Karen Gamble Writes – I write. I teach. I love Jesus.

Verse Mapping

I am a visual person.

I learn better by looking at something than by just hearing it or reading about it.

Because of this, I like to write down passages of Scripture I am studying.

I also jot down what I’m seeing and learning as well as notes from resources and study books I am using..

i don’t have a particular way to do this.

Sometimes it’s a list.

Other times I spread it out and draw circles and balloons to write the information in.

The circles and balloons approach is called Verse Mapping.

It looks sorta like this:

(Even tho I made a little mistake on one word I kept going. It’s not about a perfect looking paper. It’s about learning God’s Word.)

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Petrify

At one point in my life I felt like I was stuck and unable to move.

I couldn’t pray.

I couldn’t understand any of the Scripture I was reading.

Then the Lord showed me a word:

Petrify.

To make rigid or inert like stone; to make lifeless or inactive (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

To make someone so frightened they are afraid to move. (Google)

That’s when I realized that silent, subtle doubt and fear had snuck into my life and petrified me.

This is what caused me to be stuck – I was paralyzed by fear.

I knew the remedy was to replace fear with faith.

I cried out to the Lord in prayer and asked Him to help me to break free and to show me what to do.

A phrase came to my mind.

“Perfect love casts out fear.” .

I remembered this is a verse from 1 John 4:18–

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (NIV)

You can’t have perfect love and fear at the same time.

A few verses earlier in this chapter it tells us that God is love and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (verse 16)

The answer was clear.

I had to choose God and His love over my fear.

Both can’t occupy the same place at the same time.

So I chose love.

It wasn’t easy.

Fear still tried to come back.

It took a while before I was able to walk without wobbling.

But, little by little, as I kept choosing to trust Him and to choose to trust in His love instead of allowing fear to guide my thoughts, I began to get stronger and braver.

I memorized .2 Timothy 1:7 and repeated it to myself over and over –

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (KJV)

I still have moments when the fear tries to come back.

I still have moments when I am tempted to trust myself instead of God.

But, every time I do, I try to fight it

I try to remember what King David said,

3When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. Psalm 56:3 (NIV)

This has helped me so much.

When I do this, I can better focus on the Father and my faith walk.

It isn’t always easy.

Sometimes fear shows up hidden in other things – dread, doubt, uncertainty, anxiety – but if I will look at it for what it is, a stumbling block meant to stop me from trusting the Lord, I can better fight against it when it shows up and head it off.

There will be times when I am afraid.

There will be times when I am unsure of things.

But, if I will remember the truth these Scriptures teach us, I will never have to be petrified again.

What about you? Are there fears getting in the way of your faith walk?

Will you choose to let go of the fear and choose to trust God, no matter what?

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. -Jesus John 14:27 (NIV)

Category: Faith, God, New Testament, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Praying the Psalms

I recently did a bible study that involved reading and praying through the book of Psalms.

As I was doing it, I began to see that virtually every verse in there is either a promise, a praise, or both.

Praying the book of Psalms is a tall order. It took working on it daily for a little over 4 months to get through it.

I didn’t try to rush.

I didn’t try to cover a lot of territory at one time.

I just paid careful attention to the verse I was on and the various parts of it.

The study started at chapter one so that’s where I started.

As I read each verse, I prayed it in one of several ways.

I either:

-Prayed it as it was written, which worked for a lot of the praise verses;

-Prayed, “help me not to…”,. whatever the verse was warning against doing;

-Prayed, “help me to….”, whatever the verse was saying we should do or be;

-Prayed, “show me when I act this way so I can correct it…”, whenever the verse was warning against certain unhealthy actions and attitudes

Or,

-Prayed, “help me to remember who You are”, whenever the verse declared His majesty or mentioned any of His traits, grace, or goodness.

It really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

I found that the farther along I went, the more aware I became of God’s good will toward us.

I began to feel more open to Him and to His love.

I also began to feel an urge to praise Him, even when I wasn’t reading a Psalm.

The more I read, the more I saw God’s character.

I saw clearly His desire for us as well as the way He wants to protect and bless us.

It took a long time to complete but I learned so much and it changed me in so many good ways.

I plan to try to do it at least once a year.

I’m certain the more I do it, the deeper my understanding and love for Him will become.

If you’ve never prayed the Psalms I highly recommend it.

If you can’t commit to the whole book then pick a chapter and try it.

There’s so much good stuff in there, you’ll be really glad you did!

Let me know if you have other ideas about how to pray the Psalms.

I’d love to try them!

For my post on praying scriptures in general, please see my post, Praying Scriptures

Category: Faith, God, Lesson Outline, Prayer, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Proverbs 15:1

A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1 (NIV)

When someone says something harsh to us we have a choice.

We can say something back to them just as harsh.

Or, we can cover over their harshness with a big dose of love.

When we answer softly and kindly it deflects their anger from us and preserves our peace.

If we answer harshly we are accepting their anger and embracing it as our own.

This causes us harm.

As Christians we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, setting the example and showing Christ’s love to others at every opportunity.

We can’t do that if we are embracing anger instead of kindness.

We don’t always know why someone is angry.

Sometimes their anger has nothing to do with us.

That doesn’t matter.

What matters is how we respond to them.

This world is full of anger and harshness.

Let’s be the ones to respond with kindness and love at every turn.

We might not be able to stop someone’s anger, but we can meet it with soft words and kindness.

In doing so, we begin to heal the hurts we see and to spread the love of the Father to those around us.

That’s a pretty great response.

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins .1 Peter 4:8 (NIV)

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

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Psalm 46:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

I’ve always looked at this verse in light of how it helps me.

I’ve even quoted only half the verse, doing so from a selfish perspective.

I’ve often referred to this verse by saying, “if you’re feeling stressed or out of sorts go sit quietly with the Lord and He’ll calm you.”

While that’s true, it’s not quite the point of this verse.

You have to add in the second half of the verse to get the true meaning.

The point of this verse is that because He is God He will be exalted.

Because of this, we should be still/quiet, know/realize He is the Creator, and act accordingly.

Sitting before God is good and it does calm us.

But it only brings us peace if we do it with the right understanding of who He is and how far above us He really is.

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Isaiah 41:10

So do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)

Fear is a big problem for a lot of people.

If we aren’t careful, it can bind us up so tightly that we can’t do anything.

It will hinder us from doing even the most basic things.

We don’t have to live that way.

In this verse, God reminds us that we don’t have to be afraid.
He is with us.

He isn’t some distant being who sits far away and lets whatever might happen, happen.

He’s right here with us, up close.

Because He is with us, we can be encouraged and optimistic.

We don’t have to be afraid of anything.

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What Is Maundy Thursday?

Maundy Thursday is an important, though often overlooked, part of Holy Week.

A lot of things happened on Maundy Thursday.

Among them:

Jesus celebrated the Passover in the Upper Room with His disciples.

We now call this meal the Last Supper because it was the last time He shared a meal with them before His crucifixion.

It was during this meal Jesus instituted Communion as a way of remembering Him.

At the end of the meal, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples as a show of humility and as an example of how He wanted them to humbly serve others.

Following the Last Supper meal, Jesus and the Disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane, located at the Mount of Olives.

Here Jesus went off alone to pray.

He asked the Father to take this cup away if possible, meaning the Crucifixion He was about to experience, but immediately followed it up with, “Yet, not my will, Father, Yours be done.”

Jesus knew what was coming.

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What Is Passover?

Passover is a Jewish holiday that commemorates when the death angel passed over the Israelites’ houses.

The Israelites were slaves in Egypt.

At God’s prompting, Moses went to the Pharaoh and asked him to let the people go.

The Pharaoh refused and as a result God sent several plagues.

The 10th one was that the death angel would pass over each house and strike dead the first born of each family as well as that of their cattle.

To spare His own people, God instructed the Israelites to kill a lamb and to smear its blood around the outer door frame of their home. When the angel passed by it would not kill anyone inside a home with these markings.

This plague finally convinced the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. He even told them they could take with them whatever they wanted, which allowed them to gather needed supplies for their journey.

To commemorate this event, God called the Israelites to yearly observe this Passing Over with a 7-day festival.

During this time no one may eat anything with leavening (yeast) in it. They must remove all yeast from their house.

On the first and seventh day of the festival they are to hold a solemn assembly. No one is to work on these days except to make food for the people to eat. (Exodus 12:14-20)

This festival is to take place from the evening of the 14th day until the evening of the 21st day of the Hebrew month Nisan.

Category: God, Holiday, Old Testament | LEAVE A COMMENT

The Last Supper

The night before He was crucified, Jesus celebrated the beginning of Passover with His disciples.

This meal is often called the Last Supper because it was the last meal Jesus shared with His followers.

During the Last Supper is when Jesus instituted the act of Communion (also called the Lord’s Supper).

He broke a loaf of bread and said it was a symbol of His body being broken for us.

He then poured a cup of wine and told them to drink, explaining it was a symbol of His blood being shed for the redemption of our sins.

Jesus instructed them to do this in remembrance of Him.

In churches today, we periodically celebrate Communion by drinking a small amount of wine or grape juice and eating a small piece of unleavened bread.*

This is to remind us that Jesus’ body was broken for our healing and that He paid a high price to ransom us. .

When we participate in Communion we are reminded of the great sacrifice Jesus made by dying for us and we are acknowledging we know He did it for us personally.

While Jesus and the disciples were at this meal, Jesus told them He knew one of them was a traitor who would betray Him.

He even went so far as to name Judas as the one.

Judas immediately left and went straight to the leaders and priests to tell them where to find Jesus.

This led to Jesus being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane later that same night.

After the meal, they sang a hymn and left the Upper Room to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.

Judas knew that’s where they would be and that is where he brought the leaders and priests to arrest Jesus.

This arrest meant the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth.

It also meant the beginning of His trial, which led to His Crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

To learn more about what happened next, please read my post, Jesus Was Arrested.

*Because the bread used during Passover is unleavened, it is tradition to use unleavened bread during Communion.

To read about the Last Supper, please see Matthew 26:17-30, or Luke 22:7-23

To learn more about the Easter Season, please visit my Easter page, a compilation of previous Easter and Lent posts.

Category: death, God, Holiday, Jesus | LEAVE A COMMENT

Why Jesus Was Crucified

There is a passage in the New Testament where the crowds are mocking Jesus while He’s on the cross.

One of the rulers even says to Him, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” Luke 23:35 (NIV)

They didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God.

It is important we understand that Jesus was fully God, as well as fully man, and as such He had the power to prevent the Crucifixion.

He could have called down legions of angels to fight for and protect Him.

He could have killed all the people who were against Him.

But, He didn’t.

Jesus knew He’d come to earth for one reason – to fulfill God’s plan for mankind’s redemption by going to the cross and paying for all sin for all mankind once and for all.

Jesus was perfect and had lived a completely sin-free life.

By being crucified, He was paying for all the sins of all mankind.

He was trading His perfect life, which fulfilled all the law of the Old Testament for the redemption of all the sin-filled lives of every person ever born. .

He knew many would reject Him.

He knew many would not understand.

He also knew many would accept Him and the free pardon of sin He offered.

Jesus went through with the crucifixion because He loved all of mankind past, present, and future and He wanted to ransom each and every person ever born.

Category: death, Faith, God, Jesus, New Testament | LEAVE A COMMENT