Scripture Series: Armor of God Card---Join Us for our First Challenge for the New Year at Word Art Wednesday!

Hi there, Crafty pals!  Here to highlight my inspiration project for our newest Challenge at Word Art Wednesday (WAW).  As always, we feature a Scripture Word Art  that you can download for free at the WAW site.  It comes from Ephesians 6:11 which says, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."  What a wonderful passage to begin the New Year, 2019.

Before anything else, I would like to greet you all a late Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Joyous New Year!   I've been away from the Blogging world for most of December due to some family vacations and the regular hustle and bustle of the Holiday season.  The past few days leading to the New Year, I felt very sick from severe allergies (mainly due to pollen and the drastic weather changes here in Texas) that made breathing very difficult---well, EXTREMELY difficult.  It was hard to sleep and rest when I had to gasp for air each time I breathe.  I had to sleep sitting down for better air flow.  To make matters worst on New Year's Eve, I had terrible stomach ache the whole day that I thought of spending New Year in my pajamas, laying in the sofa. That would be the first time I would welcome the New Year in that situation.  But a couple of hours before we rang the New Year, I made a decision to get up and gathered the energy to clean up and get dressed and prepared myself to head outside with my family to watch some fireworks downtown.  I was determined not to allow anything negative to dampen my spirit and reminded myself that my joy, my strength and my wholeness is in the Lord.  Because I held on to this Truth, I was able to do what I wanted to do and no hindrances of the enemy would ever stop me.  The New Year came hastily and we kept memories of a wonderful and happy night celebrating the goodness and faithfulness of God as a family.  The pain and discomfort didn't magically disappear but the "feeling sorry for myself" attitude was replaced with "I am so grateful for the Spirit of the Lord that lives in me."

Friends, before anything happens/manifest in the physical, there is a spiritual source from where they originate.  Others see sickness and diseases when they physically wreak havoc to the body but couldn't understand where they come from and how it's rooted from Sin and Death that affected all of humanity since the world began.   But even before that, how God created everything beautiful and flawless, His original intent for His creation and His purpose for all of it.  Our natural curiosity should have brought us to the Creator but instead, we stopped at what our senses could perceive, therefore depriving ourselves of appreciating the majesty and power of the One who made it all.  Whether we like it or not, there are forces of darkness that seeks to destroy humanity (God's masterpiece) so that we can remain ignorant, not knowing the pathway to salvation and break free from the bondage of Satan which plagued us since the Fall of Man.  But to whom God revealed Himself, those who accepted the finished work of Jesus Christ at the Cross, those He declared righteous in His sight through their faith in His Son, we are given the Holy Spirit!  He is our Power Source to battle against the enemies of God.  Ephesians 6:12-18 reminds us, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." Watch the VIDEO below this post to find out more about the "Full Armor of God"

The Truth is, no one without the Holy Spirit of God will ever succeed in defeating these demonic beings.  That means that anyone who thinks they can rattle the enemy by their fleshly weapons are set for a rude awakening.  Unless a person comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit (The Only One who can defeat the power of the enemy), everyone will continue to live as a slaves to these demonic powers.   This is the very reason why we can't just quote Scripture and pass them on to everyone  without knowing (through study) the context of the passage.  So, as a child of the Most High God, I am declared (by my Father in heaven) righteous and holy in His sight simply by being in Christ Jesus.  Everything that Jesus won at the Cross through His death, burial and resurrection are for me and no one can take that away from me.  He clothed me in His armor and I fight with His Word through the supernatural power of His Holy Spirit.  I have direct line with God through prayer and I have a host of heavenly angels to carry out His work.  I know who I am in Christ and nobody (flesh or spirit) can alter that Truth.  I encourage each and everyone of you to be strong in the Lord and in His Word.  Don't ever accept the lies of the enemy.  Not because it's the New Year, the enemy is going to give you a break.  He didn't give me a break!  He wanted me miserable but the Spirit of the Lord acted mightily inside of me and destroyed the enemy's plan.  If you want to rise up above your situations/circumstances, live the higher calling in Christ Jesus!  IN CHRIST, THERE'S ALWAYS VICTORY!

I would also like to share what my Life Application Bible shared regarding the verses  I shared here from Ephesians 6 for it truly blessed me.  It says, "In the Christian life, we battle against rulers and authorities (the powerful evil forces of fallen angels headed by Satan, who is a vicious fighter.  To withstand their attacks, we must depend on God's strength and use every piece of His armor.  Paul is not only giving this counsel to the Church, the body of Christ, but to all individuals within the Church.  The whole Body needs to be armed.  As you do battle against "the powers of this dark world," fight in the strength of the Church, whose power comes from the Holy Spirit.  These who are not "flesh and blood" are demons whom Satan has control.  They are not mere fantasies---they are very real.  We face a powerful army whose goal is to defeat Christ's Church.  When we believe in Christ, these being become our enemies, and they try every device to turn us away from Him and back to sin.  Although we are assured of victory, we must engage in the struggle until Christ returns, because Satan is constantly battling against all who are on the Lord's side. We need supernatural power to defeat Satan, and God has provided this by giving us His Holy Spirit within us and His armor surrounding us.  if you feel discouraged, remember Jesus'  words to Peter:  "On this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."  (Matthew 16:18)

For this Card, I used an image from Cute as a Button called "Put On the Full Armor" that I colored using my Hobby Colour and Prismacolor markers.  The base is white CS, cut and scored to make a 5.5 inches square card.  The DP's are from Paper Studio, the flowers are layered using Prima flowers, the brad from Recollections and the glitters are from Stickles (Crystal).  I also included some die cuts created from Sizzix die and Fiskars punch.  Lastly, I stitched all over this card.  What a wonderful Scripture to start this year since we know that out battle is not of flesh and blood of of the evil spirits that seek to destroy us.  Therefore, we must arm ourselves with the spiritual weapons that the Lord Jesus empowered us with to withstand and counter the attack of the enemy in our lives.

 ARMOR OF GOD CARD

 ARMOR OF GOD CARD LAYERS

 ARMOR OF GOD CARD SIDE VIEW

 ARMOR OF GOD CARD INSIDE

ARMOR OF GOD CARD WITH ENVELOPE-BOX

This Card is entered into the following Challenges:

Crafting by Designs---ATG
Crafty Addicts---ATG/Christmas
A2Z---ATG
A Bit More Time to Craft---ATG
Perfect Time to Craft---ATG
Classic DT---ATG
Crafts Galore Encore---ATG
Craftyhazelnut's---Designer Paper
Creatalicious---ATG/Something New
Colour Create Show---ATG
Digistamps4Joy---ATG
DL Art---ATG
Happy Craft---ATG
Love to Craft---ATG
Love to Scrap---ATG
Mix It Up---ATG
Morgan's Artworld---ATG
Not Just Cards---ATG
Scribbles Designs---Favouring Feminine (selected)
Sweet Stampers---ATG
World Wide Open DT---ATG 


Make sure you join us at WAW Challenge.  You can use the free Word Art in your creation and link it to our Challenge but is not a requirement.  As long as it's family-friendly, uplifting and inspirational, you can enter up to 5 times this week.  An awesome GC worth 15 pounds will be awarded to our Challenge winner by our awesome sponsor---Clearly Besotted.  So excited to see what you come up with. For the meantime, serve the Lord with gladness knowing that our labor in Him is not in vain.

 THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD EXPLAINED