November is always a great time to leverage the national focus on gratitude by leaning into thanksgiving. One way to keep gratitude on your mind and tongue is a reading plan. While The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks has a 30-Day Challenge which includes a reading plan, and you can find a daily devotional for each of those days here, below is another 30-Day Reading Plan. This one is exclusively in the Psalms. Each day, the chapter will includes themes related to gratitude, ingratitude, or thanksgiving. My hope is these psalms can lead you into giving thanks this November.
Continue reading November Gratitude Reading Plan: The PsalmsCategory: Bible Reading Plans
Genesis Reading Plan
Here’s a Genesis Reading Plan that will take you sixty days, roughly a chapter a day with rest days built in. You can use these questions to ask when reading the Bible.
And here are a few recommended studies and commentaries on Genesis.
- Jen Wilkin’s God of Creation (Gen. 1-11) and God of Covenant (Gen. 12-50).
- Genesis: A 12-Week Study from Crossway
- Genesis (Tyndale Commentaries) by Derek Kidner
- Genesis: Beginning and Blessing by R. Kent Hughes
Holy Week Reading Plan & Resources
Today begins what the Church has called Holy Week or Passion Week. The time from Palm Sunday to Easter (Resurrection) Sunday has provided Christians with a week to give special attention to the person and work of Christ. It interrupts our normal rhythms and intentionally puts Jesus before us so we can reflect on the events leading up to and including his sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection. Below is a reading plan for the week, as well as activities and resources to help you leverage this significant week in the Church Calendar.
Forget Not All His Benefits: Gratitude Reading Plan (Day 7)
(This devotion is day seven of a 30-Day Thanksgiving Challenge. Each day includes a daily reading that will be accompanied by a post on this blog.)
Read Psalm 103
I have a few shirts in my closet that don’t fit like they used to. I’m sure it’s because they’ve been through the dryer too many times, not because I’ve outgrown them. I can squeeze into them but it’s a little too snug for comfort. I only wear them in the safe, non-judgmental confines of my house. Because they don’t get used often, these shirts need washed again to rid them of that stale, dusty odor.
Continue reading Forget Not All His Benefits: Gratitude Reading Plan (Day 7)
The Nine or the One?: Gratitude Reading Plan (Day 4)
(This devotion is day four of a 30-Day Thanksgiving Challenge. Each day includes a daily reading that will be accompanied by a post on this blog.)
I grew up reading the classics. No, not Dickens, Austen, or Steinbeck, but Berenstain (as in The Berenstain Bears). Since I’m forcing my toddler to relive many of my experiences, including my favorite childhood books and shows, we often watch or read The Berenstain Bears.
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Gratitude Reading Plan (Day 1): Give Thanks to God
(This devotion is day one of a 30-Day Thanksgiving Challenge. Each day includes a daily reading that will be accompanied by a post on this blog.)
Read James 1:17; 1 Corinthians 4:7; Romans 11:36; Matthew 7:9–11
Last November, I browsed dozens of children’s books related to the Thanksgiving holiday, searching for one to teach my daughter about giving thanks. Almost all of them mentioned things to be thankful for but missed the fact that thankfulness has a person on the other end.[1] These books do teach kids to spot stuff they appreciate: their dog, toys, parents, grandparents, teachers, falling leaves, good health, and pumpkin pie. Both kids and adults benefit from considering the blessings in life. But each of these books stopped short.
Continue reading Gratitude Reading Plan (Day 1): Give Thanks to GodNovember Thirty-Day Gratitude Reading Plan & Challenge
“It’s one thing to be grateful. It’s another to give thanks. Gratitude is what you feel. Thanksgiving is what you do.” Tim Keller
“I like to think of thankfulness as God’s ‘spiritual air freshener.’ It replaces the stale odor of resentment with clean, fresh-smelling air for the soul to breathe.” Gary Thomas
Gratitude is a bit like healthy eating. We all want it, and sometimes can do it for a few days, but our bad habits usually shoot us in the foot. Both take more than good intentions. They require replacing old habits with new ones. Good intentions need good habits if we want good results.
Continue reading November Thirty-Day Gratitude Reading Plan & Challenge
Dwelling on The Good News in A Year of Bad News: An August Reading Plan
2020 has given us plenty of challenges: the pandemic, quarantine and isolation, church closures and re-openings, racial tensions, riots, debates over masks and pretty much everything else tied to COVID-19, politics in an election year, and questions about government intrusion on the Church. Mix in that trying to figure out what families should do for school, and how that affects our jobs and income, as well as churches scrambling to do their best to gather together and care for those struggling with all that’s going on, and there’s plenty to leave us discouraged.
One temptation is to immerse ourself in the news–on TV, online, or through social-media–to stay up to speed and feel informed. The intense debates only fuel this as so many people read articles to defend their cause. It’s no wonder people feel stressed, anxious, and angry. To make matters worse, some statistics indicate Christians are spending even less time in the Bible than they did before the pandemic. We’re filling our minds with bad news and stressful news, meanwhile we’re neglecting to fill our minds and hearts with The Good News.
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Hebrews Reading Plan
Below is a 28-day reading plan in the book of Hebrews leading up to Easter. You can download the reading plan, with a daily question for adults and a daily question for kids, here. It includes a weekly practice to put something off and put something on during this Lenten season. (To receive these updates daily, you can subscribe by clicking the Follow button on the left-column.)
Lent 2020 Reading & Fasting Guide
“Lent invites us into practices where the Gospel is felt in our bodies—in hunger, in longings that go unsatisfied, in wants deferred. And these aren’t just “intellectual” realizations. My growling belly has stories to tell me about who I am and who I’m made for.” James K.A. Smith
The season of Lent (starting Wednesday 2/26/20) in the Liturgical Calendar aims to prepare our hearts for Good Friday and Easter. It can be a dedicated time of seeking the Lord through Word, prayer, and related rhythms such as fasting. This year, our church put together a six-week reading guide called Rebuilding & Resting.
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