Scripture Series: Righteousness of God Card---Another Week of Inspirational/Anything Goes Challenge at Word Art Wednesday!

Hello there, Crafty friends!  Hope you are having such a wonderful day in the Lord!  Resurrection Sunday is just around the corner and I can see a lot of cards being made for that.  I seldom make cards for a specific occasion but the scripture Word Art that we are highlighting this week at Word Art Wednesday (WAW) Anything Goes/Inspirational Challenge focuses on the redemptive work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."  Every man, physically born on earth, is born of Adam.  That means that from the very moment we gaze unto this world, we are already carrying the "sin nature" (nature of Satan) that was deposited in Adam right after He disobeyed God.  Because of this, everyone is a sinner, no exception!  The problem is, we've been ignorant of this Truth because the culture/religion we grew up with have no knowledge at all or have denied us the opportunity to seek the Word of God.  You see, it's not the things we do that makes us sinners--- it's WHO WE ARE!  The sin nature affected all of humanity after Adam sinned against God.  This causes us to willfully rebel against God, to think selfishly and conjure up evil things all the time.  In this state, mankind is literally the children of the devil.  Jesus spoke of this in John 8:44, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."  We don't teach tiny, little babies to lie but no matter how cute and cuddly they are, we'll witness them lie in due time.  Truthfully, there's nothing man can do that can eliminate/destroy the presence of the sin nature in his life.  On our own, we are powerless against the works of the enemy!  God is the Only One who can save us from the "wrath" that we are destined to suffer by being in Adam.  Because God is a Just God, He cannot allow man's act of disobedience (high treason) to go unpunished.  So He sent His Only Begotten Son (Jesus Christ) to this world for the sole purpose of dying on the Cross (once and for all) to pay the penalty of man's sin.  Jesus, who is God, left His throne of glory and wrapped Himself  in human flesh to rescue mankind.  He had to be pure and without blemish (Only God is perfect) therefore,  He had to be born of a virgin (conceived by the Holy Spirit---free from the contamination of Adam's seed)!   He can fully represent man because He was born in the flesh and at the same time, He is without sin which speaks of His Divine Nature---He's Very God and Very Man!  Jesus placed all our sins unto Himself!  He endured all or our punishment by nailing them all to the Cross. He experienced the full weight of God's wrath and His Father turned His face away from Him as he bore the brutal ugliness of SIN.   The holiness of God demanded justice and Jesus took all of our punishment because of His love for each and everyone of us.   By one sacrifice, He paid for our freedom from the power of Satan, sin nature and spiritual death (past, present and future).  He also took back the dominion (God-given authority) that man handed down to Satan after the Fall.  Through Jesus Christ, everything is brought back to it's rightful place as if the Fall never happened.  To be righteous before the Lord is to be in right standing with Him.  Our God (who is holy, righteous and perfect) considers everyone who came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to be in right standing with Him.  There's no blemish, nothing missing or broken, just perfect in the sight of the Lord because we have accepted the gift of salvation that Jesus Christ won for us.  We can search everywhere and will not be able to find Someone who can love us as much as Jesus loved us.  Every religion in the planet is dependent upon human works for acceptance and recognition.  Yet only true Christianity strongly discourages human works as a means of salvation.  It is solely by putting our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ (His death, burial and resurrection) will we be made right in the sight of the Lord.   The Bible declares in John 14:6, "Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Therefore, only Jesus gets the glory, honor and praise for what He's done in our lives. Here are some verses to ponder on:

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (Romans 5:8-11)

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."(Philippians 2: 5-11)

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."  (Titus 2:11-14)

Anyway, you can download the free Word Art (by Karen Murray) that I used in my card here at WAW.  You can incorporate it in your projects and link it to our Challenge although not mandatory.   For my inspiration Card, I used an image from Tiddly Inks called "Wryn-Close to my Heart" which I colored with my ProMarker/Prismacolor markers.  The base is a white CS, cut and scored to make a 5.5 inches square card.  All the DP's were from my scraps, the flowers I layered from Prima and added a button at the center from Paper Studio and the white nail head gems are from Imaginisce.  I stamped a sentiment from Fiskars to serve as corner borders.  I applied some glitters (Stickles-Crystal and Diamond) to the flower and the image.  Lastly, I stitched all over the card.  I like the vibrant colors i chose for this card.  They just exude happy, happy, happy.

 RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD CARD:

  RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD CARD LAYERS:

  RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD CARD INSIDE:

 RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX:


*** WANT THIS CARD?  AVAILABLE AT MY ETSY---HERE! *** 

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

A Song In Your Heart---Everything Grows
Dazzling Diva---Add a Sequins/ATG
Crafting by Designs---ATG
Creative Moments---Thing with Wings/ATG
Digistamps4Joy---Add Wings
Divas by Design---ATG
Handmade Harbour---Spring/Easter
Scrapper's Delights---For a Special Lady
Stampavie and More---Girly
City Crafter---Easter/Spring
Deep Ocean---For a Friend
Fan-Tastic Tuesday---Use  Patterned Paper
Scrap Creations---Spring
Just Inspirational---Family or Friends
Loves Rubberstamps---ATG
Oldie but a Goodie---April Showers Bring May Flowers (all except the sentiment  is over 6 mos. old)
Papertake Weekly---ATG
Pause Dream Enjoy---3D Projects
TTCRD---ATG
Tiddly Inks---Celebrate Spring
Top Tip Tuesday---Cute (Top Tip: Word stamps can also be used as borders like I did in my project)
Artistic Inspirations---Easter Colors/ATG
Cheerful Stamp Pad---Add Some Flowers
Crafting from the Heart---ATG/Cute and Cuddly
Craftin Desert Diva's---ATG
Eureka Stamps---Spring Flowers
Incy Wincy Designs---Tic Tac Toe (Yellow, Gems, Wings)
Kaboodle Doodle---Spring is Coming
Make Something Monday---Sparkle
Melonheadz Friends---Time for Spring
My Craft Creations---ATG
Scrapping Everyday Miracles---Theme Challenge (Scripture used encompasses faith, hope, love)
Stamp and Create---Ready for Spring
Crazy Challenge---Bling It Up
Pile It On---Floral Fantasy

I surely hope you will come and join us at the WAW Blog.  You can upload up to 5 entries as long as it has an uplifting/inspirational message.  Wonderful prizes are awaiting the winners courtesy of our sponsors this week---Loves Rubber Stamps, Milk Coffee Stamps. There will be a third/special prize available.  To find out how to win, please go to the WAW Blog.  Our Challenge is "Anything Goes" so you can be as creative as you want to be.  I can't wait to see what you come up with.  So, this is it for me today.  Have a blessed week and remember, in Jesus, we are in right standing with God. To Him all glory is given!