Verse Mapping Bible Tools

I am SO excited to renew my partnership with Bible Gateway and write a review for an amazing Bible study tool that they have just released. Stay tuned to the end of this post and I will also be giving two of these items away!

I grew up in a Christian home and have always been immersed in the culture of Christianity. I grew up hearing the Bible stories and the Bible read to me. I grew up seeing my parents studying the Bible and many leaders around me reading it’s words and following it’s action. I attended a private Christian college where every student has a Bible minor upon graduation (the Bible classes are a requirement). But there is still a difference between knowing about the Bible and learning to study it for myself. It has only been in recent years as I have grappled with the implications of my own faith and seeing many fallen leaders that I have really started turning towards learning HOW to study the Bible for myself.

Let me be honest with you: this does not come naturally to me. I am a voracious reader, but I am not a natural critical thinker or studier. So often for me reading the Bible simply becomes reading a book and I forget the many cultural, contextual, linguistic and Holy Spirit implications that truly matter while studying the Bible.

So when I had the chance to review the new Verse Mapping tools put out by Faithgateway (the Bible Gateway store), I was immediately impressed. Verse Mapping involves 5 steps to study a verse of the Bible.

1. Select a verse and write it out
2. Design. Record this verse in two or three other Bible translations (or languages if you speak more than one!) and underline key words that are the same or different between translations.
3. Develop. Look up the Hebrew or Greek meanings for the underlined words and record them
4. Actions. Ask questions. Imagine what it would be like to have experienced what’s happening. Read the verses surrounding this verse and use other study tools to dig even deeper
5. Outcome. What is God saying to you? How does this verse relate to your life today?

There are three different products that each use the Verse Mapping tool: a journal, an NIV Bible, and an NIV Bible for Girls.

The verse mapping journal contains an introductory chapter explaining how to verse map and what tools may be helpful to have on hand. It has over 50 verse mapping pages and a helpful layout to guide each verse map.

Each of the verse mapping Bibles is an NIV Bible that has 350 partially completed verse maps throughout the Bible. The Girls NIV Verse Mapping Bible has a fun cover but is otherwise the same as the NIV Verse Mapping Bible. Both Bibles have already selected the verses (within the Biblical passage) and given some of the Greek and Hebrew words to study. The actions and outcome are left up to the reader. I love how the Bible guides the verse map but still allows plenty of room for personal study.

If you, like me, have been aching for a way to study the Bible for yourself but feel overwhelmed with where to begin, I highly recommend this verse mapping tool. While it doesn’t cover every part of a deep dive into how to study the Bible, it does give a great starting point and I am confident that as we begin to study the Bible, we will only want to study it more.

Right now the journal and both Bibles are on sale for 30% off, so this is a great time to grab a copy!

And now for the giveaway: I am giving away both Bibles! Two winners will each receive one Bible. All you have to do to be entered into the giveaway is to leave a blog post comment telling me what is your best tip, trick or tool for studying the Bible. If you don’t feel like you have any good tips, tricks or tools- that is ok! Just leave a comment telling me what you would like to learn!

For extra entries, you can also enter by commenting on my Facebook post or my Instagram post. Sharing and telling others about this giveaway is also very helpful and much appreciated!

As always, I little note from me: I received these products for free in exchange for an honest review #BibleGatewayPartner. I very rarely accept free products to review, and my personal rule/guideline is that I will only share free products that I would spend my own money on. The review is honest and all opinions are my own!