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Holy Week Bible Plans, Bible App for Kids Stories, and Shareable Art

With Easter only a week away, now is a great time for a short Plan that can help you align your heart and mind toward Christ with the Bible. The Bible App has several great Easter Plans, each designed to help you make the most of your time in God’s Word this week:

My Utmost for His Highest: Holy Week is a special edition of Oswald Chambers’ timeless classic devotionals, offering selections that encourage you toward a deeper, more passionate walk with God. From Discovery House. 7 days

Our Daily Bread: The Hope for Easter is a quick series of daily devotionals specially selected to help you discover peace, comfort, and encouragement through the great love that God has for you. From Our Daily Bread. 7 days

The Story of Easter presents the biblical account of Jesus’ last week of ministry on earth, as He fulfilled ancient prophecies, spent powerful time in prayer, and ultimately changed our world forever. From LifeChurch.tv. 7 days

Here are several other great plans you might also want to try this week:

The Children’s Guide to Easter from 4Soils. 7 days

Matt Maher – The Overflow Devo from The Overflow. 7 days

Love to the Uttermost: Holy Week with John Piper from Desiring God. 9 days

Seven Mile Miracle Easter Devotion from Seven Mile Miracle. 7 days

For the Joy Set Before Him from Carol McLeod and Just Joy Ministries. 8 days

The Artist Bible: Easter from The Artist Bible. 8 days

Red-Letter Day from LifeChurch.tv 12 days

Bible App for Kids EasterKids’ Easter Stories: “It Is Finished” and “A Happy Sunday”

Of course, this week is also a great time to discuss with your kids what Easter is all about. The Bible App for Kids makes it easy, with two new stories that explain Easter in a way they’ll understand. “It Is Finished” tells the story of the very real sacrifice of God’s Son, while “A Happy Sunday” introduces them to the power of His resurrection. Already downloaded nearly 3 million times, you can get The Bible App for Kids for iOS and Android, as well as Kindle Fire, and it’s always completely free.

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Inspire Your Friends with Easter Art

For the first time ever, YouVersion has commissioned custom artwork to match the Bible App’s Verse of the Day for each of the seven days leading up to Easter. Available now on the blog, each one is free for you to download and share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or anywhere you want.

 

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Plans to Help Prepare You for Easter

cross of christ built into a brick wallToday is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Christian tradition of Lent. During these 40 days leading up to Easter (April 20), followers of Christ prepare their hearts by turning their minds away from the physical to the spiritual. YouVersion offers several Bible plans that can help you reflect on God’s Word every day between now and Easter:

  • Lent For Everyoneis a devotional featuring a daily reading from Matthew and inspirational words for reflection from renowned New Testament scholar N.T. Wright. 53 days
  • 40 Days of Lent chronologically traces Jesus’ last week on earth, through the New Testament gospel accounts. The seven Sundays are days of rest, according to tradition. 47 days
  • ReThink Life: 40 Day Devotional presents Scripture, key thoughts, and prayer to challenge you to “rethink” seven important areas in your life. 40 days
  • Hillsong: 40 Days of Revival reveals attributes from history’s greatest revivals — presence, prayer, purity, power, personal sacrifice, and praise — to help you know God and His ways.40 days

Whether you prefer reading the Bible or hearing it read to you, you can find many more plans at www.bible.com/reading-plans.

The most important things in our lives are worth sharing. Tell your friends which Bible plan you’re committing to—and ask them to join you! Then keep sharing what you’re reading and learning, all the way up to Easter Sunday. Online, the worldwide YouVersion community will be using the hashtag #PreparingForEaster.

 


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Prepare for Easter: Share in God’s Word with Friends

Preparing for EasterPeople around the world will celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Sunday, April 20. Traditionally, many individuals use Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter, as a time to reflect and repent. During this time, we choose to actively prepare our hearts to receive the gift Jesus gave us through the Cross.

Consider making the Bible an intentional part of your day—every day—between now and Easter Sunday. The most important things in our lives are worth sharing with friends and family, so ask some of your favorite people to join you in seeking God through His Word. Make time each day to check in with each other. Talk about what you’re reading and encourage each other, spurring one another on toward Christ.

Each of these Bible plans were developed specifically to help get us all into the spirit of Lent. Pick one that works for you:

Lent For Everyone is a devotional featuring a daily reading from Matthew and inspirational words for reflection from renowned New Testament scholar N.T. Wright. From SPCK Publishing. 53 days

40 Days of Lent chronologically traces Jesus’ last week on earth, through the New Testament gospel accounts. The seven Sundays are days of rest, according to tradition. From Journey Church. 47 days

Devotions for Lent from Holy Bible: Mosaic brings together quotes, readings, and Scripture to focus your mind on Christ. From Tyndale House Publishers. 46 days

ReThink Life: 40 Day Devotional presents Scripture, key thoughts, and prayer to challenge you to “rethink” seven important areas in your life. From ReThink. 40 days

Hillsong: 40 Days of Revival reveals attributes from history’s greatest revivals — presence, prayer, purity, power, personal sacrifice, and praise — to help you know God and His ways. From Hillsong. 40 days

The 40-Day New Testament Challenge leads you through the entire New Testament in just 40 days, taking off Sundays as traditional days of rest. From Margaret Feinberg. 40 days

Whether you prefer listening or reading, of course you’ll find plenty more Bible plans to choose from at https://www.bible.com/reading-plans.

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Plans Explore Love from God’s Perspective

Around this time of year, one topic seems to dominate thoughts and conversation throughout our culture: Love. As you might expect, the Bible actually offers a lot of insight on this subject. Here are just a few Plans that can help you understand God’s love, both for you and for those around you:

  • The Gift of God’s Love Learn how our modern perspective of romantic, worldly love is different from God’s sincere, enduring, perfect love. 13 days
  • Falling In Love Again With Your Lord In this exploration of Psalm 63, dive deep into what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength… and to be loved by Him. 10 days
  • Marriage: A Lifelong Journey Building a lasting relationship is hard work, but that effort reveals treasures all throughout your life together. 7 days
  • Love and Marriage Intended for married couples (or those who want to marry), each day features Scripture and quick thoughts designed to initiate discussion and prayer. 5 days

Plans in Action

Engaging daily with the Bible can change your life:

“Thank you for such a wonderful app! Reading ‘21 days of Powerful Breakthroughs’ and ‘Made to Crave,’ I’m overwhelmed with what I’ve gained from both!” —Karen H.

During just the first 36 days of 2014, the YouVersion community completed more than 1 million Plans! Come see for yourself what the excitement is all about. You can find Plans about love and relationships — and so much more — right now at www.bible.com/reading-plans?category=topical.

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The 21-Day Challenge: A Fresh Start

21 Day Challenge 512You’ve shared with us time and time again that reading the Bible is important to you. It’s something you want to do daily, a goal you set for yourself each year. We also know this is that time of year when life happens…you wake up late and miss your morning reading, someone in your house gets sick, or you lose momentum in Leviticus.

YouVersion loves to help you follow through on your good intentions—read the Bible. So for the third year, we’re kicking off the 21-Day Challenge to encourage you to keep up (or get back on track) with your daily Bible habit!

It only takes three weeks of consistent behavior—just 21 days—to establish (or reestablish) a habit. To help cheer you on, from January 21 through February 10, if you complete the day’s selections from at least one Bible Plan each day, you’ll get a special 21-Day Challenge badge on your YouVersion profile. Also…

You’ll also be entered to win one of

5 iPad minis, 5 Nexus 7 tablets, or 21 YouVersion prize packs!*

Here’s how it works:

  • If you don’t already have a free YouVersion account, sign up for one.

  • Complete each scheduled day of any YouVersion Bible Plan or combination of Bible Plans, starting January 21 through February 10.

  • If you are subscribed to more than one Bible Plan, you only need to complete 21 consecutive days for one of them. (But feel free to read as much as you’d like).

  • Listening to audio versions counts, as long as you mark off the reading for the day.

  • Whether you read, listen, or sign up to receive your Plan by email, be sure that every passage for each day’s reading is checked off as completed.

  • Don’t miss or skip any days!

  • 10 winners will be selected through a random drawing from the pool of eligible participants. Available prizes are 5 Apple iPad minis and 5 Google Nexus 7 tablets.

*ATTENTION: INTERNATIONAL USERSUnfortunately, since YouVersion cannot ship iPad minis and Nexus 7 tablets outside of the U.S., we will select 21 additional International winners. (All of the other rules will still apply.) Each International winner will receive a prize pack that includes a YouVersion T-shirt, a YouVersion sticker pack, and other fun YouVersion memorabilia. 

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