Scripture Series: Keep Thy Heart Card---It's Time for Another Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hello everyone!  Another week gone by and here I am again posting another card for our Challenge at Word Art Wednesday (WAW). We have a wonderful Scripture Word Art (free for your download) at this week's Challenge.  It's taken from Proverbs 4:23 which states, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."  Every word written in the Bible is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) and everything is useful in directing us to the path of righteousness.  When we find  certain principles repeated in the Scripture, it goes to say that God is placing an emphasis on that matter and it will be a benefit for us to listen to what the Spirit has to say.  When the Law of Moses was given to God's people, many became concerned on the external appearance of their obedience to God.  The Pharisees and the Sadducee were experts of the Law and had pride themselves of living under the Law.   Confident in their form of holiness, they questioned Jesus on his friendship with the outcast of the society.  They took the law so literally and forgot about the very heart of the law--- LOVE and COMPASSION.  The God of heaven and earth didn't give us the Law (Torah) to save us but to show us that there is no way we can achieve righteousness in His sight through our own efforts.  If we break one law, we are guilty of breaking all of them.  It is such hopeless situation which should have pointed us to the Only Solution---to receive by faith what Jesus Christ has accomplished on our behalf through His death, burial and resurrection!   Instead, we allowed religion to bury as deeper into hopelessness and made us believe that there's another way to God except the One He already provided.   Like people in the past, we hold on to false appearances of holiness.  We approve or disapprove of people based on our ignorance of the Scripture.   Jesus showed us a proper example in Matthew 12:1-8 which says, "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath (day of rest). His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”  

The very heart of Jesus beats LOVE and MERCY.  He came to the world to rescue us from bondage of sin so that we can taste the life He has prepared for us from the beginning of time.  Though sin tried to disqualify us from ever seeing that life---Jesus provided the way back in our Father's arms.  Jesus does not look on the outward appearance and how fancy or torn your clothes were/are.  Instead, He looks at the intent (motive) of our hearts for it is truly who we really are.  We may be treating somebody nicely on the outside but have evil intentions inside.  I am convinced that God wants us to be transparent---to act with the right motives and intentions.  He desires for us to watch over our hearts and with the help of the Holy Spirit, to never let our hearts dictate us nor gain absolute control of our being.  Inside of us are many desires (most of it are geared towards selfish ambitions) and if we don't guard ourselves, that can easily lead us to the wrong path.  So, as recipients of the sacrifice Jesus won for us, we ought to act smartly, always allowing the Word of God to shape the desires of our hearts.  When we have the love of God sitting in the throne of our hearts, we will learn to love and act like Jesus---our perfect example!  Here are some passages that can guide us to walk in the righteousness our God clothed us with:

"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.  The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45)

"Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.  This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."   (1 John 3:15-20)

 "Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;  that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit." (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)

 For my inspiration Card, I used an image from one of our sponsors---Deedee's Digis called "Cow Are You?" which I colored with my ProMarker/Prismacolor markers.  The base is an A7 size,  Kraft cardstock.  The DP's are from my scraps of different brands.  The flowers and clouds die-cuts are from Heidi Grace and the lacy border was stamped using Dylusions clear stamps  (love, love, love that image).  I also added some glitters on the flowers (Stickles-Crystal) and white nail head gems from Imaginisce.  Lastly, I did some fancy and regular stitching on this project.  I thought it came out wonderfully. 

KEEP THY HEART CARD:

 KEEP THY HEART CARD LAYERS:

 KEEP THY HEART CARD INSIDE:

KEEP THY HEART CARD WITH ENVELOPE:

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Add a Little Dazzle---Home for the Holidays/ATG
Crafting by Designs---Childhood Memories (I love the country life)
Crafting for all Seasons---Colors of Autumn
Nutcrafters---Anything but Square
Ruby's Rainbow---ATG
Scrapper's Delights---ATG
Random Fan---ATG
Creative Colors---Color Challenge
Scrap-Creations---Fall
Inky Chicks---ATG
Oldie but a Goodie---Autumn  (All the DP's are more than 6 mos. old)
Milkcoffee---Colors of Autumn
Creative Romance---ATG
That Craft Place---Sentimental
Corrosive---Fall/Autumn
Crafty Bloggers Network---ATG
Crafty Boots---ATG
Lexi's Creations---Autumn Colors
Love to Scrap---ATG
Melonheadz---Autumn Colors
Scrapbook Stamp Society---ATG with Optional Button
Paper Nest Dolls---ATG
Mema's Crafts---Fall
Ladybug Crafts---ATG
Crafting at the Weekend---ATG
Bearly-Mine---Autumn
Seemacrafts---Autumn is Coming

There you have it folks!  Please join us at our WAW Challenge by linking any projects you make with this week's Word Art but not mandatory.  As long as your creation fits the family, uplifting, inspiring category, you may enter up to 5 times.  We have 2  great sponsors this week namely Cheery Lynn Designs (Die-cut "Fall Harvest 1") and Deedee's Digis ( 3 Digi Sets).  Hurry and don't miss the chance to snag a prize.  Have a wonderful week and know that though you may be surrounded by difficult situations in life---put your trust in the Lord!  He is in full control!