Friday, February 2, 2018

A House for God

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
  Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, 
to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 
but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. 
And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence 
and our boasting in our hope.
Hebrews 3: 4-6 (ESV) 

When my husband and I married, we had a small but precious service.  My sons were 7 and 10. I had sheltered them and provided for them for seven long years as a single mom.  Our older son barely remembered his father and our younger son was born as our marriage was dissolving.  They never saw their dad from that point.  So they were starved for the attention, love and protection of a father.  When dating David, I took such joy in how their eyes would light up every time this man of God stepped into our home.  God taught me many things as a single mom, and I would never trade that time of deep dependence on Him.  He took the ashes of my life and made it beautiful.  The day David and I married was a miracle for me.  But not just for me, for my sons too.  They had a daddy! When we said our vows, we asked the boys to come up on either side of us and they said vows too, promising to honor, love and obey their parents. Then our parents came up.  David's parents stood on my side and mine on his and they said vows too, to pray for us, to encourage us and to continue to be a picture of a Christian marriage before us.  That day we melded as a family...one big family with Christ at the center.  With all of us standing around the altar, my sister and a friend sang a popular song of the day, Household of Faith.  That was 30 years ago, and God has blessed our little household of faith in indescribable ways. 


Hebrews 3:4-6 describes the household of God.  From Moses, the faithful servant of God in the Old Testment, to early believers to today's, we are the household of God.  Our faith in the ever-faithful God holds us together.  The faith of Moses served as a testimony of what was to come in Christ.  His faith was counted to him as righteousness and ushered him to the front door of the household of God. Christ in us, seals us as His children and opens the same door for us.  Believers are a household of faith.  It is the indwelling Spirit of God that makes us a house for our God.  We are His temple, the place where He lives.  This passage shows that Moses was a servant to this spiritual household.  Likewise, we are to honor, maintain and protect the "good deposit," the treasure of the good news of salvation, that was planted in us.  I am a house for my God.  Sitting here even now, thinking that thought takes my breath away.  What a precious miracle.  Just as my boys were lifted high to enjoy the new status of sons when my husband became their father (he quickly adopted them), so too each of us has the joy and delight of falling at the feet of our good Father.  We stand arm in arm with other believers around the altar and sing, "We are a household of faith!"  

To illustrate this passage of scripture, I used watercolor paints and splashed on color, leaving lots of white, other than more color over the verses.  I combined sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps featuring the new February release, Love Your Neighbor, that has the most adorable collection of houses.  The Praise God sunburst over the house is from the set Exclamations.  I used the clouds in Love Your Neighbor to create the shrubs.  The fonts are all stamps, Classy Script Alpha, and the rest of the words are from Love Your Neighbor.  The crosses came from the Good News set.  I did all the coloring with PrismaColor pencils.

These are all amazing sets, so versatile and fun.  Follow the links to the store to get yours now.

http://www.sweetnsassystamps.com/creative-worship-love-your-neighbor-clear-stamp-set/ 
NEW RELEASE

http://www.sweetnsassystamps.com/creative-worship-classy-script-alpha-clear-stamp-set/ 


http://www.sweetnsassystamps.com/creative-worship-the-good-news-clear-stamp-set/ 


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