If you’re feeling the pressure of holiday shopping, we’re here to help! Most of us have more belongings than we could possibly need or use. This Christmas, sponsor a monthly audio Bible in your loved one’s honor. With the MegaVoice Bible a Month Club, you can give the gift of a person in another country experiencing God’s Word in their heart language for the first time. 

Do you have big dreams as you look ahead to 2023? January 1st brings with it the opportunity to tackle new goals, shed bad habits, and find renewed motivation. However, you’re not alone if you instead feel a sense of discouragement at the thought of a new year. Maybe you haven’t grown as much as you wished in the previous year. Maybe a new year is a reminder that you’re getting older and struggling with the same difficulties you always have.

Whichever camp you find yourself in this December, one thing is certain: We all need Jesus! It is only through clinging to Him that we can experience true change and hope. At MegaVoice, we encourage you to focus on pursuing God in 2023. This quote from C.S. Lewis beautifully illustrates a powerful frame of mind and heart to nurture as we enter a new year:

“Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: Submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life.

Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.

Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

–C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

How do we “look for Christ” in 2023? One simple way is to commit to listening to the entire Bible this year. While for many of us, it may not be realistic to read the Bible in a year, listening is much more accessible. Reclaim your commute, listen while you wash dishes, or play Scriptures as you jog on a treadmill.

With about 20 minutes of daily listening, you can make it through the entire Old and New Testament this year!

What Happens if You Listen To the Bible Every Day?

Psalm 119 is David’s classic celebration of the Old Testament Law. It describes many blessings we can expect from increasing our love for God’s Word through daily study:

1. Protection from sin (verse 11)
2. Wisdom (verse 98)
3. Hope and joy (verses 111 and 114)
4. Purity (verse 9)
5. Comfort (verse 50)

Is It Realistic to Listen To the Bible in a Year?

With just 30 minutes of daily reading or listening, it’s possible to cover the whole Bible in just 160 days! Two-thirds of us spend that much time a day on email and TV. It’s definitely realistic to read or listen to the Bible in a year. However, it does require us to reorganize our daily priorities and routines!

How Do You Get the Most Out of Listening To the Bible in a Year?

While reading or listening to the Bible is a wonderful goal, simply plowing through chapters is not ideal. Comprehension, delight, and retention should motivate our daily study time. But for most of us, our emotions towards the Bible wax and wane. Some books are particularly dense or difficult to understand. How can we get the most out of our Bible goal?

These eight tips will help you tackle this big project with the support of your community and a sense of grace and purpose for when the going gets tough.

#1: Start a Listen to the Bible in a Year Book Club or team up with a listening buddy.

One of the best ways to get the most out of listening to the Bible in a year is to do it with others! Whether you want to start a larger book club or simply team up with one friend or family member, you’ll benefit hugely from the camaraderie, support, and encouragement. This can be a great way to develop a closer relationship with someone you’d like to get to know better.

#2: Use a solar-powered audio Bible for easy, on-the-go listening.

Solar-powered audio Bibles are a useful tool for listening to the Bible. Unlike your phone, you won’t get distracted by notifications or other apps. You’ll still be able to listen even if you’re not on Wi-Fi or if your phone needs charging, and your solar-powered audio Bible is light and durable enough that you can take it along on the treadmill, fishing outings, nature walks, and more. You can choose an audio Bible loaded with your favorite translation, or if you’re bilingual, get an audio Bible with two languages so you can switch back and forth throughout the year!

#3: Choose a thoughtfully-designed listening plan.

While many people simply work their way through the Bible chronologically, there are many different Bible reading plans designed to maximize your enjoyment and comprehension. The M’Cheyne Bible plan is one of the most popular. There are also plans that break the Bible books up by genre, or only assign readings for 5 days of the week (this is a great option if you struggle with missing a day here and there!). If you’re intimidated by the Old Testament, choosing an alternative to chronological is a smart move to help you get through the more difficult sections of the Bible.

#4: Read while you listen for maximum retention.

As you have the time, try to read while you listen for maximum retention. Maybe this is a habit that you’ll implement only on Sabbaths, when you have some additional time for Bible study. This is a favorite Bible study method of many spiritual giants, and it combines the best of both worlds: the slower pace and enhanced narration of listening, along with the comprehension and visual mapping provided by reading. If you’ve never tried it before, give a go! It might just be your new favorite way to ‘read’ the Bible.

#5: Listen at the same time every day to build the habit.

Building a new habit is hard. One of the best ways to cement a new habit is by repeating it at the same time every day. While this isn’t possible for everyone’s schedules, do your best to carve out a regular time to engage with God’s Word. Whether it’s first thing in the morning or right before bed, during your drive to work or while you’re cooking dinner, by correlating your Bible listening habit with another cue (like brushing your teeth or starting your car), you can help reduce the difficulty of sticking with your goal.

#6: Have a plan in case you fall behind.

Setbacks are inevitable. Instead of succumbing to discouragement if you miss a day, it’s important to have a plan that you can implement to help you get back on schedule. Here are a few ideas that might work for you:

• Use Sundays to ‘catch up’ on any missed days
• Avoid distracting activities, such as TV or social media, until you’re caught up
• Make a time goal (for example, ‘I’m going to listen to the Bible for 45 minutes today’) if you feel discouraged by falling behind
• Extend your timeline – if you’re really struggling, maybe reading the Bible in a longer period of time, such as two years, is a more realistic goal for your season of life

#7: Focus on the big picture with videos, visual aids, and commentaries.

Listening to the Bible in a year means that you probably won’t have time to study individual books and chapters deeply. That’s okay! It’s equally important to develop a big picture of the biblical narrative. Videos, visual aids, and commentaries can help immensely. The Bible Project offers dozens of wonderful resources. Many people have been blessed by J. Vernon McGee’s Thru the Bible series as well.

#8: Get inspired for deeper study.

While you probably won’t have time for deep dives this year, listening to the entire Bible presents an awesome opportunity to explore further topics of study. As you listen, make notes of topics, genres, or characters that pique your interest. These notes can guide your study in the coming years as you explore particular parts of the Bible in greater depth.

At MegaVoice, we equip our Partners to fulfill the Great Commission so all people may engage with the Word of God in their own language.

There are many ways you can Partner with us in this mission!

1. Sponsor an audio Bible each month for a person in need of hope.
2. Purchase audio Bibles for your own use and distribution.
3. Donate to a fundraising project through our nonprofit, MegaVoice International.
4. Pray for our global team as they work to serve God.
5. Subscribe to our newsletters to receive regular updates on our work.