Back in June I read a book by Emily Lex called “Freely & Lightly” (which, by the way, I highly recommend). In the book she mentions that she was doing a Bible Study called Project 89 where she would read a chapter of the Gospel each day and journal about what the chapter meant to her and what she took away from it. I thought it sounded like a great way to get closer to Jesus and to know Him, so I googled Project 89 to get more info on how to do it (click here to check out the instructions) and I got started. I wanted to share a recap/review of the Project 89 Bible Study for you because it was really impactful for me.
To get started, I grabbed a cute new notebook at Target 🙂 and I wrote the instructions into the beginning of my notebook so I could reference them but after the first couple of days I knew what to do.
So basically, each morning I would wake up a little early so I could have time to read and reflect and spending the time in the Word. I like that Project 89 is just one chapter each day…each chapter is roughly only a page or two long usually, so it’s not too much to digest. To assist me with breaking down context and what everything meant, I would first read that day’s chapter, and then I would read that chapter commentary on Enduring Word. Enduring Word is basically like having a personal Bible study teacher guiding you and for me it really helped me more fully understand the complete meaning of each passage. It gives historical and situational context that I think can sometimes be overlooked or misunderstood. It basically breaks it down for you verse by verse.
To find the right passage on Enduring Word I would literally just type “[Insert Chapter Name Here, for example Luke 1] Enduring Word” into Google and the first result would be what I would need!
I’d write down and journal about the entire passage and then at the end, per the instructions, I would give that page a title, and then I’d put that title into my Table of Contents.
This feels like showing you the inside of my diary (lol – I guess it kind of is) but here is an example of a daily entry.
I am proud to say I didn’t miss a single day of my 89 days of Project 89, and it set me into the routine I have continued since starting in July. Once I finished the Gospels I just kept going, reading Acts, Romans, and now into Corinthians. In addition to my daily reading, I also read this daily devotional, am currently reading Embraced and so I read one chapter of that devotional as well, and then I also use the free Bible app and do the Verse of the Day and whatever other plan I choose. They have hundreds of free Bible study plans in that app for whatever type of situation you may be going through…anxiety, loss, how to pray, etc. So many options. And that’s how I start my day! All together that usually takes me between 30 minutes to an hour, just depending on how long the passages are and how much I write 🙂
If you’re wanting to learn more about who Jesus is and really get to know Him, there is no better way than through the Gospels. They are Jesus’ word and life. I feel very blessed to have been in the middle of this practice when we experienced our miscarriage; because I truly don’t know how I would have been able to get through without knowing what true hope is through Jesus. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a Christian my entire life and I’d pray every night, but there’s something very transformative about allowing Jesus into your daily life and making Him a priority…and that just wasn’t something I used to do to this extent. The past few years I’ve done devotionals each day but they take maybe 2-5 minutes? I just felt like I had more to give and more I needed to give because I needed more of it. I wake up each morning excited to spend time with God in His Word and I just wanted to share this with you, because it’s been a really great way for me to know Jesus on a deeper level.
I highly recommend you giving Project 89 a try. It’s done amazing things for my heart and my mind…and I think that’s something we can all always use a little bit more of! Let me know if you give it a go, and if you have any questions leave them in the comments!
xo,
Bess
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