The Daily Message by Eugene H. Peterson is an easy-to-use "read through the Bible in a year". It is the entire Message Bible arranged in 312 daily readings. Each day has about 3-4 chapters of a book of the Bible followed by an encouraging reading from Psalms, Proverbs, or Isaiah. It also has the added bonus of including a couple of personal questions to help apply the reading to your life.
I like this "Through the Bible in a year" format simply because it is far too easy to get behind. You lose a day, you try to catch up, but you can't. In those formats I feel as though there is no point. If I can't do it right, why do it at all? The Daily Message has only 6 readings a week, giving you a day to either rest and reflect or catch up on what you have missed.
The Message is not necessarily a study Bible. It is the Bible in easy-to-understand language. However, it is a great read first thing in the morning. It makes you think, it makes the Bible more real, alive and easy to understand and apply to your day. Because of this, I am a fan. I still prefer to do my daily devotions in my NIV study Bible, but use this for a reader book when I am feeling motivated. It is great to compare notes with and relatively inexpensive.
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