How Do You See Yourself?

May 16, 2011 by 9 Comments
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Don’t Put Yourself In A Box By Limiting Yourself To Just Existing

 

How Do You See Yourself?

by Olga Hermans

 

Can you answer this question: “How do you see yourself”? It is very important how you see yourself, because it has everything to do with your destiny. First, you have to absolutely know that God loves you; you have to be convinced that He loves you. When you get a revelation of how much God cares about you, you’re going to get a greater respect for yourself.

In the eyes of God, your success is NOT dependent upon your circumstances. In the eyes of God, your success is dependent upon how you see yourself.

If you think you’re a failure, you will fail. If you think you can win through the power of God that dwells within you, then you will win. It’s up to you. It’s your choice.

Satan has been able to paint a picture on the inside of you of the way you see yourself. He has been doing this already for many years and I must say he has done a good job, isn’t it? However, if you want to live in victory, then you must begin to discover who you are in Christ; God’s image.I ask you again: “How do you see yourself”?

Most people don’t like themselves. Some don’t like themselves for various reasons. I didn’t like myself growing up. I had two older sisters who got all the attention; I was always the little one running behind them trying to catch some of leftovers so to speak. They got all the extras.

It was until I gave my life to the Lord May 15, 1989; the day of my natural birth and my spiritual birth. Since then I started to like myself; that season of my life had brought a huge change in my life. Before that time I was searching and searching but in the wrong direction. I was in self-help groups and New Age thinking. God showed Himself to me and let me know how much I needed Him while I was in that group. It was a beautiful thing and a few months later I came out of new age and was born again on May 15th. My life has never been the same.

Anyway, back to not liking ourselves. It is a terrible way to live when you go through life not liking yourself much less loving yourself. Yeah, you should fall in love with you. You have qualities that nobody else has. You are unique. No one else can be exactly like you. Every person has something unique about him or her. Let me ask you again: “How do you see yourself”?

The bible says ….you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 19:19

How can you do that if you don’t even love yourself? When you love yourself, then what you are saying is, I accept me as who I am. God made me. I am not a mistake. Don’t put yourself down and condemn yourself when you love yourself. When you love yourself, you are saying, I am worth something. You are saying, I have something to offer.

We have all made mistakes in our lives and we should take full responsibility for them, but hanging on to them will not make our lives better. At some point, you have to make the choice to forgive yourself whether anyone else does or not.

Maybe you are somebody who is always down on yourself and feeling as if you’re worthless. Or you constantly tell yourself that you cannot be trusted with anything important because you might “mess things up”. Or you’ll become so mentally paralyzed that you won’t allow yourself to even think about taking a risk or stepping out in faith because you’re afraid that you’ll “blow it” again.

That way your self-esteem is almost nonexistent. Let’s be honest here, do you truly think that you will ever enjoy any high degree of success when your life is in that condition? No, you won’t! You have put yourself in a box. You have already determined your future. You’ve limited yourself to just existing – not living.

The abundant life that Jesus says is yours will never materialize if you refuse to let go of the mistakes. Let them go now and learn from them. Be wiser in the future; don’t make the same mistake twice. You have more information now than perhaps you had when you made the mistakes.

Apply the knowledge that you gained from experiences and get on with your life. Don’t let what happened in the past hold you back any longer. It can absolutely paralyze your life.

Look at your mistakes and wrong choices as new information about what works and what doesn’t work. Learn from it and move on. The main thing is this: DON’T LET THEM HOLD YOU BACK. In order for you to enjoy a bright future, it is absolutely necessary that you forget the past.

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Choosing Between What You Want To Do and What You Ought To Do

May 9, 2011 by 17 Comments
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If You Want To Make A Quality Decision, You Must Determine The Weight Or Value You Will Give To Between The Objects You Are Choosing

 

Choosing Between What You Want To Do
and What You Ought To Do

by Olga Hermans

You are very special to God and He gave you the freedom of choice. So, since God created you and me to make decisions, then we can be sure that He has also given us the proper way to make those decisions.

The gift of free will is one thing that characterizes God as a Father. He gives us His guidelines for life in His Word and then allows us to make our own choices. We have the power to choose a life of blessings or curses. Our future is are completely in our hands.

God can’t and won’t make us do anything, and the devil certainly can’t force us into anything we don’t willingly agree to. For this reason, the responsibility for the direction of our lives is in our hands.

Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to make a choice to do something, but knew deep down in your heart you should be doing the other thing. What do you do in a situation like that? How do you know which choice to make and know that, that is the best choice?

Let’s picture the scales in an old grocery store that were used to weigh out how many ounces of candy were in a bag or something. Both of the scales have a balance point in the center. If the objects on both sides are the same weight, then the sides will balance. If one side is heavier, then that side will go down and the other side will go up. A seesaw on a playground would give the same picture.

If you want to make a quality decision, you must determine the weight or value you will give to those objects you are choosing. Only after doing that,  can you  decide between the choices. Only then, can you say no and choose between the different options that you have, right? You are giving weight or value to the things on the scale. This is a very important step to making a quality decision.

Many times people make important decisions without judging the options, without weighing the positives and negatives, without determining what that decision will mean to them in the long run.

This is process that goes on all the time even when we might not be aware of it. Let’s have a look at this example of a woman buying a pair of shoes. Her decision to purchase a particular pair of shoes will be determined by what is important to her. It depends on the situation; some determining factors might be color, comfort and style. She might be looking for a color to wear with a particular outfit that she already has.

If she finds shoes in the correct color, she may buy them even if the fit bothers her a little. On the other hand, she may be looking for high heels for a formal occasion. She might try on a pair of shoes that are very comfortable but have low heels.

No matter how comfortable they may be, she will tell the clerk, “No, that’s not what I want.” Even in this ordinary, routine action, she will think the situation through and outweigh one or the other.

It is not difficult to make a decision if one choice greatly outweighs the other. Sometimes though, each of the choices has great value and you have to choose between them.

God told Moses in Ex.3:10 to go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. Moses valued the situation which meant that he honored the situation. He put the choices that he had to make in the balance. His desire to obey God was much greater than the treasure he had in Egypt.

Just because you know what you should do, does not make it easy. And certainly this was not a simple decision for Moses to make. As “The Son of Pharao’s Daughter,” Moses held a position of great wealth. He was in the royal line and entitled to an inheritance. Probably he would become king himself some day.

Have you ever had to consider giving something up – something you knew you should give up – then you began to think about how much you liked that thing, or how hard you had worked for it or how long it had taken you to get in that position?

Has God ever given you a dream that has caused you to be so excited that you were not able to sleep at night? Then, as time passed without the dream becoming a reality, you may have lost your enthusiasm in pursuing that dream. Perhaps you even questioned whether it was from God in the first place.

Many times our dreams do not become reality because of the decisions we make in our lives. Your course in life depends on the decisions you make. Don’t let your God-given dreams fade away. It is time to dust off your unfilled dreams and go for it!!

Today is a great day to start to weigh your choices and to determine to make quality decisions.

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Why Do We Choose To Honor Our Mothers? (Part 2)

May 6, 2011 by 3 Comments
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The Honoring Of Your Father And Mother Is Something That God Has Established

 

Why Do We Choose To Honor Our Mothers? (Part 2)

by Olga Hermans

 

Welcome to Part 2 of Mothers’ Day; you can read Part 1 by clicking here!

The honoring of your father and mother is something that God has established. When you make it a power struggle, you lose all your blessings that are attached to this great promise. It is one of the 10 commandments next to the commandment, we should NOT kill other people. You never would think about killing somebody, because you know how wrong that is.

The same thing is true for the 5th commandment that tells us to honor our father and mother. If you honor your parents, regardless of what they do, then you will be in good standing not only with God, but also with your mom and dad. You will feel satisfied with your life, and you will be satisfied with the conditions around you. You will be prosperous.

We honor God and other people to who honor is due. When you honor your mother, you teach your children how to honor you.

How would you like it if you said to your children, “I want you to show me honor. I want you to be the best that you can be. And I want you to respect me.” In addition, they say to you, “I am respecting you the way I see you respect God. I am obeying you the way I see you obey God. I love you the way I see you love God. I am living my life before you the way I see you live your life before God.”

Children watch what we do and they are learning from what we do.

Maybe you should do a little check up on yourself. Ask yourself the question: “How do I talk to my parents? What do I do and say to express my love to them? Single parents especially have to be very careful how you talk about the man that is the father of your children. Because their future is linked to how they honor their father. Don’t talk down on him in front of your children.

You shouldn’t be talking about him to anybody but God. He understands how you feel about him than yourself. You need to understand that when you speak down on your husband to your children, what you do is that you put your children down. Their father is part of their destiny. Exercise speaking positive things and your feelings will follow.

When we chose to bring children into this world, they did not choose to be here. We brought them in. In addition, we have to be responsible for what we put in them and how we deal with them.

God is very clear when He says that we have to honor our father and mother. What counts is what is going on in our heart, which is what pollutes us. That is what causes the many problems in our lives. What is going on in your heart?

That’s why God told us to renew our minds by the Word of God. The world around us has pulled us away from things that are good for us which are totally against how God had meant it for us.

If we do what the world tells us to do, we cannot expect that God will reveal His will to us. The renewing of the mind is a good thing for us; when we do that we see things around us change accordingly, which is a lot of fun. It inspires us to go on and go further in what God has for us. We renew our mind to what God says in His Word, not on our own interpretation of things.

In Proverbs 1:8, it says, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law or thy mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and the chains about your neck.” The Bible is saying, pay attention to what your mother says as well as your father. However, pay attention to your mother’s teachings, because it’s those teachings that allow you to be a victor in life.

A victor is someone who defeats an adversary; a victor is a winner. We all want to be winners. We have the ability to do that, through Jesus. If you hold on to those teachings and those instructions, they’ll help you to deal with anything that comes across your path.

In Proverbs 31 is a mother’s instruction to her son. It’s about a virtuous woman, but Proverbs 31:1 starts out as a king expressing what his mother taught him. His mother taught him what kind of woman he wanted in his life.

Honor your mother. Do something that you’ve never done before for her: honor her. She knows what mistakes she made.

Make a choice today to make it a great Mothers’ Day . 

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Why Do We Choose To Honor Our Mothers?

May 5, 2011 by 11 Comments
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Why Do We Choose To Honor Our Mothers?

 

 

Why Do We Choose To Honor Our Mothers?

by Olga Hermans

 

 

Do you know the origin of Mother’s Day? Let me tell you the short version: In the United States, Mother’s Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother’s Day meetings in Boston, Mass every year.

 

Anna Jarvis

In 1907 Anna Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother’s Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother’s Day on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year, Mother’s Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia.

Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, executives, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother’s Day. It was successful as by 1911 Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother’s Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May. He established the day as a time for “public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.” By then it had become customary to wear white carnations to honor departed mothers and red to honor the living, a custom that continues to this day.

Let’s see what the Bible says how we should honor our mothers.

We all know the story of Genesis where we can read that God created the heavens, the earth, and every living thing in it. Then he created man and put him in the garden. After God created the animals, he saw that man was alone and needed a companion; a helpmate. Therefore, he created woman.

Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living humans. The Amplified Bible says that Eve’s name means “lifespring,” because she was the mother of all the living. Beautiful name, isn’t it? Women have the ability to bring forth life. Of course, we can’t bring it forth by ourselves, we need the man – but most of all we need God. Because he stamps the approval on it and puts the breath of life into that little body that we are conceiving. It is such a miracle!

We know as mothers that we’re not perfect all the time. We make mistakes. However, as children, we can’t hold those mistakes against our parents. Parents are human and they will make mistakes. God tells us clearly to honor your father and your mother.

We have to realize that they’re human. And they will make mistakes. But, notwithstanding any of that, God tells us in Exodus 20:12, “to honor your father and your mother”.

The promise tells us that we will live a long life when we honor our parents. If you don’t honor them, you cut the connection to long life. The Bible does not say honor if you think they deserve it. He says honor your father and your mother.

There are moments that we think we know more than they do and we like to do it our way and fall on our face and then try to hide it from everybody.

Mothers have a special anointing from God to be a mother. That anointing starts to flow when we honor her.

Often times, we run into people who are so angry with their parents. Then they wonder why things aren’t going right for them. You’re only hurting yourself, because your life is connected to how you honor your mother.

You honor her in how you live. You honor her in how you pay attention to the instructions that she gives you. You have to honor her because God commanded you to honor her.

Now, “honor,” in the dictionary means “to show special esteem or respect. To show profound respect mingled with love and devotion.” She is an authority figure and it is a commandment from God to love her, to respect her, to show her honor, to esteem her, to see her as valuable. She gave you the opportunity to be here and experience the blessings of God on your life.

I lost my mother when I was 21 years of age; two years before that, I lost my father. This was an incredibly confusing time for me. My whole family was in shock; nobody could have imagined that that would happen to us or saw it coming. All of us were in so much pain that we could hardly communicate.

As I have grown older now and I have my own children, I think back at the moments that I began to respect the wisdom that came from my mother. I have a desire to share that with other people that I see that need that in their lives. My mom was not perfect. I am not perfect, I am not a perfect mother, but I do my best, because I know that is all God requires of me.

I have so much more to say; will you come back tomorrow to read the second part? You will not regret it, I promise you. However, let’s prepare for mothers’ day, prepare our heart to do something special for the one who brought you forth into this earth; your mother. It will be one of the best choices you have ever made.

Make a choice today to make it a great Mothers’ Day . 

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15 Guidelines To Beat Self-Doubt

May 2, 2011 by 9 Comments
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Self-Doubt Is Absolutely Tormenting

 

15 Guidelines To Beat Self-Doubt

by Olga Hermans

 

Self-doubt is absolutely tormenting. Confidence is something we can decide to have. When we learn about God and about His love for us, the moment will come that we have to decide whether we believe it or not. If we choose to believe, then we have confidence. If we don’t believe, we make a choice to live in doubt about everything.

If we don’t believe in ourselves, who is going to? God believes in us, and it is a good thing too; otherwise, we might never make any progress. We cannot always wait on others to come along and encourage us to be all that we can be. Some people are blessed to have that kind of support, while others don’t.

Self-doubt makes us double minded and James 1:8 teaches us that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. This person cannot go forward until he decides to believe in God and in Himself.

I want to encourage you to take a step of faith and stop doubting yourself. There is an old saying that goes, “Don’t sell yourself short.” You have more capabilities than you think you do. You are able to do a lot more than you have ever done in the past. God will help you, if you will put your trust in Him and stop doubting yourself.

Nobody is perfect and like everyone else, you also will make mistakes; but God will allow you to learn from them and will actually work them out to your good if you will decide not to be defeated by them. When doubt begins to torment your mind, start speaking the Word of God out of your mouth and you will win the battle.

What is a normal and healthy attitude toward yourself?

Here are 12 Guidelines That Will Build Your Self-Image and BEAT your Self-Doubt.

1. You have to know that God created you and know that He loves you.

2. Everybody has faults and mistakes and it is a good thing if you desire to change. However, God is working in your life and He is changing you day by day. While He is doing so, you can still enjoy your life and yourself.

3. Everyone has faults and you are not complete failures just because you are not perfect.

4. You are able to overcome your weaknesses with God. There will always be things that you have to deal with though; therefore, you will not become discouraged when you are convicted of areas in your life that need improvement.

5.       Don’t be a people pleaser. Of course, you want to make people happy and have them like you, but your sense of worth is not dependent on what others think of you.

6. Don’t be controlled by what people think, say, or do. Even if they totally reject you, you will survive. God will never reject you or condemn you as long as you believe.

7. No matter how often you fail, promise yourself to never give up.

8. Make a choice to like yourself and to enjoy yourself. Maybe there are things that you don’t like about yourself and you might want to change, but refuse to reject yourself.

9. The moment you made a personal choice to ask the Lord in your heart, you are in right standing with God through Jesus Christ.

10. God has a good plan for your life. You are going to fulfill your destiny and be all you can be for His Glory. You have God-given gifts and talents. You have the power to choose to intend to use them to help others.

11. Realize that your gifts and talents are a gift, not something you have manufactured yourself. Don’t look down on people who cannot do what you can do.

12. Learn all you can, but don’t allow your education to become a point of pride. God doesn’t use us because of our education, but because of our heart toward Him.

13. Don’t despise your weaknesses; they keep you dependent on God.

14. Don’t always assume when things go wrong that it is your fault. But don’t be afraid to admit it, if you are wrong.

15. Take good care of yourself physically. Do the best you can with what God gave you to work with.

To beat self-doubt in your life you have to “Watch your thoughts, for they will become your words. Choose your words, for they will become your actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Make a choice today to Beat your Self-Doubt. I’d love to hear from you! 

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Confidence is Required

April 29, 2011 by 8 Comments
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To Succeed At Being Ourselves, We Must Be Confident

 

Confidence is Required

by Olga Hermans

To succeed at being ourselves, we must be confident. When we have confidence in ourselves, we might miss the mark. How does that work? Jesus said “…apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing” John 15:5. We all struggle with this truth; we keep trying to do things in our own strength, instead of placing all our trust in God.

A lot of our inner agony, struggling and frustration is because of our own misplaced confidence, even when we place it in our own family and friends. That doesn’t mean that we cannot trust anyone, but if we put the trust which belongs to God alone in  our friends and family instead; that will make it hard to experience the victory that we desire so much.

God will not allow us to succeed until our assurance is in the right place, in the right person. We have to give Him the credit for everything that we overcome and become successful in.

God did not create us to fail; we might fail at some things on our way to success, but if we trust Him, He will take our mistakes and work them out for good. Rom. 8:28: I have discovered this for myself that God will take my mistakes and turn them into miracles.

We all have a destiny and if we don’t do what we are good at, passionate about, something that we think about all the time, we feel frustrated and unfulfilled in our life because we are not doing what we are called and gifted to do.

However, just because we are destined to do something does not mean that it will happen automatically. There is a time to learning and testing; which is the very reason that many people want to give up and quit. We lose confidence in ourselves. You have to get your confidence back before you can move forward again. Trusting God is very significant to be able to go and conquer new territories so to speak.

You know, when we lose our confidence, we give place to the devil. Be confident about your gifts and calling. Believe that you hear from God. Be confident that people like you, and you will discover that more people do. You will become bold. See yourself as a winner.

Our confidence can be shaken when trials come, especially if the trials are long lasting. It perplexes us and we don’t like it of course; we don’t want to deal with it and shove it under the rug.  We must understand how much God loves us, and that He is always with us, that He ALWAYS causes us to triumph no matter what. What is the reason then that we lose our confidence so quickly? Yeah….because we neglect to choose to have confidence in God.

Sometimes we are in seasons of our life where we have to remind ourselves: This too shall pass! And smile! 🙂 You will become stronger through the trial and it will help you in the future!

Confidence is very, very important, without confidence we are stifled at every turn. Satan comes against us, he drops a bomb of strife or maybe one of your children acts just crazy. You might go through a rough situation right now; your confidence is shaken on every side. Maybe there is nobody that would understand what you are going through right now. You feel defeated and your dreams are destroyed; turn your confidence towards God. He is the only one that can pick you up again, give you a fresh start and a new beginning.

We must make a choice to take a step of faith and decide to be confident in all things. God might correct us, but that is a sign to us that He loves us! Don’t play it safe and do nothing. Confident people get the job done; they are fulfilled because they succeed at being themselves. I believe right now that God is stirring you up to be confident, to be confident when you pray, to be confident that you hear from God. Be confident that you walking in the will of God, be confident when you speak an encouraging word to somebody.

Make a choice today to grow in your confidence.

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What Does It Mean To Be Unbeatable?

April 25, 2011 by 3 Comments
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When We Realize We Have That Unbeatable Spirit Living On The Inside Of Us, Boldness Takes Over

 

What Does It Mean To Be Unbeatable?

by Olga Hermans

 

Do you know some unbeatable people? Unbeatable people are people that expect great things to happen in their life and see them come to pass. It takes somebody with faith and somebody who will believe that God will come through. We have to make a choice to believe God’s truth and not the devil’s lie; we choose to recognize that we depend on God.

I live in Vancouver BC Canada and we had a lot of rain the last few weeks; this year it felt like it would never stop. Sometimes it feels like that in our life isn’t it? The rain just keeps coming and coming and it will never stop, but you know what? April showers will bring May flowers. There is always a bright side to every situation.

What does it mean to be unbeatable?
1. Not capable of being defeated.
2. Possessing unsurpassable qualities.
3. Overcoming thoughts like: “we have to suffer for Christ, we need to experience defeat”.
No, no, no!! Jesus went through the sufferings on the cross so that we are able to live victorious, because of Him we are unbeatable!

Jesus did not go through all the sufferings so that you could have a jacked up marriage, jacked up kids, jacked up finances, messed up families and all that. No, Jesus suffered so that we can have a victorious family and kids that do great things in life for God. He didn’t create us so that we could live on accident and that we would make our life an insignificant amount of time on this earth.

God didn’t give us a gift of just breathing; He gave us a gift much bigger than that. He has put an unbeatable spirit on the inside of us. Are you excited about this? This is a great time right after resurrection Sunday to recognize this in our life. Some of you who are reading this are in the middle of a storm, for some of you the storm just ended and for the rest of us a storm will come soon and some of you will rebuke the storm in the name of Jesus, right?

Here is the truth, just like I said we weren’t created to live just a defeated life; on the other hand Jesus said that there will be storms!

You know, I believe that when we realize that we have that unbeatable spirit living on the inside of us boldness takes over. It is no longer our words, but God’s words. It is no longer our spirit, but it is the spirit of God coming out of the inside of us  overflowing into our own life and in the lives of others.

Mat 7:24 -27 says: “So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell–and great and complete was the fall of it”.

Jesus is saying here that the storm comes against the righteous AND the wicked. Just because you are a christian doesn’t mean that the wind is not going to blow and the streams won’t rise and the rain won’t fall and it won’t beat against your house. Just because you are a christian doesn’t exempt you from storms in your life. But there is good news and the news is that we are more than conquerors and we are made unbeatable in Jesus. He always causes us to triumph no matter what is happening or no matter how painful the situation is.

I think that all of us know that but I just wanted to make sure that we have a clear understanding of the Christian life. Jesus said that the storms come against both houses, but only ONE house will stand. Which house will you be? Will you be the house that builds on the sand or the house that builds on the rock? Because when we are on the rock, we are unbeatable.

When we are on the sand, we get defeated every time. Do you want to be unbeatable? Do you really, really want that? Then there is some work you need to do. You need to take some action, because action will change your life. What do you do when the storms come into your life?

When things rise up in the family or you find out that one of your kids got pregnant out of wedlock, that your daughter thinks she is a lesbian, there are bills that are stacking up high, all kinds of crazy news that is coming around. You can get anxious and worried and try to take matters into your own hands and try to play the part of God OR you could say: “God, I don’t understand, I don’t get it but I surrender to Your will for our lives. God, I pray that You will take care of it.”

You see, people won’t surrender to God unless they know God actually loves them. We won’t make a choice to surrender to God if we think God doesn’t take care of our problems. We have to believe that God is big enough to change any heart, to change any lifestyle, change any situation that we are going through, any financial difficulty.

When we really make that choice, our life will change drastically and we see the will of God manifesting in our lives. We will experience how much God loves us and that we are unbeatable.

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Break out!

April 24, 2011 by 1 Comment
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This picture is of Robert Harrison breaking out of a giant Easter egg at the start of their recently completed Hawaii Increase Event.

 

 

Break out!

by Olga Hermans

 

Let’s pray and believe that over the next several weeks, many of us will “Break Out” with new dreams, fresh revelation and resurrection power.

Can I ask you a question? Is there something in your life that has taken too long to manifest and you’ve wondered why? Maybe, just maybe there are things that you are doing wrong or perhaps not doing that makes everything so difficult for you that you almost want to give up?

I have 3 reasons why we might not get to our breakthrough. We want to break out and experience a breakthrough in our circumstances, isn’t it?

Let’s have a look at the definition of “breakthrough” today. Because when you know how to break through, then you can break out. To breakthrough means to burst forth to penetration from one surface or limit to the opposite; to break forth from wherever you are. From wherever you are limited right now, you want to break through that and get to the opposite point. That is what you want right?

What’s stopping your breakthrough from manifesting?

1. A Lack Of Knowledge

The Bible says:”My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6). You can’t enjoy something that you don’t even know exists or you cannot work a principle that you don’t know anything about. How could you function on your job if you wouldn’t know anything about it? We always have to gain knowledge and understanding of how things work.

If we didn’t know we had a right to live in health. We didn’t know we had a right to be blessed. We didn’t know that God would take care of us financially. Our lack of knowledge was keeping us from enjoying something that God had already pre-planned for us to have. Once we gain knowledge, we will pursue what God says belongs to us and see it manifest in our life.

2. A Failure To Correctly Appropriate Our Faith

Did you know that there are laws that govern faith? The Bible says that God knows your needs even before you ask. However, He still requires that we ask; according to James 4:2: “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.”

Asking, you could say, is the first step to appropriating the law of faith. God requires that we ask. Verse three continues to say, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss….”

In other words, even though you’re asking, you could be asking improperly or with wrong motives. Jesus said, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14).

The Bible also says, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” Jesus spurs us up to act in faith, so that we please God.

Think of it this way. You can have a huge water tower and plenty of water pressure at your house, but unless you turn on the water faucet, no water is going to come out. That is the way it is with faith. Your faith must be switched on. Turn on your faith faucet so it is wide open. When you do, you will be able to receive by faith everything that God has promised you.

3. No revelation of the fear of the Lord

I really believe that many people have a complete wrong idea about “the fear of the Lord”. So, before you can hear what I am going to say, you have put all the religious preconceptions you may have had about the fear of the Lord on the shelf for a moment. Don’t put up a wall right now.

It should have been the first thing we learned as believers, because it is a very important value in your life and when you gain knowledge about it, you will be able to break out and break through your circumstances.

The fear of the Lord is not to be confused with a spirit of fear. That is many times the reason why people put up a wall when they hear somebody talk about the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is not referring to being afraid of God. We’re talking about reverence for God. We’re talking about worshiping God and being amazed at His greatness. We’re talking about being in awe of His magnificence.

But it also means not wanting to do anything that would displease Him because you love Him so much. It doesn’t mean pleasing Him just because you’re afraid He might kill you if you don’t.

You know, I would never do anything to harm my own children. They’ve done things that have displeased me, but it certainly didn’t change my love for them. I still loved them just the same. I didn’t start trying to figure out a way I could harm them. Well, God is no different with His children.

Most of the teaching I’ve heard over the years on the fear of the Lord was condemning. But a true revelation of the fear of the Lord will not condemn you; it will set you free.

Make a quality choice to gain knowledge, act in faith and let the fear of the Lord operate in your life and you will break out of your circumstances and experience a wonderful breakthrough.

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The Origin of Easter

April 20, 2011 by 3 Comments
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Is Easter Sunday Truly The Day When Jesus Rose From The Dead?

 

The Origin of Easter

Written by Creflo A. Dollar

 

 

Christians recognize Easter by honoring the day our Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead. The holiday often involves a traditional church service, with a resurrection-themed message, along with other traditions such as
giving Easter baskets, filled with colorful, decorated eggs and candy; stuffed Easter bunnies; and egg hunts for children. There are many questions about Easter, such as: Is Easter Sunday truly the day when Jesus rose from the dead? Where did all the strange customs come from, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus? We need to know the answers to these questions.

The first thing we should know is that professing Christians were not the only ones who celebrated a festival called “Easter.” The word easter is actually a derivative of the word “Ishtar,” which was a day on which many people who practiced pagan religion commemorated the resurrection of one of the gods they worshiped, named “Tammuz.” This god was believed to be the offspring of their moon-goddess and sun-god.

In biblical times, there was a man named Nimrod, who was the grandson of Noah’s son Ham. Nimrod married his own mother and became a powerful king. In fact, the people over whom Nimrod ruled elevated him to the status of “god-man.” His wife and mother, Semiramis, became the powerful queen of ancient Babylon.

Nimrod was eventually killed, and his body was cut into pieces and sent to various parts of his kingdom. However, the part of his body that could not be found was his reproductive organs. Semiramis claimed that Nimrod could not come back to life without them and told the people of Babylon that he had ascended to the sun and was now to be called “Baal,” the sun god. Queen Semiramis also proclaimed that Baal should be worshiped.

This woman was essentially creating a pagan religion and setting herself up as a goddess on the earth. She claimed that she came down from the moon in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates River and that her “birth” took place at the time as the first full moon after the spring equinox. Semiramis became known as “Ishtar,” which is pronounced “Easter,” and her moon egg became known as “Ishtar’s egg.” This is where the central theme of eggs originated in connection with the Easter holiday.

Ishtar soon became pregnant and claimed that it was the rays of the sun-god Baal that caused her to conceive. She named her son Tammuz, and it was believed that he was especially fond of rabbits. As a result, the animal became sacred in this ancient pagan religion.

Worshipers of this religion were taught to meditate on the sacred mysteries of Baal and Tammuz and to celebrate on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. This was considered “Ishtar’s Sunday” and was celebrated with rabbits and eggs.

The truth is that the traditional Easter celebration that many of us grew up practicing actually has nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ! In fact, eggs, rabbits, and hot cross buns have everything to do with an ancient pagan religion that is based on idol worship. For this reason, we should make sure we understand what we are actually celebrating. Jesus came to the earth and died for our sins so that we may have eternal, abundant life. Our worship belongs to the one and only true God. Therefore, instead of celebrating Easter Sunday, as the body of Christ, we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. Take the time to explain these truths to your family and children so they will know the truth about “Easter.”

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To Forgive or Not To Forgive, That Is The Question

April 19, 2011 by 3 Comments
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Forgiveness Does Not Change The Past, But It Does Enlarge The Future

To Forgive or Not To Forgive, That Is The Question

by Olga Hermans

Life Is An Adventure In Forgiveness / Norman Cousins

Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much / Oscar Wilde

He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love /
Martin Luther King Jr.

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future / Paul Boese

Forgiveness is a powerful thing. Jesus himself said this in Matt.6:14-15 when you pray, forgive other people. If you don’t forgive other people neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive you.
You know, our salvation depends upon forgiveness; it depends on God forgiving us of our sin. Jesus added a little emphasis to it and said, if you don’t forgive others your Father in heaven cannot forgive you.

You don’t want to have anything that blocks God’s forgiveness in your life. That’s why it is so important for us to forgive. It is important to realize that in holding on to unforgiveness we are letting that person that caused the heartache or the pain to continue to control us.

When we forgive, we release ourselves from that control and we release that person into the hands of God. God can take care of that person.
“If you don’t get bitter, you get better” Billy Joe Daugherty. That is a great advice, because we all experience things in life that we don’t like or get really stressed about. Just don’t get bitter and you will make it.

You have the blood of Jesus, you have the Word of God, you have the name of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit who empowers you. You have everything that you need to overcome in this life and to help other people. But the one thing that can stop it all is unforgiveness.

That counts for all of us whether in our family, on our job in all our relationships. If we don’t get bitter, we will make it in life.
People that are forgiving people are happier people and they are easier to be around. People that are unforgiving are hard to be around, don’t you think so? They carry a chip on their shoulder, they are suspicious of everybody and it is really hard for them to have healthy relationships.

There are a lot of people with a lot of baggage; when they were a child they were abused and are even now in abusive relationships. We sometimes think of many reasons why we don’t want to forgive somebody. One of the reasons is because we think that they don’t deserve to be forgiven, but God will always quickly remind us that we didn’t deserve to be forgiven either. God chose to forgive us.
The more we hold on to the things that we call “our rights”, the more we destroy the things that God is trying to do in our life. God is a good God; He would never ask us to forgive if He hadn’t given us the ability and the grace to do it.

When we forgive, relationships can be restored. When we walk in an attitude of forgiveness, we walk in that love walk. The bible says that LOVE can then cover a multitude of sin, so when we are around friends that we have forgiven there is peace, because we are walking in the love of God.

Forgiveness is definitely not a feeling; you always have to make sure that you choose to forgive. Every day we have opportunities to take offense or to get offended and get bitter towards somebody and something that is said. God tells us to put on love, put on forgiveness, choose to forgive and walk in love.

When we do forgive, something happens in our life. When we release that hurt and that offense, God will begin to work in our life.
And even many times after we have forgiven somebody, those feelings of anger and hurt will still come back toward that person; we are humans and those things happen. But we have to continually make a choice to forgive, that means I choose to forgive that person. When those feelings will try to come up again and we feel that anger rising towards that person we make a choice to say: “God, I forgive them and I release them to you”.

The power of forgiveness releases the power of God to work in their lives and to work in your life. Forgiveness brings us freedom. If someone has done something to you or abandoned you; the best thing you can do for your own heart and for your own future is to release and forgive them.

The reality is that you might be able to choose to hold on to that unforgiveness in your heart or in your life, but I want to tell you that the price is not worth it. It is not worth the price of holding on to that unforgiveness and hindering the things that God wants to do in your life or hindering the blessing that God wants to bring to your family.
I want to encourage you today that you make a choice and decide that you are going to forgive so that God will bring everything to your life that He wants to bring.

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