Looking Forward, Part 1

Maybe it's getting a little late for gearing up for the new year, but I thought it might be good to kick out a post with a couple of my plans if only for accountability to myself.

1. Growth in Bible Study - I've spent the past couple months struggling with the discipline to meet with God by reading his Word and praying. By God's grace, I've been convicted again of the importance of this practice and God has helped me to begin to reestablish this practice in my life. As the routine returns, I also want to deepen this time during the year by growing in prayer and in application of what I am reading.

I'm using the plan in D.A. Carson's book "For the Love of God Vol. 2" and reading in the ESV Study Bible. If I stick to the plan, I should get through the entire Bible at least once and some portions twice.

2. Back to Books - Similarly, I haven't spent as much time reading books other than the Bible either. It is a lot harder to find time to sit down and read than in the past. I read a great post by a well-read blogger who explained how little time one has to spend reading each day to read a large number of books in a year. So I've started to find small bits of time every day to find a bit and it still surprises me how fast you can get through a book reading just a chapter a day.

I've got several book goals for this year. I intend to finish a couple big books that I've been meaning to read for awhile and finally finish a few books I've started multiple times. Four books I intend to read this year are "The Christian in Complete Armor" by William Gurnall, "Institutes of the Christian Religion" by John Calvin, "Desiring God" by John Piper and "How to Read a Book" by Mortimer Adler. I'd obviously like to read some other things as well, but I hope to get all these books in for sure.