leave a comment or link up, get a copy of the official Bible in 90 Days Bible and then get ready to read and listen!
Leave a Reply