FIVE PSALMS:
Apple/Android
Free

Soaked in the Psalms

You may be familiar with Don Whitney’s ‘Psalms of the Day’ method of reading all 150 psalms every month (taken from his highly-recommended book, Praying the Bible). On the first day of the month, Whitney advocates reading/praying Psalm 1, then repeatedly adding the number 30 onto whatever the date is (e.g. reading 31, 61, 91, and 121 on the first of the month). If you’re wondering, on day 31 he suggests reading portions of Psalm 119!

Anyway, you can now forget about the maths: Whitney’s friend Bryant Huang has designed an app that does all of that for you. Upon opening, the app presents you with a menu of the day’s five psalms and you simply swipe between them to read each one. Font and size can be changed, and there’s a night mode for less glare if reading in bed. Of the mainline translations, ESV, CSB, NASB and KJV are all available. (There’s also the bonus of a chapter of Proverbs for each day too).

Simple and effective

Anecdotally, lockdown seems to have highlighted the importance of ‘tuning our hearts’ to the Psalms. If you like the sound of Whitney’s method, weaving the psalms into various points in your day (e.g. waking, starting work, lunchtime, ending work, bedtime), then Five Psalms is a real gift.

It’s often the simplest apps that are the best. Five Psalms is a perfect example. No frills, just doing one thing really well. Have you had your five-a-day?

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An edited version of this article was first published here in the October Issue of Evangelicals Now and is shared here with permission. EN is a monthly newspaper published in print and online, offering a biblical perspective on current issues and insight on what’s happening with God’s people worldwide. Online subscription is just £10 p/a with print & online combined for just £18. Order a free sample or subscribe here.

Surveying the Sublime

The 20th century Welsh minister Martin Lloyd-Jones said that there was ‘nothing more sublime in the whole of Scripture’ than Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. When it comes to showcasing the sheer scale of Jesus Christ’s cosmos-shaping work, then I’d have to agree.

Ephesians is a great book to get to know, especially because at just six chapters, it’s not too difficult to feel like you’re getting your head around it’s structure. And there’s a good argument for the claim that Paul didn’t just send this letter to the church in Ephesus, but that he used it as a sort of discipleship manual for churches across the region. I love to read through it one-to-one with people, and it was the first book of the Bible that I taught through after we planted Grace Church.

Recently I had the opportunity to write a series of twenty-five daily devotions going through the whole of Ephesians, which was a really rich experience. When preaching I’ve typically broken the book up into ten or so sections, so splitting into twenty-five passages felt like we were going much deeper.

If you’d like to join me, you can pick these devotions up in the October-December 2020 edition of Explore, a set of quarterly dated Bible-reading notes which aim to “help you read, understand and apply the extraordinary truths of God’s word, every single day.”

Filled with Christ

One of the surprising blessings was reflecting on the repeated language of fullness throughout Ephesians, something I’d not really made much of before. This is really fascinating to explore when you then read Paul encouraging Christians to be ‘filled with the Spirit’. This is often read as if we’re a jug and the Spirit is the liquid being poured into the jug. But perhaps it’s better phrased as to indicate that the Spirit is not the liquid, but the one doing the pouring. The Spirit loves to fill our lives with Christ – as part of God’s plans to fill the universe with Christ.

In slightly more unchartered territory, you can also journey with me through the Old Testament book of Nahum over five days as part of the same Explore.

In fact, not only do you get thirty Bible devotionals on Ephesians and Nahum, you also get seventy-two others (i.e. enough to last you three months) on Romans 1-6, Habakkuk, Ruth, and Christmas. All for just £4.24 – bargain!

You can pick up a copy here. Or download the app and pay through that.

More on Explore

If you’ve not come across Explore before, it’s well worth checking out. Spending a little bit of time reading and praying through the Bible each day is a brilliant rhythm to get into – even if it’s just five minutes.

There are lots of ‘daily Bible reading notes’ out there, but one of the things I love about Explore is that it aims to push you into the Bible, rather than just skimming along the surface. Anyway, that’s what I’ve valued about Explore in the past – I hope this doesn’t tarnish that reputation!

You can hear a bit more about the vision behind Explore from Carl Laferton, one of the Senior Editors, here:

Photo by Raphael Nogueira on Unsplash

DWELL:
Apple/Android
£2.79 monthly / £27.49 annually

Audio Bible 2.0

Whilst audio Bibles have been around for decades, often their listening experience is hard to customise, limits Bible exploration, and lacks variety in the voices provided.

Enter Dwell. Founders Jonathan and Joshua Bailey wanted to create a ‘beautiful, easy-to-use, Scripture listening app’. The digital format provides all sort of creative functionality: navigating to a specific chapter or verse is simple; a multitude of curated listening ‘plans’ provide focused listening (everything from Bible in a Year, to thematic, to the thoughtful ‘I’m feeling…’ options). We actually initially downloaded it to listen to its ‘Sleep Playlists’ – good to have the last thing you hear at night being the promises of God with relaxing backing music!

ESV, NIV, NRSV, KJV and Message are currently available (and the NIV is using the NIV’s official David Suchet recording). Users can also choose to repeat a portion of Scripture with reflection time in between, making it perfect for memorisation.

An enhanced listening experience

Dwell offers eight voices (currently seven male, with two more female in development), mixing accents and nationalities. Users say the voices feel ‘more natural and relatable’ than many audio Bibles. Another unique element is the option of original, background music (a choice of five instruments), designed specifically to draw readers into the text. I wondered if this would feel cheesy, but actually I agree with users who say this enhances engagement.

Notably Dwell does a church package rate, unlocking the app for a whole congregation. The option of church-specific reading plans is also in the works.

Matt Chandler calls Dwell one of his favourite tools to ‘soak in the word of God’. Perhaps we have over-emphasised Bible reading, and underplayed Bible listening. Dwell changes that and has great ministry potential. The free trial period means I don’t know why you wouldn’t give it a try.

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An edited version of this article was first published here in the September Issue of Evangelicals Now and is shared here with permission. EN is a monthly newspaper published in print and online, offering a biblical perspective on current issues and insight on what’s happening with God’s people worldwide. Online subscription is just £10 p/a with print & online combined for just £18. Order a free sample or subscribe here.