The Goodness of God - 2025 Plan
It can sometimes seem that bad news is the overwhelming reality of this world that we live in. There are distressing and challenging events that happen to us and to others around the world and it can be hard to know about all these things and feel helpless to do anything to set them right. It can lead to feeling hopeless and stressed and unable to enjoy life. However, the fact is that there are good things happening all around us too. What if we noticed them and gave thanks for them and tried to share them with the people around us?
The hope is that this year’s plan will help you to see the goodness of God that surrounds you through writing out some of the Psalms and other sections of Scripture that give us hope and help us to understand what God’s goodness really is. As well, there will be suggestions in the monthly post for you to use your five senses of sight, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching to connect to the created world and all it can teach you about the goodness of God.
You can download a PDF of the individual monthly verse lists below or if you would prefer to download them all at once, you can do that here: Senses 2025.
Proverbs - 2024 Plan
The book of Proverbs stands out compared to the rest of the books of the Old Testament. While most of the other books contain historical stories of triumph and failure, prophetic sermons to people who couldn’t seem to obey, and many theological truths, Proverbs is practical teaching on what it means to be wise. Of course, it assumes that we are ready and willing to trust in God because godly wisdom can only begin when we have reverence for the God who created us and a relationship with Him.
The word proverb comes from the Latin word “proverbium” which means a common saying and the English definition of a proverb is “a short statement, usually known by many people for a long time, that gives advice or expresses some common truth” (Cambridge Dictionary). In Hebrew, the word for proverb is also sometimes translated “parable”.
The book of Proverbs presents observations about how life works, helping us to gain perspective on reality. It can help us to take the time to think things through better, so that the differences not only between good and evil, but what might also be better or best become clearer. It can equip us for getting through all the challenges that life throws at us.
Download the whole verse plan here: Proverbs Verse Writing Plan.
This Writing Plan is also available as a non-dated workbook with extra activities on Amazon (Canada – USA – UK).
Love the Lord your God - 2023 Plan
First of all, why would you want to write out a verse or two every day? The habits we create in our own lives make us who we are – they indicated what is important to us. Probably we brush our teeth a couple times a day – a few minutes to make sure we have healthy teeth. Most likely we shower – a few minutes to feeling clean and refreshed. Maybe we go for a walk or run first – an hour or so to improve the health of our body. Perhaps we take time in the evening to get ready for the next day – half an hour to feeling organized and prepared. Not all habits are healthy of course, but that is why it is important to create habits that are. If you believe the Bible is a book that can equip you for any circumstance in life, then interacting with it daily is a bit like eating breakfast which is known to improve the overall quality of your day. Writing out a few verses is an easy task – a few minutes that gives you a little bit of God’s word to meditate on during the day.
Secondly, why would you want to stick with one theme for a whole year? Topical themes can easily address common and specific needs and all that the Bible has to say about them. It is an opportunity to connect people who can all be doing the same thing at the same time and therefore relate to each other and hopefully start conversations. It also means that it is really not that hard to just jump in whenever and participate and if you miss a few days, it is not a big deal. At the end of the year you will have something that records what God says for future reference or study.
This topic is where we all need to start if we claim to be believers. Loving our neighbour is at first glance an easier, more quantifiable task than loving God and yet loving God is the first commandment. We are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbours as ourselves, and yet maybe sometimes we can get this mixed up. We may sometimes unintentionally love God as if He was ourselves and we can decide what love is, and then love our neighbours with all our heart, mind, soul and strength because it gives us the satisfaction of having clearly accomplished something. Perhaps it is only me that has a problem with this, but trying to get the order right does end up leading us to loving our neighbour in the right way – not as the purpose of our lives but as the result of loving God. I think today that this is an important distinction. Both loving God and loving our neighbour are essential because neither are just about individual salvation and a perfect life now, they are meant to lead us to care for the salvation of the whole world and what is eternal.
Download the whole verse plan here: Love God Verse Writing Plan. Grab a notebook and write down a verse or two each day for a year.
I Will... - 2022 Plan
“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 6:10
How do we think this will ever happen unless what is on earth does the will of God? But in order to do this will, we first need to know what this will is. What is in our own minds is not necessarily the will of God. We can only know God’s will by becoming increasingly familiar with the Words He has provided for us which demonstrate and state His will for us.
Writing out a few words of Scripture every day, taking some time to think about them, and putting them into action in your life will change you. At the end of the year you will have absorbed some of the will of God and worked it out into your life.
Download the whole verse plan here: I Will Verse Writing Plan.
Spiritual Gardening - 2021 Plan
The gospels record about 30 parables told by the Lord Jesus. Instead of speaking plainly so that his meaning was obvious, he chose to tell stories that required some thought to understand. Kerry Walters in his book “Growing God” says: “Head knowledge operates in a steadily cumulative fashion. We climb succeeding tiers of evidence and arguments until we arrive at a conclusion. But insight, when it comes, is a swift penetration to the heart of the matter that bypasses normal routes of rational inference.” Teaching through the use of parables provoked “the perplexity that leads first to wonder and then insight.”
One of the parables Jesus told was the parable of the sower. In this parable, seeds are scattered on different patches of ground and the results are not all the same. As Jesus explains to his disciples, the seed is the word of God and the soil and its environment is the hearts of people. Have you ever thought of yourself as a garden? What kinds of plants are you growing? Are they growing well?
This Scripture Writing Plan is meant to help you meditate on the parable of a spiritual garden and hopefully provoke some insight that will help you to garden well. Each month has a series of verses on a topic related to spiritual gardening. Write each verse out and consider how it might relate to the topic for the month and your own spiritual garden.
Download the whole verse plan here: Spiritual Gardening Verse Writing Plan.
This Scripture Writing Plan is also available as an undated workbook with extra activities on Amazon: Canada – USA – UK.
Characteristics of Christ - 2020 Plan
Download the whole verse writing plan here: Characteristics of Christ Verse Writing Plan.
God is... 2019 Plan
We know that God is a Spirit and that He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and eternal, and these are characteristics that are beyond our capability to imitate. However, so many of the attributes of God can be true of people (although imperfectly in comparison). There are times when He works miracles, but so often He works by influencing willing people and changing their behavior by His Word.
Take some time each day to write a verse out by hand. If there is not enough space, just write down the main idea. Use the reflection day to consider what you may need to change or continue doing to be become a better imitator of our Heavenly Father. I have included a verse to reflect on that is more directed to ourselves.
God is… Scripture Writing Journal – a ready to print pdf of the monthly verses (with spaces to write the verses in, and a reflection section at the end of each week).
