Parallel, Balanced, Daily Bible Reading Plan

Most daily Bible reading schedules have two problems.  First, the daily readings are not balanced, with many readings taking three or four times longer than others to complete.  Second, the daily readings offer little variety, with the New Testament being pushed to the very end of the year.  The 52-Week, Balanced, Parallel Daily Bible Reading Plan offered here solves both problems.

First, our daily Bible reading schedule is a balanced plan.  Most other plans are verse-based plans.  Under a verse-based plan, Psalm 119 is generally split into multiple readings because it has 176 verses.  But First Kings 8 has almost as many words as Psalm 119 even though it has fewer than 70 verses.  Thus, it makes no sense to split up Psalm 119 while combining First Kings 8 with surrounding chapters as many plans do.  A balanced plan needs to be word-based rather than verse-based.  For example, the average numbers of words per verse in Esther is over twice the average number of words per verse in Proverbs.  The 364 readings in our plan average 2170 words per day, with 80% of the readings being between 1500 and 2800 words. (These numbers and the balance in our plan are based on the King James Version of the Bible.) Second, our daily Bible reading schedule is a parallel plan.  Our plan covers the entire Bible in a year, but it does so via seven parallel streams.  During the first week, for example, the plan includes readings from Genesis, Deuteronomy, First Samuel, Job, Jeremiah, Matthew, and Acts.  Our parallel approach provides the variety that causes many other plans to go abandoned somewhere between Leviticus and Numbers.  In addition, our approach provides two readings from the New Testament during each week of the year.

If we maintain our physical health by the daily intake of physical food, then shouldn't we do the same for our spiritual health by the daily intake of spiritual food? As Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."  If you are not reading your Bible every day, please download our plan and get started. Although the plan takes a year to complete, it need not be started on the first day of the year.  Instead, it can be started on any Sunday.  The plan comes in three sizes: Click here for the Full Page version, click here for the Half Page version, and click here for the Quarter Page version.  If you want to create your own reading plans, you can download the same Excel spreadsheet that was used to create this plan. Please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions about the plan.

God's Plan of Salvation

You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

You must believe and have faith in God because “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)

You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer” to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel. (2 Thess. 1:8)

You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus “Lord of your life.” Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just “accept Jesus as your personal savior.” We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)

Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God’s grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God’s grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)