How to read a Bible verse every day (and keep the habit)

Many people want to read the Bible every day and stop after a week. Not because they do not care, but because the plan was too big. A single verse is a better place to start: small enough for the busiest morning, deep enough to carry through the day.

It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22–23 · KJV

1. Tie it to something you already do

Habits stick when they ride on an existing routine. Read the verse while the kettle boils, before you look at messages, or when you sit down on the bus. The moment matters less than the fact that it is the same moment each day.

2. Read it twice, slowly

Read the verse once to understand it. Read it a second time and notice one word: “mercies”, “new”, “faithfulness”. That word is enough to think about later.

3. Turn it into one sentence of prayer

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Psalm 5:3 · KJV

You do not need a long prayer. “Lord, your mercies are new this morning; help me see them today” is a prayer.

4. Keep it in sight

What we see, we remember. Put the verse on your Lock Screen with a widget, so it is there each time you pick up your phone. By evening, you may find you know it by heart.

5. Count the days, gently

A small streak is encouraging: three days, then seven, then thirty. Graciel counts the days you open it, but a missed day is not a failure. Mercies are new every morning, and so is the habit.

6. Go a little deeper when you can

On calmer mornings, read the short devotion written for the verse, or the verses around it. Some days you will have one minute, others twenty. Both count.

A year of verses

Graciel has a verse for every day of the year, chosen to encourage, each with a short devotion. Start tomorrow morning, with a single verse.