(prepared by Lilian Schmid, reviewed by Bjorn Schmid)
The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.” (Exodus 35:1-5 ESV)
God is the one who allows skills and gifts to be placed upon someone’s life.
Art is an interesting topic in the Bible. Although the word ‘art’ is not easily found in the Bible we know that it exists based on God’s creating quality. God is glorified by beauty. We read in 1 Kings 6 when Solomon is building a temple for God. The details given paints an image of artistry and skill. Solomon knew that God would be pleased by the beauty at the hands of His craftsman.
Solomon also compares the beauty of a bride to “the work of an artist’s hands” (Song of Solomon 7:1 NIV), which praises God for the art that He Himself creates. God’s hands create beauty. Although the word ‘art’ first appears in Exodus, we can see God being an artist in Genesis when He designs everything in existence that He creates.
Let us Pray for the Sphere of the Arts
The term ‘the arts’ includes, but is not limited to, music (instrumental and vocal), dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture and allied fields, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic and craft arts, industrial design, costume and fashion design, motion pictures, television, radio, film, video, tape and sound recording, the arts related to the presentation, performance, execution, and exhibition of such major art forms, all those traditional arts practiced by the diverse peoples of any country.
The Arts in Australia
In Australia, our federal government supports the growth in Australia’s creative sector, and they protect and promote Australian content and culture in all these sectors:
- Cultural heritage
- Indigenous Repatriation
- Cultural Gifts Program
- Movable cultural heritage
- Screen Industry
- Filming in Australia
- Australian Screen Production.
- Indigenous arts and languages
- Indigenous arts and languages
- Literature – Lending and Copyrights
- Performing arts
- Contemporary music
- National elite training
- Regional arts
- Regional Arts Fund
- Festivals Australia
- National Regional Programs
- Museums, libraries and galleries
- Impact of our National Cultural.
- National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach program
- Visual arts
Please pray for the above sections within the department of Arts in Australia.
Overseas Arts
Below are a few interesting overseas Arts web sites from around the world; pray that God will be in the centre of it all.
- Art in America – www.artnews.com/c/art-in-america
- Art of Europe – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_Europe
- Asian Art – artgallery.nsw.gov.au/discover-art/learn-more/asian-art/introduction-to-asian-art
Biblical Verses and Meditation for 31 days during the month of July
Biblical Verses and Meditation for 31 days during the month of July
- “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
- “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!” (Psalm 150:1-5)
- “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15)
- “Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:1-5) - “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” (Luke 12:23)
- A Song. A Psalm of David.
“My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being!
Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!” (Psalm 108:1-5) - “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17)
- “Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” (1 Corinthians 8:8)
- God allows us this time to be renewed and to grow in our faith. James tells us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)
- “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (2 Timothy 1:6)
- “‘So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.'” (Matthew 25:25-27)
- “For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29)
He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call (see also Numbers 23:19). - “A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.” (Proverbs 18:16)
- “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remain no more sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26)
- Living as Those Made Alive in Christ “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3)
- “And he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze” (Exodus 35:31-32)
- “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
- “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
- “The Christian in the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars.” (Francis A. Schaeffer, Art & the Bible)
- “Christianity is not just involved with “salvation”, but with the total man in the total world. The Christian message begins with the existence of God forever, and then with creation. It does not begin with salvation. We must be thankful for salvation, but the Christian message is more than that. Man has a value because he is made in the image of God.” (Francis A. Schaeffer, Art & the Bible)
- “Christians … ought not to be threatened by fantasy and imagination. Great painting is not “photographic”: think of the Old Testament art commanded by God. There were blue pomegranates on the robes of the priest who went into the Holy of Holies. In nature there are no blue pomegranates. Christian artists do not need to be threatened by fantasy and imagination, for they have a basis for knowing the difference between them and the real world ‘out there’.” (Francis A. Schaeffer, Art & the Bible)
- “The Christian is the really free person – he is free to have imagination. This too is our heritage. The Christian is the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars.” (Francis A. Schaeffer, Art & the Bible)
- “Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery’s shadow or reflection: the fact that you don’t merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.” (C. S. Lewis)
- “He overlaid the main room with cypress wood and overlaid it with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains. Further, he adorned the house with precious stones; and the gold was gold from Parvaim. He also overlaid the house with gold – the beams, the thresholds and its walls and its doors; and he carved cherubim on the walls.” (2 Chronicles 3:5-7)
- “So Solomon built the house and finished it. Then he built the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the ceiling he overlaid the walls on the inside with wood, and he overlaid the floor of the house with boards of cypress.” (1 Kings 6:14-15)
- “O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.” (Isaiah 25:1)
- “So Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. And he drew chains of gold across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar which was by the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.” (1 Kings 6:21-22)
- “The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods. But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?
Now send me a skilled man to work in gold, silver, brass and iron, and in purple, crimson and violet fabrics, and who knows how to make engravings, to work with the skilled men whom I have in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.” (2 Chronicles 2:5-7) - “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.” (Isaiah 4:2)
- “How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'” (Isaiah 52:7)
- Final Prayer:
Holy Spirit, keep us always aware of how we treat the Father’s creation.
Help us to find the amazement we once had as children when we look at the awesome beauty of the world You made.
Show us, once again, the simple joys of walking or running in the park or on a beach, feeling the rain on our face, the wind in our hair, and touching the ground and plants with our hands.
Inspire us to find ways to share these joys with our friends and children using artistic medias; to teach them to be thankful to the Father and value all that He has made, and that generations to come can benefit from these things also.
Sovereign Lord, You made the earth by the power of Your Word and preserve it by Your Wisdom.
With Your own understanding You stretched out the heavens.
When You speak in the thunder, You announce that the heavens are filled with water. You cause clouds to rise over the earth. You send the lightning with the rain and release the wind from Your storehouses.
Holy, holy, holy are You the Lord of Heaven’s Armies; the whole earth is filled with Your glory!
In Jesus Name, Amen.