All posts by Alan B. Zibluk

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Recovering From Addiction

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How far are you willing to go in destroying your life with an addiction?

Written by David on 28/03/2017

Series: Weekly Devotional

Tags: Repentance, Forgiveness, New Life, Restitution, Brokenness

If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot.

James 5:16

The end of the line for an addicted person is a self-made prison with four walls — Terror, Confusion, Frustration and Despair. There seem to be no doors or windows, and fear fills your life as you see that you’ve embraced self-destruction of your own accord. There is no protection for what awaits you in the deepest, darkest, isolated, solitary moment of an out-of-control life of sin.

God’s Word is there to give you hope. But first there must be a "death:" “In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God.” (Romans 6:11) This is because the hope is not found in yourself: “I know that my selfish desires won’t let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot.” (Romans 7:18)

Apathy Gives the Enemy Power

Do you spend a daily time with the Lord? Make it a daily quest in your life. Many days I falter in this goal to be in the presence of the Lord through His Word. But I know that my mind, left to itself, will wander to a place of apathy. And I know where this leads: shame, anxiety and destruction. This is what the Bible calls evidence of the "natural man:" a sinful nature seeded in our heart. “More than anything else, a person's mind is evil and cannot be healed. No one truly understands it.” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Where are You Looking for Your Fulfillment?

King David allowed his own heart to wander. It threw him into the four-walled prison: Terror, Confusion, Frustration and Despair. “In the spring, when the kings normally went out to war, David sent out Joab, his servants, and all the Israelites. They destroyed the Ammonites and attacked the city of Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. While he was on the roof, he saw a woman bathing. She was very beautiful.” (2 Samuel 11:1-2) King David should have been fighting alongside his men as other kings went out to war. Instead, he stayed behind, allowing his eyes and mind to wander and looking at the beautiful Bathsheba. He fixed his eyes and didn’t turn away. Acting against God’s will according to his own desires resulted in an unexpected sequence of events. His sinful thoughts and pattern of behavior led to a terrible outcome.

Hope is Found in Brokenness Before God

God searches the heart to find what is good in us. The good is what He has planted. It is a seed that yearns to have a true, authentic relationship with Him. You must have a broken spirit, as David eventually expressed: "I know about my sins, and I cannot forget my terrible guilt. You are really the one I have sinned against; I have disobeyed you and have done wrong. So it is right and fair for you to correct and punish me." (Psalm 51:5-6)

And Once You Have Confessed and Received His Restoration…

Focus on what is hopeful and favorable. “Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8) True faith continues to take God at His word. “If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful. Christ cannot deny who he is.” (2 Timothy 2:13)

This is the turning point of our conversion: repentance, total acceptance and submission to Him through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit living in us. In spite of this, it’s possible to wander in dissatisfaction, looking to fulfill our lives with worldly pleasures and worthless things. When we do this, we can quickly be distracted from God. Losing our perspective about what is important leaves us with emptiness. So the temporary pleasure ends with shame and self-destructive despair. It’s like falling on the sword of our own actions and desires.

The Path of Restoration for a Broken, Sinful Life

God is the answer for the broken hearted and sinful man. Addiction may have taken you to a place of desperation and even complete destruction of some things in your life. Remember that God is much bigger than any "hopeless" situation. Yet there has to be a complete turnaround. You must confess. Admit your sinful habits. Complete confession means confronting your ways from the moment they led you away from God all the way to the end. You need true, transparent, genuine repentance. God will forgive your sin if you confess. (1 John 1:7-10)

Pray this week:

Lord, keep me safe from the sinful ways of my heart. Fill my heart and mind with your thoughts and keep me in the path of righteousness. Create in me a pure heart and make my spirit right again. Amen

Your story could be complicated, like that of Zacchaeus. (Luke 19:1-10) 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

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Bitcoin gets delayed boost from JPMorgan’s embrace of crypto

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Bitcoin gets delayed boost from JPMorgan's embrace of crypto

Bitcoin gets delayed boost from JPMorgan’s embrace of crypto

Bitcoin is approaching $4,000 for the first time since the start of the year, as the largest cryptocurrency gets a delayed boost from the announcement last week that JPMorgan has developed a prototype digital coin that it plans to use to speed up payments between corporate customers.

“What some people have pointed to is that because they’re using distributed ledger technology and they’re calling it a cryptocurrency, that could have a positive effect on the industry,” said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro in Tel Aviv.

Greenspan credited a jump in Ethereum over the weekend tied to the production of coins for helping to create an optimistic environment that pushed most crypto prices higher. Ether rose 17 percent Monday, and was up 3.6 percent to around $146 as of 10:30 a.m. in New York. Bitcoin climbed as much as 3.1 percent Tuesday to $3,970.

At least one measure followed by technical analysts suggests Bitcoin has more room to run, with the digital token in a solid buy trend for the first time since mid-December.

In addition, the VERA Convergence Divergence indicator turned positive today for the first time in over two months, indicating this rally may take Bitcoin over the heavily resisted $4,000 level.

The last time Bitcoin triggered a buy signal it gained $1,100 over the next 10 days.

 

Bloomberg 20 February 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

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Overcoming the Old Nature

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How do I handle tough times and temptations?

https://youtu.be/-M1THuXuDOU

Take off the old self with its practices… and put on the new self.

Colossians 3:9, 10 NIV

Does becoming a follower of Jesus exempt you from difficulty? No. You are not miraculously whisked into a trouble-free glass bubble when you are born again. Rather, you become a battlefield, where you contend with ongoing temptations and daunting challenges.

Though we received a new nature at conversion, we inherited a nasty carryover from our former life called “the old nature.” That legacy from the past hangs around, throwing up roadblocks to the Christ-centered life. It’s not easy to disconnect from ideas and habits that have defined us for so long.

But there’s good news! Jesus took our old nature to the grave when He was crucified. The new nature He gave us in its place is intended to fully displace the old. Our job now is to be aggressive in making that happen. The Apostle Paul says, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11 NIV). In other words, render effective what Jesus did on your behalf.

In Galatians 5:16–17, we are challenged to live by the new nature. “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” That means you allow the Holy Spirit, now living in you, to shape your thoughts, guide your steps, govern your reactions and correct you when you stray. The old nature is real. But God enables and empowers you to walk in victory.

Day 14: Resisting the Devil

How do you need the Holy Spirit's help in your life right now? You can talk with someone who would love to help you overcome your old nature.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

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Markets Hit Six Week High as Altcoin Rally Adds Another 10 Billion

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Markets Hit Six Week High as Altcoin Rally Adds Another $10 Billion

Yesterday’s crypto market rally has continued for a second day adding a further $10 billion to total market capitalization.

The push has driven markets over $134 billion which is the highest they have been since the big dump on January 10, almost six weeks ago. Around ten days ago crypto markets were depressed at $111 billion, since then they have recovered around 20% to current levels. The big question is can this rally turn into a longer term uptrend or is another mega dump imminent.

Ethereum initiated the run yesterday when it pumped 12%, outperforming most of the top altcoins, and Bitcoin itself. Today’s big performer is EOS which has jumped 24% to $3.60 at the time of writing. EOS hit a high of $3.79 a few hours ago which is its best price since late-November’s big market purge. Daily volume has surged to over $2.3 billion pushing EOS market cap to $3.25 billion taking fourth place back from Litecoin. There does not appear to be anything specific driving EOS at the moment aside from fear of missing out (fomo) so a pullback is expected.

Bitcoin Cash has had another solid day’s performance as it gains 13% taking it to $147, chasing down LTC just above it with a climb of 7% to $47.50. Ethereum has also made a further 7% on the day taking its price up to $147 and pushing it over $2 billion clear of XRP in terms of market cap.

Bitcoin is approaching heavy resistance at $4,000 but it is still climbing at the moment with a 5% gain on the day to a high of $3,970 a few hours ago. BTC has since pulled back to $3,920 where it is holding for now.

Other top performers are altcoins which have been hit the hardest in recent weeks namely Cardano, IOTA, Dash, and Ethereum Classic, all climbing 6 to 8 percent on the day. At the moment it is the altcoins which are enjoying the biggest gains over the past 48 hours. Some analysts have predicted the beginning of the “altseason” by looking at total market cap for them without Bitcoin. It has just broken the yearlong trend line and Bitcoin dominance is falling back towards 50%.

At the moment things are looking positive for the majority of altcoins and for once Bitcoin is playing catch-up. It is a pattern repeated countless times though and big brother BTC will have its day sooner or later.

 

Luke Thompson February 19, 2019

 

Markets Hit Six Week High as Altcoin Rally Adds Another $10 Billion

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

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Jesus Can Heal Addiction

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You can be free from addiction.

Written by Lois on 24/05/2016

Series: Weekly Devotional

Tags: Addiction, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Sin

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)

We all have wrong desires and are tempted, but God has given us an Advocate who will help us resist sin if we are willing. Are you tired of being addicted to alcohol, sex, drugs, pornography or greed? Jesus has made a way for you to be free. This is how you can resist temptation and allow Jesus to heal your addiction.

There are countless people who are enjoying an addiction because they have not faced consequences yet. Galatians 6:8 tells us if a person “sows to please his own wrong desires, he will be planting seeds of evil and he will surely reap a harvest of spiritual decay and death; but if he plants the good things of the Spirit, he will reap the everlasting life that the Holy Spirit gives him.” There is no peace or freedom found in loving an addiction or sin. If you want to be healed, you have to turn away and renounce the addiction or sin.

Resist the Temptation

2 Timothy 2:22 tells us to “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.”

  • Temptation happens to everyone; no one is being singled out
  • Learn to recognize the people, things and situations that overtake you
  • After recognizing the tempter, resist him
  • It’s your choice, so choose to do what pleases God
  • Pray for Jesus to help you
  • Seek friends who love God, have resisted temptation and can help you

There is Healing

Jesus is able to heal every kind of addiction, even those we willfully sought out. Jesus is able to "restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten" (Joel 2:25), even if suffering is His chastisement to a person for sinful behavior. God's purpose is never to tempt us to sinful despair but to make us holy and useful. (James 1:13; Hebrews 12:11-13) David, who knew something about God's chastisement, said, "Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice." (Ps. 51:8) Ask Jesus to heal physical or emotional pain from an abusive parent, the brokenness of losing a child, the loneliness of the death of a spouse, or being orphaned.

An addiction is not going to heal you. Letting a sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting God’s Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:6

Pray this week:

Father, this sin is wrecking my life. Will you help me? In Jesus’ name, amen.

Are you addicted to something and need healing from Jesus?

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

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Bitcoin BTC Price Analysis: Aiming for Triangle Top Next

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Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis: Aiming for Triangle Top Next!

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis: Aiming for Triangle Top Next!

Bitcoin broke above its short-term descending channel to confirm that the climb is gaining traction. This also completes a breakout from the bullish flag continuation pattern, indicating that a climb of the same height as the mast is in order.

The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA to confirm that the path of least resistance is to the upside. In other words, the uptrend is more likely to continue than to reverse. This might even lead to a break above the triangle top on the 4-hour time frame.

If so, bitcoin might see a climb that’s the same height as the triangle, which spans $3,300 to $4,400. This might take it all the way up to the forecast of “$5,000 in the next ten days” from the previous week.

So far, the 100 SMA is holding up well as a dynamic support level while the 200 SMA could also hold as a floor near the $3,600 mark in the event of a pullback. A break below the triangle bottom at $3,500 could signal that bearish pressure is back in play.

RSI is already in the overbought zone to indicate that buyers are tired and sellers might take over. In that case, price might also pull back to the broken channel top around $3,700. Stochastic has more room to climb before hitting the overbought zone, which means that buyers could have the upper hand for much longer.

The recent upside break would likely draw more bullish forecasts from analysts, possibly extending the rally even further. Meanwhile, anticipation for the Fidelity institutional platform is also building up as the March launch data approaches.

If this pushes through, a pickup in volumes from institution is expected, likely drawing even more bullish interest. On the other hand, another delay could spur a major correction once more.

 

By Rachel Lee February 18, 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

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How to Heal Addiction

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Hope for the Hurting and Trapped

Written by Dan Lee on 29/11/2016

Series: Weekly Devotional

Tags: Temptation, Addiction, Sin

I have the right to do anything,” you say — but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” — but I will not be mastered by anything.

1 Corinthians 6:12

Addiction is a loaded word with many meanings. We tend to think of it as extreme, however, anyone can suffer from addiction, and it’s far more common than you think.

The World Health Organization tells us that worldwide, 6 million people die every year due to tobacco use, and 3.3 million die due to alcohol related causes.

Alcohol, drugs, and smoking have caused much misery for years. But now, we can add pornography, TV binge-watching, overeating, shopping, and video games. For instance, one woman in New Mexico, USA, was spending over 12 hours a day playing a multiplayer video game — and let her 3-year-old daughter starve to death. Clearly, our world needs to healed from addiction.

Even normal activities can harm us when taken to extremes. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say — but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’ — but I will not be mastered by anything.” An addiction means we have let ourselves be “mastered” by something.

Perhaps other believers have told you to “Flee from youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22) or to “Resist the devil” (James 4:7). But addictions come with mental, emotional and physical components that together exert a much more powerful pull than a regular temptation.

Here are three things that can put you on the road to healing addiction…

1. Cry out to God

First things first — are you a follower of Christ? Even before asking for help with addiction, you must get right with God.

During a time of extreme trouble, David wrote: “I called on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies. The ropes of death entangled me; floods of destruction swept over me” (Psalm 18:3-4). God did not answer David until he had called on Him.

Start by acknowledging that you cannot conquer your addiction in your own strength. Jesus said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible” (Matthew 19:26).

2. Get Help from Others

When trapped in sin, our impulse is to isolate ourselves from other believers. This is what Satan wants as well! Spending time with caring believers and sharing your struggles is an important step in escaping it. Yes, it can be humbling, and even humiliating, but your Christian brothers and sisters can help you with prayer. “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Also see Hebrews 10:24.

3. Cut it Off

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of sexual temptation this way: “So if your eye — even your good eye — causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Matthew 6:29).

Jesus was telling us that if any object or person consistently leads us to sin, we need to get that thing out of our lives. For example, if your friends want you to take drugs with them, you need to find some new friends. If you tend to look at women with lust, don’t go to the beach in summertime. If you can’t resist pornography on the Internet, you need to install filters on your computer — or get rid of the computer altogether.

If you have struggled with an addiction, please know that there is hope, and that the God who made the universe is ready to help deliver you when you cry out to him.

Pray this week:

Lord, I am tired of being mastered by addictions. Please show me the way out, and give me strength from Your Holy Spirit to go that way. Help me to help others who need this help as well.

Are you, or someone you know, struggling with an addiction? 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

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Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

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BITCOIN’S WONDER WEEK – 10 signs a boom is coming

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BITCOIN'S WONDER WEEK - 10 signs a boom is coming

BITCOIN’S WONDER WEEK – 10 signs a boom is coming

There are plenty of reasons to get depressed during ‘Crypto Winter’. But every day we read new stories about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption that make us think the next boom is incoming. Here are 10 stories from this week alone:

1. Bitcoin is now legal in more than 100 countries

According to Coin Dance, Bitcoin is now legal (or at least not specifically banned) in 111 countries out of a total of 256. That includes almost all of the biggest economies in Europe, Russia, South Africa and South America. Bitcoin gets a less enthusiastic welcome in Asia and Africa.
 

2. History shows this could be the last time many can afford a Bitcoin

Crypto trader and investor Josh Rager shared a chart this week of Bitcoin’s overall upward movement since inception, and suggested this could be the last time the public could actually afford to buy a whole Bitcoin. “After 2021 – Bitcoin could move to a market price where most will only buy fractions … $BTC speculative value could be out of reach for most.”
 

3. Nasdaq announced it will add Bitcoin and Ethereum indices this month

Nasdaq announced this week it will launch two new indices tracking cryptocurrency prices from February 25. The Bitcoin Liquid Index (BLX) and the Ethereum Liquid Index (ELX) — provide real time updates in thirty-second intervals for clients using NASDAQ’s Global Index Data Service (GIDS). Now, that’s a long way from a Bitcoin ETF approval, but it shows crypto is now firmly on the radar of traditional and institutional investors. Nasdaq is also reportedly launching Bitcoin futures in the first half of this year.

4. Two US retirement funds invested in a crypto fund

The institutional money has started to flow. For the first time two US pension funds invested in a $40 million cryptocurrency fund overseen by Morgan Creek Capital. Virginia’s Fairfax County’s Police Officers Retirement System and Employees’ Retirement System both think Bitcoin is now worth gambling other people’s retirements on.
 

5. Bitcoin will ‘grind back up,’ says Mike Novogratz

Former Goldman Sachs partner Mike Novogratz told Bloomberg this week that Bitcoin won’t explode all of a sudden, but will “grind back up to $8000”. “It feels like we’re just grinding along the bottom and the next move is significantly higher. We are not gonna bubble back up… We are going to grind back up… But if you start buying, could you go to $8,000? Of course, you could… And then you see the enthusiasm pick up… ”
 

6. Bitcoin is now mining its biggest blocks ever

Blockchain.com showed that February 12 had an average block size of 1.305 megabytes, the biggest on record. Blocks mined today by the Bitcoin network are now regularly bigger than 1MB, which was the limit that existed before Segregated Witness (SegWit) was introduced in August of 2017. Unfortunately up to 20 percent was by a startup called VeriBlock and their transactions have been called ‘spam’.

7. You can now buy pizza easily and cheaply with Bitcoin

Domino’s Pizza now accepts Bitcoin via the Lighting Network, through a third party called

Lightning Pizza. Every order comes with a five per cent discount and fees will cost less than one US cent.
 

8. Chinese Bitcoin billionaire forecasts end of winter

On WeChat Chinese Bitcoin (BTC) billionaire Zhao Dong told investors there are a few more months of winter to endure and predicted the crypto spring will come in 2020, and summer will arrive in 2021. That means now is the time to buy up while it’s cheap.
 

9. 13% of consumers across 22 countries have actually bought stuff with crypto

A survey by Kaspersky Labs of more than 12,000 consumers in 22 different countries found about 13 percent of people have used cryptocurrency as a payment method. Separate data from Coinmap shows there are now 14,346 venues that accept BTC as against 1,789 recorded almost six years ago, an increase of 702 percent since December 2013.

10. Lightning network lighting up

Yes, apparently the Lightning Network now has 6,000 Nodes and $2.4 million capacity. OK, that’s about as much as one house costs in Sydney. But still. The Lightning Network aims to solve the high costs, low transaction volume and rubbish transaction speeds associated with Bitcoin. While it’s early days yet, if it can scale, then this could make Bitcoin king of crypto for years to come.

 

By Andrew Fenton -February 17, 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin BTC Long Term Price Forecast- February 16

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Bitcoin (BTC) Long Term Price Forecast- February 16

Bitcoin (BTC) Long Term Price Forecast- February 16
 

BTC/USD Long-term Trend: Bearish

  • Resistance levels: $7,200, $7,400, $7,600

  • Support levels: $3,500, $3,300, $3,100

Last month, January, the BTC/USD pair was trading in the bearish trend zone. With an opening balance of $3,832.60, the BTC price depreciated to the low of $3,503.80. In other words, in January, the crypto lost about 8.57% of its capitalization. In January the bears broke the $3,700 support level as price continued its fall to the $3,400 price level.

The broken support level of $3,700 is now a resistance level for the BTC price. On February 8, the cryptocurrency came out of the bearish trend zone as the bulls broke the 12-day EMA and the 26-day EMA. The crypto’s price reached a high of $3,800 but closed at a price of $3,724.The crypto is facing resistance at the $3,700 and $3,800 price levels. Currently, the BTC price is retracing from the recent high and has fallen to the support of the EMAs. If the price is sustained above the EMAs, the crypto is likely to resume its bullish trend. Meanwhile, the MACD line and the signal line are below the zero line which indicates a sell signal. The crypto’s price is above the 12-day EMA and the 26-day EMA which indicates that price is likely to rise.

 

By Azeez M – February 16, 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member