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Select one of the gospels. I recommend Mark to start with. It’s the shortest of the gospels, and it contains more of Jesus’ miracles than each of the others. Mark has what we might call, “the wow factor.”

Okay, let’s get started.

Mark has 678 verses (KJV). Divide those by the number of weekdays in the year. For 2018, that would be 678 divided by 261. The quotient is 2.5977. Round that up to 3, and that will be the number of verses to study each week day. Easy. Right?! Just three verses a day.

On Sunday, read the chapter that contains the verses you will be studying. Walk with Jesus. See what’s going on in his life. Don’t write anything in your journal. Just soak up the passage. Let it get you excited about your upcoming “3 verses a day” Bible study.

On Monday-Friday, take your three verses for the day through three simple steps.

• Step #1 — Spend ten minutes reading from two or three of your favorite commentaries. Search for background information you didn’t already know.
• Step #2 — Spend ten more minutes looking at the key words in your passage. Use a dictionary, Bible software or lexicon to understand their meaning better.
• Step #3 — Spend the last ten minutes of your study applying things from Jesus’ life to your life. In your journal, finish one or both of the following statements.
  • Walking with Jesus today, I learned…
  • Walking with Jesus today, I learned to be…

On Saturday, take the day off and revel in your deeper understanding of 15 verses in the Bible.

Repeat that process week after week—its not labor-intensive—and at year’s end, you will have a tighter grasp on almost 700 Bible verses and how they can help you live your life. That’s amazing.

Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.
(Psalms 111:2)