Review of Verse Mapping

NIV Verse Mapping Bible

Assignment
From time to time, because my blog is a member of the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid, I am provided with free Bibles and Books about the Bible to review.  Recently I was asked to review Kristy Cambron’s Verse Mapping Bible Study Journal, the Verse Mapping Bible, and the Verse Mapping Bible for Girls.

NIV Verse Mapping
Bible for Girls

Similar to Verse Analysis
The covers of all three items suggest that this method of study was developed by Kristy Cambron.  While the layout is perhaps new, the elements of the study closely resemble the Verse Analysis Study to which I was introduced in 1973 during Undergraduate Pilot Training in the Air Force.  I use verse analysis in my personal study and in the seminars I lead on Bible study.  Further, have written about that study in my blog about thirteen times; the first was the thirteenth post I ever wrote.  That post links to the Entrusting Truth website which challenges the visitor to do the study and has a link to download the form I use.  That study has eight steps, Kristy’s Study is five steps.  

Though Verse Mapping is like verse analysis, the presentation is probably more appealing and there is one particular step that I really like and have also suggested to anyone who has been in my seminars.  In fact, that step is the reason that I will heartily recommend this study method, as well as the Bibles that are associated even though they are NIV, of which if you have read any of my reviews of the NIV study Bibles you will know that I am not a fan.

Verse Mapping Bible Study
Journal

Common Content
All three of the publications have instructions on how to verse map.  The Bibles have two pages at the front of the Book.  The Journal has a very helpful and detailed 14 page instruction and examples starting on page 5.  

[Note, One Challenge: The last sentence on page 13 of the Journal is either a typo, very confusing, or simply wrong.  The sentence as published says, “If a Greek word was used in one translation and not another…find out why.”  In my office I have a bunch of Bibles, say 20ish; on my computer, I have 20+ more, none of which, whether version, translation, or paraphrase, have any Greek words in them.  They are all in English, Spanish, French, or Arabic.  I have contacted the person at Bible Gateway who sent me the books about this.  He forwarded my comments to Kristy’s editor, she contacted me and told me that she had talked to Kristy and they were going to recast the sentence to explain Kristy’s point more accurately.  I think I know what she meant, but I cannot be sure.  I have held off on writing this review in hopes of hearing how this is resolved.  As yet, I have not heard.  However, the spirit of what is being suggested is good.  I will touch on that later in this review.]

The Verse Mapping Bible is top
The Verse Mapping Bible 
for Girls is bottom
The content is identical and the 
page number is even the same.

The Bibles
The Verse Mapping Bibles are virtually identical.  They are, as stated above, the NIV.  They are bare bones except that there are 350 verse maps in each of the Bibles as well as 70 blank ones.  Pages either have a fully, partially, or blank verse map, or simply text with a column next to the edge of the page for notes.  The layout is good, and the text is easy to read.  I originally found it odd that there were no cross references in the Bibles.  However, the addition of 420 partially complete or blank verse maps essentially added 420 pages to the book.  If the publisher had added cross references, it would have made the work unwieldy.  The student will need to use a concordance or a bible program such as those referred to in the Journal’s resource section to find cross references.

The Journal
The Journal has 60 blank maps for you to use.  Both have a topical index that may help you find verses to map.  There is also a Reference and Resource Guide in the back of the journal that those starting this type of study will find extremely helpful.

Providing a Bible Study Journal is a great idea.  All of us suffer from the reality of forgetting what we have studied.  Having these maps in one place to review is a good way to keep track of what the Lord has been teaching us in our study.

The Method
The method is very good.  The best part of the method, the part that mitigates the promotion of the NIV, is step 2, design.  In that step one is to compare the verse one is mapping in 2 – 4 other English versions or translations (for some help on why there are differences in versions and translations read the three blog posts I wrote on this starting here).  This is really a necessary step for any analysis of a verse in an English Bible, especially if you one does not have access to the original languages.  Comparing the texts, may point out differences in the way the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic is translated by the version’s committee or the individual making the translation.  It will also highlight things that you may need to consider as you look at the original languages.  The author gives the student suggestions on how to examine the originals both in the 14-page overview of the method in the Journal and in the Verse Mapping Reference and Resource Guide on page 137 of the Journal.  The suggestions are concise and good.

Blank Verse Map.  Note you work from top right to bottom left

Conclusion
This is a very good method from which any believer would benefit.  Either one of the Bibles and the Journal as a set would be an excellent investment.  My sense is that if one engages with the method their hunger for more will increase.  That is a good thing.  

There are two things I would suggest adding.  One is looking at other passages that support the passage you are mapping.  Thus, the reference to concordances and other resources above, as well as using the topical index in the Bibles.  The second, would be for the student to add a personal application to the outcome.  Prof, Howard Hendricks, always said that if we haven’t applied what we have studied, we haven’t really studied (that was a paraphrase).

Bottom line, I would heartily recommend this method to anyone.  In fact, I am going to show it to some of my grandchildren when they are old enough to engage with it.

You can get the NIV Verse Mapping Bible here, The Girls version here, and the Journal here.

Help for Struggling Prayer

(Normally I write these in an hour or so.  This one I have been working on for 3 or 4 days.  It is long.  I considered breaking it into two or three posts but decided against it.  I think that would have diminished the message.)

Full Disclosure
I struggle with prayer.  I can study the Bible for hours, but I will fall asleep, like the disciples, when I try to pray for thirty minutes.  I share that as a preface to what I have been challenged with in the Word over the past few days.  I share it because I do not want you to think that what I am about to write about prayer, is in any way a declaration that I have this figured out or am doing well with this spiritual discipline.

Source of This Post
For some context, I am working through Revelation (here @ Bible Gateway) in three Bible studies: one on Monday morning, and two on Tuesday morning.  So, I am working through the book verse by verse three different times.  Most of what follows is a result of those studies.  

The Importance of Prayer to God
In Revelation 8:3 – 5 (here @ Bible Gateway) there is a picture of the importance and effectiveness of prayer that overwhelms me.  What John sees is an altar, a golden alter, before the throne of God.  We see in verse 5 (here @ Bible Gateway) that the altar has fire.  In verse 3 (here @ Bible Gateway) we find that the prayers of all of the saints are on that altar.  Think of that.  Your prayer, my prayer, are on the altar before God.  

If your experience is like mine, sometimes it feels as if my feeble prayer does not get past the ceiling of my office.  Yet here we find that these prayers, feeble as they may be, are on the altar, seemingly as a burnt offering to our God.  

But that is not all.  In Revelation 8 (here @ Bible Gateway), the angel comes to the altar and adds much incense to the prayer on the altar.  I understand that this is after the seventh seal, so, we cannot assume that this happens now.  However, the altar seems to be there now.  Regardless, the actions of the angel with the incense, the fire from the altar, and the censer, seem to underline and emphasize the effect of our prayer.

Hope In My Feeble Prayer
It has been of help to me to consider what John saw and recorded in Revelation 8 (here @ Bible Gateway) as I begin to pray.  To understand that my prayer will be on the altar before God, gives me hope.  Hope even though I am so weak in my prayer.

But there is more hope.

In Romans 8:26 – 27 (here @ Bible Gateway) I am greatly comforted about my feeble prayer life.  There we read that – but wait, the first words we read are, “In the same way”, that makes us look at the previous context to see what that “same way” could be, we see, among other things, the ministry of the Spirit in our lives assures us of our adoption and gives us hope.  That hope is a direct reflection of Paul’s point in Romans 5:1 – 11 (here @ Bible Gateway) where, as we exult in our tribulation, the Spirit produces love in our hearts, as we persevere, we develop proven character in and through that perseverance, and that results in hope.  

So as the ministry of the Spirit helps us to walk in Christ, assures us of our adoption, and gives us hope, “in the same way” He helps our weakness.  He helps in one of the areas in which I need great help, prayer.  The text says that we do not know how to pray.  This “we” includes the author, Paul.  Paul, like me, like us, struggled with prayer.  But here the Spirit inspires him to encourage “we”.  We are helped because the Spirit takes our weak, feeble prayer, and intercedes for us.  

The Full Engagement of the Trinity in Our Prayer
However, it gets even better.  Look at the last clause of Romans 8:27 (here @ Bible Gateway):

“because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God,” (NASB95).  

Note that the words “the will of” are in italics which indicates those words were added by the committee to make the translation “make more sense”.  Regardless of which version or translation you consider those words are added.  The Greek literally says:

“because according to God He intercedes on behalf of the saints”.  

While I understand the addition of “the will of”, from my perspective the addition significantly diminishes the point Paul is making.  The Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to God.  While the will of God is certainly in mind, I believe that “according to God” indicates all of God’s nature and character, all His glory and excellence.  Paul’s Holy Spirit inspired choice of vocabulary, highlights and underscores the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s participation with the Father and the Son as God, bringing that participation fully into His intercession for us.

This is not a minor point.  You will note that Romans 8:2 – 39 (here @ Bible Gateway) is the explanation of and support for Romans 8:1 (here @ Bible Gateway) (notice all of the verses in your Bible that begin with “for,” “for” is a structural marker (click here for more on structure in the Bible or search this blog for the word "structure") that indicates support for or result of something that has been stated.  Throughout this chapter Paul is substantiating what he has declared in 8:1 (here @ Bible Gateway)).  For those of us who are in Christ, there is no condemnation.  

Part of the reality that we are under no condemnation is what we are considering here.  We are still weak.  We are still needy.  Even though it is declared that we are in Christ in 8:1 (here @ Bible Gateway) and that the Spirit (8:9 (here @ Bible Gateway)) and Christ (8:10 (here @ Bible Gateway)) dwell in us.  In 8:26 – 27 (here @ Bible Gateway) we are told that “He who searches the hearts” knows the mind of the Spirit.  It is the Father that searches the hearts (consider: 1 Samuel 16:7 (here @ Bible Gateway); 1 Chronicles 28:9 (here @ Bible Gateway); Proverbs 17:3 (here @ Bible Gateway); Jeremiah 11:20 (here @ Bible Gateway); 17:10 (here @ Bible Gateway); 20:12 (here @ Bible Gateway); Revelation 2:23 (here @ Bible Gateway)).  The Father searches the heart of the believer, the Spirit prays for the believer and the Father and the Spirit are completely in sync, which brings the full force of the nature of God into that prayer.  To cap all of that off, we read in 8:34 (here @ Bible Gateway) that the Son is also interceding for us at the right hand of God.

Summary
So as we struggle with prayer, it helps me to remember, that my feeble attempts of coming to my Lord in prayer, are absorbed by the Holy Spirit, compared with the actual needs that I have, the Spirits understanding is completely understood by the Father, who has searched my heart and understands my needs, then the Spirit prays for me to the Father with groanings too deep for words – He is pouring His soul out for us – while at the same time the Son is at the right hand of the Father also praying for us, and all of this time, our feeble prayer is on the golden altar that stands before the throne of the Father.

Conclusion
That is help.  That truth has helped me rest as I pray.  It has taken away some of the struggle.  It has caused me to rejoice and praise Him who has engaged so completely in my efforts to come to Him.  It is an overwhelming picture of God’s love and effective working of His grace in our lives.