What always comes with the New Year? Numerous resolutions and for many Christians, one of those resolutions will have something to do with the Bible. It might be to start reading the Bible more regularly, or to get more out of their reading time, or perhaps even to read the entire Bible over the next year.

I just wanted to take a moment and give you some resources that will help you accomplish your goal. Reading the Bible is an important aspect of the Christian faith that is too often neglected by those for whom it should take prominence. As a pastor, I see time after time where Christians don’t take the time to read their Bible and so they don’t even know something as simple as where the Ten Commandments are located. However, you ask them about the Chronicles of Narnia and they could draw a story board for you. That is not saying there is anything wrong with Narnia, but it is saying that Christians should be putting that much effort into reading their Bibles.

First, you can receive your daily reading in your email by visiting the ESV (English Standard Version) website. There you can choose from quite a number of different reading plans as well as different methods that you can read those plans such as: email, rss, mobile, print, etc.

Another help available to you is a website called YouVersion.com. This website is designed specifically to give people mobile access to the Bible from your iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, or web enabled smartphone. You can read 41 different translations in 22 different languages. With YouVersion, you’ll never be far from the Word.

For those of you who don’t think you can tough it out for an entire year in order to read the Bible from cover to cover, there is another reading plan I would like to offer you. It is the Bible in 90 Days reading plan. This is a very intense reading plan and requires a great deal of commitment in order to accomplish. The task itself is really not that difficult. You will spend about 45 minutes to an hour each day reading (less if you’re a fast reader) and at the end of three months you will have read the entire Bible. There is also a Bible designed specifically for this. It comes in the NIV thinline (New International Version) and has large print. With this Bible you read twelve pages a day, which are marked to help you keep track of where you are along your reading plan. If you are one who likes to study the Bible and make notes in your Bible, then I would encourage you to get this Bible. I am very much a person who writes notes in the margin of my Bible (that’s why I own a wide margin Bible), and this helps keep me from feeling the urge to write notes and stay on task to complete the reading.

For those of you who are not necessarily looking to read the Bible cover to cover but just to start getting more out of your time with the Bible, there are two resources to which I would like to point you. The first is a series of posts that are appearing on Fallen and Flawed about how to study the Bible, which are being guest authored by Jonathan Woodward who runs Sorting Beans. These will help you start to read the Bible and get more out of what you read. However, if you really want to dive deep into studying the Bible, then I would recommend you go and pick up a copy of Living by the Book. Howard Hendricks does an excellent job of explaining how to study the Bible in a way that is easy to understand. Short of going to Bible College or Seminary, this is the best resource out there to learn how to study the Bible.

So, for all of you who read this post and have those Bible reading resolutions, you have no excuse not to follow through and reach your goal. In fact, I would love to hear from those of you who have made a Bible reading resolution in the comments below; maybe even check back in through the year and let everyone know how you’ve been doing. Maybe this post will turn into a place everyone can hold themselves and each other accountable, who knows…