4 Bible Studies for July or August (or any month with 31 days)

Summer time is crazy. It could be tempting to put off Bible reading until some sort of "September Kickoff." Don't do it. Get in the Word and spend some time hanging out with your Heavenly Father! Today, I want to share four simple studies you can use to engage with God through His Word. Pick one and jump on in!

Study 1: A Walk Thru Proverbs

August has 31 days. Proverbs has 31 chapters. Read one a day (I like simple math.)

Proverbs is filled with wisdom, challenge, and encouragement. Each chapter will only take about 4-6 minutes to read. So…if you choose this one, here’s what I encourage you to do.

• Read the full chapter in the morning as your day begins.
• Identify 1-3 verses that encourage, inspire, or challenge you.
• Set a reminder on your phone to look at those verses three times throughout your day.
• Read those verses one more time (or even the whole chapter) right before going to bed.

Study 2: A Journey Thru Genesis

Genesis reads like a novel. Maybe for the month of August, you simply read Genesis rather than study it. Studying the Bible is massively important. So is reading it. Enjoying it. Soaking in the Big God Story. (It’s a really good story!)

Give this a try… 

1. Decide how much TIME you can commit each day. (Don’t pick a number of chapters or it will feel like a To-Do List.) Choose 15, 20, 30, 45, or 60 minutes.
2. Open up to Genesis 1 and start reading.
3. When your timer goes off, finish the chapter and put a bookmark in it.
4. Tomorrow…repeat steps 1-3. (When you finish Genesis go ahead and start over. If you can read it 2-3 times this month, it will really stick!)

BTW…This is Bible reading, not Bible study. Feel free to jot down any of the people, events, chapters, themes, etc. you want to study more deeply later. For this month…enjoy the read!

Study 3: Explore the Emotions of Psalms

The book of Psalms is filled with song lyrics and poetry. Joyful. Sorrowful. Praise. Lament. Worship. Frustration.

You name the emotion. You’ll find it in Psalms.

Psalms has 150 chapters. Most of the Psalms will take you 1-3 minutes to read. That means you can read five each day and still keep it under 15-20 minutes each day.

NOTE: Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. All by itself, it will take you 15-20 minutes to read. Since August has 31 days, I would suggest taking either Day 1 or Day 31 and devoting it to Psalm 119. Whenever you get to the day that would normally include Psalm 119, simply read four Psalms that day.

Study 4: The Solid Foundation Study

This one is good if you want ONE study to do for BOTH months. Last summer, for the months of July and August, I hosted an 8-Week, online Bible study I called the Solid Foundation Summer Bible Study. It was a blast! 

While I did it as part of the BibleLife Community™, it's an easy one to do on your own (or with some friends or small group). It's also an easy one to adjust to ONE month or TWO months. 

Here's the breakdown:

• Week 1 - Read Matthew at least 20 minutes per day. This will have you read the entire gospel this week. 
• Week 2 - Read Acts
• Week 3 - Read Mark (This one is short, so you could probably read it twice!)
• Week 4 - Read Acts again. 
• Week 5 - Read Luke
• Week 6 - Read Acts a third time.
• Week 7 - Read John
• Week 8 - Read Acts for a fourth time.

Four gospels. Four readings of Acts. You'll have a "solid foundation" on the life of Jesus and what happened in the few decades after.