Category: The Christian Walk

Over All

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Music, Praise and Worship, Scripture, The Christian Walk

I Chronicles 29:11 (NKJV)
Yours, O Lord , is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord , And You are exalted as head over all.

Matthew 6:13 (NKJV)
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Revelation 5:12 (NKJV)

saying with a loud voice:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

As you may have noticed, there is a very exciting new addition to this website! With the Lord’s help and guidance, I have written a song for His glory and am thrilled to be able to share it with you! I decided to write a post about the inspiration, process, and goals for this song.

My song is mostly based on 1 Chronicles 29. What a beautiful psalm of praise to God! I have always loved the words of that chapter. As I put the words of Scripture to music, I realized I had combined David’s words of praise in 1 Chronicles 29 with the doxology to the Lord’s prayer, and praises from Revelation–a beautiful testimony to God’s people worshipping Him all across the ages!

Behind the song:

I wrote most of this song while I was sick with a cold. My family had gone to church, and I had stayed home, resting. (A quiet house always equals inspiration–in my experience, at least!) At the end of the day, I had the verses and the chorus, both words and music. Eventually, the Lord gave me the bridge as well. My mom helped me refine the song and polish it.

The Lord miraculously and quite unexpectedly connected me with a wonderful producer. I am so thankful for his help recording and producing my song, and for the amazing job he has done. When I arrived at the recording studio, the Lord had done another miracle–my producer had brought in a great local guitarist to play at the recording session!

My mom played the keyboard, my sisters did an astounding job on their violins, for which I am so grateful, and my brother played his congo drum. I was (and still am) totally in awe of what the Lord has done!

The Lord truly had His hand on the recording session, and for several months afterward, we went back and forth editing a few things. He also provided a really great distribution company.

Thoughts on worship:

In the beginning of this post, I put a few of the Scriptures that inspired this song. I love the thought of believers worshiping Christ across the ages–across time. All the words believers have ever used to praise God join to form an endless anthem of praise. Worship brings us into the very throne room of God and near to His heart! Worship unites us as well–unites us closer to God and fellow believers. I have been in places where there are thousands of people–different ages, backgrounds, races, histories–all raising a song of praise to God. It is truly remarkable how worship brings us closer to God and to each other.

When we worship, we gain perspective of GOD. We rise above earthly issues, remembering how great and amazing He is. Nothing else seems to matter when we praise and worship God in Spirit and truth!

Thoughts on Over All:

No matter what is going on in the world, God is on the throne! He is over all things–sovereign and almighty. He reigns over all things. We can take heart in knowing that He reigns from His throne. He is always worthy of our praises! What should our response be when we marvel at God’s majesty–His greatness, His power, and His glory? As the bridge says, We exalt/We adore/You are King/Over All. The only appropriate response is to exalt, adore, and worship God!

Why do we worship? God is good, great, majestic, holy…His alone is all the glory! There is no reason NOT to worship our amazing King. He owns all things–the earth is His in all its fullness. He is worthy of all our praise. He has a plan behind everything. He is sovereign on the throne, over all in the world and our personal lives as well.

PRAISE BE TO THE LORD! I pray He is glorified through this song. I look forward to seeing what the Lord does through it! My prayer is that this song will be a tool for believers to praise the Lord and worship together. Please share this song with everyone you would like to!

All glory be to Christ for the great things He has done!
~Anastasia

My goal for this song (and everything in my life):

Psalms 115:1 (NKJV)
Not unto us, O Lord , not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth.

The Joy of God’s Salvation

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

Psalms 51:12 (NKJV)
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

During a sickness a few months ago, I had some spare time, and I decided to read the almost 200-page chapter of John MacArthur’s book Biblical Doctrine about soteriology. It ended up blessing and edifying me immensely. There isn’t room enough for me to write about all the profound insights I gained, and I would highly recommend reading it for yourself. However, I will give a brief general overview of a few things that particularly stood out to me.

How often do we, as Christians, genuinely meditate on and give thanks for our salvation? Salvation is such a precious, immeasurable, indescribable gift. In fact, human words are totally inadequate to describe the value and priceless nature of this treasure. It should continually be the object of our highest praise to our great Savior!

There are two questions I believe Christians should thoughtfully ask themselves. One is this: How often do we preach the gospel to ourselves? Spiritual maturity is characterized not by dismissing the gospel as “for new converts” and thinking we are “past that stage”. No! It is characterized, rather, by the extent to which we do meditate on the pure gospel and praising the Lord for His saving work. The more we study the gospel and immerse ourselves in it, the closer we draw to God. All Scripture and theological topics have the gospel as their heart and foundation. We ought to continually bring ourselves back to the gospel truth. Doing such will cause us to gain a bigger picture of God and will bring us to our knees in thanksgiving.

The second question is, how much of the gospel do we preach to ourselves? It’s simple to quote John 3:16 to ourselves. Although its truth is so deep, rich, and mind-blowing in and of itself, there is so much more to meditate on. For instance, do we continually remind ourselves that we have been born again, transformed, justified, united with Christ, adopted into His family, regenerated, elected before the foundation of the world, redeemed, atoned for, bought with a price, reconciled to God…How much do we deeply consider what each of those phrases means? How much do we praise the Father for His election, the Son for His sacrifice, and the Spirit for His sanctifying work? Do we even have a tiny glimpse of how very precious our salvation really is? Or do we rush through life, depressed and anxious, losing sight of the eternal treasure we have been given? After I read MacArthur’s chapter on soteriology, I repented in tears, because I know I have not meditated on the pure gospel and let it permeate my being in the way I should.

I hate to think of how our Triune God feels when He sees us neglecting to study, immerse ourselves in, and praise Him for the gospel. Yet, how quickly we become complacent and immune to its power! We glance over Scriptures that we’ve read for years, too familiar with them, not stopping to consider their weight. How much closer to God we would be if we regularly thought deeply about soteriology! How many problems (i.e. lack of joy, lack of peace, worry, misconceptions about God and ourselves, etc.) would simply fade away due to greater, more expansive knowledge and appreciation of God and of our salvation.

Friends, let us never take our salvation for granted! The love of the Father, the precious blood of Christ, and the work of the Spirit cannot be taken lightly. Let this be our continual prayer, from Psalm 51:12: “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.” For truly, we may refer to salvation as “our salvation”, but in all truth, it is His. He is the Author, Finisher, and Accomplisher of it. Salvation comes from absolutely nothing in and of ourselves! And for that, we praise Him. And meditating on the gospel will truly restore to us the sheer joy and delight of God’s salvation.

If You Had Struck Twice More

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

1 Kings 13:14-19

14Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”
15And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. 16Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. 17And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” 18Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. 19And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”

Recently, I came across this story in my Bible reading. It was very impactful, and I began to think of it in a new light. Here is a poem I wrote about this passage.

If You Had Struck Twice More

Arrows in Joash’s hand,

Ready to be struck.

Elisha’s dying bed,

The aged man looks up.

A prophecy arising;

A symbolic act.

“Shoot the arrow toward the ground!”
Said Elisha; “Here’s the fact:

This is the arrow of deliverance

Against the Syrian foe.

So take heart, and shoot!

Strike Syria with mighty blows!”

Joash pulled his arrow,

Stretched it through the bow,

Evaluated the distance,

Shot toward the ground below.

Shot one times, two times, three!

Then he stopped and turned around

Glancing again toward his arrows

Embedded in the ground.

“You should have shot it five times

For Syria’s destruction to be complete!

Now you’ll only strike it three times,

Again, I will repeat!

You should have struck it five times

For victory to be sure;

You would have triumphed utterly

If you had struck twice more.”

When you come before the Lord

In supplication and prayer,

Make sure to strike continually,

As you bring Him your cares.

What a terror, to hear the words,

“You came this close to prayer answered,

Heaven was ready to move,

Your desire was about to be granted,

And you hadn’t a clue.

But you gave up and stopped praying,

Of this you can be sure,

You would have obtained your answer

If you had prayed twice more.”

Make sure to strike continually;

Let your arrows hit the ground;

Pray without ceasing always;

Let your prayers forever abound.

Never cease striking,

Lest you give up when you’re not sure,

And miss out on the victory you could have obtained

If you had struck twice more.

Luke 18:1 (NKJV)
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Desert Bloom

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Praise and Worship, Prayer, Scripture, The Christian Walk, Theology

Isaiah 35:1-2

1The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them,
And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
2It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice,
Even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
The excellency of our God.

A few months ago, I had the not-so-pleasant experience of being on the road in the midst of a terrible dust storm in the desert. At times, clouds of dust were so thick that the visibility dropped nearly to zero. Tumbleweeds darted in front of the car. It took hours for the storm to finally let up.

Just a few days prior, however, I had seen the same desert in its full beauty. Sagebrush dotted the landscape. Joshua trees rose up majestically, stretching their branches toward heaven. Pronghorn antelope, wild horses, and other wildlife roamed the flat plains. What a stark contrast!

Isaiah 35 is always an encouragement to me. It speaks of the desert blooming and blossoming as a rose. What beautiful imagery! The Lord takes the horrible dust storm-filled deserts in our lives and transforms them into life-filled oasis. He causes stunning beauty to spring forth from the barren deserts in our hearts. He turns the ugly, dry dust and sand into the most gorgeous roses we could ever imagine.

I am reminded of the many desert-like areas in California that spring forth with the most stunning displays of wildflowers after the winter rains. What lavish beauty lay hidden beneath the dry, dead grasses of summer! However, even those lovely spring wildflowers die quickly, in contrast to the fragrant, lovely roses the Lord cultivates in our hearts.

Are you walking through a lifeless desert right now? If you love the Lord, He will use it for your good and will transform your barren plains into vibrant, life-filled, stunningly glorious rose gardens that testify to His grace!

Psalm 16 (part three: The Right Hand)

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Praise and Worship, Prayer, Scripture, The Christian Walk, Theology

Psalm 16:8-11

I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 16:8 discusses how we should prioritize the Lord and set Him first in our lives. We ought to set the Lord always before us. He should be in the front of our lives at all times, and we must follow His lead. May it always be so!

The psalmist then mentions how the Lord is at his right hand. The right hand was thought of in ancient times as a place of prominence, blessing, honor, favor, and power. May the Lord forever occupy that position in our lives!

In verse 11, the psalmist speaks of how the Lord shows him the path of life and grants fullness of joy in His presence. However, I was particularly struck by the last line: “at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” This indicates that not only is God at the right hand of our lives, but also so are we at His right hand! To think that we occupy a place of prominence, blessing, honor, and favor in God’s heart! And what an intimate relationship develops when we walk with God–He is at our right hand, Christ is at His, and we are at Christ’s! We prioritize Him, honor Him, and bless Him, and He in turn does the same for us.

No wonder the psalmist declares in verse 9, “Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.” May we rejoice in knowing that God loves us with an incomprehensible love and He longs to have an intimate relationship with us! Praise the Lord!!

Psalm 16 (part two: Pleasant Places)

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

Psalm 16:5-7

O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.

In Psalm 16:5b, 6a, we find a description of how the Lord intervenes in our lives. We are told that the Lord maintains/holds our lots. In Biblical times, people would cast lots to try to determine the Lord’s will. What an encouragement to know that instead of our lives wildly spinning and randomly falling into place, the Lord holds our lots, and He directs each and every step of the way.

But the truth that comforts us even more deeply is found in verse 6a: “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places”. The Lord graciously directs our lots in pleasant places. He leads us beside still waters and brings us to green pastures. And even when He allows us to walk through the valley of the shadow, He still tenderly leads us, and His ultimate plan is always for our benefit. He has good plans for us!

Verse 7 states that as the Lord directs our steps, He generously leads us in the right paths. He gives us counsel through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And although we cannot rely on our feelings, He graciously directs the desires of our hearts.

The Lord is our Shepherd. He determines the course of our lives, and He kindly makes wonderful plans for us. He then gently guides us in the right direction. The lines have truly fallen to us in pleasant places!

Life Out of Death

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Christian holidays, Holidays, Praise and Worship, Scripture, The Christian Walk

One crisp morning, as I was out for a walk, a barren tree caught my eye. Its branches looked dead, and it appeared lifeless, buried under winter’s gloom.

As I examined it more closely, however, I spotted three distinct species of colorful birds playing in it, one of which was a rare kind I had never seen before. Even as I glanced below, a bonus surprise awaited me: an adorable rabbit fed on the grass underneath.

The sight of this tree and the life hidden among its branches reminded me of Christ’s resurrection. He brings new life to the things that are dead in our lives. We might look at a painful or disastrous situation and only see dead, dry, barren sticks. But what encouragement to remember that God will cause new life to spring forth, and one day soon, we will see all the marvelous ways in which He will resurrect the things that have died.

Christ is risen! The grave could not keep our Savior. He arose in glory and power, and because He lives, we have hope in Him. Without His resurrection, our faith would be very empty indeed, as Paul asserts in 1 Corinthians 15.

As we celebrate Christ’s bodily resurrection, let us rejoice in the fact that He also brings resurrection to our everyday lives.

HE IS RISEN!!!

Psalm 16 (part one: The Lord our Inheritance)

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

Psalm 16:1-5

Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.” As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips. O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot.

Recently, I was meditating on Psalm 16. It is such a beautiful Psalm! I discovered numerous insights.

The psalmist begins by begging the Lord to preserve him, for the Lord is his refuge. He talks about how we are nothing, and we have no goodness in ourselves, apart from the Lord. Then, he contrasts his delight in the saints with his aversion for idolaters. May we also determine to keep ourselves pure from idolatry!

In verses 5a and 6a, we find several beautiful truths. First, the Lord is our inheritance. We as believers have such a glorious inheritance–Christ Himself! 1 Peter 1:4 tells us that this inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading, and reserved in heaven for us. What more could we ask for if Christ Himself is our inheritance? One of the most amazing things is that this inheritance begins now, and we don’t have to wait until heaven to enjoy the inheritance of our precious Savior. Of course, it will be so much more glorious when we see Him face-to-face, but until then, He lives in our hearts, and we can revel in His presence and power in our hearts and lives!

The second insight is that the Lord is our cup. Scripturally, the cup is a symbol of our portion. A cup of water symbolizes life, and a cup of wine symbolizes joy. Christ is our portion–He is our cup! And this precious cup overflows (Psalm 23:5) with all the love, goodness, and fullness of God! This is the cup that will never run dry!

May we rejoice today in the fact that Christ is our inheritance and our portion!

The Shadow of His Wings

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

Psalm 91:14-16

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”

Psalm 91 is such a beautiful psalm. It is filled with promises for protection and security. It is richly rewarding to take this psalm and sit with it, praying God’s promises over our lives.

So many beautiful word pictures are used in Psalm 91, especially in the original Hebrew. For example, the word “wings” can be used to refer to a garment or a bed skirt. I think that this is such lovely imagery. Next time you get into bed and pull up the covers, rest for a moment and picture yourself hidden in the shelter of God’s wings. Let all your cares and fears melt away in His presence.

I wrote this poem based on Psalm 91 in 2020, when the pandemic shattered our hopes for the year, and we battled fear in our hearts.

All around the world falls apart; calamity destruction brings.

But I fear not, for I am hidden in the shadow of Your wings.

They panic in fright, they have no rest,

But God is my refuge and my strong fortress.

Pestilence flies, consumes in the night,

But why should I fear? My God is greater in might!

For He promised to defend me, protect me from harm;

And forever I am saved by His outstretched arm.

He is my shield and my dwelling place–

With Him I am able all trials to face!

So keep me, dear Lord, and protect me too.

Under the shadow of Your wings, I am safe with You.

Breath of Heaven: Mary’s Song

by Anastasia Irene, posted in Art, Christian holidays, Holidays, Music, Scripture, The Christian Walk, Theology, Womanhood

When I was younger, I thought that God’s plan for Mary was the very best calling for any woman who has ever lived and that nothing else could ever be as special as being Jesus’ mother. At the root of these thoughts lay the deep desire to do great things for God.

Last year, as I was listening to the Christmas song “Breath of Heaven”, which speaks of the Nativity from Mary’s imagined perspective, I gained fresh insight. As Mark 3:35 says, “For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” Only one woman was called to be Christ’s literal mother, but each and every believer, in a very special way, carries Christ within them. He dwells in their heart.

Just like Mary, we wonder what we’ve done that the Father has chosen us to bear the image of His Son. We wonder if wiser people could have taken our place, and yet we offer all we are to His plan.

As Mary did, may each of us strive to surrender entirely to the Lord and say “Behold, the …servant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to Your word.” (Luke 1:38)

Luke 1:45 NKJV

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