Saved by Grace Alone

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a results of works, so that no one may boast" - Ephesians 2:8-9

Have you ever heard someone say, "Oh, so-and-so is such a good person, I just know they're going to heaven"? While I know that person likely means well, that type of statement saddens me a little because the Bible tells us exactly how to get to heaven: 

Salvation is only by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 

The topic of salvation by grace through faith is a point the Apostle Paul emphasized with repetition throughout the New Testament, and especially in Ephesians 2. You see, each of us are born with a sin nature (Ephesians 2:1-3) and our sin nature separates us from a perfect, holy God. God's requirement for heaven is perfection, and no one individual can ever be perfect enough to enter heaven. 

• Romans 3:10 - "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one."
• Romans 3:23 - "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

By God's grace, He sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and die a perfect sacrifice for my sin and your sin and the sin of the whole world. I could never be good enough to earn my way into heaven - Jesus did that for me. That's why Ephesians 2:9 says "not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Paul makes it very clear that there is nothing you can do to earn your way into heaven, or else why would we need the cross? No, the only way to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ. 

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 - "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"
• Acts 4:12 - "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
• Romans 10:9-10 - "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
• Romans 10:13 - "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

So the next time you (or I) hear someone say they think they are going to heaven, let's take a minute to show them how they can really know they are going to heaven. It's not based on anything they can do, it's based on what's already been done for them. 💛

Saved by GRACE alone through FAITH alone.

Page Details

I used watercolors and several different stamp sets to create this page. Honestly, It was nice just to break out the watercolors and get a little messy with my painting. 😊 I have been in a creative funk these last few weeks and this time painting in God's Word did my heart good. The brand new Flower Garden and Grace Upon Grace stamp sets were the at the heart of this page. If you don't know what to do for a page background, flowers are a great go-to! I can't get enough of my flower and alpha stamp sets. I use them allllll the time! 😉 I also used the Walk by Faith and Typewriter Blocks Alpha stamp sets to finish out my page title. **If you noticed the GRACE and FAITH fonts are the same in both the Grace Upon Grace and Walk by Faith stamp sets, it's because both were designed by the fabulous Rebecca Rios (check her out on IG, you won't be disappointed!). 💜

Much love in Christ, 

Janelle

I would love to connect with you on Instagram! You can find me @journalingjoy 😘

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamp Sets Used

 

 

"Step Out"

Hello and Happy New Year friends!

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Jill and I'm one of the newest members of the Creative Worship team. I received my first journaling Bible in August 2017 for my birthday. My twin sister had introduced me to this amazing form of art worship just a week or so earlier. I've never known people who wrote much in their Bibles, and I've never known anyone who painted and stamped and created such beautiful pages. I was instantly hooked. Let me clarify that Bible journaling, for me and most of the community, is not about the art. The art is an outward expression of what I have read and studied, and the artwork I create on my pages help me remember the lessons I've learned. It was those beautiful pages on Pinterest and Instagram that intrigued me at first, however. I am grateful that my sister introduced me to it and for the amazing community of ladies that God has brought into my life because of it. Journaling has me in the Bible and studying the Word more than I ever have in my life.  I am so excited that Korin asked me to join this amazing group of super talented, God-fearing ladies on the Creative Worship team. If I'm being honest though, I'm also pretty nervous.  I’ve always been a bit of an introvert and have never really liked stretching the limits of my comfort zone. I tend to over-think anything I put out there for others to see, so the fact that this is my very first blog post...EVER, has me second guessing everything I type! 😂    

That brings me to how I chose my “One Little Word” for 2020. Have you heard of OLW? Much of the Bible Journaling community and other crafters, choose a word at the beginning of the year to focus on. We use it throughout the year to study, write about, craft with and reflect upon. I’ve been praying for weeks, for the word or phrase that God wanted me to focus on for the year.  Last year, I heard “Change” as clearly as if someone spoke it out loud to me.  This year, I’ve received much more subtle nudges.  I made a list of the words that I felt God was laying on my heart.  They include: Move, Grow, Purpose, Action, Intentional, Start, Begin, Do, Equipped and finally, Step Out.

I can definitely see a pattern in the words God has given me.  He’s calling me to step out of my comfort zone.  He’s reminding me that over and over in the Bible, He uses people who feel unworthy of the calling He has bestowed upon them.  He’s asking me to face my fears and trust Him to equip me for what lies down the road. He's giving me a call to action, to do more for His glory. Wow! That's super scary!

As I sat down to journal, I was led to Matthew 14:22-33

²² Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³ After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone. ²⁴ Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them. ²⁵ Jesus came toward them walking on the sea very early in the morning. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they cried out in fear. ²⁷ Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” ²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter answered him, “command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ Then those in the boat worshiped him and said, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Just as Peter had to leave the relative safety of the boat to go to Jesus in the raging sea, when we choose to walk in faith, we may have to leave our comfort zones for something that seems scary. BUT GOD...He's there, right beside us, waiting to catch us if we fall. Stepping out in faith requires us to trust God and His infinite wisdom, to guide us safely on our journey. We may have to let go of what we think we control and trust the one that made it all.

My prayer for 2020, is that I will not be afraid to “Step Out” in faith, trusting that Jesus is there to cover me in grace, even if I stumble.

Page Details:

I did a simple watercolor background for this page and used Chunky Alpha, Mini Grunge Type Alpha, and Women of Praise stamp sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps to create my title and stamp the silhouette of the girl in the water.  I used some white acrylic paint on a Q-tip to create the foam in the water.

You can catch up with me on Instagram @simplyjillsjourney

Until next time, I wish you many blessings,

Jill

What is your Mountain?

Mark 11:23

"Truly tell you, if anyone says to this mountain 

"Go, throw yourself into the sea", and does not doubt in their heart, 

but believes that what they say will happen, 

it will be done for them."

Hello friends! 

This will be a bit of a personal post for me, sharing a little bit about my history and one of my personal testimonies. 

Have you ever have a "mountain" in your life? An obstacle that seemed so large, so impossible, so daunting that you thought there was no way over or around it? I expect most of us have had at least a mountain or two in our lives. For me, mine was at the extremely young age of 7 months! Yea,... just 7 months old!

This is a part of my personal story that not everyone knows, only those closest to me. But I am going to share it with you readers to brag about just how good God is! When my mom had me, like a lot of mothers, she needed to go back to work after her maternity leave was up. A hard decision for a lot of moms I'm sure. To find someone you think is trustworthy to watch someone you love so much. Well when I was only 7 months old, while at the babysitters, I was severely injured. To this day, all these years later, we still don't know exactly what happened but I was rushed to the hospital by ambulance unconscience with a severe head injury.

After being assessed at the hospital they said I had several fractures to my skull and my brain was swelling. I don't know all of the details because it was such a traumatic thing for my parents but I have slowly learned more details here and there as I have gotten older. I was unconscience for 2 weeks in the hospital because of all of the swelling in my brain, and appeared to be paralyzed on half of my body. The doctors told my parents I had a 10% chance of survival most likely. I just could not imagine getting that news as a parent. To have to watch your child suffer that way and feel so helpless.

But the reason I share this story with you all today, is because it was God and God alone who saved me! My great grandmothers pastor at her church came to visit me in the hospital a few times. He prayed over me as my family stood around him. The third time he prayed over me, I woke up! The doctors were amazed. And what was even more amazing was that I wasn't paralyzed. I was awake, I could move, and in a few days I smiled. Praise the Lord for He is so good!!

That was my mountain, an incredibly big mountain for a 7 month old. But God makes all things possible. He moved that mountain out of my way and saved my life! My parents prayed and trusted in the Lord and He took care of me. I hear these stories my parents have told me about what happened and I am just amazed at God's amazing power. He saved my life and thank the Lord I am able to see, walk, talk and you would never know I went through such a traumatic experience. 

I still have the scares on my head (hidden under my hair luckily), to remind me of what I overcame with His help! Your mountain may not feel as huge as mine, or maybe it does. But do not lose hope, do not lose faith in Him! He is a good good father and He is there to do amazing things!!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

@faith.and.creativity

Walk by Faith