Author: cindygrasso

Cindy Grasso is the Discipleship Pastor at Cape Christian in Cape Coral, Florida. She has been married to her fun-loving​ husband, Bobby Grasso for 28 years and is the proud mom of two amazing young men who keep her updated on all things tech. She likes to spend her free at the beach or a WDW with family. She loves nothing more than a good book, a good friend and good cup of coffee.

Should-Haves and What Ifs

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“So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There is nothing in it, nothing at all. The best thing to is to give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons.” 

Romans 8:12-15 (MSG)

What “should haves” are holding you back from being fully present in the beautiful life Jesus has for you?

When God sends you a vision of your future, it is to get you moving in the right direction. When He lays a burden on your heart it is to pull you towards His purpose for you. He will not lift the call but He will refine it. He will not lift the burden to be His change agent in the world but He will redefine it constantly.

And God will never ask you to “do-it-yourself”, His visions always come with a “you-can-only-accomplish-this-with-God” clause.

We can all easily slip into a habit of tending the graves of “what ifs” and “should have dones” but that only hinders us from living in the power of the resurrection life of Jesus.

Life in Christ is meant to be a moment by moment adventure with God.

Give your “should haves” a decent burial and get on with it.

What regret have you been grave tending?

You Are Free

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“So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free.”  John 8:36 (AMP)

Are you discouraged today because it seems like real change is impossible?

Real change takes time.  

God’s love is real and He gives you His power to break old habits, thought patterns, temptations, and addictions.

So then why does it take so long to learn how to live in this freedom?

It is because in this world you have been well trained by life’s enslaving lies.  Your flesh or old nature, has old habits, temptations, and thought patterns that are deeply set in it through years of experience and practice.

In Christ, you have a new nature.

Knowing Jesus means that you have the hope of real change, exponential growth, and truly transforming life.

Don’t give up.

When Jesus sets you free, you are free. 

Access Wonder

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Have you accessed God’s power today?

Hebrews 12:28 reminds us that, “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshipping him with holy fear and awe.” 

When we are worshipping God and filling our hearts with gratitude, we are opening our hearts to be filled with the unshakable kingdom of God. 

A kingdom not of this world but one that heals it, changes it, transforms it. 

Worship fills us with the wonder of heaven and an awe for the one who left heaven to rescue a lost world. 

When we worship Jesus, He fills our hearts with His love and our lives with His power. 

My friend, may we be so full of heaven that it overflows into moments of awe in the mundane moments of our day and make them…heavenly.

I Dare You

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“He has given us a new life because we are united with Christ Jesus. He saved us so that now we can do good things in our lives. Those are good things that he has already prepared for us to do.“

Ephesians 2:10

God’s agenda for your life is dripping in love and mercy.

You are redeemed to live a new life in Christ.

This new life comes with new things to do and new people to love.

Things that He has already prepared for you to do and people He has already put in your path.

Living God’s agenda in your life doesn’t mean that nothing gets done, it means that your to-do list doesn’t determine your impact, your trust in God does.  

If you dare to take God at His Word and trust that He has already prepared it for you, new life in Christ becomes a reality instead of just a good idea.

Surrender your to-do list and ask God to lead you to the “good things He has already prepared” for you to do today.

I dare you.

Don’t Procrastinate Hope

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What are you hoping for today?

“Wait, Israel, for GOD. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always!”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭131:3‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Hope now. 

Right now.

While you wait.

While you are stuck.

Open wide your heart and let hope flood in.

Let it wash over your mind and fill your spirit to the brim.

There is no better day than today.

There is no better time than right now.

No matter what is going on around you, hope is available to you.

Jesus died on the cross, destroyed the power of sin and rose again to eternal life.

He is alive.    

He is holding out eternal hope to you.

Don’t procrastinate hope, you have permission to hope now – no matter what.

Hold Onto Hope

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Do you have something in your life that you don’t think God can change?

You know, the places that you don’t think God can reach.

That thing you think God can’t change or that place that you don’t believe God can help.

I call those things, my “even there” places.

Psalm 139:9-10 says, “If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.”(NIV)

No matter how difficult or dark your situation is today, Jesus can guide you out.

Because of Jesus, God’s power flows unhindered to you.

His healing love can wash over you.

His help is available to you.

He will give you the support you need.

Hold onto hope – there is no place that God can’t reach, heal, or restore …even there.

Hour By Hour

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Desperate, I throw myself on you: you are my God! Hour by hour I place my days in your hand, safe from the hands out to get me.” Psalm 31:14, 15 MSG 

When you have run out of options,  done all you can, and come up wanting. 

When you realize you have no control.

No control over how others react.

No control over what others think.

No control over what others choose. 

When you are tired of trying to figure it out – throw yourself on God.

He will not leave you without support:

 “…for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down(relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]” Hebrews 13:5 AMP  

When you are surviving hour by hour, I want to remind you that God is providing for you minute by minute. 

Don’t give up.

Faith and Fear

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This journey with Jesus is a faith journey, not a fear journey.

Faith and fear are both ways to walk into the unknown and I have a secret to tell you – every new day is unknown. 

You don’t know what will happen.

It could go as planned or go completely different.

Sometimes better different, sometimes not so much.

Fear holds you back, faith releases you forward.

I’m not suggesting that you ignore your fear or be in denial of it.

I’m encouraging you to not let fear decide what you do or don’t do.

Faith is a word for trust.

Trust Jesus with all your unknowns and allow Him full access to the places in your heart that are ruled by fear.

Let His love flood in and wash away the fears that are holding you back today.

The Life I Now Live

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Want to go to the next level in your faith journey?

The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20,

“The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”‭‭‬ (‭NIV)

It is a good thing to live your life through Christ, it is going to the next level of your faith to let Jesus live His life through you.

His agenda, your body.

His purposes, your gifts.

His love, your hands.

The “next level” of following Jesus is not a stage of life to achieve, it is a vision-driven, mission-obsessed passion to let Jesus fully have His way in every area of your life.

And you don’t have to wait until you feel ready, you just have to give God permission to begin.

Everything Else is Worthless

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“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him”.

Philippians‬ ‭3:8‬ ‭NLT

At the end of your life, you may or may not have human praise but if you have gone after a real relationship with Jesus, you will have so much more than that.

You will have rich relationships, miraculous moments, great faith adventures as well as the single most important thing you can have with you as you step into eternity – Jesus Himself.

Don’t waste your life by pursuing goals to make yourself more comfortable, more secure or safer.

Live the life you were created for by pursuing the one goal of knowing Jesus.

Not just to know about Him but to know Him in every area of your life.

Not just to work for Him but to work with Him.

Keep this goal as the top priority and all the other goals will quickly fall into their proper perspective.