Archives For Bible reading

I became a Christian sometime during the first week of January in 1990. It’s hard to believe that was 25 years ago now!

God has remained faithful to me all these years in spite of my continually failing Him. On this my 25th spiritual birthday, I would like to thank and praise the Father of lights, who is the giver of every good and perfect gift, for giving me new life in Christ Jesus (James 1:17-18)!

I am very thankful for having had the privilege of reading the entire Bible at least once every year of my Christian life so far. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for putting me in a country where I was able to have the freedom to do so (1 Tim. 2:2b)!

In my first twenty-four years as a believer, I read the Bible through in English each year. Over the years, I also made it through the Bible twice in biblical Greek.

This past year was special because I was able for the first time to read the whole Bible in another modern language—Spanish! Having had only one semester of Spanish in Junior High and studying Spanish on my own for just the past three years, making it through the Bible in Spanish in 2014 was especially encouraging and is a testimony to the power of God to grant special ability to those whom He directs to serve Him in His inscrutable ways.

Lord willing, I hope to make it through the Bible again in English in 2015. I’m also thinking about reading through the Apocrypha in English and Greek this year. I plan also to read as much of the Bible in Spanish as I can this year.

If you are a Christian, I would like to encourage you strongly to do whatever you need to and can do legitimately to read the whole Bible in 2015. May God give us all the grace, desire, diligence, discipline, faithfulness, and perseverance to do so for His eternal glory and our highest good!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Having a proper hope in God is essential in life. An examination of Romans 15:1-4 points to a dangerously flawed teaching and practice that is robbing many believers of the hope that God wants them to have.

The apostle Paul begins Romans 15 by challenging those who are strong believers about the necessity of their bearing the infirmities of weak believers and not pleasing themselves (Rom. 15:1). He then directs every strong Christian to “please his neighbor for his good to edification” (Rom. 15:2).

He explains these directives to strong believers by pointing them to how even the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, did not please Himself (Rom. 15:3a). Rather, in keeping with what was written long ago, He accepted the reproaches of those who reproached God, His Father (Rom. 15:3b).

Paul explains further that everything that was written beforehand was “written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). Although this teaching applies to all believers, in context and in the flow of thought of Romans 15:1-4, these verses are direct apostolic instruction to strong believers that makes clear that they as strong believers need to learn from all that was written beforehand so that they would have the hope that God wants them to have!

It is a deadly trap for any strong, mature believer to think that he pretty much knows what the Bible teaches and no longer needs to immerse himself in all of it. By using the pronoun “our” in Romans 15:4, the apostle Paul, who was as strong a believer as there has ever been, instructs us that he believed that he needed to have hope through his receiving the patience and comfort that all the Scripture that was written beforehand provides!

Saying this, Paul made clear that he viewed his partaking of the entire OT as an essential aspect of his Christian living. Any Christian teaching or practice that in any way minimizes the importance of a believer’s reading and profiting from the entire OT is dangerously flawed Christian teaching and practice that will rob him of the hope that God wants him to have!

Especially if you are a strong believer, God wants you to heed what He has inspired for your profit in Romans 15:1-4. You need to feed on the entire Old Testament on a regular basis all of your life so that you will have the hope that God wants you to have!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

About three years, God began directing me in a path that I had never expected that He would. A pastor of a local Spanish church called me and asked if I would come and teach guitar at his church.

Although I had been praying for some time for an opportunity to teach guitar classes again, I had never thought about doing so in a Spanish church. The only Spanish that I had had was one semester in Junior High, so I was quite surprised to get such an opportunity.

As I began teaching the class, I soon became convinced that I really needed to learn Spanish so that I could communicate better with my students and teach them better. I began trying to learn Spanish, especially terms related to guitar and music theory.

Although trying to learn the language proved very challenging, God gave me many encouragements along the way. In spite of my having found it hard on several occasions to understand from a larger perspective why God would lead me in this direction that had never occurred to me, I did come to realize early on that learning Spanish and ministering in Spanish makes great sense for me because of how popular the guitar is in Spanish contexts.

Starting to Read the Bible in Spanish

As I continued to teach guitar classes in Spanish and have some opportunities to minister musically in a few churches, I became more convinced that God was directing me to learn Spanish for the sake of ministering in Spanish. I praise God that He blessed me with wonderful fellowship with many dear brethren throughout this time!

I began trying to read the Bible in Spanish and found it to be very difficult. At times, it would often take me many minutes to read and understand even one verse. Still, I managed in 2012 to read the book of Psalms in Spanish.

In 2013, I continued to try to learn Spanish on my own. I finished the Gospel of Matthew early in 2013 and made it through James, Galatians, and First, Second, and Third John by the end of the year.

Reading Through the Bible in Spanish in 2014

I began 2014 with an intense desire to read the entire Bible in Spanish this year. Reading in the Old Testament, especially in the Pentateuch, was incredibly hard, and I wondered if I would make it through.

God remained faithful to me even though there were times that I would find myself wondering again what am I doing trying to learn Spanish and minister in that language. In spite of many difficulties, God has allowed me to make much progress during the year so that my reading speed has continued to increase substantially.

Praise God, last Sunday, on November 23, 2014, I was able by the grace of God to finish reading through the Reina Valera in 2014! Wherever God leads us, as He has done with me in leading me down the completely unexpected path of learning Spanish for ministry, He is faithful to give us the grace to follow!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

¡Alabado sea Dios!

November 23, 2014

Comencé este año con la meta de leer toda la Biblia en español este año. Por la gracia de Dios, esta mañana he terminado de leer toda la Biblia en español para este año. ¡Alabado sea Dios!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

94 Chapters To Go!

November 19, 2014

I have only 94 more chapters to read in the Reina Valera this year to finish reading through the whole Bible in Spanish this year! Praise the Lord!

11.19.14

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

I praise God that I now have under 200 chapters left to finish reading the Reina Valera this year!

11.6.14

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

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Ron Hamilton’s father kept a New Testament in his pocket every day of World War II. This Bible is full of his hand-written notes and is now very worn. In the front, it has a striking commendation by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the value of reading the Bible!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

With 80 days left in 2014, I have now finished reading 889 chapters in the Reina Valera this year! To finish the remaining 300 chapters, I will have to read 3.75 chapters on average daily for the rest of the year.

10.14.14j

I am eagerly anticipating making it through the whole Bible in Spanish this year, Lord willing!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

I now have less than 400 chapters to go in the Reina Valera to finish reading through the Bible in Spanish this year!

9.16.14 Brrpt

¡Gloria a Dios!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

After 228 days in 2014, I have finished reading 689 chapters in the Reina Valera this year (58%)!

Spanish Bible Reading 8.18.14

  • Books completed – Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; 1 Samuel; Ruth; Nehemiah; Job; Psalms; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Isaiah; Matthew; Mark; John; Acts; Galatians; Philippians; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon; James; 1 & 2 & 3 John; Jude (606 total chapters)
  • Other reading – Numbers 1-30; 2 Samuel 1-6; Jeremiah 1-35; Luke 1-9; 1 Cor. 13-15; (83 total chapters)
  • Chapters read – OT – 537; NT – 152; Total – 689

500 chapters to go; praise God!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.