"Stand strong in the LORD" ~ Kneepads of prayer ~

copyrighted by Art4Him Studios 2023

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the LORD, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"                   Ephesians 6:10, 11, and 18

In 2020, the LORD gave me the opportunity of entering an art competition with the theme being "Spiritual Warfare". As I prayed about what He would want me to paint, I started reading and studying Ephesians 6:10-18. After entering the competition, the LORD showed me the main reason He wanted me to do it; He was preparing me to do a series of paintings on the armor of God, in a unique way.
As I started studying more and prepare to work out what He wanted me to paint, I felt so much opposition from the enemy. I knew that this assignment was given to me from the LORD, but I started to doubt whether I was capable of doing this unique series. I started thinking that maybe I was not the one He truly meant to do it. He reminded me, that I was and NOT to listen to the enemy. My LORD is more powerful than the opposition and nothing is too hard for Him, just as it is written in Jeremiah 32:17, "Ah LORD God! Behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:" If the LORD could speak creation into existence, then He could definitely paint through me! Each painting I do, tells His story and it is to Him, who receives the glory.
As I began to think about each piece of armor and how I would paint it, the LORD once again showed me in what direction He wanted me to go and that He wanted me to use my church and the people in it as the models. Our church, along with so many other churches have gone through difficult times. If the enemy can get us to look at our problems instead of our Savior and sharing Him with others, then we become ineffective in pointing others to Christ. There is a spiritual warfare going on and we need to put on God's full armor DAILY!!!
When we think about armor, it would be easy for me to just paint armor and put the name of each piece described in Scripture with the painting. The point of this, is to show how the armor is used in our daily Christian walk. We don't go around wearing physical armor, but as believers in Jesus Christ, we are commanded to put on the armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-18.
This particular painting is based on PRAYER. Even though Scripture does not mention a piece of armor for prayer, it does mention at the end of the armor descriptions, how we are to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. As a church, we are to PRAY for one another.
In this painting, my desire is to depict the church body praying, upholding one another and their whole community in prayer, In doing this, we will "Stand Strong in the LORD", through these tough times. The enemy hates it when we pray individually. Can you imagine how much more he hates for us to come together in unity, praying for one another? 
My prayer is that this painting will encourage each of us to pray not only for each other, for our pastors and their families, but also for those in our communities who need Christ! Let us hold each other up in prayer and point others to our Savior, our Redeemer, all for God's Glory!!!