JOIN SOUL30
Soul30 is a personal commitment to read the Bible every day for 30 days. It’s not a program, an event, or a group. There won’t be any meetings or phone calls. Signing up is just a way of you saying “Yes, I will agree to read the Bible every day for 30 days.” – That’s it. We will send you daily emails with short readings, questions that will help you think about what you’ve read, extra passages that will add depth to the daily reading (for those who have time), and helpful suggestions for getting more out of your reading and prayer times. If you like, you can unsubscribe from the email at any time.
If you’d like to learn more, keep reading below…
WHAT IS SOUL30?
Your soul is where you begin. If your soul is unhealthy, then you will not be fully alive, even if your body is in peak condition. Soul30 is a way to begin to put your spiritual health first, to get more deeply connected to God, the source of real life. Yes, “Soul30” is a blatant rip-off of the name of a popular diet plan, but that’s why we chose it – it’s easy to remember, and it reminds us that spiritual health should be a higher priority than physical health.
While gathering with others for worship is important, and it’s great to meet regularly with a group of other people for study and prayer, you also need a personal, one-on-one connection with God. This happens through personal prayer, and through reading God’s word. That’s what Soul30 is about.
For the next 30 days, commit to spending more time reading God’s word and praying every day. If you’ve never spent regular, personal time reading the Bible and praying, then just shoot for 3 minutes per day. If you’re already doing some, then commit to just a little more.
Remember, your relationship with God is absolutely vital! Don’t fall into the trap of putting other things like physical health or career path first. These things will not give you the deep, soul-level satisfaction, peace, life and joy that a daily connection with God God will. Of course, the real goal of this is that these next 30 days will just be the beginning of a new daily habit that will last the rest of your life!
SOME HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS
- Remember, commit to something that is doable. Don’t begin with an hour if you’ve been doing nothing!
- Find someone who will challenge you and hold you accountable. Even though this is a personal challenge you’re taking on, it’s better if you don’t do it alone.
- Commit to a regular time. Don’t decide to do this whenever you happen to find the time. Make the time. Set a daily alarm on your phone to remind you. If you have to get up ten minutes earlier, or spend a few minutes less watching Netflix or playing Clash of Clans, IT WILL BE WORTH IT.
- If you are in a community group, small group, or whatever term you use to refer to a small group of people who meet regularly for study and prayer, share what you’ve been hearing from God when you get together.
- Read the word in the presence of The Word. Jesus is called “The Word,” and so is the Bible. As you read the Bible, take a few seconds to ask Jesus to speak to you through the written word.
- The Bible isn’t a magic book. Reading the Bible won’t automatically bring you closer to God, and the Bible itself isn’t the end goal. The goal is that you would be filled more with God, so keep that in mind. As you read, ask yourself “How does this help me see God more clearly? How can I put this into practice and be more like Jesus?”
I WANT TO READ MORE ON MY OWN. WHERE DO I GET STARTED?
Some places are definitely easier to begin with than others. God can speak to us through any part of His word, but some books are more accessible and others are more challenging to understand. If you’re new to the Bible, try starting with one of the following books.
The Beginning
Genesis and Exodus tell us about the beginning of God’s relationship with us, starting with creation and moving to His interactions with the Israelite people, in which we can see His interactions with us today.
The Historical Books
These include Joshua through Esther, and they tell of the early history of God’s relationship with Israel. If you enjoy reading history and narratives, try starting here. These books will tell us much about human nature and God’s nature.
The Psalms
These are ancient songs that would have been used for worship. They express a wide range of ideas and emotions: Thankfulness and joy for what God has done, truths about following God, requests for God’s guidance, and even anguish and confusion for when God seems to be absent.
Proverbs
This is a book about the value of God’s wisdom. If you’ve never read this book before, you may be surprised at the practical, day to day, down to earth advice it gives.
The Gospels
This includes the first four books of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They each describe the (roughly) three years of Jesus’ life leading up to His death and resurrection. Matthew and Luke also spend some time telling us about His birth and childhood. These four books contain not only a narrative of Jesus’ ministry, but also contain His direct teachings.
The Letters
The fancy word we use for this is The Epistles, and this includes most of the “New Testament,” Romans through Jude. These are all letters written in the decades following Jesus’ life, and they were written to churches or to individual people. Some (like Romans) get deeply into theology – telling us how God works and what He is like – while others were written to correct some false ideas that we can have or to help us learn what it really means to be a follower of Jesus.
THE END GOAL
Remember this: God is working to put you back together, to make you more the you that He created you to be, to fill you with overflowing life. Soul30 is just a means to encourage you to allow God to work in your life more. Hopefully, you’ll get to the end of your 30 days and those 30 days will become 60, then 90, then a lifetime of daily connection with God.
GET SOCIAL
It’s always easier to take on challenges when you know others are taking it with you, and since this is the kind of thing we would love to spread, then encourage others to do it with social media.
Here are some ways to do that:
- Post a link to this page on Facebook and tell us that you’re taking the challenge. (You can do that by clicking here)
- Tell everyone on Twitter.
<style=”font-size:1.3em;”>Click here to tweet “I’m taking the Soul30 Challenge! #Soul30” - Regularly post something about what you read.
- Take pictures of the passages you read to post on Instagram.
- Don’t forget to use the hashtag #Soul30 when you post something. When people ask “Hey, what’s this #Soul30 thing I keep seeing?” you can say “Well let me tell you….”
- Don’t forget to connect with us on social media (links are at the bottom of the page). We’ll be sending out verses or thoughts to help keep you going.