Saved – My Cross Illuminated Art

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.

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,

Artist Sharon Smith

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

Tag: Saved

Standing or Kneeling

After Easter