Tag: 30 Day Bible

Scripture for Heart, Mind, & Soul

On By Mona SabahIn Uncategorized

So many people talk to me about NOT reading their Bibles.

I get many excuses… don’t get me wrong, many are valid reasons. However, there is a saying out there “You would if you wanted to.” That simple saying indicates priorities in our life.

Is the Word of God a priority for you?

Honestly, it has not been a priority for me in the past. I had a full time job, I taught school in the evenings and I had children. Being a wife, a mother, an employee and a professor did not leave much time in the day. I was lucky to read 1 verse and even that did not happen most days!

Then I was introduced to Bible Study and was told that I really needed to be “in the Word.” Bible Study allowed me to be more dedicated because it was built into my schedule. The problem here was that in the Summertime, there was no Bible Study — so again, I filled up my time with other things.

It was not until I found out how to do Scripture or Bible Journaling that I was able to read, think about (meditate), and draw Scripture. I have videos on my YouTube Channel how to Bible Journal – this one is through Psalm 1 — just a beautiful Psalm. This really helped me to set aside my own time to meditate on what the pictures in my head looked like about the different verses and then to draw them. As an unexpected bonus, I found that I had memorized several of those Scriptures!

My time in the Word of God was further helped by my friend who introduced me to reading the Bible in 30 days. This was another way for me to recharge what I did and how I developed a habit (most habits take at least 30 days to form) of reading the Bible for myself. If you are interested in this, here’s my post on how to get started.

Today, I am working with my mentor to memorize 1 Corinthians 15 (see pic above). I am using my fountain pens to write out the verses, to doodle and to make a concerted effort to read the chapter over and over again until the whole this is committed to my heart, mind and soul. These are the things that are eternal work — they ought to be given priority in our day. Again, I am not perfect – I was barely able to read 10 verses yesterday, as I was running from the morning until the evening.

Give God the tithe of your time and give Him your all. He gave us His Son who died for us. Isn’t a few minutes of our time worth it?

Think about it… what’s keeping you?

30 Day Bible Reading Challenge – You Can Do This!

On By Mona SabahIn Uncategorized
Bible in 30 Days!!!

It’s Summer Time again! This means that my daughter and I embarked on reading the entire Bible in 30 days. Yes… that’s right! From Genesis to Revelation and every page in between! I never thought this was possible, but here we are doing it AGAIN!

Why do we think that it’s impossible to read the whole Bible like this? I think it’s because we have the one year Bible plans and most people don’t really bother reading the Bible cover to cover. I started thinking about this when I was challenged a few years ago by a Pastor who used to read “The Lord of the Rings” every year (which is a bigger book than the Bible). He said that if he could read that, why was he not reading his Bible?

I kind of put that comment and challenge away in the back of my mind and trudged along with everyone else in trying to read the Bible each year — giving way around February when other things took up my priorities and time.

This is why the challenge of reading in 30 days appealed to me when it was presented by a friend last year. She said that it would give me a fantastic overview of the entire Bible quickly and that Genesis would still be fresh in my head as I read the New Testament just a few weeks later.

So here’s the breakdown (I have my posts from last year as well on how to do this – so you can check it out here: https://monasabahbooks.com/2021/06/02/week-1-update-bible-in-30-days/

The main thing to remember is that “YOU CAN DO ANYTHING FOR 30 DAYS!!!” Also, you need to set aside about 2-1/2 hours each day. Sounds like a lot — especially when you were working both a full time job AND a part time job like I was last year! But, you can do this! I did an hour or so at lunchtime and then read the rest at night since I’m a night owl.

Here is a video I did of my process on YOUTUBE. Check it out and leave me a comment on what you think! I hope you will try it! https://youtu.be/LiJtVAbbjZU

Be sure to PRAY first and pray every time you open your Bible. God will help you through this and you will be blessed!!!

The Bible in 30 Days – Last Full Week

On By Mona SabahIn Bible, Uncategorized

Not really sure how all this was going to turn out! I started off great — even ahead of schedule. Last week was even more of a challenge for me to focus. I will tell you, it’s great to have someone you can have for accountability. My daughter and I have been helping to remind one another to read daily. What a discipline!

I am still about 4 days behind the reading schedule. HOWEVER, I built in a little safety. In the chronological schedule, if you read 12 days at a time, you will actually finish at 28 days, so I am “technically” 2 days behind. I kicked it into gear yesterday by reading 3 books in 1 day. That was a feat in itself because I am still taking copious notes and have asterisks and question marks by the things I would like to explore later.

I tried something new last week: I put in my earbuds and put on a narration of a book while I pulled weeds outside. It’s mindless work, but it became mindful work as I listened to the book of Acts (which I’ve read multiple times before). It was quite wonderful and I lost track of time — so I was pulling weeds for about an hour and a half! Our front bed still looks like yuck, but at least I made a dent in it.

So… still plugging along in the New Testament. From all the Old Testament reading, it was a relief to FINALLY read about my beloved Savior Jesus.

To God be the Glory!

To Date: All of the OT, plus 1/2 of Mark & Luke. John, Matthew & Acts are done! Hopefully I can read the rest by this weekend. That’s my story & I’m sticking to it! 🙂

The Bible in 30 Days – Week 3

On By Mona SabahIn Uncategorized

A much shorter post for last week. Of course, I was doing fairly well – falling behind a day or two and then catching up on the weekends (mainly on Saturday). Then we moved into the 3rd week of the reading and we had a conference to go to in Texas for 2 days. Of course, it was on a Friday and Saturday (my big day of catching up!). We came back exhausted and the kids wanted to talk that evening.

There are some things that have to wait – no matter what is going on around you. So, I ended up falling even more behind! I was still on Wednesday’s reading list by the time Sunday came. Sundays are all about doing things with our church family, so it was a big blessing.

This week, I am spending time catching up. I changed the order of reading (again!) to go through the minor prophets (called “minor” not because of their message, but because of the size of the books that are called by their names). I set aside the longer books of Ezekiel and Daniel for this week (Week 4). It’s been going fairly well and consistent. I am feeling a bit less passionate because of falling so far behind. HOWEVER, I am reminded by my bookmark that I am able to read the beautiful word of the Lord and actually understand all the different exiles that were taking place! So amazing to be able to finally “get it!” I believe 100% that it’s due to reading altogether and not forgetting what happened just last week in the Biblical sequence of events.

SO… onward we go!

Week 3 Books: Song of Solomon, 2 Chronicles, 1 Kings, 2 Kings (I really slowed down in my reading through 1 & 2 Kings to get a better understanding of the Kings and the exiles), Ecclesiastes, & Obadiah

Today’s reading: Ezekiel & Daniel (I hope I can get through both and then I will go to the NEW TESTAMENT! YES!!!)

Week 1 UPDATE – Bible in 30 Days!

On By Mona SabahIn Uncategorized

Well… it’s been a week! I thought it was going to be very difficult and honestly, that’s why I needed to get some of my brothers and sisters holding me accountable for reading the entire Bible in 30 days. It was a daunting task.

I decided to ask the Lord for help — it’s amazing what happens when you pray FIRST, isn’t it? I asked God to help me make time and to actually make this a priority. Given that I work full time and also do ministry and crafts and make YouTube videos for fun… I wasn’t sure how much of extra stuff I would be able to get into my day. I had visions of me toiling over books and chapters in the Bible going past midnight.

This was NOT the case!

I was able to find pockets of time in my day – I ate lunch and then sat down to read for about 20 minutes. I found a small spot after dinnertime to read with my daughter (how wonderful to be able to read the Bible together since she’s doing this as well). There was, of course time in the evening but maybe an hour and a half. That might sound daunting, but when you start reading and have a love for the word of God, something happens – you lose track of time and end up getting ahead some days.

I read ahead knowing that some of my days are busier than others and then I evened out on Sunday because that seems to be when we are most occupied. All I know is that in 1 week, we both have been able to read Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, & Judges!!!! AMAZING!!! I thank the Lord for allowing me to stay on task, on focus and for giving me the time to do this.

How did your week go?

Was it easy? Was it terrible to find time? Are you ahead, behind on the reading schedule? Are you on your own timeline and schedule? I would love to know more!

The Bible In 30 Days CHALLENGE!

On By Mona SabahIn Uncategorized

Want to try the 30 Day Bible Challenge???

About 2 weeks ago, I met with two women who are full of wisdom and understanding. They both know their Bible inside and out. There are reasons why I want to hang out with people like this:

  1. They LOVE the Lord
  2. They want to know more about Him as revealed in Scripture
  3. They show that they are followers of Christ not only because of what they say, but the way they conduct their lives – they place Christ first.

When I mentioned off-hand that I would like to be a bit more disciplined in my Bible reading, one of the women said that her husband was challenged years ago with reading the Bible Chronologically in 30 days and then, her husband challenged her! After my jaw came up off the ground, I asked her why would you want to run through the Bible in that way?

Here are her reasons:

  1. In a 1 year plan, you can’t remember what you read in January/February by the time you get to the summertime. For me, I can’t remember in just a few weeks!
  2. In typical reading plans, you get bogged down in the book of Leviticus or Numbers — in a 30 day plan, you don’t have time to get bogged down.
  3. 30 days gives you a great overview when you are reading in Chronological order. Your mind starts to put the pieces together of what happened when.

Honestly, all those reasons made total sense to me. She then added “you can do anything for 30 days!” and that was the clincher. I struggle through the 1 year plans – they usually take me 2 years to complete. I not only lose steam but I lose concentration. I thought “why not?”

Next, I asked HOW…

Surprisingly, she suggested that if you read about 2 hours per day, you can keep up fairly well. Her method was to read for 1/2 hour in the morning, 1/2 hour at lunchtime and then 1 hour in the evening. That doesn’t work for everyone and I have busy days (due to working full time) and some busy weekends. So, you can use the 2 hours as a rule of thumb and maybe read a bit more on one day or less on another, depending on your schedule.

So, I decided to do this BUT I need accountability. It’s so much easier to do something like this if you know others are doing it with you and that’s where YOU come in! 🙂 If you are interested, reach out to me on FB @monasabahbooks. I will share which chronological plan I am using and we can keep one another ENCOURAGED!!!!

Every week, I plan to ask:

  • What were some milestones you reached that told you things were going well?
  • What roadblocks or setbacks did you face? 
  • What did you learn after you reached these milestones, roadblocks, or setbacks?
  • What would you do differently if you could start all over?
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. ~ Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV