You need to know that the Bible is not a “level” Book. When reading a novel or similar story, you read it from cover to cover, starting from the first page and going to the last. This is what called a level book. A young inexperienced Christian need to know this is not what to read in the Bible- at first anyway. If you begin with Genesis, you may find it easy. It is history. Exodus is another matter. Exodus and the work of Moses is another matter. You just might get bogged down in the sockets and tapestry of tabernacle construction and gave up. As get farther along in the Old Testament, you will find many things that do not exactly apply to you in your new Christian life. Many try this method for 6 months and give up.

The problem here is that the Old Testament was written largely to Israel and that age. If you are a young Christian in the 21st century, you are a New Testament Christian. It is much better to learn your way around the New Testament before undertaking the Old Testament. Both Testaments are equal in value and importants. However, the New Testament is where your direct heritage comes from.

The Old Testament is important to the Christian; but the new Christian should understand the 27 books of the New Testament, because they were written expressly to the Church (and the Christians in the church) for their understanding.

Everything you need to know about God is found in the Bible. Everything you need to know to grow spiritually strong is found in the Bible. The Bible is not an ordinary book. It is a library of 66 books. When you use a library at school, you must go to the section you need to find the book you want.

This article is a suggestion to help you understand what the sections are and what is contained therein. This may streamline the learning process for a young Christian. In this way you may concentrate on those books that have the answers to the greatest need.

Here is a list to follow

This is not a definitive list by any means. Contained in this list is an idea what is contained there and the relative important place they are hold. The literature abounds with Bible reading plans. Each has their important contributions to the life of a person undertaking bible study. This plan may be simpler, and will cover your reading for 3 years. Usually once a person gets started, he will find that he himself is speeding up the plan at their own request.

1st John

If you are a new Christian, read the book of 1st John though at one sitting at least 14 times.  If you are not a new Christian, do the same.  Reading this book will be good for you no matter who you are.  In this book, John talks about salvation. This is found in the Life of Christ. Salvation is something that Christians must experience and understand.  

This book is addressed to new Christians, much as yourself.  It warns against the dangers of false teaching, exhorts believers to lives of obedience to God and love for Christian brothers and sisters. The primary theme is fellowship with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.

There are two needs of every new Christian:

• Assurance of his salvation.
• Spiritual growth.

Growth in this area of your life is not possible until once and for all you settle in your mind that you are a child of God. Once this has been settled in your mind, your vision of yourself and your surrounding will be changed forever. This change in your understanding only comes through the Word of God. If we waited until we were good enough or "became worthy" to be assured of eternal life, none would have it. The only way to gain that assurance is through the Word of God. The little epistle of 1st John was written for that express purpose.

The author stated his purpose in chapter 5 verse 13-15 by saying:

The Reality, Not the Illusion

"My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening. And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours. (1 John 5:13, The Message)

Because of the expressed reason for writing this book, its content and the need of every believer, it is recommended that you read this little five-chapter epistle every day for two weeks, making the appropriate notations in your daily diary. Write down what you have learned on your reading for that day.  What did the Holy Spirit reveal to you?  What became clear to you on this reading? Try not to duplicate any that you have used.  The book is full of golden spiritual nuggets. This will be an easy task. If doubts of your salvation persist after fourteen days, continue in 1st John seven more days.  With no doubt, it is time to move to the Gospel of John

Read the Gospel of John three times.

The first need in your Christian life was to have assurance of salvation.  The second need in the new Christians life is the increase in faith, That is, the farther yielding of control of your life to Him. This is faith, the realization that you are not in the driver’s seat of your life.  Actually you never were.  It was either the powers of this world or God. The increase of your faith in general is vital to an effective Christian life.

The Gospel of John is famous and well known to Christians over the centuries of Christian history. This is because individual followers of Jesus Christ have turned to the Fourth Gospel for encouragement, edification, and reassurance in their faith.

The gospel narrative contains a series of "signs"--the gospel's word for the wondrous deeds of Jesus. The author is primarily interested in the significance of these deeds, and so interprets them for the reader by various reflections, narratives, and discourses

The author does not leave us in doubt as to why he wrote the book, for in chapter 20, verses 30 and 31 he stated, John 20:30-31 (The Message)

30-31Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.


It is believed that the apostle John wrote this gospel around 85 A.D.  This was after the other disciples were dead. It had the vantage point of history. In contrast, Matthew, Mark and Luke had been written some 20 to 25 years earlier.  They each gave a record of our Lord's life.  John had the advantage of seeing events from history.  He saw heard the teachings of heretics who began challenging the deity of Jesus Christ.  Always there have been those who claim that Jesus was a great prophet, teacher or example, but denying He was the Son of God.

This is particular aspect of the gospel of John, that he was the only remaining eye witness to the life of our Lord.  John deliberately set out to include those events and teachings that leave no doubt as to the true identity of Jesus Christ.  Read this book three times. This will give you background to judge how well he finished what he set out to do.

Read this book at five chapters a day. Use your spiritual diary to make a list of the seven miracles John recorded that show Christ’s nature. Many have found this

Book a vital aid to increase their faith. You speed of reading, if this is followed, you will have read thirty days you will have read 1st John fourteen times and the gospel three  times. If it is difficult for you read this fast, then extending the time to thirty five days Now you are ready to go on to other books.

Read the Gospel of Mark three times.

The Gospel of Mark compress­es the life of Christ into 16 chapters.

The Gospel of Mark literally means "the good news according to Mark". Mark is the second of the four Gospels this gospel narrates the life of Jesus from his baptism to the resurrection. It concentrates particularly on the last week of his life its swift narrative portrays Jesus as a heroic man of action, an exorcist, a healer and miracle worker.

The chapters are short and readable. It is not the ideal to be busy when you read the Bible, the book of Mark is an ideal book for busy people. Mark does not include a lot of details. It does cover the entire life of Christ. These events of His life cover a host of events in the life of the Saviour in a short time. Mark urges you to: "let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus," or "as ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him."

This can be done in one way and one way only: You can only know the mind or walk of Christ unless and until you know His life. That knowledge only comes from reading and rereading the gospels. Read five chapters a day you can read the gospel three in just eleven days.

Now we will look at the short epistles of Paul.

Here comes some real reading.  Nine books, all short, to be sure. These are actual letters written to individual or groups in the early Christian period concerning the problem they encountered. They are as follows: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians and 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon. Read the entire individual book in one setting.

Not to bog you down or worry you, but Ephesians and Timothy will take longer. One of your tools is the Scotfield reference Bible.  If you are using this recommended tool, read the introductory material at the beginning of the book before you start reading. What is important here is that you know the intent of the book you are reading.

It is now time to read the book of Acts.

I can remember the first time as an understanding adult, reading the book of Acts and finding out about the Holy Spirit.  It was exciting and spine tingling.  I stopped reading and rushed to the person in the room with me and excitedly told them about it. It is exciting to see how the Holy Spirit used the early Christians as they faithfully witnessed for Him throughout the then known world.

With that behind you, read the book of Romans.

This is a book full of doctrine. First you should just read the book. Later you should plan a slow detailed study of this book. This will give you a bird’s-eye view of the teaching material contained here. The book is unique. One reason for this is that Paul wrote to a church he had never visited personally. He was teaching them from afar. It contains many of the concepts which Paul taught because of His experience in the Christian life. This book is "deep" and you will find yourself reading and reading certain section over and over again, depending upon your needs. You may find yourself reading section of this book several times.  It will be difficult for you to read more than three chapters at one sitting.

Now it is time for you to read the entire New Testament twice.

Now, do not be overly concerned about how long these reading will take.  As said before, this plan will take time and effort.  What worthwhile effort doesn’t?  It may take you about 90 days to read the entire New Testa­ment.  This presupposes a rate of about 5 chapters a day.  Look at it this way, in 6 months time you will have read the entire New Testament In this plan you will have read the entire New Testament in one year twice. And additionally the most important parts to young Christians several times. You will find it to be the greatest thing you can do for your spiritual life and matur­ity.

Are you ready in mind and spirit (attitude)?

Now read the wisdom literature of the Old Testament.

Ok, now you have invest at least one year in the new adventure of reading the Bible and finding a new spiritual life. Since you are a consistent person, you have developed the habit of reading the Word of God at least 25 minutes a day. I think this number will be increased by you as you get excited by this process.  You have acquired an overall picture of the New Testament. So here comes the Old Testament.  Old in this context does not mean useless.  The key sections of the Old Testament are the place to start.

First introduce yourself to the Wisdom literature.

The wisdom literature contains what is considered “wisdom” instead of narration. It is a collection of principles of God.  These sections have been looked to as a rock of shelter in a turbulent world. The wisdom literature has been a stabilizing influence on the people of God for over 3000 years.

The main books are: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon.

Don’t try to read them in order.  This can be done, but here is a different suggestion.  I have a friend who reads one chapter in the book of Proverbs daily. It works in his spiritual life any everyone else who has tried it.  One of the more effective and important books just happens to Proverbs. It contains timeless principles to live by. Proverbs contains spiritual ideas how to regulate morals. It directs the reader to wisdom and virtue. The book also employs PARABLES.  Parables are great truths couched in certain figures and similitude.

In Proverbs, wisdom (or the wise person) is compared and contrasted with foolishness (or the fool). ‘Fool’.  The Fool is one who is lacking in morality and uninterested in correction. In Contrast, Wisdom is held up as something worth effort to attain. It all starts with God. "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom

29-34 God gave Solomon wisdom—the deepest of understanding and the largest of hearts. There was nothing beyond him, nothing he couldn't handle. Solomon's wisdom outclassed the vaunted wisdom of wise men of the East, outshone the famous wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, wiser than Heman, wiser than Calcol and Darda the sons of Mahol. He became famous among all the surrounding nations. He created 3,000 proverbs; his songs added up to 1,005. He knew all about plants, from the huge cedar that grows in Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows in the cracks of a wall. He understood everything about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Sent by kings from all over the earth who had heard of his reputation, people came from far and near to listen to the Wisdom of Solomon.

The book of Proverbs contains the basic principles God wants man to obey to be happy and productive. He even promises that keeping them will lengthen your life

(Proverbs 9:10, 11).

7-12

• If you reason with an arrogant cynic, you'll get slapped in the face;
• confront bad behaviour and get a kick in the shins.
• So don't waste your time on a scoffer;
• all you'll get for your pains is abuse.
• But if you correct those who care about life,
• that's different—they'll love you for it!
• Save your breath for the wise—they'll be wiser for it;
• tell good people what you know—they'll profit from it.
• Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-God,
• insight into life from knowing a Holy God.
• It's through me, Lady Wisdom, that your life deepens, and the years of your life ripen.
• Live wisely and wisdom will permeate your life;
• mock life and life will mock you.

Read the book of Proverbs daily in this fashion. It has 31 chapters. Starting on the first day of the month it is easy to develop a habit of reading the chapter that is the same with the calendar. Of course you have to double up on the 30 day months.

Because of the number of chapters (212) in the book of Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. ,it takes less than five months by reading one Prov­erb daily and two chapters for the other wisdom books. Employing this method you will read them through once and Prov­erbs four times. To use your time wisely because there will be spare time to venture in other books during this time. You will have time to read about 40 chapters because it actually takes 3 and one-half months. Check out the Psalms you enjoyed most as you read them and then go back and reread the 30 you liked best along with your Proverb each day.

Reread selected NT books repeatedly

After you have read the wisdom books in the fashion outlined above go back and tackle the New Testament books which are considered Key to spirit building.  Read these books every day for 60 days. If you are consistent in this you will be exposed to thorough knowledge building of the selected book.  The book will become a part of you. You will “own” the book.   After going though the list three times, feel free to make your own substitutions. There are 8 months left in your second year reading plan.

1st John.: For the making strong of faith and the assurance of salvation. Along with the assurance of salvation, you will find treasures as for­giveness, love of the brethren, testing spiritual teachers, guidance, prayer and much more.

Ephesians

To strengthen the Christians in the church of Ephesus.

Being a prisoner in Rome who was awaiting trial, Paul could not revisit the church in Ephesus, as he had revisited other churches he had established during his first and second missionary journeys. Paul had established the church in Ephesus on his third missionary journey about three to five years earlier. He wrote his letter to the Ephesians to do what he could not do personally. He wrote to strengthen and confirm the believers there in the grace of God and the gospel of Christ, as well as to encourage them in performing their works of service and holiness in response to God's saving grace.

Any Christian, no matter what his spiritual level of maturity, could profit from the reading of this great book every day for sixty days.

Philippians

Paul writes a thank-you note to the believers at Philippi for their help in his hour of need, and he uses the occasion to send along some instructions on Christian unity. His central thought is simple: Only in Christ are real unity and joy possible. With Christ as your model of humility and service, you can enjoy an oneness of purpose, attitude, goal and labour - a truth which Paul illustrates from his own life, and one the Philippians desperately need to hear.

This book is a call to joyous Christian living. This book challenges us to a con­sistent walk above the circumstances of life rather than defeat below them.

1st Thessalonians

In the church of Thessalonica there were some misunderstandings about the return of Christ. Paul desired to clear them up in his letter. He also writes it as an instruction of holy living.

Then the major problem of this church was that the second coming of Jesus Christ was greatly misunderstood. The apostle had evidently told them something, but they were confused about this, which produced others problems.

James.

The text in the Book of James comes down to us in a bullet format as if it were the distillation of a lifetime of thoughtful sermons. The subject matter is universal and timely for it is made up of some of the highest concerns of the earliest Christians. The book is loaded with good advice about how to live a good and Christian life.

A person who closely follows James's imperatives cannot go wrong. He tells us how a just man orders his daily existence.

Selected portions of Romans

Romans 5-9. The core of the teaching section of Romans is chapters 5-9.  By reading these 5 chapters every day for 60 days will give you a basic understanding of them and their rela­tionship to each other. This addresses justification by faith and dependence on the Holy Spirit for victory in the Christian life. Consider yourself lucky; when I was in college, I had one class that required me to commit the entire book to memory!

John 13-18. This section was the Lords training in items needed by his disciples to carry on the work. He compressed some vital teachings they needed to know into the last few hours these five chapters contain the core of im­portant teachings. For this reason, commit them to yourself.

If you follow this schedule carefully, you will have been reading your Bible daily for over two full years.

Now Read the Bible through in one year.

There are 1190 chapters in the Bible, 929 in the Old Testa­ment, 261 in the New Testament. If you read three chapters a day and five on Sunday, you can read the entire Bible in 362 days.

Not bad.  The time will fly and you will find yourself reading even faster.

THE THREE YEAR BIBLE READING SCHEDULE SUMMARIZED

First Year:

1st John fourteen times

John three times

Mark three times

Galatians through Philemon

Luke

Acts

Romans

The New Testament twice

Second Year:

A Proverb every day for four months

Two other wisdom literature chapters daily

Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

Read over again for two months the following:

1st John

Ephesians

Philippians

Colossians

First Thessalonians

James

Romans 5-8

John 14-17

Third year: Read ... two New Testament chapter daily

Four Old Testament chapters daily

Six Old Testament chapters each Sunday