Ever opened your Bible and thought ‘where do I start?’ – Me too.
I have a confession to make, I have always struggled to be consistent in my Bible reading. I’ve started more reading plans then I care to admit – especially in January! As I speak to friends I realise that I’m very much not alone here.
Writing the Word
This year after hearing Lara Casey speak about the power of ‘Writing the Word’ I decided to give writing the Bible a go. I wish that someone had introduced me to the idea sooner.
We know that there are so many benefits to writing by hand (there’s a great summary on this blog). You retain information more, it engages your brain in a more active, full way and it often sparks creativity.
It’s changing me
I can tell you writing the Bible is powerful stuff. After the first week of writing I realised that I had never written out a chunk of the Bible before. I’ve written the odd verse but mostly I copy and paste, I don’t even need to type it out these days.
There’s something about seeing God’s word written in our own hand that can speak more powerfully to us. And I’ve kept doing it! While Bible reading notes have been discarded, ‘Bible in a year’ plans abandoned, this practice has stuck. I’m reading and writing the Bible every day, not because I’m super holy or disciplined but simply because I’m doing something simple. And it’s changing me.
This experience got me thinking ‘what if this could be the kick start someone else needs?’. Enter the snappy titled ‘Advent Bible Writing Plan’.
Advent
Advent is a time of preparation. Over hundreds of years Christians have used this season to reflect on God’s gift to the world and look forward to the future when Jesus will restore everything. Much like Mary we find ourselves in a period of longing for the promises of God to come into our reality.
But during Advent life can take over – we have presents to wrap, cards to write, events to go to, parties to plan, food to prepare, all the shopping, shopping, shopping…
How about this year we commit to taking just 5 minutes a day to pause in the busyness and wait?
The Writing Plan
Click here to download the pdf. Each of these passages should only take a few minutes to write. I’ve chosen passages that speak to us about waiting, preparing and God’s ultimate faithfulness.
It doesn’t have to be perfect, or correct, you don’t need a special notebook and the results don’t have to look pretty. You can even fit it in while munching on your advent calendar chocolate. Grab a Bible (any translation will do) find the passage and copy it out. This practice can grow at much at you like – you could start by saying the short prayer ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening’, or you could highlight a few words that stand out to you that day. There’s no blue-print – be creative!
5 minutes a day, go on, give it a try!
If you missed it, here’s your FREE PDF!