Author: Anastasia Irene

My name is Anastasia, and I long to bring praise and glory to Jesus Who redeemed my soul. I live in California with my parents and younger siblings. My mission in life is to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others wholeheartedly. My hobbies are spending time in God’s Word, listening to and making music for Jesus, God's creation--particularly birdwatching--spending time with family and friends, reading and writing, ministry, and more.

Perseverance of the Saints

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Scripture, The Christian Walk, Theology

Can true Christians ever permanently fall away from the faith? John 10:28-29 says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand…no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” In Philippians 1:6, God promised us that He will finish His salvation work in us. Romans 8:38-39 states that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ.

John MacArthur gives great insight into the topics of apostasy and perseverance of the saints in his book Biblical Doctrine. He says, “Scripture…identifies those people who counterfeit their profession of faith in Christ–outwardly and temporarily giving the appearance of being truly regenerated by the Spirit, only to eventually fall away and abandon the faith.”

He goes on to say that these people who at first proclaim Christ and then renounce Him prove that they have never experienced true conversion. When they leave the church, they demonstrate that they never truly knew Christ. 1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

Later on in his book, MacArthur speaks of the gentle balance between God’s sovereignty upholding true believers and our responsibility to persevere and continue in the faith. Believers are “…kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time,” (1 Peter 1:5), but must “…hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,” (Hebrews 3:14).

MacArthur uses Matthew 7:21-23 to prove his point. He says: “Interestingly, Jesus does not say, ‘I knew you once, but you failed to persevere and fell away from the faith.’ Rather, He says, ‘I never knew you.'” This shows that no matter how sincere a person’s confession may seem, only God knows whether it is genuine.

I pray that the Lord will help each of us to examine our hearts to see whether we are abiding in the True Vine and produce much fruit for His glory.

Prayer and Faith

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Literature, Poetry, Prayer, Scripture, The Christian Walk

John 14:12-14

12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Recently, a friend of mine was talking about prayer. She emphasized how difficult it is when you are waiting on the Lord for an answer to prayer. When it looks like God’s response is a billion miles away, do we still trust Him? Can we still surrender our requests to Him when the answer is “no”?

Some of my favorite examples of prayer are in the Psalms. Numerous Psalms are the honest outpouring of a broken heart before the Lord. Should that not comfort us? We do not need to mince words before the Almighty God. He knows our hearts through and through.

Blooming azaleas

And in the meantime, as we fervently pray and surrender the answers to God, we must have faith. I think that often we do not receive answers to prayer because of our unbelief. Looking back on the numerous requests He has mightily answered in the past and the great things He has done fuels our faith. We must be filled with thankfulness and praise Him for His many blessings in the past and the present, while believing in His mighty power sufficient for the future.

A great resource for Scriptural prayers is John MacArthur’s book At the Throne of Grace. MacArthur gives us many beautiful prayers to help guide us as we pray, praise, and wait. Let us be filled with prayer and faith!

Here is a poem I wrote about faith.

Faith

O my soul, why are you fearful? Why do you doubt?

Why are you anxiously wandering about?

You have nothing to fear–you have Yaweh!

How is it that you have no faith?

Yet when you are faithless, faithful He stays.

He’ll continue to be so for all your days.

Lord, You know, strength it takes.

Lord, I believe; increase my faith!

Mark 11:22-24

22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Take Heart!

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Current Events, Scripture, The Christian Walk

Our world seems to be falling apart. We contend with personal issues during day-to-day life with national and global problems stacked on top. Churches are struggling, families are breaking, and individuals are drowning amidst a flood of hardships. However, my message to you today is TAKE HEART!

No matter what is going on, God is still on the throne! He is still sovereign! He has a plan and a purpose behind everything in life. Nothing that occurs is ever surprising to Him, nor does He ever feel scared. His plans are firm and unalterable, and He will keep each and every one of His promises! Isaiah 46:10 says, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.'”

Our precious Lord Jesus gave us a solemn reminder in John 16:33. Here is what He said: “In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” (the Message translation)

GOD IS IN CONTROL. We are not. What may look impossible and imposing to us is not at all to Him! He is all-powerful!

God is always working, and He is doing many great things in the present. Even now, even today, even in this world that seems to be breaking apart at the seams, God is moving and doing so many amazing things! Consider the victorious overturning of Roe vs. Wade (see an article I wrote about the sanctity of life here.) and the other positive Supreme Court decisions! Contemplate the many testimonies of individuals coming to the Lord, personal revivals, and believers on fire for the Lord. There is always hope, and God has good plans for each of us!

So, take heart!! Jesus is with us, He is working, and He has overcome the world!

Praying for America

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Current Events, Holidays, Prayer, Scripture, The Christian Walk

As we celebrate our nation this week, let us be sure to pray for America. (If you are a citizen of a different country, please pray also!) In a day when only 76% of Americans consider themselves patriotic, I believe that fervent prayer and firm patriotism are greatly needed in this precious nation today.

I am convinced that those who revile this country and stand for evil are a vocal minority. We as Christians ought to stand up for Christ and His Word, and only through His strength and wisdom can we be the citizens He wants us to be in this beautiful land of liberty.

Here are some prayer points for our country:

  1. That the Lord would cleanse our own hearts from our personal sins and evil and set us afire again for Him.
  2. That the Lord would bring powerful revival and a great awakening to our nation–that believers would be revived in the faith and that unbelievers would turn to their Creator.
  3. That Jesus would continue to give people an awareness of respect for the sanctity of human life, from the moment of conception until final breath.
  4. That the public school system would turn to the Lord and His ways.
  5. That each of our leaders would come to know the Lord personally and serve Him with all their beings.
  6. That all believers will be united in the Lord and with each other.

Let us pray fervently for America, stand firm for the truth, and exhibit a patriotic attitude as we praise the Lord for our freedoms!

Fearless

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Literature, Scripture, The Christian Walk

Recently I read the book Fearless by Max Lucado. It is a very inspirational resource. It addresses numerous terrifying fears that grip us, a few being the fear of not mattering, of disappointing God, of worst-case scenarios, and much more. For each of the fears Lucado addresses, he tells us how to battle it with Scripture.

One thing I learned from this book is that so many problems in our lives are, at the root, attributed to fear when we may have diagnosed them otherwise. If we truly search our hearts for the root of various issues, we will find that we battle more fear than we realize. Determining the root of our problems can help us solve them.

Lucado gives several great observations in his introductory chapter. “Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness… It deadens our recall… Dulls our miracle memory…” He stayed that out of the 125 commands of Christ in the gospels, 21 reprimand fear.

I remember hearing a pastor once say that since we are given so many commands not to fear, fearing is a form of disobedience which is sin. How many lives have been ruined by unnecessary fear? Why should we let fear ensnare us when we have the LORD God of angel armies on our side?

Lucado summarizes fear perfectly. “Fear may fill our world, but it doesn’t have to fill our hearts. It will always knock on the door. Just don’t invite it in for dinner, and for heaven’s sake don’t offer it a bed for the night. Let’s embolden our hearts with a select number of Jesus’ ‘do not fear’ statements. The promise of Christ and the contention of this book are simple: we can fear less tomorrow than we do today.”

Let us therefore forsake fear, embrace courage, and have calm confidence in the Lord our God.

Proverbs 29:25

The fear of man is a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord shall be safe.

Secret Place of Thunder

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Scripture

One evening, I had the blessing of observing a mighty thunderstorm. It lasted for quite a while–pouring rain, continual flashes of lightning, and occasional booms of thunder. It persisted late into the night, and I fell asleep watching the storm rage.

In the morning, the sun came out in a cloudy blue sky. It reminded me of the Scripture from Psalm 30:5–“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Curiously, I began looking up verses about thunder and lightning. The one that stood out the most was Psalm 81:7–“You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder…”

We often associate storms with danger, threat, and damage. We can also compare them negatively to the trials of this life, a very fitting imagery. But this storm in particular made me meditate on God’s mighty power on our behalf.

It is such an astounding thought that the God Who created powerful storms fights for us with that much might and answers us in the secret place of thunder. He reaches out to us in His splendor and speaks to us with His powerful voice. It takes my breath away to think that the great Creator uses all His great omnipotence on our behalf, in fighting our battles, and against our enemies!

Let’s meet with the Lord in the secret place of thunder today. Let’s hide in His love and listen to His voice loudly proclaiming His grace.

Psalm 29:3-4

The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

Same God

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Music, Prayer, Scripture, The Christian Walk

Isaiah 50:2 (NKJV)

...Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?…

Isaiah 59:1 (NKJV)
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.

How often do we limit God’s power to our finite comprehension? How prone we are to believe that the great miracles of the Bible were one-time occurrences and that God either cannot or will not do such things today?

The truth is that the God we serve today is the same God Who parted the sea for Moses and raised Jesus from the grave. Our God is ALL powerful! There is absolutely nothing that is impossible with Him! The God of the Bible is our God today!

Sometimes I wonder if the seeming powerlessness of God is really our lack of faith. As Scripture says in Matthew 13:58, “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” God is all-powerful, but does our faithlessness sometimes prevent His mighty responses to our prayers?

Here are two of my favorite prayers. Mark 9:24 says, “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief.” The other prayer comes from a song, “I don’t know how You’ll make a way, but I know You will!”

In whatever situation you find yourself praying for God’s mighty power, know that His hand is not shortened, nor His ear heavy. He is alive and active. He hears and answers us, and He truly fights for His children. Let us have faith in His power and love!

Luke 1:45

Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.

Exodus 14:13-14
And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to Him Who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Lower

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Prayer, Scripture, The Christian Walk

Recently, while observing a small waterfall, I was struck by an astounding thought. Jesus went from the incredible glories of heaven to the great agony of the cross–the ultimate example of self-sacrifice and humility–poured out for me. How can I do the same for Him? Of course, my sacrifice for Him can never come close to His, but, as Christina Rosetti so beautifully said, “What can I give Him? I’ll give Him my heart.”

Waterfall

This is my prayer for all of us today.

Lord, You have sacrificed so much for us. Help us to step off our thrones of pride and descend lower and lower for You. Help us to cast ourselves down at Your feet and pour extravagant love on You, no matter what those around us think, say, or do. Help every inch of our lives’ journeys to point to You, so that the others see You and You only, and not us ourselves, for we truly are nothing without You. Please become greater and greater, and help us to become less and less, for it is the King that matters most, not the servant; the Creator, not the creation; the Potter, not the vessel. Help us to be vessels for You, Lord, and please grant us the great privilege and honor of becoming less and lower and more humble so that Your name is magnified and glorified through us all the more. We come to You as Your humble bondservants, and we extol Your name above all else!

Amen!

Priorities

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Music, Prayer, Scripture, The Christian Walk

Colossians 1:17-18 (emphasis added)

And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Recently, while I was speaking with someone, the conversation turned to spiritual matters. The person with whom I was conversing said, “Yeah, I’ve been really busy lately, but I guess I should make some time for the Lord!” I was left speechless.

How very sad to realize that this is the view some nominal Christians have today. Shouldn’t church be essential, Bible reading vital, and prayer and praise non-negotiable? In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Is it even right to call God “the Lord” if He is obviously not Master and Lord over every area of our lives? If we truly belong to Christ, shouldn’t He be our utter everything, and not just an ideal-sounding clause on the back burner of our lives that is thought about briefly every now and then?

I am reminded of Isaac Newton’s hymn “The Wonderful Cross” which says, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!” Let’s all check our priorities today and make sure we give rightful honor and preeminence to Whom it is due.

Oh gracious Lord and Master,

Here we are your servants. Lord, You are our everything. You have made and sustained us. You breathe Your life into us and hold us together in the palm of Your hand. We are nothing without You. You deserve our entire lives and everything we are and have.

Let us not lose sight of what truly matters, Lord. We are mere vapors, and our earthly lives are quick and fleeting. Be first always in our lives, hearts, minds, and strengths. Help us to prioritize You above all things. May our worship of You, search for You, and obedience to You rise above fleeting earthly pleasures or selfish pursuits. May You always be glorified and exalted first and foremost over everything! We adore You, Lord!

Amen!!!

Sanctity of Life

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Current Events, The Christian Walk

As I look at current events and see that Roe vs. Wade may possibly be overturned soon, I thought an article on the subject of the sanctity of life would be especially poignant. According to statistics, as a result of Roe vs. Wade, more than 52 million unborn children were killed in the U.S. just between 1973-2010. The number has skyrocketed since then. In fact, abortion has taken more lives than all the wars the U.S. has ever fought combined.

Abortion is murder. Psalm 139:13-16 and Jeremiah 1:5 clearly point to the fact that unborn children are people created in God’s image. Since all humans are created in the image of God, it is never appropriate to take the life of anyone–whether unborn, mentally ill, or elderly.

In fact, I consider abortion (as well as euthanasia) humanism, because in the act of intentionally taking another’s life, man is putting himself in the position of God, Who alone is the Author of human life!

We as Christians have a great responsibility to protect and defend those who are defenseless. We ought to stand up for life, support pro-life organizations, and vote for candidates who will protect the unborn. Anything we can do to help is a step in the right direction.

Let’s stand up for what is right today!