Remaining stable in an unstable world

November 23, 2019 Gaspar Anastasi

Making positive change, Success & victory

We live in volatile times. Things that were once icons, pillars and immovable structures are changing overnight. Long-entrenched governments topple in hours. Peace quickly turns into riots and war zones spontaneously erupt. Yet, today’s unstable times were prophesied thousands of years ago.

God speaks of a time (I believe we’re there now) when people will “call evil good and good evil”. At a time like this, people without deep convictions will change their values, standards and way of living like the wind. We inherit our beliefs from our parents which are then molded my popular culture and social norms. They are further affected by our intimacy (or lack thereof) with God.

Anchored in Truth

Giving in to the pressures of today’s worldliness will only lead to instability. Unstable people are not grounded in the truth of the Gospel because it hasn’t become the foundation of their lives. They don’t have the anchor of the word to give them a deeper conviction than the inferior and immoral beliefs they’re being bombarded with daily. They don’t realize that they lack a moral compass. As it says in Matthew 7:13b: “…wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” In other words, the majority opinion is most often wrong!

However, people with a biblical world view and strong faith in God are usually stable. They aren’t vulnerable to the changing morals of the world. Because their lifestyle is established on God’s word, they’re unfortunately branded as old-fashioned and out of touch with the times.

But Jesus says in Matthew 5:10&11: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.”

The majority opinion today is anti-God and that mindset has crept into the 21st century Christian church. We have developed a compromised gospel to appease the marginal Christian and make friends with the world.

Preachers won’t speak biblical truth for fear of offending the very people they’re called to liberate with God’s word. The fear of the Lord has been replaced with the fear of man, but God is looking for people like you and me to shout from the rooftops what He has revealed in our hearts.

Will the real church please stand up!

Will the true church (Christ-like people) please stand up and be heard? God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. Spiritual warfare is at its highest since the beginning of time because it’s Satan’s last stand. He is throwing whatever he has left at the church, but God is using this season to identify and hand-pick His remnant church to usher in the second coming of Jesus.

Please don’t give in. to the pressure that this upside-down world is throwing at you. keep standing! Ephesians 5:13 says: “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Ask yourself, “Am I stable in my convictions concerning God’s way of life for me? Or am I easily swayed by the immoral standards that are intellectually and logically presented to me, even by our government?” God is looking for stable people in an unstable world to build his kingdom. What will your choice be?…

Don’t let your setback make you step back.

June 8, 2019 Gaspar Anastasi

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Making positive change

When it comes to our God-given dreams and visions, we all suffer setbacks from time to time. Remember that everything we do for God will be contested, challenged and resisted by the devil.

Too many of us get discouraged and give up when we hear a word from God, start to walk it out, but then face immediate frustration and failure. Sure it’s a setback, but it’s no reason for us to step back and give up on our God-inspired dream or promise.

Below I present some steps to prevent failure when pursuing God’s promises in your life.

1. Realize that you have an enemy.

But it’s really not Satan directly….it’s you. It’s the weaknesses of your own flesh (feelings and emotions). We must discipline ourselves to be influenced by God’s word rather than our circumstances. Second Corinthians 4:18 says, “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” It takes daily discipline to die to our own ways, thoughts and feelings and stay focused on God’s promises.

2. Don’t assume the dream or vision was a lie.

If your strategy fails, it doesn’t mean that you’re a failure or the dream or vision isn’t from God. Just change your strategy. The promises stay the same, but the strategies can change.

3. Understand that timing is everything.

When it comes to fulfilling God’s plans and purposes in your life, timing matters…a lot. Live on God’s time clock, not your own. Many people step back when things are not happening according to their time plan. They forget that Isaiah 55:8 says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.”

Just wait on the Lord and trust that He knows what He’s doing. He always brings His promises to pass. Second Corinthians 1:20 puts it this way: “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” Don’t quit on God….. He hasn’t quit on His Word that is in you.

4. Let God purify your motives.

Ask, “Why do I want this vision, dream or promise fulfilled in my life?” We can suffer setbacks because our hearts are still too filled with selfish motives. The advancement of God’s Kingdom should be our ultimate goal. I agree that we should prosper and enjoy divine favor—but not just for ourselves—for those we can influence in the present and future. God will put His dreams, visions and promises for us in a holding pattern because we have the wrong motives.

5. Forgive yourself if you stepped back.

God hasn’t changed His mind concerning His promises in your life. Don’t let discouragement turn into depression and stay in your life. You can always choose to once again embrace God’s dream, vision or promises.

Conclusion: No one is perfect, but God loves us and desires that we succeed in every way. So don’t give up or quit when you have a setback. Remember…setbacks are only permanent when you step back!

If this blog post has been a blessing to you, please take a moment to comment below.

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Dancing in the Dark

May 18, 2019 Gaspar Anastasi

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Making positive change, Overcoming depression

Over and over in Genesis when God is creating, the scripture says “And evening and morning were the first (second… sixth…) day.” Notice night always comes before day. Our God who declares the end from the beginning goes to work in the evening of our lives when it is darkest, when everything looks dead and hopeless, when you feel like giving up. That’s when He suddenly speaks into the night and commands, “Let there be light!”

We all must go through night seasons in life. That’s a fact. And it is crucial that you put your effort into enduring difficult times in faith, rather than circumventing them. Otherwise, you just might miss your miracle.

A womb for the miraculous

Start seeing the darkness that surrounds you as a womb for the miraculous, and an incubator for the incredible. Suddenly, in one day, God can resurrect the very thing you thought was dead forever and prosper it as never before. But you must be willing to lay it down in faith.

In Numbers 17:1-8, God commanded the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel to lay down their rods before Him. Each of them was carrying around a dead stick which represented their will, their abilities and their human power. But once he laid it down, in the course of one night, Aaron’s rod budded blossomed and bore fruit. A miracle!

When God gets hold of the dead thing you lay down—the bad relationship, the rebellious kids, the lost job, the uncertain future—your crisis becomes the crucible for God’s creative power.

Endure the night

Not only must we endure our own night season, we must let others go through theirs as well. When we try to rescue our children or loved ones from problems over and over instead of letting them go through them, we only prolong their time in the fire.

If you cut a butterfly free from its cocoon it will die because it didn’t get the strength it gains in the struggle while breaking out. When you take away a person’s struggle, you kill the character, the discipline, the humility, etc. that would have developed in the process. That’s why Jesus rebuked Peter for trying to dissuade Him from going to the cross and why He called Judas friend. Jesus knew He had to endure the night to obtain our salvation.

So what do we do while we’re waiting for daybreak? Declare what you want to see happen. Speak light into the darkness just like God did. He has already given you the word. Now He is saying, “You speak it!”

Declare truth til daybreak

Say, “I am a tither and God is opening up the windows of heaven and pouring me out a blessing so great I can’t contain it all.”

Say, “Healing is the children’s bread and by Jesus Christ’s stripes I am healed of ________!”

Say, “My household is saved because a sanctified wife makes a sanctified husband and children.”

Don’t moan and groan. Endure joyfully. Say what God says and start to praise Him even in the dark. Dance and shout as you visualize your miracle coming to pass. Then get ready. Once you get a vision, day is about to come. …

The Esau Syndrome

May 11, 2019 Gaspar Anastasi

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Making positive change, Relationship with God, Success & victory

Esau, the first born, came in from hunting and said to his brother Jacob who was cooking pottage, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “Look, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?” So he swore an oath, selling his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. The Bible summarizes this heated exchange with one cold statement: “So Esau despised his birthright” (Gen. 25:34).

Position, Privilege and Power

As the firstborn and heir to his father’s fortune, Esau was to come into Position, Privilege and Power. That was his birthright. However, he wasn’t willing to wait.

Every day the enemy tempts us to compromise future blessings to meet an immediate emotional need. How often we Christians fall prey to the Esau Syndrome! How often we sell our place of Position, Privilege and Power to meet a carnal craving, a lustful appetite! Yet, only God satisfies.

Just like Esau, we reason, “What good is my birthright? I’m hungry now! Why wait? I need someone to love me now!” We see an opportunity to get what we think God wants to give us…but our way. So we close our eyes and leap into sin, emptiness and spiritual death, trying to meet our need instead of relying on God. Thus, the Esau Syndrome has crippled the body of Christ and made us dysfunctional.

No Shortcut to God’s Best

In God’s house there are no elevators, only steps. You must go through the steps He ordains in order to inherit the blessings He has prepared.

I know so many Christians who have promises from God, but they are not willing to allow God to take them on His journey in order to receive them. How sad that is! They end up losing everything for a pot of beans.

It’s like the weight lifter who wants the bulging muscles, so he takes steroids. He looks good on the outside, but inside his body is being destroyed.

Exodus 13:17 says that God led the children of Israel “not in the way of the Philistines.” There was a way to the promised land that was quicker, but in the shortcut, they would have dealt with the lusts of the flesh and they might have gone back to Egypt and into bondage.

Stop Selling Your Birthright

God is re-training us to trust Him rather than ourselves. He wants us to be led by His Spirit and not by our emotions.

Church, stop living out of your soul. Stop selling your birthright. Any time you try to be self-sufficient rather than God-sufficient, you go right back into bondage like before. Allow God to take you on the journey that will mature you. Don’t fall for the devil’s counterfeit. No shortcut will produce a Christ-like result in your life.

Have we not yet come to realize that, unless God meets our need, we will be left hungry and thirsty? Have we not hit enough dead ends to know that God has to bring it to pass? It takes a mature Christian to say no to the lusts of our flesh and yes to Jesus. Let’s be disciplined. Let it not be said of us, “So they despised their birthright.”…

Begin at the end.

April 27, 2019 Gaspar Anastasi

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Finding significance in life, Making positive change, Success & victory

What would you like your friends say about you when you die? That you were a person who loved God and loved people… that you were compassionate, always putting the needs of others before your own? Of course, you do! Unfortunately, for some of us that won’t be the case because we never planned the end from the beginning!

You see, when a Hollywood producer makes a movie, he or she always has the end in mind before they start production. They design the different segments of the movie, making sure they all lead to the desired ending. If one of the segments doesn’t fit the ending they planned, they pull it out and create one that does fit.

If you and I want our lives to have a great ending, we must likewise plan the different segments of our lives to produce the desired result.

Pay now and play later

I like to say it this way: If we pay now, we can play later. But that’s the opposite of what most people do! Good planning calls for great discipline and keeping the end well in sight. Like a movie producer, you and I get to control each act and dictate how it ends.

The key to a good ending is sticking to the script: the Word of God. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith; He is also the Director of our life, as the Apostle Paul tells us in Hebrews 12:2.

An illustration

I heard a story of an old man who sat on a park bench every afternoon, reading the newspaper. One day a young man sat next to him and, after a few minutes, leaned over to the older gentleman and said, “Sir I’m sorry to interrupt you, but do you have the time?” After a long pause, the old man turned, said “No” and went on reading the paper.

The stunned young man interrupted him and said, “Sir, you have on a watch and I don’t understand why you would say ‘no’ to my request. Did I not ask you politely, or did I offend you in some way?”

The old man said, “Son, you seem like a very nice young man. If I told you the time, we may have gotten into a conversation. Then I might have come to like you and invited you to my house for dinner. When you came over, because you are a handsome young man, my single daughter, who is beautiful, probably would have been attracted to you and you to her. You’d ask her out and there would be a good chance that you would ask her to marry you. Well, I don’t want my daughter to marry somebody who can’t afford a watch.”

Keep the perfect ending in mind

Now that’s a little radical, but the truth is this: You’ll never reach your desired end unless you begin and arrange the rest of your life’s journey with the end in mind. God showed Jeremiah as a young man what his life’s journey was to look like, and Jeremiah kept that vision before him. Surely, our destiny can also be fulfilled if we keep our end goal in mind at all times.

Think about how you would like your obituary to read and the legacy you want your family to continue. Will the unfolding of your life’s script bring glory to God? Take the time today and plan your ending. Then begin at the end!…

Does a habit have you?

April 21, 2019 Gaspar Anastasi

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Getting past the past, Making positive change, Success & victory

Everyone has habits, both good and bad. A habit is a behavior acquired by frequent repetition. An addiction, on the other hand, is a compulsive dependence on an object, an action or a feeling, resulting in major life problems.

Good habits reflect God’s character and strengthen our character. Bad habits lead us astray, drag us down and affect our lives in negative ways.

Scripture uses words like bondage, slavery and stronghold to describe what it means to be a prisoner of sin. Maybe you aren’t enslaved to something as destructive as drugs or alcohol, but you may be held captive to some seemingly harmless activity or attitude. “….For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him, (2 Peter 2:19b, NIV).”

Heart attitudes like anger, criticism, greed and prejudice can be just as damaging as hard-core addictions to drugs, pornography, gambling and eating disorders. Only when our habits move from pleasurable to painful, do we desire and maybe even get ready for change.

The first step

The first step is to acknowledge what’s fueling your negative habit. God created us with a desire for a loving, personal relationship with Him, one in which He meets all our deepest needs. Bad habits and addictions develop when we attempt to meet our God-given needs for love, security and significance through an unhealthy dependence on people, things and activities. With the help of the enemy, wrong thinking takes root in us and things become idols that take the place of God.

Satan uses shame and condemnation to keep us in bondage. He makes us think that God is fed-up and disgusted with us, so we won’t turn to Him for help.

No condemnation

In John chapter 8, when a woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus, He didn’t condemn her. He showed her that even her would-be executioners weren’t without sin. He simply said, “Go and sin no more.”

As her sin lay bare before the Lord, I believe something supernatural happened in her heart. She sensed His love, forgiveness and acceptance and was set free from the lies she believed. No longer defined by her behavior, she received a new beginning. Get the picture?

Stop throwing stones at yourself and turn to Jesus, and keep turning every minute of every day. God brings conviction which brings repentance, rooted in right thinking and the power to change—not condemnation.

From bondage to freedom

How do we move from bondage to freedom? It takes faith and trust. Believe that God has not condemned you for your bad behavior. Trust His love for you, and the truth of His word. His truth sets you free!

Will power alone ultimately brings failure. But, if your desire is to surrender to God and let Him change you, you’ll find incredible peace, power and freedom.

If you’re feeling defeated, put down your stones and turn to Jesus. He loves you and He alone can give you the power to walk away from anything that holds you in bondage. Let go and take His hand!

If this blog post has been a blessing to you, please let us know by leaving a comment below!…