Refuting the 3 BIG LIES

March 27, 2021 Michele Anastasi

LIE #1: I am what I do.

Every day, our culture fosters the belief that our value is based on what we do. However, the Bible says just the opposite. Our value is based—not on what we do, but—on whose we are!

Before Jesus performed a single miracle or did anything noteworthy, His heavenly Father said of Him: “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17).” He was well pleased simply because Jesus was His Son.

I’m so grateful that God’s love for me and you isn’t based on our performance. That’s a fact we each need to remind ourselves of several times a day. As children of God, He loves us just the way we are—the good, the bad and the ugly! Yet, churches are filled with people performing religious duties, longing to earn God’s love, acceptance and approval.

LIE #2: I am what others think about me.

People’s opinions can affect our behavior until we lose sight of who we really are. We end up burying the real us, the authentic us created by God, and we live a false identity.

We do everything we can to become who the important people in our lives think we should be. You and I may live a big lie, never truly satisfied and fulfilled. Living life based on other people’s expectations is stressful and sets us up for rejection and failure.

When each of us lives to impress other people, we behave like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They performed rituals to gain honor among the people and to attract attention to themselves. How empty!

God’s opinion of you is the same as His opinion of His Son. You are His beloved son or daughter and He is well pleased with you. Whether or not you’ve done anything significant, His love for you is unshakeable.

LIE #3: I am what I own.

The American dream says that the more stuff I have, the more valuable and successful I am. In that case, the reverse is also true. If I don’t have the big house, two cars and the latest electronic bells and whistles I am an absolute failure, because our self-worth is based on outward appearances.

How to defeat these three lies:

Admit that you have been influenced by these three lies, but have the courage to resist them. Soak yourself daily in the knowledge that God loves you just the way you are. Throughout the Bible, He expresses who you are in Him. Find some of those scriptures and read them every day until you believe them for yourself and not just believe in them.

To cultivate self-awareness of who you truly are and who God truly is, worship Him for one minute three times a day (without music). You can’t know who God is until you know the authentic you and the depth of His love for you.

Remember the words God said to His Son Jesus in Matthew 3:17. In Jesus, you are His son or daughter too, and He is well pleased with you!…

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.…

Seven times hotter

February 13, 2021 Gaspar Anastasi

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Success & victory

Over the years, I’ve told a sad story about a doctor who took his wife and son on an African safari. After an exciting day, they did what they had done previous nights. They started a camp fire, intending to add wood in the middle of the night to keep the lions away.

However, exhausted from a long day, they never awoke to stoke the fire. As you can imagine, tragedy struck when the fire went out! A lion entered the camp and killed the son as he slept.

The lesson is this: Lions feed where the fire has gone out! In America, satan the roaring lion is ravaging our lifestyle and culture. Why? The church has lost her fire, passion and hunger for God’s tangible presence. And, as we sleep, Satan is wreaking havoc in our midst.

The answer is not in politics

We, the church, have lost the cutting edge that’s needed to make a difference in today’s world. We opted out of the mandate to influence our culture by our Christ-like lifestyle. Instead, we’ve left the influence that should be ours to politics and politicians.

You and I can’t expect the government to legislate morality, but we should expect morality to be lived out by the church, those who have been given the nature and power of Jesus Christ. We need to rekindle the fire of our passion and live for God. This fire must burn bright enough to keep the lions out of our camp!

I’m talking about the same fire that burned inside the three Hebrew boys, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego when they refused to bow to the culture in which they lived. That fiery passion kept them from accepting the status quo. As a result, they were thrown into a furnace that was heated seven times hotter than normal.

Off the charts passion

Run-of-the-mill, on-again-off-again love for Jesus won’t cut it in the gross darkness surrounding us. We must exhibit a passion that surpasses weekly “rah-rah” church services and our longing for the things of this world. Our passion for God must be off the charts!

Let’s stoke the fires seven times greater than we ever before experienced. We can’t work it up by ourselves, but the Holy Spirit can. (I strongly believe He is doing that even now.

Our human helplessness to change things is evident. We can’t stop perfect storms from devastating the nation. You and I can’t change our culture through politics. We can’t even stop the church from backsliding. The only thing that will prepare the way for Jesus’ second coming is our passionate fire burning seven times hotter! Yours and mine.

Expect a suddenly

Let’s start praying with abandon for God’s passion to consume us now—not tomorrow. Let’s not leave the upper room until a “suddenly” happens and we recognize God’s tangible presence in our midst.

His presence is the only answer to the ills America faces today. The church must say, “We will arise and shine for our light (Jesus) has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon us (His church). Darkness shall cover the earth, but the Lord will arise over us and His glory will be seen upon us (His church). (Is. 60:1)” Now remember: YOU ARE THE CHURCH!…

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.…

We have never been this way before.

January 2, 2021 Gaspar Anastasi

3 Comments

Finding direction, Success & victory

Joshua 3:3-5, “and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

Joshua first spoke the words, “We have never been this way before” to the children of Israel. But I believe it is also a prophetic word from the Lord for us today.

A whole new era

I am sure you would agree with me that we have never experienced the things we are going through today. It’s obvious that we can no longer rely on what has been familiar to us or what happened before. Or even the way that God did things in the past. This is a whole new season for all of us!

That is exactly how the children of Israel must have felt as they were about to cross over into the Promised Land. But God didn’t leave them on their own. He gave them a strategy in Joshua 3:3. He told them to look for the ark and follow it.

Keep sight of His presence

Good news! God wants us to cross over too, and He is giving us the same strategy. Just as Israel had to focus on the ark, we must keep our eyes on the presence of God.

As we focus on God, we truly get to know Him, hear His voice and go after His voice. We’ll be willing to get out of our comfort zone and follow the plan He has given to us. He wants us to rely on Him, depend on Him and trust Him with all of our hearts.

The Lord told the priests and the people to cross over the Jordan River, which to us may not seem like an unusual command. But to them it didn’t make any sense. For much of the year, the Jordan River is shallow and only 40 feet wide. However, at that particular time of year, the river could have been a mile wide and maybe 30 or 40 feet deep.

Don’t get off the High way

God will sometimes move in seasons and in ways that we just don’t understand. If we could write the script, we would never do it this way. But the Bible says that God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8, 9).

Because we have never been this way before and can’t rely on our past experiences, we must depend on the divine wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit. He will always lead us into a place of greater trust like He told the prophet Isaiah. “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21).

Be willing to cross over!

As we are obedient to God’s voice and keep our eyes on Him, He will take us safely to the other side. There is a promised land out there. And although we face unfamiliar territory, it’s an exciting time for all of us who are living for God!

Let’s be willing to cross over! Don’t be like those who stay on this side of the Jordan. Don’t just talk about and praise God for the promises, but never enter into the promises.

Determine to cross over and receive the great blessing and abundance God has for you. Trust Him. You have never been this way before!…

Know what’s in your heart

December 19, 2020 Gaspar Anastasi

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Success & victory

According to God, what matters most isn’t our outward appearance, but the condition of our heart. So I ask…what’s in your heart? What spills out for all to see every time life puts the squeeze on you and you find yourself in a crisis? That reveals what’s truly in your heart.

It’s easy to do and say the right things when life is going our way. But when circumstances are pressurized and chaotic, our reaction tends to paint a more accurate picture of who we really are! There is an old saying, “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.” On the outside we may all look the same, saying and doing the right things …at the right time… to the right people. But what’s really inside?

Our prayer should be like David’s as he cried out to God in Psalm 139:23 and 24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there be any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting.”

Be in the know

Knowing your own heart’s condition is critical to fulfilling the destiny God created you for. But, a lot of people are afraid to have God reveal their true heart condition.

They’re afraid because seeing the truth about their heart forces them to face the truth about themselves. They are afraid because they might not like themselves. They fear that the negative things people have been saying just might be true. Our self-esteem is so fragile that, for many of us, if we’re shaken or challenged in any way, we go into a tailspin of failure and a state of deep depression and hopelessness.

Yet, every day, because of God’s faithfulness and love, He reveals our hearts to us. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, “Out of the abundance of heart the mouth speaks.” A good way to see what’s in your heart is to pay attention to how you speak to others.

Do you respond to difficult people in anger or with patience and love? Do ugly words of revenge spew out of your mouth to people who have hurt you? Do you respond to sudden changes with unwise decisions and harsh judgments? Or do you rest in the promises God gave you?

Why know your heart?

Knowing your heart is imperative and will help you to:
1. Know your real motives behind what you do and say. It gives you an opportunity to align your heart with God’s.
2. Recognize the many hurts deep in your life and understand your need for inner healing. It will help you to stop blame-shifting and to take responsibility for your own actions.
3. Know your own giftedness and be content and confident in the person God blessed you to be.
4. Get out of denial concerning your sins and repent. Ask and receive forgiveness and truly be set free from Satan’s torment.

God revealing your heart is be the best thing that can happen to you! So don’t be surprised if some crisis or pressure comes into your life and puts the squeeze on you today. God wants to reveal your heart so change can take place in you. His love for you is so awesome that He will take the time to help you know your heart today and every day. As your heart goes, so goes your life! What’s in your heart?

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