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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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

 

 

 

 

Proverbs 17:9 Sunday School Lesson Outline

He who covers over an offense promotes love; 

But whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Proverbs 17:9 (NIV)

 

What does it mean cover over an offense?

It means to respond with love, even when someone acts ugly, rude, or hateful.

 

The second line, whoever repeats the matter, means that it is talking about a specific incident.

So, what this verse is saying is when someone does or says something to offend or hurt us, we should respond with love.

If someone steps on my foot, for example, I have the choice to either say, it’s okay and let it go, or to fuss at them for it.

 

But, what if it’s something they did on purpose?

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Proverbs 3:5-6 Sunday School Lesson Outline

Today’s verses are pretty well-known but they are good ones.

Turn to Proverbs 3:5-6:

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to Him,

    and He will make your paths straight. NIV

 

We are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

What does that mean?

It means completely, in every way, in every situation, with everything we care about

Our kids, our fears, wants, dreams, health, decisions, actions

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!

There is nothing in our lives or hearts that we are not supposed to trust Jesus with.

 

What does it mean to lean not on your own understanding?

It means to put aside how you understand things.

It means to realize that you don’t have it all figured out, but God does.

It’s being wise enough to know that when we trust God we don’t have to even try to understand everything.

It is choosing to lean on His understanding of things instead of ours.

We only have to obey Him and trust He will work it and handle it, no matter what our “it” is.

 

Trusting the Lord with our whole heart is not easy.

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Proverbs 11:2 Sunday School Lesson Outline

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (NIV)
When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the lowly is wisdom. (KJV)

 

I don’t know about you, but if I’m not very careful, my pride can sometimes trip me up.

Unfortunately, pride is not something that we deal with once and we’re done.

Pride stays with us and is typically an issue in some form or another our whole lives.

Not that we are bad or a failure, but because the flesh is stubborn and wants what it wants.

 

For this reason…

We have to choose to set our pride aside and humble ourselves on a daily, sometimes moment-by-moment basis.

 

Now there are 2 kinds of pride. One is good and one is bad.

 

The good one is like when you take pride in something you are doing.

You want to do a good job and you want to get it right.

You care about your work.

Wanting to do a good job and do the best you can is a good thing.

You enjoy doing a good job instead of a half-baked job.

That kind of pride is okay.

 

The other kind of pride is the one being addressed in this verse.

It’s the bad kind.

Here’s Google Dictionary’s definition of it:

Pride – over-inflated sense of self-importance.
When you think more of yourself than you should.

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Spiritual Warfare Armor – Pt. 3 – Lesson Plan

Today we are going to wrap up our Spiritual Armor study.

This is the last lesson on a series we started a few weeks ago.

It comes from Ephesians, chapter 6:10-18.

Over the study we have talked about how our fight is not a fight against flesh and blood.

It’s a spiritual battle.

We are fighting against principalities, powers, evil wickedness.

The enemy hates us.

He can’t destroy us so he attacks us and tries to make our life as unhappy and unpleasant as possible.

Thankfully, God has given us these weapons to use to protect ourselves and to fight with.

We put on this armor so we can be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. (Ephesians 6:10 NIV)

We do it so we can take a stand against the enemy’s schemes. (Ephesians 6:11 NIV)

It’s what gives us strength and power to fight.

 

The weapons we’ve looked at are:

The belt of truth

The breastplate of righteousness

The shoes of the gospel of peace

The shield of faith

The helmet of salvation

 

Today we are going to look at the last one.

It’s found in Ephesians 6:17, which says:

17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

So, today we are going to talk about the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Your sword is your bible.

It’s Scripture.

Scripture is very powerful.

Listen to Hebrews 4:1212 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

 

Scripture is real.

It’s living and active.

It doesn’t just sit there.

It moves people.

It cuts through lies and deception, down to the truth of the situation.

 

Reading scripture speaks truth to you and helps you see whether your thoughts are on track and whether your heart has the right attitude.

This is important because if your heart is not right you can trip yourself up pretty easily and make things harder on yourself without meaning to.

We have to have our hearts right to be able to use our armor well.

Reading Scripture regularly helps with this.

 

Scripture can be a defensive weapon.

When things come at you, whether temptation or lies, you can stop them in their tracks and cut them down with the truth of what Scripture says.

 

By knowing what the Word says you can recognize and refuse the lies and half-truths thrown at you.

In turn, you can speak the truth of Scripture to the problem.

Speaking God’s truth to a situation and claiming it is a very powerful thing.

You speak that word and then stand on it in faith, believing it’s true and knowing God WILL honor His word.

 

Quoting Scripture is also an offensive weapon because we use it to filter our thoughts and vision through so that we can see things from God’s perspective.

When we do this, we can see problems and situations that need dealt with.

We can use that Scripture to pray for a situation so God will heal and handle it.

This might be a problem a friend or family member has.

It might be a bad choice a child is making.

Whatever it is, by praying and claiming the promises and truths in Scripture, we can know that God will change that situation.

 

Sometimes the situation is one where we don’t really know what to do.

We know it’s a mess or that it needs worked on, we just don’t know where to start.

Start by praying for it – with Scripture.

Speak out the truth of the situation and who and where you are in it.

Speak out what God says in His Word is true and declare it over the situation.

 

The truth is a very powerful thing.

We’ve talked about that before.

Using scripture to speak the truth to the situation and to filter the situation through gives us a more clear understanding of what’s really going on and also allows us to see what the real issues are.

This in turn gives us knowledge and wisdom about what and how to fight the battle at hand.

 

Sometimes, that Scripture is a specific one that speaks to it.

Sometimes, it’s a general one that speaks to having faith or clinging to truth, or something like that.

 

When you speak Scripture to a situation it helps you identify and eliminate the lies, doubts, confusion, and other wrong things you might be seeing, hearing, or feeling.

When you filter a situation through Scripture it helps you remember what God said was right or wrong about something, helps you to see where the enemy is twisting things, and it gives you spiritual wisdom about both the situation and how to handle it.

 

Jesus did a good job of modeling that when He was in the wilderness.

These verses are found in Matthew 4:1-11 and  Luke 4:1-13.

The enemy came and tempted Him, each time speaking partial truths.

Jesus always responded with Scripture that spoke truth to the situation.

 

Here’s the thing – the enemy was using scripture, but he was either only quoting part of it or else he was misapplying it.

He was presenting a perverted, twisted view.

He’ll try that with us, too.

That’s one of the reasons it’s so important to know the bible and what it says so we can catch it when it happens instead of saying, “well, yeah, that sounds like the truth” and just going with it.

 

One thing I would really encourage you to do during a battle or storm is to dig in the word for strength, wisdom, and guidance about a situation.

It’s in there.

It might not say specifically what you are dealing with.

Like say you’re thinking, “I am tempted to run all the red lights so where’s the scripture on traffic laws?”

Well, no, there’s not a scripture on traffic laws, but, there is one in there that says we are to obey man’s law and government officials.

So, yeah, it might not mention red lights specifically, but there’s a scripture in there about it.

It’s the same way with any other situation you are dealing with.

There is Scripture in there that will give you wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and help you with whatever situation you are dealing with.

You just have to put the time in and look for it.

 

Here’s the thing, though. You need to already be familiar with Scripture before the storm comes.

You need to be reading your bible regularly and knowing what it says ahead of time.

It’s a lot easier to build shelter in good weather while anticipating a storm than it is to build shelter in a rain or snow storm.

It’s the same thing here.

We need to know what it says and be familiar with it, building a framework of its truths in our hearts before the storms of life come.

Not only will knowing what it says help you avoid making bad choices and bringing storms on yourself, it will give you guidance and peace once any storms do come.

Often, once a storm hits it’s hard to build that shelter.

But if you already have that framework in your heart you have what you need to hang on to and to build on.

 

Sometimes, when I am struggling with something I will open my bible and read that Scripture about it out loud.

It clears the air and it clears my mind.

Helps me focus back on God and the truth of the situation.

 

When I read Scripture I am reminded of the truth and I can cling to that truth, lean in to it, and use it to give myself a pep talk about the truth and what I should do in light of the current situation.

This helps me to stay on track and to keep my eyes off the storm and on Jesus, which is where we should always focus.

 

Speaking Scriptures to the problem or storm changes it.

It might not immediately end, but it will definitely change the battle.

How it plays out, the power it has.

It can change the whole game.

 

I want to encourage you to get in the Word and build that framework of truth within you so that when the storms come  you have this weapon in you and ready!

 

Okay, technically those are all the pieces of the armor, but I really believe that the next verse should be included in there.

Ephesians 6:18

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

I think this piece of armor often gets overlooked or maybe not included because it’s not technically a piece of armor like a soldier would wear, but it is an important part of the formula.

It was put at the end of the passage about armor for a reason.

 

The fact that it says, AND pray is a clue that it is a part of this passage, too.

 

Prayer is an important part of warfare.

It is talking to God about a situation and asking Him to intervene.

If you look at the pieces of armor you will see that prayer is an important part of using them.

 

We pray for strength to fight. We pray for wisdom. We pray and ask for help and guidance.

 

Look at what that verse says about praying for others.

When we pray for others we can ask for their spiritual strength and wisdom so they’ll be able to better use their armor and fight well.

We can pray and ask for their protection from the attacks.

We don’t have to only pray for people when we hear they are in trouble.

We can pray for them now so they don’t fall into trouble.

 

 

The verse says we should pray with all kinds of requests.

We can and should pray about a variety of things.

It goes on to tell us we should be alert (pay attention) and always keep on praying for all the saints.

(In this situation, saints means all Christians).

We should be praying for each other, for other Christians in our lives, and for all Christians as a whole.

 

We can combine today’s 2 weapons together.

Praying Scripture back to God is very powerful.

When we know and remind God of His promises and ask Him to keep/fulfill them, we are engaging in a very holy moment.

We are telling the Creator of the Universe we respect and appreciate His word, the words He has given us to live by, to know Him by, and to understand life by.

We are saying we realize that what He has said is important and that we want to engage with Him in a very personal way.

It is very honoring to Him.

This is very helpful when there is a situation we need His help with.

It draws us closer to Him so that we can be in a better position to hear from and commune with Him.

We NEVER do this to manipulate Him nor force His hand.

We do it to show we are working in partnership with Him and are seeking to continue and strengthen our relationship.

 

I want to ask you, do you pray for the other Christians in your life?

Do you only do it when they are sick or specifically ask for it?

Do you ask the Father to give them spiritual strength?

Do you ask Him to bless them and encourage them?

Do you pray and ask Him to help and heal them in the areas where they fall short?

Why or why not?

 

I want to encourage you to spend some time this week examining these questions and praying for the people in your life and for their faith walk.

 

I also want to encourage you to be praying for your own spiritual warfare.

Pray for wisdom.

Pray you’ll see attacks coming and be alert to their presence.

Pray you’ll be courageous enough to fight well.

Pray you’ll remember to use the weapons.

 

As we’ve gone through this, I wonder if you’ve seen how intertwined they all are.

 

Truth plays a big part in all of them – the shield of faith with the truth of how God can and will protect us; the helmet with the truth of our salvation.

 

Faith is important, too – not just the shield of faith, but the helmet of salvation that tells us to have faith that He has saved us and will take us to heaven.

 

The belt of truth, shield, and helmet protect us from the lies of the enemy.

 

All the different pieces work together in partnership to become a unified whole.

 

Now that we’ve covered all the parts of the Armor of God, I want to encourage you to examine yourself and see whether you are daily using them.

 

If not, I encourage you to begin to put them in to action and to see how it can improve both your spiritual warring but also your relationship with God as you seek to draw closer to Him through it.

 

I encourage you to spend some time this week examining your use of the armor and considering ways you can better put it in to action in your faith walk.

 

Links to the other lessons in this series: Intro to Spiritual Warfare, –Spiritual Warfare Armor, Pt. 1, Spiritual Warfare Armor, Pt. 2

A list of all available lessons can be found on my Lessons Outlines page

Free Downloadable/Printable PDF of this Lesson Spiritual Warfare Pt.3 Lesson Plan

 

Spiritual Warfare Armor, Pt. 2 – Sunday School Lesson

We’ve been talking about the Armor of God.

It’s a set of weapons and tools the Lord has gifted us with so that we can fight spiritual battles.

Last week we looked at the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and having our feet shod with the gospel of peace.

 

Today we are going to cover the other pieces of armor.

Turn to Ephesians 6:16

16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (NIV)

The enemy is going to attack you – he’s a roaring lion looking for someone to devour [1 Peter 5:8  Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (NIV)]

That’s why we have to be on guard at all times.

When he throws his assaults, attacks, and lies at you, you can use your shield of faith to stop them.

You can stop these attacks by choosing to trust and have faith in God to take care of it and to prevent it.

You can call on God to protect you.

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Intro to Spiritual Warfare – Sunday School Outline

Scripture is an important part of our spiritual self-defense.

In Ephesians 6 Paul tells us we have been given weapons of warfare to defend ourselves.

There’s a reason we need to defend ourselves.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (NIV)

The KJV says it like this: for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Sometimes we forget that some of the things that happen to us are spiritual attacks.

Not all things, but some.

Some of it is our own fleshly choices not to obey.

Sometimes our pride gets in our way.

Sometimes it is an attack from the enemy.

 

It’s important we understand the enemy is a defeated foe.

Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection settled it once and for all.

Jesus was, and IS! victorious.

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Psalm 23:1 – Sunday School Outline

I’ve been thinking about Psalm 23.

It’s a short Psalm, just 6 verses but it is packed with good stuff.

I thought today we would spend some time going over verse one.

Psalm 23, verse 1 says,
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.(KJV)

The NIV says, The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

Because the Lord is our shepherd, we won’t want for anything. We will lack nothing.

Looking at the first part of this verse I think of:

Isaiah 40:11He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young. (NIV)

 

This is such a sweet, comforting picture of how God loves us, of how He takes care of us.

How He is aware of our situation and holds us close as He leads us.

It’s not some distant, arms’ length away that He holds us.

He holds us up close and personal, in His arms, close to His heart!

A shepherd’s job is to look after the sheep entrusted to him, to make sure they are safe, well taken care of, and to know where they are at all times, keeping track of them.

This is what Jesus does with us.

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The Opening Statement of Ecclesiastes

The book of Ecclesiastes opens up with the author telling us, “Meaningless! Meaningless,” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless.

He’s letting us know that he believes everything in the world is meaningless.

At first glance, it may look like he is saying everything is pointless for a negative reason, but he’s not.

This is actually his opening statement to preface the rest of the book. He’s declaring a truth he’s learned the hard way through years of living and exploring.

As the book unfolds he unpacks chapter 1 and explains why and how he realized this.

He waits until the last few verses of the last chapter of the book to explain the remedy, choosing to first explain all that he has witnessed that has brought him to this conclusion.

 

In his opening statement, contained in the first 11 verses of chapter 1, he asks an important question – “what does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?” In other words, what’s the point? Why bother?

Then he points out an important truth – generations of people are born and die, but the earth remains forever.

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