What’s following you?

September 5, 2020 Gaspar Anastasi

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

No one lives this life without affecting others, whether for good or evil. Our influence makes lasting impact for generations. Our legacy lays a path for our children and grandchildren to follow. It will either lead them to do greater things or cause them to stumble.

Deuteronomy 30:19 says that the choices we make today will bless or curse those who follow us. Every one of us has an account in heaven where we make daily deposits for our future—either blessings of mercy or curses of iniquity.

What are you depositing?

We store up blessings of mercy by making God-honoring choices that put Him before ourselves. When we make time to go to church, give tithes and offerings, forgive others and overlook their wrongs, resist temptations—all these things bless God.

Conversely, taking the easy way out, compromising, giving in to temptation, refusing to forgive, following our feelings and intellect, inconsistently attending corporate gatherings, holding back tithes and offerings—these actions store up curses for our future and that of our children and grandchildren (Exodus 20:5).

Look back in your own family tree, and you may realize that a legacy of mercy, favor and blessing was stored up for you by your parents and grandparents who paid the price in sacrifices and right choices. You may also see how some of your present struggles are inherited from them.

The buck stops here!

Those curses of iniquity need not go any further. We’ve all sown bad seeds in our lives, but its time to reverse the curse. You can be the “bloodline-changer” in your family and end its negative effect on your children and your children’s children. Ask “What is in my heavenly bank account? Blessings of mercy? Or curses of iniquity?” The buck can stop with you!

The legacy we leave is more valuable, enduring and life-changing than silver and gold that perish.

The Apostle Paul pointed out to Timothy that his strong faith first lived in the hearts of his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice (2 Tim. 1:5). Their deposits of faithful prayer and worship into their heavenly bank account benefited their child.

Wouldn’t it be great if God could tell your descendants the same about you when they see divine favor and special blessings in their lives? The legacy we leave is more valuable, enduring and life-changing than silver and gold that perish.

Every family needs a David.

That’s why Solomon asked the Lord to remember the mercies of His servant David (2 Chron. 6:42). David wasn’t a perfect man, but he knew how to honor God, which deposited blessings of mercy in his heavenly account for his sons to withdraw.

God honored David’s sacrifices and his right choices. For all that, God promised David that, instead of giving them what they deserved, He would correct his sons with mercy if they turned away from Him (which they did).

God’s covenant of mercy also extends to you and me. Be the David of your family! The next time you put down your flesh and make a right decision, remember that, like David, you are depositing mercy in your heavenly account. Leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.…

Light the fire again.

August 29, 2020 Gaspar Anastasi

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

Isn’t it amazing how big a $20 bill looks when you take it to church and how small it is when you take it to the mall? Or think about how long an hour serving God seems compared to the same 60 minutes spent watching TV, playing sports, sleeping or taking a lunch break!

Where are your priorities?

Consider how laborious it is to read a chapter in the Bible, but so easy to cuddle up with a 200 page bestselling novel. We may have trouble getting up for church on Sunday morning but no problem whatsoever staying out late on a big date the night before.

Isn’t it strange how quick we are to trust directions from a total stranger if we are lost? Or take the advice of the latest pop-psychologist? But we are so hesitant to seek God’s direction in the Bible for the issues of our life. You get my point.

It comes down to priorities. You may go through life convinced that your priority is loving and serving God, but is it really? When examined more closely, your actions may betray your true priorities.

1. Recognize your condition and repent for living a hypocritical Christian life!

Admit that, like the Church of Laodicea in the Book of Revelation, your heart for the things of God is lukewarm at best.

According to scripture, a lukewarm Christian is worse than an unbeliever. At least an unsaved person, when faced with the truth of their ungodly lifestyle, may recognize their need for Jesus. But a lukewarm Christian is deceived into thinking that everything is good. How far from the truth!

2. Study God’s Word to find out what He expects of those who have His Spirit.

John 15:1-7 tells us that, if we’re connected with Him there must be evidence (fruit) of His life in us. We should obey His Word, demonstrate a giving nature, show unconditional love for one another, worship and praise Him continually, develop a prayer life and—last but not least—come together regularly to worship Him.

3. Get baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit daily.

He is the presence of God and He will keep you passionately in love with Jesus. When the fire goes out, we’re all subject to living a compromised Christian life, but the Holy Spirit is available every moment of our life. Get into the habit of being filled with His presence daily. It’s as simple as asking, “Please fill me.”

4. Share your faith with someone daily.

I believe this is absolutely necessary. Why? Too many of us are closet Christians… afraid of rocking the boat. Or we’re deceived into thinking that we should keep our faith to ourselves.

We must flow the river of God’s love by sharing our faith with others. This allows God to continually pour more of Himself in us and keep us fresh in His anointing.

Let’s rip the veils of deception off of our eyes and start living the true Christian life! Don’t buy the lie many Christians are falling for today: They believe they’re going to heaven, while not believing there is a hell!

It’s time to face the truth and get your priorities straight… or face the consequences. Believe me: It’s worth the effort.…

Good news: The bad news is wrong!

August 22, 2020 Gaspar Anastasi

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Success & victory

Yes, you heard me right! The bad news you heard about yourself, about your destiny and simply accepted as fact is WRONG! We are quick to believe the lies the enemy speaks about us instead of hanging on to the promises God gives us. The voice of our circumstance shouts louder than the voice of God’s dreams and visions in us.

In spite of how things look to you, God holds on to the promises He redeemed for you. They are not lost or gone forever. They’re on God’s lay-away plan, waiting for you to claim them. The bill can be paid in full by completely trusting in God’s word, no matter how long ago He spoke it to you. God’s word has a voice. You need to pay more attention to His voice than to natural circumstances that are changeable.

Whose report do you believe?

In Isaiah 53:1 the prophet cried out, “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” That’s the question God still asks today. Your enemy wants you to believe that all is lost and you’ll just have to live without the things God promised.

David heard the same hateful voice of the enemy as he faced Goliath, but experience had taught him differently. As a shepherd boy, he had killed a lion and a bear that broke into his sheep fold. In spite of seemingly overwhelming circumstances, David rose up, pursued the predator and found that God had prevented their strong jaws from crushing the frail lamb. Why? Because the lamb belonged to David! And when David confronted Goliath, he acted boldly because of his experience with the lion and bear.

Pursue your dreams

God has given you irrevocable promises concerning your marriage, finances, career, ministry opportunities, your health, etc. The promises haven’t come to pass yet, and it appears they never will. But that’s exactly what the lion wants you to believe… so you won’t pursue him.

The bad news says your dreams are in the lion’s mouth, but that news is wrong. God didn’t let the devil kill your dream and consume what He has redeemed for you. This year, I encourage you to take the following simple steps to fully recover what belongs to you, just like David:

Recover all!

1. Stop seeing yourself as a victim. You possess the power to control your circumstances and not be controlled by them.

2. Believe God’s promises and acknowledge the integrity of His word. Thank Him for them and ask Him to forgive your unbelief.

3. Practice selective hearing! Stop listening to all the lies and negative voices. Instead, tune in to God’s voice of truth.

4. Start pursuing your God-given promises. Ask God for His strategy to recover what’s been stolen. You will recover all, but you need to let Him order your steps as your pursue it.

5. Finally, don’t look back. Focus on restoring what seemed stolen. God’s good news? THE BAD NEWS IS WRONG!

We love to hear from you! If this post has blessed you, please take a moment to let us know by commenting below.…

Remove your greatest barrier to success

August 15, 2020 Gaspar Anastasi

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Success & victory

If you could change one thing to improve your chances of success, would you do it? I believe you would. What I’m about to share will change your life forever and position you to overcome obstacles, set-backs and past failures. But be warned: Knowledge only benefits you if it is applied. An intellectual concept by itself is a stumbling block and a deception. The knowledge God gives you for a situation is helpful only when you step out in faith on it. So plan to put this knowledge into action.

Get past the great barrier

The one great barrier that I see we all need to remove is the habit of blame shifting. What is blame shifting? It’s deflecting the attention concerning an incident away from you and towards another person or entity. For example, a husband who hits his wife may say: “I would have never hit her if she hadn’t talked to me that way.” Or an adulterous wife might say: “I would have never looked for love if he hadn’t stopped paying attention to me, going out drinking with his friends every night.”

Though it may seem insignificant, shifting the blame is a common and acceptable problem. Our story of the wrong done to us by others may be the truth, but it’s rarely the whole truth!

It’s true that our spouse spoke harshly and withdrew his or her affection. The truth be told, we responded negatively which puts some of the responsibility on us. By not accepting our part, you and I build a story that is only half true and, therefore, undermine our future success. How? Failure to accept responsibility for what happens today causes us to undergo the same experiences repeatedly.

Why do you blame shift?

You are afraid of being rejected more than you already are. Rejection is very painful and facing more seems unbearable.
You are ashamed of your bad decision and don’t want anybody to see you that way. It’s like our first parents who sinned and hid from God because they were afraid of being found out. They recognized their nakedness and put on fig leaves (excuses) to cover their shame. …And they blame shifted. Adam blamed God and the woman. The woman blamed the serpent.

Now, it’s true that Eve tempted Adam, but that’s not the full reason he sinned. It’s true that the devil tempted Eve, but that’s not the whole reason she disobeyed God. As long as you fail to accept your part in the problem, there is no hope of breaking the cycle of failure in your marriage, your business, your relationships, your career, etc.

Accept your part in the problem

Accept your small part in the story (I say “small” because most people only see themselves as having a tiny role in the problem…but something is better than nothing.) When you do:

You confront the part of you that is in rebellion towards God’s will. If you never humble yourself, it becomes a negative seed that shows up again the next time you start over.
You lessen the anger, hurt and outrage toward the other people or entities involved—because you took responsibility for your part (no matter how small).
You attain the ability to forgive yourself and others for their part in your hurt. Remember, God’s presence is the most important thing in your life. (“Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty (2 Cor. 3:17).” “Blessed are they that have a pure heart for they shall see the Lord (Matt. 5:8).”)
You clear the way for future success. The next time you step out in faith, you won’t be plagued by past failure. This time, you’ll succeed, instead of having to start things over and over again until you give up.
You shed your victim mentality and tell your story with humility. Remember, “God resists the proud but exalts the humble (James 4:6; I Peter 5:5).”

Success is in your hands

Your success is in your hands, no one else’s. Make the decision to stop blame shifting and remove the one barrier that has been hindering your success. Deal with YOU and let God deal with everyone and everything else!

We love to hear from you! If this article has been a blessing to you, please comment and let us know.…

Lessons in Rebellion

August 8, 2020 Michele Anastasi

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Anger management, Rejection, Success & victory

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my struggle to overcome rejection. I’d like to share the flip side of rejection: Rebellion.

Rebellion: the result of rejection

Rebellion often results from rejection. If you get hurt in some way—any kind of emotional, physical, sexual abuse, or abandonment—it opens the door to rejection in your life. If you don’t turn to God and let Him heal you, you sink deeper and deeper into pain and depression; and, eventually, rebellion kicks in.

You can even see this in some children who’ve been hurt over and over again. One day something snaps inside of them, and they vow: “I’m never going to cry again…. You can beat me to a pulp, but I won’t shed a tear.” A hardness grows inside of them.

That’s what I did as a child and, over the years, the anger and rebellion grew. I used my anger and defensiveness as a form of protection. It wasn’t until I came to Christ, that I started to realize what was going on inside of me.

Destruction: the result of rebellion

God tells us in Proverbs 29:1, “Whoever remains stiff-necked [rebellious] after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed without remedy.”

It’s not that God’s grace doesn’t extend to you anymore, or that He wouldn’t forgive you if you turned to Him. Rebellion hardens your heart until you can’t hear Him anymore.

That’s what happened to the children of Israel in the Old Testament. God would tell them what to do, and they wouldn’t do it. Of course, they felt they had good reason for refusing: They were full of fear and unbelief. They actually believed if they did what God said, they would be destroyed. They didn’t trust Him.

“I just can’t do it, God… It’s too hard… I hurt too much… You don’t understand… I’m so lonely… Yes, I know but….” It doesn’t matter how good you think your excuses are. Rebellion is going to cost you big time. It will harden your heart.

Wandering in your own personal wilderness

The children of Israel ignored God’s leading so often, that finally He just sent them into the wilderness. They were so rebellious He couldn’t lead them into the blessings He had planned for them. We need to learn from that. When God tells you what to do, don’t put it off, just do it.

The longer you stay in sinful habits, the more they become a part of you; the more your heart becomes calloused to the fact that it’s sin. The first time you blow up in a rage, you know it’s wrong and you’re sorry. The second time, it doesn’t bother you quite so much. The sixth time, you’re pretty sure you’re justified. Your heart hardening. That’s how strongholds form in people’s lives.

Wrong choices, wrong results

If you go against what God says, it won’t go well for you. You’re headed for destruction, because wrong choices always bring wrong results. God can’t bless what’s contrary to His Word.

The root sin of rejection is unbelief, a lack of trust in God. That’s why rejection will eventually lead to rebellion. If you believe that God cares about you, if you know He wants to bless you, then you’ll obey Him. But if you don’t trust Him, you’ll rebel.

I Samuel 15:23, tells us that rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft. Why? Because you’re making something else God, namely yourself. You’re saying, “I’ll do it my way, I’ll be the god of my life.… Yes Lord, I know what You want me to do, but I’m going to do it my way.” That’s rebellion! The thing that guides your life–even if it’s you–is your god.

Do you have these traits of rebellion?

Faithlessness. You have trouble being loyal to God, so you keep falling away.
Hostility. You have a chip on your shoulder. You cause turmoil and strife wherever you go.
Superiority. You think you know it all. You’re arrogant.
Controlling. You’re strong-willed; it’s got to be your way.
Rigid. You won’t bend or compromise.
Bitter and resentful.
Critical. You always have something negative to say, always find fault.
Unteachable. You know it all, so you set yourself up as judge and final
authority…as God. No one can teach you anything.These aren’t very nice qualities. Hopefully, if you see yourself in them, it will give you the desire to repent, and ask God to forgive you and change you.

P-R-I-D-E

The root sin of rebellion is pride. You have so much pride you don’t think you even need God. If you look at the word P R I D E, what’s in the middle of it? ” I “. That’s exactly what’s in the middle of S I N, ” I “……..”SELF.” “I’m going to do it my way.”

Rebellion and pride go way back to the Garden of Eden, to the first couple. Satan has been using the same old tricks since the beginning of time–trying to convince us that God is holding out on us. God can’t be trusted. He doesn’t have your best interest at heart. Satan made Eve feel like God was holding out on her. That caused her to rebel, and Adam went along with her.

Adam blamed Eve, said it wasn’t his fault. Eve blamed the serpent, said she was deceived, said “It’s not my fault.” If you’re deceived, it most certainly is your fault, because you should know what God’s Word says!

Don’t let rebellion destroy you. Get help.

Instead of blaming someone else, we need to take a long, hard look at ourselves. Are you rebellious? Are you bitter? Critical? Stubborn? Hard-hearted? Holding unforgiveness in your heart? Are you doing things your way, instead of God’s way? Because if you are, you’re deceived and it is your fault.

Rebellion brings destruction! The only way to prevent destruction is to admit the rebellion and quit it. Stop blaming others. Maybe others have sown a lot of bad seeds into your life. You’ve been hurt, rejected, abused… but God is saying today, “This is about you. You need to repent. Just do it.” So get alone with God and just do it.

Are you struggling with rejection, rebellion or another area of your life? Don’t go it alone. Seeing a trained prayer minister doesn’t mean you’re messed up. It means you’re wise enough to get help to become emotionally healthy. Growth comes when things are brought out of the dark into the light. Let there be light!

We love to hear from you! If this message has been a blessing to you, please comment!…

The Unspoken Addiction

July 25, 2020 Gaspar Anastasi

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Finding significance in life, Success & victory

When we think of addiction we generally think of alcohol, drugs, pornography, etc. But there is an unspoken addiction that is even more common and just as destructive as all the others. It’s the need for approval. This addiction controls many people and impacts their behavior across all relationships.

People suffering with this addiction need a positive response to everything they do (or don’t do). Without this approval fix they go into withdrawal, resulting in angry outbursts, sulking, criticism, sarcasm or even violence. This need for approval, affirmation, a pat on the back… drives a person to become a people-pleaser. He or she says “yes” to every request in order to get their drug.

Clear-cut signs to look for

As in all addictive behavior, denial is the biggest hindrance to deliverance and healing. Our addiction is often obvious to others, yet invisible to us. But here are some clear-cut signs to look for:

You often do nice things for people but feel resentful afterwards when they don’t shower you with appreciation or love or affection.
You are controlling with your friends, wanting to keep them for yourself; and you get jealous of anyone else who enters the equation.
Your friendships are a revolving door. Friends feel pressured by your need for constant affirmation, so eventually they move on. Then you start all over with new friends, only to repeat the cycle.
Like most approval addicts, you tend to feel lonely and isolated. Isolation may even be your lifestyle. You feel rejected when you don’t receive the needed approval, so you give up trying.

What can you do about it?

Be honest. Admit that you need help. (Like so many of us, you may have developed this excessive need in childhood. You longed for the approval of your father, mother or someone important to you. Without it, you felt unwanted, unaccepted and incomplete, so you’ve spent the rest of your life looking for it. Yet, it always seems just out of your grasp.)
Recognize that only God can meet your need–not your friends, children or spouse. Take the pressure off of people and start trusting in God to meet all of your needs.
Check your motives. Why is it that you’re kind and generous to some people and cold and standoffish to others. Stop discriminating and give love, kindness and respect to everyone without expecting anything in return.
Get inner healing prayer to deal with the root of your addiction. For many people, their whole life is a vicious cycle of returning to the addiction again and again. Unfortunately, each new cycle of addiction is worse than the time before. That’s why I recommend the Stop Hurting Start Healing Ministry (more on that later).
You need to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. You have to really want to be made whole and not be dependent on other people to give you what only God can give.
Be patient with yourself. You are changing habit patterns that you probably developed in childhood.

Change is possible!

Don’t let this unspoken addiction control the rest of your life. You can be set free by facing your problem, being diligent in your efforts and being obedient to God and His word.

If you are dealing with approval addiction, I highly recommend the Stop Hurting Start Healing ministry because of its great success in freeing people from addictions. This program gets to the root of the problem and releases you to be free. It also equips you to live well for the rest of your life. Click the link above to go to the website and learn how this powerful ministry can bring restoration and wholeness to your life.

I love to hear from you! If this blog has been a blessing to you, please leave a comment and let me know.…