Discover the Good Life You Were Born to Live

September 30, 2012 by 21 Comments
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Discover the Good Life You Were Born to Live

 

 

This past summer, our family took a road trip from our home in Vancouver, through the Rocky Mountains to Alberta, and back to BC. It was so much fun – especially to see the ways we are each so different in how we prepare for a journey. My husband studies the maps, planning out every detail – including the exact distance, the travel time from place to place and where we will be sleeping. Similar to his father, our son likes to research our destinations and plan things to do.

On the other hand, I have the motto: “Let’s do it.” I love the excitement of starting out and seeing where the road leads. For me, if we follow a rabbit trail here and there, it only adds to the adventure of the trip. Our trip reminded me that life is similar to a road trip.

Life Is Similar To A Road Trip

There are many roads that can take us from where we are to where we want to be. It is the choices and decisions that we make along the way which determine how quickly we progress to our desired destination or maybe arriving there at all!

We all know that God has a plan for our life. He has our “road trip” mapped out. It began at our birth and He is there to help us discover the life we were born to live. If you have read this blog for any time at all, you know that is why I write. My purpose is to help you discover the life you were born to live and then ignite your passion to do it.

Unfortunately, many people never find purpose in their life. They become confused, sidetracked and bewildered about their own destiny in God. Some even choose routes that lead them away from God.

Are You In A Season Of Questioning?

Perhaps you are in a season of questioning your purpose in life. You are asking yourself where you fit in and where you belong. I am here to encourage you to know, without a doubt, that you were born with a great purpose in mind. There is no one in the entire world who can fulfill the destiny God has planned for you. But you’ll never know that destiny until you make a conscious decision to discover His will for your life.

Make a choice to believe that God has a wonderful, pre-planned journey for you. And the fulfilment of that plan will equip you with everything you need: the anointing, prosperity, healing and wisdom to get the job done. You need only take the first step to get back on the road to your purpose.

Why Not Get Back On That Road Right Now?

Begin by renewing your mind (Romans 12:2). Our mind is a battlefield and what we allow to happen there determines our destiny. In practical terms, this means to turn your thoughts towards the things of God. If you want to keep your thoughts in line with God’s good things, you need to be prepared. When your thoughts take a negative turn, purposely bring them back to God’s good things by thinking on things that are “true, noble, right, pure, lovely and of good report” (Philippians 4:8).

When you understand that your thoughts control your life, you can begin to shape your destiny. It is of highest importance to choose thoughts that enhance your purpose. It is a fact that you will take action on whatever you habitually think about. Directing and controlling your thoughts will keep you on track with God’s will for your life.

Although I can’t tell you your purpose in life, there are many Bible promises that tell you it will lead to greater joy, peace, success and blessings. The word “bless” means “to empower to prosper.” And the word “prosper” means “to excel in every area of life.” Everybody likes that, right? But knowing that you need to get on with your purpose and knowing how to do it are two different things.

Two Things You Need To Know

Maybe you’re still not sure what to do to pursue your purpose. You may feel that you have been off track for so long, you’ll never be able to get back on the road to your destiny. Stick with me. I want to show you that in God there is hope. It is not easy to follow a plan that you don’t quite understand and is not fully revealed. That is where we need to rely on our faith and trust God.

1. Allow this truth to occupy your thoughts for a while: God has your best interest at the forefront of His mind. Remember, God loves you more than you can comprehend. You are not an afterthought or an accident. He created you as His workmanship, His handiwork.

And why did God recreate you in Christ Jesus? So you can do the good things He planned for you long ago. He predestined you to take paths which He prepared ahead of time in order for you to live the good life which He made ready for you to live (Ephesians 2:10).

Please don’t just skim through these words. Meditate on God’s love and purpose for you and your life will be transformed!

2. Purpose in your heart to stand strong in Him and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit (Joshua 1:6-7; John 14:26-27). How? Get in the Word and allow it to transform your way of thinking. Ask God to help you align your inner image with how He sees you – destined for the good life.

There is absolutely no reason for you to fear what God has planned for you. He is the master coordinator between the things to be done here on earth and your unique personal profile. He will cause your path to intersect with those things that both serve His purposes and give you fulfilment  You will experience that sense of purpose that you have been looking for. When we are living out God’s purpose for us, we are living a full and abundant life.

You And I Were Created To Live Full And Abundant Lives

Our lives are designed to be filled with righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost on a daily basis (Romans 14:17). I love that scripture because it is the foundation of our purpose.

It is exciting to see that God has a plan for our lives (Ephesians 2:10). And He has planned a good and full life for us. A good life means that we live under His full protection. He has provided all things for us including health, wealth and wholeness in every area of our life. Abundance in all things so we can be a blessing to those around us.

Fullness and abundance are the fulfilment of God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12:3). So when you see the goodness of God manifest itself on the job, at home or in other areas of your life, and people tell you that your promotion, prosperity, good health and peace of mind are just a coincidence, don’t accept it!

Be firm in your conviction, look them straight in the eye and say, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes!” (Psalm 118:23).

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How To Train Your Children To Make The Right Choices

August 12, 2012 by 33 Comments
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How To Train Your Children To Make The Right Choices

by Olga Hermans

 

My children are all grown up now; I have a daughter and a son. I love them both; they are on fire for God and desire to serve Him with everything they have. They are truly a blessing to me and my husband.

But….if I would have a chance to do everything over again, I would spend less time on teaching my kids to obey me and spend more time teaching them to make wise choices. I remember the times that I thought it was the most important thing for them to obey us as parents. That is how I had grown up and so I didn’t know any better.

And of course, don’t misunderstand me. It is good for children to obey their parents, but it is better for children to hear directly from God and obey Him because they want to.

So, what are we doing when we make all the decisions for them? They won’t know how to make decisions for themselves.
There are so many areas in life where they need to know how to make a decision and how to choose for themselves. You can start with things that really don’t matter; things where they don’t sin when they make the wrong choice.

I remember when one of my children wanted to build a friendship with some body that I knew wasn’t the right choice. I knew that this friendship wasn’t going to last for more than one reason, but she wanted to hold on to that choice just to find out later that it really wasn’t what she had expected from it and it was a short friendship.

So, now she knew that some choices that seem to be right are not always right.

Then there comes a time that your children get older and you need to allow them to say no to you at times. For example: you might want to go to a particular restaurant for lunch, but your children don’t like it. It’s okay to let him or her make some of the decisions as long as it is not rebellion or manipulation.

Another important aspect of teaching our children to make right choices is allowing them to experience the consequences – good or bad – of their choices.

You and I as parents want to “rescue” our children from experiencing the negative consequences of wrong choices. When we do this, and we all do, we actually teach our children that it is okay to make a wrong choice because someone will always be there to save them and in the end, we set them up for failure.

Remember Eli in the Old Testament with his sons: Hophni and Phinehas. Eli should have taught them and warned them about the wrong things they were doing; they were dishonoring the Lord and defiling the temple and their own temple. But, Eli never confronted them and kept them employed as priests at the temple, which was not a good thing. The Bible says, “their sins will never be forgiven.”(Samuel 3:14)

This is difficult for us as parents to confront our children for certain things. I am much more confronting with our children than my husband is. I know the heartache of being in the unknown of some things in life and I have wished many times that my parents would have informed me of certain things. My father was a hard working business man, but he never talked to us about what he had to do to come that far.

He only told us that money didn’t grow on trees and that we had to work hard to make some money. So, when he died at 57 years of age, we all were in the unknown and experienced some heartache in our lives.
You see, if we rescue our children from certain consequences in life, we are not allowing the law of sowing and reaping to operate in their lives.

Here are 4 ways you can help your children make the right choices

1. Allow your children to make their own choices some of the time and as they get older; allow them to say no to you as well. When you do, it lets them feel independent and it shows your children that you trust them.

2. Let them experience the consequences of their choices; the good, the bad and the ugly so to speak. If you protect your children from the bad consequences, they will never learn from their mistakes.

3. Teach your children to follow their conscience; this should be fun! Every child loves to learn this; it makes them feel responsible for themselves. Every child has a conscience. Why do we as parents always have our kids check with us when they have to make a choice to watch a certain movie or read a certain book? We should be training them to listen to that red and green light on the inside of them.

4. Last but not least, we need to teach our children to think right thoughts, because our choices are a product of what we have been thinking about.

I think that most children don’t even realize that they have choices. We owe it to our children to teach them that they have control over what they think. That is the only way that they can have control over their own life. We as parents don’t have any control over what they are thinking, even God doesn’t have that control; we need to inform our children that what they think and speak will eventually become their destiny.

I truly believe that if we do these things we empower our children to make the right choices; they will do mighty exploits on the earth because God’s blessing will be upon their lives.

You can subscribe to The Daily Choice which brings an encouraging message 5 days a week to your inbox by clicking here 

 

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7 Vital Choices You Have To Make In Life

July 17, 2012 by 46 Comments
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7 Vital Choices You Have To Make In Life

by Olga Hermans

#1: Make a choice to take a stand in your own life
It is one of the most frustrating things when we have the idea that our own life is just rolling down the road. Sometimes there are seasons in our life that we don’t even realize what is going on and why things are the way they are.

Do you realize that you are a unique individual? Do you know that there is not one other person in the whole world like you? God made you special, just the way He wants you. He has a unique purpose for your life. Realize that, and you are on your way to being a winner.

#2: Make a choice to be responsible for your own life
You cannot dodge responsibility for how and why your life is the way it is. Take ownership of your own life. If there are things in your life that you don’t like; you probably made a wrong choice somewhere. If you are in debt, you are the one that is responsible. Your job, your weight, your marriage; you are responsible.
There is absolutely no reason to blame others or look at the past. There is no victory and no progress in doing that.

When you choose to think and speak negatively, filled with anger and bitterness, you will experience isolation and hostility around you. That is something that you don’t want, right? Start making right choices from now on. When you choose the right behavior and thoughts, you will see the right results in your life.

#3: Make a choice to do what works
Somehow you have to discover the payoff that drives your behavior. This is a biggie. If we would realize what consequences our behavior would have in the long run, we wouldn’t be so tolerant of ourselves. Who wants to be lonely and bitter and hostile? No-one in their right mind would want that.

I know people who have a self-destructive behavior. My sister died of anorexia nervosa last year because she rejected herself, she punished herself by always asking for negative attention. Remember, you are EXTRA-ordinary because you are one-of-a-kind. When you have even a little self-love and self-worth because of your awareness of God in you; you will start developing Christ-motivated habits that will make you a winner for sure.

#4: Make a choice to acknowledge the issues you want to change
You only can do that by getting real and getting brutally honest with yourself. Look at the areas that aren’t working for you and stop making excuses.

You cannot afford to lie to yourself! You have to know where you are in life and where you want to go. Your life is like a GPS system in your vehicle that must have two pieces of information to function. First, it must know your destination, and second, it must know your current location.

#5: Make a choice to take action
Once you’ve made some decisions, you have to act. Nobody cares about what you think unless they see you do something. Talk is cheap; being a doer determines the course of your life. Take all your revelations, insights and awareness and convert them into purposeful and constructive actions. That is when your life will gain value and meaning.

Realizing you have to change might be painful, but staying where you are and not doing a thing is more painful. So, take the pain that burdens you have now and turn the situation to your advantage.

#6: Make a choice to take charge of your life and hold on.
Our life needs a manager and you are the one! God has given us authority to rule our own life. You really should make it your objective to be very active in doing that. Do it in a way that generates high quality results. You are the only one who can make your life work.

The key to managing your life is to have a strategy. You need courage and energy to execute that strategy. If you do have a strategy, the future looks bright for you. You know, if you don’t require much of yourself, your life will be of poor quality. If your standards are too high, you will give up and you will have more difficulties.

#7: Make a choice to get clear about what you want.
When you know what you want you can take your turn. You need to be awakened to things God has for your life; He has an awesome plan and a purpose for you here in the earth.

By being specific in defining your goal, the choices you make along the way will be more goal-directed. You will recognize which behaviors and choices support your goals — and which do not. You will know when you are heading toward your goal, and when you are off track.

What choice is your most favourite choice and which one do you struggle with the most? 

 

You can subscribe to The Daily Choice which brings an encouraging message 5 days a week to your inbox by clicking here

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