Cross – My Cross Illuminated Art

Auld Lang Syne

January 1, 2019December 16, 2018 ArtistoftheArt

In 1788 Robert Burns sent the poem ‘Auld Lang Syne’ to the Scots Musical Museum, indicating that it was an ancient song but that he’d been the first to record it on paper. The phrase ‘auld lang syne’ roughly translates as ‘for old times’ sake’, and the song is all about preserving old friendships and looking back over the events of the year.

It is sung all over the world, evoking a sense of belonging and fellowship, tinged with nostalgia.

It has long been a much-loved Scottish tradition to sing the song just before midnight. Everyone stands in a circle holding hands, then at the beginning of the final verse (‘And there’s a hand my trusty friend’) they cross their arms across their bodies so that their left hand is holding the hand of the person on their right, and their right hand holds that of the person on their left. When the song ends, everyone rushes to the middle, still holding hands, and probably giggling.

Yes, Christmas, the honoring of the greatest gift our Savior Jesus Christ, has recently passed in time and now we sing this ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as the ball drops in Times Square, fireworks light the skies and we come and raise a toast in some way to what may come, but often we forget to give thanks for what has past to get us to January 1, 2019.

Jesus was the beginning of the end of our feeble attempt to try and earn our salvation, which we never could have done of our own strength. By a gift of GOD among us (Emanuel) who would grow up and about 33 years later would make the payment with his very life, once for all, began. As we begin this New Year, we are the flesh of GOD ‘s creation and seem to have a need to start a fresh, improve health, or add a Bible reading plan or give up something that tempts us and leads us to a sinful situation perhaps.

Whatever it is, suddenly the big push for the goals and resolutions for 2019 are in full force and every gym is cashing in on the bet that many will join, some will come, less will stay at it and for a year there will be a paying membership of which no effort will be given. Weight loss programs have the same goal. All of these have their place and do give attention for a moment what needs our attention, our health in some way.

It is not that we are lazy, but it is we want to change things which are of the world and in the flesh. What we should be doing is taking the steps to pray, to give thanks, to join hands in a circle and praise our GOD that created a 2019 for us to make a difference and thrive in Jesus name to spread the Gospel message, so the lost can find the way. We see them everywhere, even in the mirror. We need to be aware of how others might see us and to live so that others can see the Love of Christ in us and thus our relationship with GOD through the way the truth and the life that is Jesus Christ.

We are never asked in GOD ‘s word to be perfect. That will happen in the day we are walking in the cool of the day with GOD. Jesus did not go to gym, he walked, and observed that he had to redeem the time for the days were evil. He had to go about his father’s business he once announced to his own Mother, Mary. He prayed, daily and sincerely and he took the time to share, to be a friend, to weep with those that wept, to help another as he was able and as they had belief or Faith in what he told them and in who he really was, Jesus Christ the son of GOD. He was a teacher and He was challenged at every turn by unbelievers and sometimes his own group of believers, just like it is today.

Satan has perfected his craft of distraction so that we are focusing on the things that don’t matter so GOD’s purpose is not fulfilled, but his will is fulfilled and Jesus told us the gates of hell would not prevail against His church.

So in the rough translation of ‘Auld Lang Syne’, we should meditate using GOD’s word ‘for old times’ sake’, and tasks ourselves in preserving old friendships and looking back over the events of the year. The past has it’s place and when used in the manner GOD intends, we will see what we should do and what we should not do so that we will have a life in Christ and build up treasures in heaven where nothing will touch them because despite the earth, it is where our heart is found.

So when you are thinking about the GYM membership, do so if you will also take along the electronic device so you can hear a your favorite mix of worship music as you warm up. Then switch over to a message by one of the many messengers that are teaching us GOD’s word today and enrich your life by how GOD is speaking to you not through the treadmill or the free weights, but through the one muscle that needs the workout more so that any on the outside, your HEART for Christ Jesus and thus your HEART for GOD.

Oh and if you say the GYM is not where you are at for 2019, then seek the face of GOD, and take the challenge that if you seek me you will find me. Make 2019 the year you seek GOD, you share the Gospel and you walk the walk that GOD has called each of us to walk.

If you say you don’t know what you are supposed to do, then start your day asking GOD, what is on our agenda today? Then be at peace and let Him tell you, show you and place the voice of His Holy Spirit very clear in your being so you will know. GOD loves to play the treasure hunting game. If you are paying attention, you may meet an Angel, have a small child tell you a BIG wisdom you needed to know or you might find someone who is lost and help them find their way in Christ Jesus by planing a seed and letting GOD water and fertilize it so it will grow. When you read the Bible there is a list of people who by all accounts would not be who one might pick to do the work of GOD, but GOD has overwhelmingly demonstrated that he can take anyone in any situation and any condition and use them for do HIS will for His good, even wicked for the day of evil. So he can use you.

So make that 2019 resolution a target you want to hit on the first day and 364 days later, by asking GOD to show you the plan and path he created you for in His plan for Good, though we don’t see it. Remember His Ways are above our ways and His thoughts are above our Thoughts. So we don’t often see where the crooked path with lead, but we can see where he has always made it straight when we take the time to sing in ourselves the ‘auld lang syne’.

This site was created as a site for giving. I would ask you to please Give and help me continue to Give by entering the drawing for a Art Frame which features the Tree of the Cross of Calvary there is no cost. Please Give to our favorite places to donate and that we are a part of like Give Hope Ministries.org, Silent Voices.org who are both good non-profits doing wonderful things for others that are in need and a financial gift is very much a life changer. We personally know the founders and GOD multiplies anything given to these non-profits. We have seen it first hand. These are tax deductible non-profits as well in good standing.

I pray each person that comes and reviews this artwork understands the gift of Salvation. No matter who, what, where, when or how you or your life has been, you can be saved.

The Gospel message is simple and very transforming to your life. Just start and let the Love of Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit carry you to the gift of Salvation.

If you send an email requesting Salvation Prayer, you will be prayed for and we will make sure you get some information about taking the walk of Salvation.

If you want to know more about Salvation right now, please click that link below this sentence. Remember to consider others as you change your life and share with someone else so they have a chance to change their life today.

The Gospel Message to Salvation

Remember, view the images that are posted in the NEW ART section of this website. If there is a link for “Enter Drawing” and you would like to have a chance to get one of the available Art Frames, don’t wait. The drawings are on the 28th day of each month when available. We will contact the winner and get the information to ship it to you. There is no charges for this. We do not ask for any money for the Cross Illuminated Art that is given.

Thank you for taking the time to view my Art and also to read and to share with others this website.

If there are any questions please send an email to info@mycrossilluminatedart.net

If you want prayer for Salvation, please email us at prayer@mycrossilluminatedart.net

If you set the world away from your life for moment and focus on the Cross and what it means, your life will be transformed. It all starts at the Cross, where Christ Jesus, paid it all for us all. Should you not consider to bask in the Glow of Jesus Christ?

If you need prayer then send a request by clicking the word prayer.

Also if you would be interested in some of my art, then go to the New Art section and see what is available. Enter the drawing of any available NEW ART.

Focus on GOD through Jesus Christ, daily. If you will give GOD the focus, he will show you the reason he created you and if you commit your works to him, he will place the thoughts in your heart so you know what you should be accomplishing in your life.

God Bless and may his face shine upon you and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019 !!!

Artist Sharon Smith

Glow

August 1, 2018August 2, 2018 ArtistoftheArt

Oh my Lord, we are in the heat of the summer in the Northern Hemisphere where the days are bright and hot depending on where you are blessed to reside. Here in the Southern California desert, it exceeds 100 degrees F daily from May through mid September and it is so hot that every object seems to Glow with the appearance of waves of air flowing up and out.

If you ever heard the phrase “so hot you could fry an egg” well you can fry an egg on a car body in this desert heat. Yes that is the truth, as long as you are not in a hurry, but it will cook. Other items that have additional features in the heat are those car window sun shades. Sure they work well to keep the sun off the dash or interior, but it is so hot you need to also have a kitchen pot holder to grab it off the window as temperatures in a car can get over 150 degrees F.

Even the asphalt gets so hot that if you are wearing rubber soled shoes, they will soften and wear swiftly, signs are posted to remind you of the asphalt for animals.

The Bible talks about a heat that is unbearable even more than the hottest day in the desert sun. If you ever watch a video on the solar power collectors in the Nevada/California border area, it is so hot, birds that fly near it burst from the focused intense heat.

In the Bible, there are two sources of heat that are not the place for eternity for anyone, Hell (Sheol) and The Lake of Fire. These are more agonizing a torment and is forever. In the book of Luke Chapter 16:19-21, the rich man who did not have compassion on Lazarus at the gate daily found himself in Hell and asked if Lazarus who was in heaven could bring him one drop of water on his tongue. He also begged that someone should go to his family and tell them how not to come to this place and suffer with the unquenching thirst.

In the book of John 4:1-26, Jesus offers a Samaritan woman at the well as the living water that will forever quench your thirst, for you will never thirst again Jesus stated. This water will keep you out of the heat of Hell and The Lake of Fire.

The Cross of Calvary’s Glows with the radiance of our Salvation journey begins. It is the place the living water of Christ Jesus was poured out and the promise of a way to quench the soul for a better eternity through Christ Jesus who is the Glow of everlasting life and deliverance from the heat of the everlasting torment.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ sets us free. It is the single most significant event that makes what GOD offered in his only begotten son, that sets him apart from any other man made promise of Salvation. For no other false GOD has given so that what he created can live and walk with him in the cool of the day and not suffer the torment of the unending heat.

I know like so many I did not like to hear or eagerly discuss the path to Hell or Sheol as in the old testament or the reality of the Lake of Fire, the last place of torment after the great white throne judgment as stated in the Revelation 20:11-15. But we must. This is not a fantasy, it is a reality and the choice to accept grows shorter every moment we live.

When it is dark in our lives, the cross Glows with Christ Jesus when you accept his offering of Salvation. The noon day sun be bright and the sun shining at an angle as to cast little to no shadows, but only the Glow of Christ Jesus in the heart of a believer can create a Glow greater than any sun that GOD hung in the heavens and has not shadow.

If you need prayer then send a request by clicking the word prayer.

Also if you would be interested in some of my art, then go to the New Art section and see what is available. Enter the drawing of any available NEW ART.

God Bless and may his face shine upon you,

Artist Sharon Smith

Standing or Kneeling

April 21, 2018April 21, 2018 ArtistoftheArt

There is a wonderful wall image in my room that states “Prayer, when you can no longer stand life, then kneel”

When the storm is raging in every aspect of our day, we need to pray. When everything is going so well and we have no apparent needs at the moment, we need to pray. When we observe Jesus Christ in the Gospels, we see over and over he is slipped off alone to pray.

Scripture tells us in many places in the New Testament to Pray and not give up, Luke 18:1; Pray without ceasing, 1 Thes. 5:16-18; Be Anxious for nothing, in everything in Prayer, Supplication with Thanksgiving bring your every concern before GOD. Philippians 4:6

When we think of Jesus praying we assume most of the time he is on his knees in prayer and maybe he is and maybe his is standing. However in his time of great distress, when in the Garden of Gethsemane praying, he is on his knees and under so much stress that it states his sweat was a drops of blood.(Matthew 26:36-46) The moment is coming where he can no longer stand and becomes the illumination for our Salvation. He is going to the Cross for our sins and he is willing to let our sin nail him to it so that we may live eternal life and have a way out of the Storms of our life.

In the Gospel of John, in Chapter 17, Jesus prays for us. He is about to go and suffer probably more than any of us could suffer and he will also take the full weight of sin upon himself. He will take on something he himself has never known.

The agony becomes so real when he utters, “My GOD, my GOD why have you forsaken me?” Everywhere else when Jesus speaks about or to GOD himself, he speaks stating his Father. But in the moment when he, Jesus, has taken all the sin upon himself, then he finds that he can no longer feel the presence of Love of the Father on him for GOD is to Holy for sin to be in his presence, even if that sin is on his son and therefore Jesus knows what we know but don’t realize, with sin we are separated from GOD.

There is a wonderful and very touching video that was edited from a foreign film to create an allegory of GOD the Father and the Love for us that his son is ultimately sacrificed to give himself to save us all. I highly recommend this video, take the time to watch it with full attention to everything in the movie. Watch the details as the story unfolds, but watch it with Jesus Christ and GOD the Father and the gift of Jesus Christ on the Cross fully in your heart.

Think about that moment when Jesus uttered, it is done and breath his last and give up the Spirit. Think of the moments between that last breath and the moment he was resurrected to show that he could overcome sin and overcome death, for us.

When you are done, see if in truth you can understand that even if out of the estimated 14 Billion souls that have ever lived on this earth, God would have sent his son if only one of us could be saved.

There is a Hymn that is taken from the word of GOD. The lyrics and music were written by Stuart Townend:

How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He would give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasureHow great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One
Bring many sons to gloryBehold the Man upon a cross
My guilt upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no powr’s, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

It was once spoken in a message from a missionary that visited a local church and the man made the statement the Bible is a Love Story, except the opening verse. Since hearing this statement, I keep this in mind when I study it, looking at that Love story and realizing there can be no greater Love than GOD, who is Love. (1 John 4:8)

So give thanks, pray for your needs, pray for others, pray for the situations you see in this world and give thanks for all things, even the ones that you may not feel are something gratitude should support. When you can’t stand your life, then kneel before GOD asking in Jesus Christ name, for he is the one that went to the Cross for us all, overcame sin and death for us all, marking it paid in full and take in your heart him who still is the truth, the way and the life and made a way for us all to receive the gift of eternal life.

Let me share the Gospel message with you by clicking this symbol of the Cross below.

If you need prayer then send a request by clicking the word prayer.

Also if you would be interested in some of my art, then go to the New Art section and see what is available. Enter the drawing.

God Bless and may his face shine upon you,

Artist Sharon Smith

After Easter

April 3, 2018April 3, 2018 ArtistoftheArt

We count down to Christmas and then again to Easter. We think about the birth of our Savior and then we look to the Cross as the place where the sacrifice of our eternity, the payment for what we could never pay for is made.

Before our Savior arrives to pay the debt for us all, we follow him through many moments, many stops along the way and find ourselves at the last supper before that moment in the Garden when all the weight of what is coming upon him is reaching the human and flesh part of him.

We rejoice when the resurrection is realized, death has been overcome, the sin which we were drowning in was taken care of for all eternity. Jesus Christ had it marked paid in full stamping not in ink, but in his blood shed for us all.

Easter celebration comes, we rejoice that he has risen by a response when we hear those words we reply, Risen indeed ! We share our smile and our joy, we worship and praise and reflect upon this moment and how it changes lives then and now and forever.

Then comes the day after and the days after. Our focus on this moment may fade and the world comes back into view. We don’t really think about those next 40 days when Jesus was setting up his final part of the journey of payment with his ascension to be at the right hand of the Holy Father, given all authority over heaven, earth and below the earth.

In the Gospel of John we read the scripture found in John 3:16;

^{16 “}For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Many stop at that point, but John who also wrote the book of Revelation to tell us the rest of the story to come, imparts in the next verse a look at why in John 3:17 when he informed us;

^{17 “}For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Then in John 3:18 he put a recap on what was most important for us all to place in our hearts and help us when we share the Gospel Message;

¹⁸“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

We look at an empty Cross, and we don’t often think about what was done there, we don’t see the nails of the payment method used to take away the sins we have promoted in our own lives. We don’t look and see there is an empty tomb to show us that Jesus overcame what we would never be able to do for ourselves.

Before that day of his crucifixion he spoke these words in John 16:33;

^{33 “}These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

So the tough work has been completed, now we as the believers have the easier task, to share the good news of the Gospel message. To help one another by doing what Jesus told us as his new commandment in John 13:34:

34. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

There are at least 21 verses in the New Testament that tell us those words, to Love One Another. We show that Love by sharing, caring and giving.

My art is my God given way for sharing, because I care that you have the Love of GOD in you through Jesus Christ and when you give, then you fulfill other scriptures as well.

Let me share the Gospel message with you by clicking this symbol of the Cross below.

If you need prayer then send a request by clicking the word prayer.

Also if you would be interested in some of my art, then go to the New Art section and see what is available.

Don’t let Christmas and Easter be the only time you focus on GOD through Jesus Christ and the Cross. In Matthew’s Gospel we see what Jesus Christ stated in Matthew 22:36-40:

³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

³⁷Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

God Bless and may his face shine upon you,

Artist Sharon Smith