1. It's fall, time for a new Bible study. Yay! I believe Bible studies are one of the greatest tools of our generation to help foster growth. When women are in an environment of grace and truth saturated in the Word of God, God uses it in big ways. 

But I also know that not all Bible studies are created equal. I started leading Bible studies 25 years ago and then started writing my own. I learned a lot along the way and some of these I am going to recommend are my go to recommendations. So I'm going to share my personal top favs. But what makes them my favorite? These things:

• Good dose of God's Word.
• Evidence of life change.
• Gospel, rather than man, centered.

I also have seen that the best Bible studies not only spend time in God's Word, they also spend time connecting to the heart, praying, and have a short time of vision and training. That's why I made and use the Connect Cards in every Bible study I lead because the work of prayer, vision and training is all done for you. They provide 11 different things to pray about, and 33 different questions to help your group connect on a deeper level as well as 11 weeks of vision and training. You can learn more about them here.

Ok. so you ready for the list? Here it is.

There are a few ways you can do this. But first, you pick a book of the Bible, say Matthew. 

1. Option 1. Read the chapter out loud together each week and then take about 30 minutes privately to fill out some questions and then come back to answer the questions. You can find the questions in the Journals found in the Missional Women Store. (Or if you'd prefer to print them off each week, go here.) Have some commentaries on the coffee table ready for people to use.
2. Option 2. Have everyone read the chapter and fill out the questions throughout the week and come back to share answers. You can also watch the video that goes along with the book of the Bible here. 
3. Option 3. Rather than use the questions in the journals, use the Complete Bible Discussion Guide book that has excellent questions. Here's the Old Testament and here's the New Testament.

This Bible study is divided into three different studies:

1. Gospel Identity is a ten-session that points to Jesus and examines the blessings of a new identity in Christ, and explains how to move us outward so others can also experience new life in Jesus. 
2. Gospel Love, covers barriers to loving others, how love is an expression of faith, the role of the Spirit in relationships, honesty vs. judging, and how to live with forgiveness and compassion.
   
3. Gospel Growth, focuses on the role of faith in the transformation of Christians by the power of the gospel. This ten-session small group study covers topics including, living by faith, spiritual disciplines, faith and repentance, the power of the Spirit, and how identifying with the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ grows us to be like Christ. 
   

This is a homework based 12 week Bible study by Nancy Leigh DeMoss that has the aim of restoring your first love, develop a heartfelt desire for God’s Word, resolve conflicts, repair relationships, remove bitterness, fear, and worry, refresh your spirit, renew your mind, and reenergize your life. You can get back your passion and zeal for the Lord by Seeking Him.

If you're wanting an in-depth, homework based Bible study that goes through an Old Testament book of the Bible, this one is for you. It's written by me! It goes through the book of 1st Samuel and has a strong emphasis on seeing the attributes of God. It is recommended to divide each 5 day week into a couple weeks. Women would complete homework for days 1 & 2 for for the first week and 3-5 the second week you meet. Unless of course your group is ready for a lot of in depth Bible study. Here's some reviews and here's a couple more.
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This is a 10 week homework based study by Max Lucado that is designed to bring people closer to the very heart and soul of Jesus, and to help them have a more intimate knowledge of how His gospel flows through His relationship with us, and our relationships with others. It explores the beautiful human qualities of Jesus that we emulate in order to find peace in the midst of chaos.
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Knowing your calling will help you live a confident, effective life that please the Lord. The content and questions in this workbook (and video series) will help you know what God desires of your life and by the end of this workbook you will have a clearly defined calling by which to measure all your activity in this life and practical goals to begin (or continue) to walk out the calling the Lord has for you.

And if you're a Bible study leader, this little book is going to come in super handy for you! Leading Effective Bible Studies. It will help you figure out how to deal with discussion problems, how to facilitate life change, how to create community, multiply and so much more. If you'd prefer this on video, here ya go.

And don't forget to check out the Connect Cards.

​The Reveal Cards are also something I use quite a bit too for Bible studies.

I've also put together an online course if you want training in women's ministry. It has 10 modules with 36 comprehensive unit videos and an 80 page workbook. It also includes the ​How to Lead a Bible Study course!​ Learn more here.

And here's a little bonus. Here are a couple good devotionals to use for your daily Quiet Time with the Lord.

If you'd like a personal study that isn't necessarily built for a 12 week group setting but something to do on your own, these are great!
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1. A Devotional Journey through Judges
2. Embracing God with the Life you Never Expected {Relating to Women in the Bible}

​Laura's desire is to point to Jesus and lead people to be in awe of God. She is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Her and her husband have been in full time ministry since 2002. She serves with Master Plan Ministries as the Director of Women's Ministries and has extensive experience leading Bible studies, discipling women and speaking to groups and is the Founder of the internationally popular blog MissionalWomen.com that helps women live on mission for the glory of God. She has written seven books/Bible studies, designed 2 popular ministry tools and has made journals for quiet times for many books of the Bible. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, and Instagram.

There are a lot of fun elements to this Bible. There is beautiful artwork but also pages left black and white you can color in. There are also bookmarks and postcards in the back you can tear out. 

It is called the Radiant Virtues Bible because it focuses on the theme faith, hope and love. Each verse that talks about faith, hope or love is highlighted in it's own color. There are also a bunch of blank fill-inable calendar pages in the front  along with a 52 week reading guide.

You can learn more about it here. 

I received a complimentary copy as a member of BG².
#BibleGatewayPartner

​Laura's desire is to point to Jesus and lead people to be in awe of God. She is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Her and her husband have been in full time ministry since 2002. She serves with Master Plan Ministries as the Director of Women's Ministries and has extensive experience leading Bible studies, discipling women and speaking to groups and is the Founder of the internationally popular blog MissionalWomen.com that helps women live on mission for the glory of God. She has written seven books/Bible studies, designed 2 popular ministry tools and has made journals for quiet times for many books of the Bible. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, and Instagram.

​​I just recently learned about verse mapping. I find it a quite intriguing way to study the Bible so I was eager to get my hands on the Verse Mapping Bible to see for myself what it was. Being part of the Blogger Grid as a #BibleGatewayPartner, FaithGateway Store was able to give me a copy of not only a Bible but a Verse Mapping Journal and a Verse Mapping Bible for Girls.

Verse mapping involves five steps:

1. Choose: Select a verse and write it out.
2. Compare: Record this verse in two or three other Bible translations and underline key words that are the same or different between translations.
3. Research: Look up the Hebrew or Greek meaning for the underlined words and record it.
4. Consider: Ask questions of the verse. 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. Apply: What is God saying to you? How does this verse relate to your life today?

​The Verse Mapping Bible is beautifully designed and being the font geek that I am, I absolutely loved the font and color of the font. Basically how it differs from other Bibles is that every so often there is a page specifically set aside to map out a verse of the Bible. It gives you space to dig into specific verses and look at the key words providing definitions to help your study. It also has questions to help lead you to apply what you’ve studied. So often it seems practical application can get left out of study, so this is huge a highlight.
 
It also has a table of weight and measures in the back and a small topical reference. There is a new girl in the youth group at church that just gave her life to Christ at camp. My son was able to give her the Verse Mapping Bible for girls and she really liked it. I think it will be great to give her some rails to run on as she begins her study of God’s Word.

If you like the pages in the Bible and wanted more of them, that is where the  Verse Mapping Journal  comes in. It is more pages of lined out questions to help you study a passage of Scripture on your own.
 

I am happy with this Bible. Obviously because it’s God’s Word but also because the whole point of verse mapping is the get people into God’s Word for themselves. Huge plus! So often we can go to what others say about God’s Word in place of reading it ourselves. But I still am bias to our Missional Women Journals that seem to have a few more questions that take women a little bit deeper.
 
I am looking forward to starting my first Verse Map and maybe you’ll like it too. Give it a try. I bet you can do it on your own and if you like having it right there in your Bible, this might be the Bible for you. If you want to learn more about the newly released Verse Mapping Bible, this is a great read.
 
And if you’re curious about Bible Gateway, it is the internets most visited Christian website that seeks to equip people to understand the Bible. They have visitors for more than 70 languages. How awesome is that!?! They have something called Bible Gateway Plus which is a membership that gives access to 40+ Bible studies and reference books.
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​Laura's desire is to point to Jesus and lead people to be in awe of God. She is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Her and her husband have been in full time ministry since 2002. She serves with Master Plan Ministries as the Director of Women's Ministries and has extensive experience leading Bible studies, discipling women and speaking to groups and is the Founder of the internationally popular blog MissionalWomen.com that helps women live on mission for the glory of God. She has written seven books/Bible studies, designed 2 popular ministry tools and has made journals for quiet times for many books of the Bible. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, and Instagram.

The cover of my daughters old Bible got ripped off and the whole thing wasn't really holding up too well. So, I went researching for another Bible for her. I came across the Beautiful Word hard cover Bible and knew she would love it. It has over 600 verses she can color and a beautiful cover that can't be ripped off. :)  My daughter absolutely loves it! So when I had the opportunity to review this Bible for free as part of the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid I jumped on it so I could give it away to my daughters friend.  

Since getting the Bible my daughter enjoys reading it in the mornings with me and she takes it to church and colors the verses while she is listening to the sermon. This has been my very favorite Bible I have gotten my kids. If you're in the market for a new Bible for a kiddo or if you need a good gift item for a girl ages 8-12, check it out.

It has:

• Complete text of the accurate, readable and clear New International Version (NIV)
• Over 600 verses illustrated in ready-to-color line art
• Four colored pencils
• Six sheets of stickers designed for girls
• Thick white paper for writing and doodling
• Lined, wide margins for notes and reflections
• Satin ribbon marker
• Beautifully debossed and screen-printed cover
• Exclusive Zondervan NIV Comfort Print® typeface in a readable 8-point print size 

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​They also sent me a copy of the Beautiful Word Mark Bible Journal. ​

This is a neat concept. Each book of the Bible is broken down into the text of Scripture on one side and blank space on the other. So you can have notes for every book of the Bible in separate journals. I personally am partial to the ones we make that have a little more processing of what is read. But I bet some people would really enjoy these.

​#BibleGatewayPartner

When I was in Junior High I went to a camp that encouraged us to have daily quiet times. They gave us a little campus journal devotional that had a verse and little commentary for each day. I learned a lot and began to crave God's Word more and more as I could see God changing my heart through it. I bought a couple study tools to help me learn God's Word, one of which was Halley's Bible Handbook. Between that and Henrietta Mears' What the Bible is All About book, a new passion began and God was shaping my heart to desire things He desired for my life. 

So when the opportunity came about to review Halley's Study Bible through being a Bible Gateway Blogger Grid member, I was all in.

So the following is my honest review of the NIV Halley's Study Bible in exchange for a free copy.

* The things said by Jesus are in red. That's always super helpful to me.

* Concordance in the back. This is great for when you can't quite remember where that verse is, but you remember a few words in the verse.

* Little nuggets of history. In blue boxes there are little blurbs about the history or culture of the time it was written. I've really appreciated the insights I've read so far.

* Parallel passages. Under each story that has the same story told in another book of the Bible, it lists where the other story is told. 

* Color pictures. There are pictures throughout of things like a shepherd with his flock, a cedar tree, a model of the antonia fortress etc. It's helpful to see pictures of the thing being talked about.

* Study notes at the bottom of the page. I love these little notes in Bibles. It's like hearing someone else's wisdom about a verse I may have missed.

* The preface. They did a great job in the preface on helping to explain how the Bible is organized.

* The hardback. I'm not a huge hardback fan in any book. (But there are leather versions available.)

* The maps. There are a ton of them, which a lot of people appreciate. I just don't find them very useful.

Overall, this is a Bible I would recommend. You can check out more about this Bible here.

God’s Word gives us freedom, strength, and purity, it leads us to obedience, produces fruit, and gives us health, guidance, confidence, comfort, revival, understanding, discernment, insight, and restoration.
 
It makes us wise, enlightens our eyes, warns us, leads us to trust  God, motivates us to worship, gives us an eternal perspective, it is the best light for the past, present, and future, reveals the origin, nature and purpose of man, sets straight, clarifies right and wrong, directs, encourages.
 
 It reveals God’s heart and handiwork, shows us what pleases Him, makes us complete, provides spiritual nourishment, and teaches us patience, courage, perseverance and joy. It gives us hope, teaches us how to forgive and how to be forgiven, how to find relief, how to love and be loved.
 
It reveals God’s goodness, His justice, His standards and His mind. Without it we are deceived, it keeps us from sin, sanctifies us, gives us instruction, success, prosperity and provides us with all our needs in the spiritual realm.
 
It reveals what is to be learned, taught and obeyed, gives us adequacy and makes us equipped for doing good. It convicts, and convinces, and is the standard by which we will be judged.
 
 This one chapter a day Bible Reading Plan goes back and forth from Old Testament to New Testament and makes it possible  for you to read through the entire Bible. At one chapter a day it will take just over 3 years but after that you will have met with God through every single page of His Word. How awesome is that! 

I made a printable of these for your convenience. Just click the image below, save and print. Enjoy! 

If you like things like this, subscribe as I send out freebies to subscribes as often as I can. Not to mention you'll get 3 free ebooks. ​

​Laura's desire is to point to Jesus and lead people to be in awe of God. She is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Her and her husband have been in full time ministry since 2002. She serves with Master Plan Ministries as the Director of Women's Ministries and has extensive experience leading Bible studies, discipling women and speaking to groups and is the Founder of the internationally popular blog MissionalWomen.com that helps women live on mission for the glory of God. She has written seven books/Bible studies, designed 2 popular ministry tools and has made journals for quiet times for many books of the Bible. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, and Instagram.

​Why Memorize Scripture?
There are three things that last forever, God, His Word and people. So, those things are a pretty big deal right? Well, here is what God says about His Word. He thinks pretty highly of it. Each of these things is taken from a specific verse.

God’s Word gives us freedom, strength, and purity, it leads us to obedience, produces fruit, gives us health, guidance, confidence, comfort, revival, understanding, discernment, insight, and restoration, it makes us wise, enlightens our eyes, warns us, leads us to trust  God, motivates us to worship, gives us an eternal perspective, it is the best light for the past, present, and future, it reveals the origin, nature and purpose of man, it sets straight, clarifies right and wrong, directs, encourages, reveals God’s heart and handiwork, shows us what pleases Him, makes us complete, provides spiritual nourishment, teaches us patience, courage, perseverance and joy, it gives us hope, is the best marriage manual, teaches us how to forgive and how to be forgiven, how to find relief, how to love and be loved, it reveals God’s goodness and His justice, His standards and His mind, without it we are deceived, it keeps us from sin, it sanctifies us, gives us instruction, success, prosperity, it provides us with all our needs in the spiritual realm, reveals what is to be learned, taught and obeyed, gives us adequacy and makes us equipped for doing good, it convicts, and convinces, and is the standard by which we will be judged.  

Examples of people who valued God's Word.
Jesus knew the word of God and was able to drive away Satan when tempted. Matt 4:1-11
King David clearly saw that knowing the word of God was the key to purity. Ps 119:9-11
Paul says that the word is a sword in your amour against the devil's schemes. Eph 6:13-18 and was able to reason with non-Christians because of a knowledge of the word. Acts 17:1-4

Other good reasons to memorize Scripture:
* We are told to be prepared to answer questions concerning our faith in Christ. (1Pet 3:15)
* Having the word in our hearts allows us to encourage and teach others. (Col 3:16; 2 Tim 2:14-17)
* Knowing and using the Word teaches us right from wrong.
* It can increase our ability to distinguish truth from error in doctrine
* It will help our prayer life (John 15:7)
* Knowing God's word allows us to study the Bible more effectively
*If we know the scriptures we can meditate on it anytime wherever we are. (Ps 119:97; Ps 16:7)
* What we put in our minds, transforms our heart. If we put trash in, we'll get trash coming out. If we put truth in, we'll get beauty coming out.  (Rom 12:1-2)


How to Memorize Scripture
Do you have a desire to memorize Scripture but aren't sure what to memorize? Have you memorized verses before but they seem to be obscure and haven't really come in handy on a daily basis? 

I've been there, so I'd love to share what has helped me. I have found it is easiest to memorize verses topically so they are easily usable in my daily life. When I am tempted or am not believing what's true about God, I then have a little category of verses in my head I can run through to remind me of what's true.

Though there are a ton of verses that are good to memorize, here are some that have been helpful to me.

I made a printable of these for your convenience. Just click the image below, save and print. Enjoy! If you like things like this, subscribe as I send out freebies to subscribes as often as I can. Not to mention you'll get 3 free ebooks. ​

​12 Practical Tips on How to Memorize Scripture
​1. Write the verse on one side of a notecard and where it is found on the other. Punch a little hole in the corner and put a ring clip through them. Then categorize them topically. I usually use a sticky note for the category topic in front of each section. 

2. Pick verses that relate to things you are going through. Basically make sure it's usable in your daily life.

3. Take your ring of verses with you and look over them when you're in line or waiting for appointments.

4. REVIEW- Use your verses in your prayer time and use them to pray specific things for people. Schedule something like once a week to review your verses because if you forget them all your hard work of memorizing them goes down the drain till heaven. 

5. Make a smart goal with how many and how often you want to memorize. (Smart is an acroynm to help you make good goals: Specific, Measurable, Action Oriented, Realistic, and within a Timeline)
 
6. Try putting it to a melody you know or make up your own little chant.

7. Write it down and re-write it several times.

8. Associate the verse with other things: people, smells, places etc.

9. Say out loud

10. Keep it in front of your eyes so you'll think of it often.

11. USE IT! 

What does it take?
* Discipline (1 Cor. 4:7, Heb. 12:11, Gal. 5:23)
* Endurance (Heb. 12:1, 2 Tim. 1:7)


“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.”  Dt. 11:18-20

​Laura's desire is to point to Jesus and lead people to be in awe of God. She is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Her and her husband have been in full time ministry since 2002. She serves with Master Plan Ministries as the Director of Women's Ministries and has extensive experience leading Bible studies, discipling women and speaking to groups and is the Founder of the internationally popular blog MissionalWomen.com that helps women live on mission for the glory of God. She has written seven books/Bible studies, designed 2 popular ministry tools and has made journals for quiet times for many books of the Bible. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, and Instagram.

"Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds." Psalm 71:17

Does this verse amaze you? It does me! To think that God has been teaching me all these years back further than I can remember. Wow. To think that He was there helping me perceive and learn... for years... there... with me... coaching, instructing, teaching. Just wow. To think that there is no event in my life that He wasn't right there actively helping me understand. Oh Lord, let this hit us. For a learner like me, this utterly blows my mind and brings me close to tears.

And another awesome thing about Him being a Teacher is that it implies He speaks to us. I LOVE that about Him! I love that we can hear Him. I mean seriously, what kind of God is so incredibly awesome that He makes it possible for the finite to hear and understand the infinite. It is mind blowing that God says, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great unsearchable things you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3 

Are you confident in knowing God's voice?
Here are a few ways I grew in confidence in hearing and knowing God's voice:3 Ways to Grow in Hearing God's Voice1. Saturate your mind with Scripture. It is God's words. If you want to know what He sounds like, go to the book He wrote. Only makes sense right. As you read, ask Him to help you understand and have a journal handy to write down the things that stand out and the insights you gain. The Holy Spirit is the One who illuminates our minds to Scripture. So if you have an ah-ha moment, recognize that as God's voice. 

It's like if you were to learn another language. The best way to learn it is to submerse yourself in the culture of people that speak it and it becomes natural. When we saturate our minds with Scripture, we are then able to recognize God's voice and heart.

2. Ask Him questions. When I was in college (and had much more free time than now) I would get up and walk 1/2 way down the block to my church and pray with the pastor and his wife for the church for an hour. Then I would go on a little walk down this beautiful road and pray for another hour. Then I would get home and do my Bible study. Everyday for almost two years I would spend at least three hours a day with the Lord. On my prayer walk I would get to this rock on the side of the road and sit there with my journal asking God questions. After I asked God a question, I would write down the thought that came to my mind and I would weigh it against Scripture. "Would God really say that?", "Does it contradict anything He said in His Word?", "Does that match up with what His Word shows me His heart and character are like?" If it didn't contradict Scripture or His character I would take it as though God has spoke to me. Looking back, that is the time I grew in confidence in hearing God's voice.  

3. Memorize Scripture. A lot people feel like they have a bad memory and just can't memorize Scripture. But really, just because something is a little bit difficult or doesn't come naturally, doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. In fact we should be a people marked by doing hard things.  And the reality is that God takes broken things and uses them to show Himself to be great. He wants to take you're bad memory to show Himself capable. Like how He took me, a girl who has a below average memory and can't remember names or faces or even my very own life events sometimes. God is so awesome that He took my not so great memory and enabled me to memorize the entire books of James, Philippians and half of  1 Thessalonians and hundreds of other verses. THAT is how capable God is! (I don't tell you this to brag-in fact I most often try to keep it secret. But then I miss the opportunity to brag on God. Because honestly it's not something I am capable of on my own!) So surely if you have a better memory than me (which I'm confident you probably do!), He can do MUCH more through you! 

​​Laura's desire is to point to Jesus and lead people to be in awe of God. She is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Her and her husband have been in full time ministry since 2002. She serves with Master Plan Ministries as the Director of Women's Ministries and has extensive experience leading Bible studies, discipling women and speaking to groups and is the Founder of the internationally popular blog MissionalWomen.com that helps women live on mission for the glory of God. She has written seven books/Bible studies, designed 2 popular ministry tools and has made journals for quiet times for many books of the Bible. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, and Instagram.

The most important ​thing about us is what we believe about God for it affects everything we think, say and do. So this little 31 day Scripture writing printable helps to keep the truth about God in the front of our minds. Enjoy!
​
Click the image below, save and print.
​And if you like things like this, subscribe to our one in a while newsletter that is filled with freebies, ministry resources and updates. And you'll even get my Ministry Resources for Women ebook for FREE.

​​​Laura's desire is to point to Jesus and lead people to be in awe of God. She is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Her and her husband have been in full time ministry since 2002. She serves with Master Plan Ministries as the Director of Women's Ministries and has extensive experience leading Bible studies, discipling women and speaking to groups and is the Founder of the internationally popular blog MissionalWomen.com that helps women live on mission for the glory of God. She has written seven books/Bible studies, designed 2 popular ministry tools and has made journals for quiet times for many books of the Bible. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, and Instagram.

Can't we all use the reminder what is true about us? The world, our own flesh and the world are constantly telling us lies about who we are. So, this 31 day printable has a verse telling the truth about those who have put their trust in Christ. I hope it's a blessing to you. :) 

Right click the image below, save and print.
​And if you like things like this, subscribe to our one in a while newsletter that is filled with freebies, ministry resources and updates. And you'll even get my Ministry Resources for Women ebook for FREE.

​Laura's desire is to point to Jesus and lead people to be in awe of God. She is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Her and her husband have been in full time ministry since 2002. She serves with Master Plan Ministries as the Director of Women's Ministries and has extensive experience leading Bible studies, discipling women and speaking to groups and is the Founder of the internationally popular blog MissionalWomen.com that helps women live on mission for the glory of God. She has written seven books/Bible studies, designed 2 popular ministry tools and has made journals for quiet times for many books of the Bible. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, and Instagram.