Remove the mask

March 6, 2021 Gaspar Anastasi

We all go through painful events in life; and our tendency is to sweep our feelings under the rug and ignore them—hoping they go away. However, failure to deal with our hurts and losses creates a perfect environment for depression and despair.

We may think that masking our true feelings protects our heart, but it doesn’t. Instead, it wounds our spirit, which affects every aspect of our lives. Hiding our hurts impacts our spirit, soul, thoughts, feelings and emotions, our physical health, our well-being and even our relationships. This emotional masking stunts our spiritual growth, emotional and mental maturity. It eventually hinders our intimacy with God and people.

We need to take off the masks and become transparent before God. Don’t be afraid to share your pain with Him. Bring Him your broken heart and He will bring His plan of restoration.

Let your Father protect you

In fact, when you are honest with God, He will protect you from making wrong choices. He will keep you connected to people whom He predestined to be part of your story and separate you from the rest.

Furthermore, He will give you wisdom and understanding. David told God in Psalm 51:6 “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”

Enter into God’s joy, peace and happiness by embarking on what I call the Five D’s.

Practice the Five D’s

Determine what sad experiences or significant losses from the past haven’t you faced. They can be things like divorce, death of parents, rejection, failures, false accusations, unjust criticism, thwarted goals or unrealized dreams. These feelings may be buried deep in your unconscious mind. But just because you don’t think about them doesn’t mean they don’t affect you today. They do.

Discover the source of your masked pain through earnest prayer. Here’s an example: “Oh Father, let Your peace calm my troubled heart. Please make me aware of my need for healing and bring to my mind hurts I have masked and the circumstances that caused them.”

Define your feelings with specific statements such as: “_________ made me feel like_______; I am grieving over________; I was so embarrassed when _______; I felt abandoned by_____; I was really hurt when _______; I determined to never let _____ happen again.” Pinpoint and define the hurts you’ve masked all this time. Let God take you out of denial and into inner healing. Make this your year to escape the heaviness you’ve been living with for so long.

Decide to deeply and genuinely grieve your hurts. Release forgiveness to those who have hurt you and receive God’s forgiveness for holding anger or hatred. There is no justification for anyone with the nature of Jesus Christ to harbor these things. You may also need to forgive yourself for wrong choices that have perpetuated the pain. Ecclesiastes 3:1&7 says, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:….. A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;”

Deepen your dependence on God. Trust Him to give you emotional freedom. Allow the Holy Spirit to pray through you daily. He’s your physician, your medicine cabinet, and He has every antidote you need to make you whole. In fact, it’s His desire.

May the clouds of hopelessness and despair be lifted. May God’s wonderful plans for you be revealed. Remember, He supplied you with everything you need to accomplish them. But first, remove the mask.

Your thoughts are important to us. Please take the time to share your feelings on this topic by commenting below.…

How to get out of debt, pt. 1

February 20, 2021 Gaspar Anastasi

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Making positive change, Success & victory

The way the economy is going, life is getting increasingly difficult and the financial forecast doesn’t look very promising either. It’s obvious that things are about to get worse, but, how does God weigh in on all of this? Does He care about finances and does He offer any practical solutions to the problem of debt? Well first of all, Jesus spoke more about money than any other subject in the Bible. I know that’s shocking, but it’s true.

I believe Jesus highlighted the money issue because He knows that debt and poverty are manifestations of the kingdom of Satan. They are curses that are often carried down from generation to generation. Through money, the enemy attempts to control and hinder our lifestyles and ultimately our destiny.

It’s amazing how many of us are scrambling every day just to get enough money to live on, leaving us very little time for God. How ironic, since God is the true source of our lives! Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Let’s look at a few God-inspired principles to help alleviate debt and poverty in our lives. They are not in any particular order, but they point the way to apprehend God’s plan and strategy for us.

1. Believe He is a debt-canceling God. Mark 11:24 says,”Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” He cancelled all of our debts on His cross two thousand years ago. In other words, believe that God wants to deliver you from poverty and cancel your debt. Nothing happens unless we believe.

2. All poverty and debt originates from sin. Any time you or your ancestors trusted in money and wealth to meet needs instead of God—that’s sin. First Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Identify with the source of that sin, repent in the place of your ancestors and then repent for personal participation in that sin in your own life. Debt and poverty must be cut off at the root in order to break that cycle in your life. These two steps of identification and repentance are foundational to getting out of debt. For further explanation of this, please go to our website www.BreakingFreeCC.com and contact our office.

3. Review your spending habits: Is God in the decision-making when it comes to your spending habits? Many of us don’t allow God to be Lord over this area and we spend according to the lust of our flesh, not the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we examined our spending habits every day, we’d learn some shocking truths about our own heart.

List all of your spending for seven days, bring them before the Lord in prayer and ask Him if there needs to be any changes. If you’re sincere, you will probably see that radical change is necessary. That’s a good time to ask God’s forgiveness for your idolatry (putting money ahead of God).

These steps reveal your true desire to have poverty and debt broken over your life. A lot of us talk a good talk, but when it comes down to it, that’s all it is—talk. Getting out of debt requires a radical change in our view of money and our understanding of God’s desire to be God (the only source) in and over our lives. We will continue this series next week.

We love to hear from you! If this post has blessed you, please let us know by leaving a comment.…

Believe it’s possible

February 6, 2021 Gaspar Anastasi

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Making positive change, Overcoming depression, Rejection

I believe the one problem that hinders us most from enjoying successful lives today is a lack of belief in ourselves. Sure, most of us have great confidence in God. We believe He is who He says He is and that He is capable of doing great things. However, the problem isn’t with Him…it’s with ourselves.

We don’t believe that God could or even wants to accomplish great things for us. Yet the truth is: No matter what great things God does on earth, He does them through earthen vessels like you and me.

You were created to succeed

In fact, He tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:7 (I’m paraphrasing here) “God’s greatness has been deposited in all of us who know Him as our Lord and Savior.” This means that God has invested His potential for greatness in every one of us. You and I have been given the power to become very successful in our life-time so we can glorify Him on this earth.

So why do the majority of us believe God can’t great things for (or through) me? Bottom line: We’re holding on to a poor self-image.

We let our past (and present) mistakes haunt us. Our failures continually remind us that we are not worthy of God’s blessings and provisions. Thus, your history becomes your destiny.

Don’t be a cheap copy

The consequence of that faulty thinking is that we try to be like somebody else, someone we think God is proud of. We eventually become cheap copies of great originals, never realizing our full potential in Jesus Christ.

God never meant for us to be like anyone else. In spite of our wrong choices and failures, He didn’t make a mistake when He created you and me. He knew the worst thing you would ever do before you did it, yet He still created you and redeemed you for such a time as this.

You need to start believing in yourself! And why not? God believes in you! Choose to believe it’s possible that God wants to and will do extraordinary things through you and in your life-time. He has made a great investment in you.

Don’t believe a lie

So don’t waste your life away, believing the lie that it’s too late for you; that you are too far gone; you have made too many mistakes and so God is finished with you.

The truth is: God is waiting for you to believe it’s possible. In Philippians 4:13 the Apostle Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Notice the “I can” part. It takes our cooperation to believe that it is possible for God’s greatness to work in and through us.

God is waiting for you—not the other way around. Start today to believe that it is possible no matter what “it” is, and let God bring you into the great destiny He has planned!…

Conquer that Mountain!

January 30, 2021 Gaspar Anastasi

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Finding significance in life, Making positive change

Do the problems you face loom larger than life? Are they also greater than the God you serve? Sadly, for too many of us, the answer is yes.

However, the mountains in our lives are actually blessings in disguise. On the one hand, they reveal how powerless we are to move them. On the other hand, they offer an incredible opportunity to discover how great and awesome God really is.

Your mountains will shrink dramatically when you:

Get a fresh revelation of God. When King Uzziah died, the prophet Isaiah faced a leadership crisis both personally and politically.

But God met him in an amazing way! “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)”

God overwhelmed the prophet with a vision of His greatness and, in an instant, discouragement evaporated, changing Isaiah’s life forever. He understood that what was impossible for him was no match for the great and mighty God he served.

Ask God for a mountain-moving strategy. Get alone with God and take advice from the Lord’s brother James: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)” Keep a pen and paper with you and write down the best 4 or 5 possible solutions. God’s promises are true and, when applied, they will release His power against your problems. He says: “I will hasten my word to perform it. (Jeremiah 1:12)”
Act in faith. With humility, prayer and openness to the Holy Spirit, step out in faith and act on one of those solutions. Trust God to close some doors and to open others, unveiling even more possibilities. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)”

Connect with solution-oriented people. Don’t hang out with those who just sympathize with you. It’s worth seeking them out! Unfortunately, there aren’t many visionaries in the world today who see the end from the beginning. Be careful to guard your heart from adopting a victim mentality.

No matter what mountains overshadow you—relational, marital, financial, emotional or physical—God has the solution. It’s just a matter of getting His download. The Lord loves to work with people who know they need His strength. “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)”

Don’t get overwhelmed and give in to defeat! Move that mountain! You know a great big God who can!…

Are we there yet?

January 23, 2021 Gaspar Anastasi

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

“Are we there yet?” That’s the question we always asked as kids on a long car ride. As long as we could envision the destination, we could tolerate the monotony and discomfort of the trip. But what happens when the goal is still far away?

We start looking at the road and focusing on how hard life is. Giving up on our dream becomes a viable option. That’s why you must stay focused on the bigger picture, the reason you were created.

Of course, the journey plays an important part: It prepares you to be successful when you reach your destination. Sadly, too many people get off track along the way. They get their eyes off the prize, quit along the way and then never fulfill their life’s purpose.

Keeping the bigger picture in mind (the end goal, the destination) helps us to press on.

Focus on the end game

Walt Disney was fired from his newspaper job because he “lacked ideas” and went bankrupt several times. When he tried to fund the development of Disneyland, over a hundred banks turned him down.

When Thomas Edison was 4 years old, his teacher sent a note home saying, “Please remove Thomas from this school because he is too stupid to learn.” That opinion didn’t keep him from going on to invent the incandescent light bulb, becoming history’s most prolific inventor or having 1,093 U.S. patents as well as many in the UK, France and Germany.

Then there’s Lou Ferrigno who, as a child, developed an ear infection resulting in hearing loss in one ear. His father was very critical of him because of his hearing loss, believing he would never achieve success. Yet, at the age of 20, Ferrigno became the youngest body builder to win the Mr. Universe title and then became a legend on the TV show “The Incredible Hulk”. He once said, “If I hadn’t lost my hearing, I wouldn’t be where I am now.” It forced him to stay focused on the bigger picture (his desire to be successful) and maximize his potential.

There are many others who stayed focused on the end game in spite of obstacles they faced on the journey. Early teachers considered Albert Einstein an un-teachable fool and Wayne Gretzky (the most famous hockey player to play the game) was said to be “too small, too slow and would never make it in the NHL.” The experts considered Beethoven hopeless as a composer.

Pursue the prize ahead

These men had two things in common: 1). They never quit when it seemed like the only option and 2). they stayed focused on the bigger picture. They kept their eyes fixed on their destination—not just the journey. They accepted that life isn’t fair and doesn’t give you what you deserve. (But they obviously believed it gives you what you demand.)

Don’t let past failures deter you from pursuing your God-given dreams. There is a prize ahead, so press on toward your goal. Like the Apostle Paul said:

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13, 14).

If this blog has been a blessing to you, please comment.…

Living Vertical

January 9, 2021 Gaspar Anastasi

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Making positive change

Too often, our perspective on life is horizontal. What I mean is: We’re people-focused, not God-focused. You and I work very hard to please the people in our lives. We want to earn their approval for various reasons, and some of those reasons are good. Sometimes we’re motivated by a real love and compassion for our fellow human beings.

We want to benefit them and protect them from a destiny of destruction. Of course, some reasons may be more selfish, like wanting to get a promotion or a raise on the job; or desiring something they have.

Both kinds of desires represent a “horizontal lifestyle”. The focus is on us and other people, instead of God (a vertical lifestyle).

Vertical is more durable

Both lifestyles are necessary, but the horizontal should flow naturally out of the vertical. They should not be two separate lifestyles. When our lives are vertical, (focused on knowing and loving God) the natural by-product is caring for others with a pure heart. Faulty motives should have no place.

Even as Christians, we live mostly horizontal. Yes, we share the gospel with more people today than before, but what we’re presenting isn’t life-changing. We’re reproducing ourselves instead of reproducing Jesus!

We are called to re-present Jesus here on earth, but that’s only possible if we are filled with Him. God can’t work through us what He hasn’t first worked in us. If your life isn’t vertical enough, you can only give others what’s inside of you (which quickly runs out).

Keys to vertical living

How can we turn this around, be more vertical than horizontal? Here are some very practical, life-changing steps.

Pray at least once a day, asking God to give you a pure heart and right motives. (Matthew 5:8). That prayer lines up with God’s will for you and He will answer it.
Make it a priority to worship the Lord three times a day. Just two or three minutes several times a day releases your love and adoration for God. It strengthens your spirit-man. As your spirit goes, so goes your whole life!
Remind yourself daily how God has delivered you and where He has taken you. Bringing back to your conscious mind how God’s miracles have changed your life and destiny will make you immensely more vertical-minded almost immediately. I’m sure that, like me, Jesus has delivered you many times since He came into your life as your Lord and Savior. Bring to mind your latest life-changing breakthrough.
Now share that testimony with one person every day. Make it a habit to share God’s glory with someone each day.
Refuse to get offended! When someone hurts you, and they will, choose to deal with it immediately. Don’t stuff it down in your heart.

These few steps will keep you vertical, not just horizontal. I assure you that when you live a vertical lifestyle, your horizontal life will be very successful as well!…