LOVE Never Gives Up

April 26, 2012 by Olga 6 Comments

LOVE Never Gives Up

by Olga Hermans

It’s on my heart to dig into the fruit for the Spirit with you. So, are you ready to know more? As we examine the fruit of the Spirit, we see that the first fruit mentioned is what the law and scriptures are based upon and that is: LOVE! All the fruit of the Spirit are contained in love. Like an orange with many segments, love has segments such as patience, humility, faithfulness, etc.

If we walk in love, we’ll walk in all the other eight fruits of the Spirit. The word “love” is excessively overused in our society, expressing an attitude about anything from people to foods to clothes to pets and other things.

Love that is based upon a choice that we have to make is not easy for our feelings. Jesus chose to love us in spite of how people treated Him, and He loved before we loved Him in return. We do have the ability to love by choice in spite of how we feel because Rom.5:5 tells us that you have the love of God once you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. He is love.

The more you choose to love, the more it becomes a natural impulse in your life. The fruit of the Spirit are like muscles in our bodies that have to be developed and grow. We choose to walk in each fruit and each time we do, that spiritual muscle is exercised and grows a little stronger. Love is the most important emotion that we should cultivate and all the other emotions will line up so to speak.

LOVE is patient! If you are around people, you will either develop patience or cause them to close themselves off from those who get on their nerves or rub them wrong way. We choose continually if we will let His fruit grow or die in our lives.

Everybody has times when they need the mercy and help of someone else. What we sow towards others we will reap. If you want people to be patient and understanding with you, then be patient and understanding with others.

If you become a critical, strife-filled person, no one will want to be around you. We as Christians must make an effort to walk in patience and love.

LOVE is kind. Kindness is a quality that has almost been neglected in our generation because of the popular self-seeking attitudes which exist in society. Fast-paced living has subtly caused people to barely have time for themselves, much less for others. Some people feel that if they take time to be kind for others, something will be neglected that can benefit themselves.

As you exercise your spiritual muscles of godliness, add brotherly kindness to it. 2Peter 1:7

LOVE is not envious. The God-kind of love is excited over the blessings of others. Envy and strife open the door to the devil to bring all kinds of evil against the one who has envy or strife. It isn’t worth it to hold envy and strife in your heart.

Job 5:2 says envy can actually kill a person who allows it in his or her life. Keep a healthy, positive attitude towards others.

LOVE doesn’t behave unbecomingly. In our society today, most people with wrong behavior want to blame someone or something for it. Usually it is blamed on the fact that they were from a dysfunctional family, or they had difficult circumstances. So they continue wrong behavior and attitude problems, feeling justified.

God doesn’t let us use Him to excuse our lack of conscience. Growth demands that we accept responsibility for our actions and attitudes and bring them into submission to Jesus. Always try to be mannerly and gracious with whomever you’re with. Remember to consider the feelings of others. As you listen within your spirit, God will be your guide in every situation.

LOVE doesn’t insist upon having its own way. Do you seek to do what will benefit you or what will benefit others? Jesus sought to do God’s will even if it hurt, and He didn’t insist on His own way. Love seeks the will of God, not self-will.
It is by self denial and giving to others that we keep an open channel for the divine flow of God’s love to love through us.

LOVE is not touchy, resentful or easily provoked. God has provided a way for you to stay in His love walk even when people seem to rub you the wrong way. God’s way to remain in love is similar to the old cliché: “Just let things roll off of you like water rolls off a duck’s back.” Think on this when people say things that would normally hurt or offend you.

It is much more important to walk in the freedom and peace of God than to carry “a chip on your shoulders.” If you allow yourself to be easily angered, then others are controlling your life. Get control over your emotions and you’ll get control over your life.

LOVE doesn’t keep a list of wrongs. Do not keep a list of wrongdoings, whether it be in a marriage relationship or in a friendship relationship. The God-kind of love forgives and forgets offenses. There should no secretly kept, running list to pull out and use as ammunition against another person.

Instant forgiveness will close the door to Satan and his schemes in your life. You cannot afford to keep a list of wrongs. Let go of them, and let God help you to walk in peace with others as far as it lies within you. Romans 12:18

LOVE does not rejoice at injustice, is not happy when evil befalls another, does not rejoice over misfortunes of others. When a person has been caught in a fault, rather than tell them, “I told you so,” or feel disgusted with them, go to them if possible and talk with them. Love confronts when wrong has been done, but it also gives help to overcome.

The LOVE of God NEVER gives up on people. Jesus never gave up on the disciples, no matter how often they failed. God’s love never comes to an end. If you feel you are at the end of your rope in your faith for someone, don’t give up. God’s love will cause you to triumph in your stand. The love of God is the foundation for faith, because faith works by love. God’s love is the source of living.

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5 Principles to Have a Winning Attitude

April 23, 2012 by Olga 10 Comments

5 Principles to Have a Winning Attitude

By Olga Hermans

Let’s talk about David in the Bible, who was rejected by his older brothers; they did not include him in the things they did because they thought he was too young. They probably were jealous of him. As a result, I am sure he felt rejected.

Many times God will choose to use people who have felt rejected and been excluded. He selects those whom society would reject in order to show Himself strong. He also purposely chooses what the world would call “weak and foolish” so no one takes the credit that is due to Him alone.

Do you feel like that sometimes? Let’s be like David in the Bible and have the right attitude; a winning attitude. His attitude was based on five principles of victory that are just as valid for today as they were then.

David was ridiculed for even thinking he could win. Even worse, the mocking and name calling came from his own brothers, who accused him of leaving his work as a shepherd just to see the armies in the battle. Oh, how much they mocked him.

The only thing that David did was be obedient; he took the supplies to his brothers as his father had asked. David didn’t want to do anything else than obey God; his strategy was to keep his eyes firmly on the power of God and not on the appearance of circumstances.

The principles that David used to defeat Goliath in his day are just as valid for us today in defeating our giants. The same enemy comes, and the same principles of victory must be applied:

1. David Made Time to Know God.

He had a personal relationship with God. He knew Him. He walked and talked with Him, and he sang songs to the Lord on those hillsides as he tended his father’s sheep. Those songs are recorded in the Psalms like the 23^rd Psalm; he knew what it was to sit at a table prepared for him in the presence of his enemies.

Psalm 103 is also one of my favorites, where it also indicated that David had a personal relationship with God. The biggest difference between Israel’s soldiers and David was that the soldiers knew about God, but David knew God. David spent time with God and faith is birthed out of a relationship.

2. David understood God’s Covenant

David understood that God is holy and that He is totally committed to those who love and obey Him. That means everything God has and everything He is will be available to the one with who He is in covenant.

David understood that a challenge against him was a direct challenge to Almighty God. If you are in covenant with God, the challenges you face are against God Almighty. When you are born again, God is linked up with you, and He will fight for you.

When you understand the covenant, you will not be thinking about how big your problem is. Instead, you will be thinking about how great and awesome your God is.

3. David Spoke His Faith

David spoke his faith out loud in the face of the lies of the devil. If you are going to slay the giants, you will have to talk in faith. The giants will speak too! Sickness will say, “I am going to take you out of this life.” Financial bondage will say, “I am going to bury you with bankruptcy.” Strife and problems will say, “I am going to rip your home and marriage apart.”

Those are the moments that the Word of God on the inside of you must rise up from within your spirit and come out of your lips. Faith has a language all on its own, and the voice of authority can be heard in hell when it is inside your spirit and you speak it out!

4. David Used What He Had

You may think that you don’t have enough to fight your battle. Believe me, you have enough and it is in your hands. Would God put you in the earth, give His Son for you, raise Him from the dead, and then not supply you with enough to defeat the giants that are in your land? God has given you enough. It is in your hands.

5. David Started Small

David learned how to battle the giant by fighting the lion and the bear. What David learned how to battle the lion prepared him to defeat the bear, and what he learned fighting both of them prepared him to whip the giant Goliath.

Many people want to take on a giant when they would not even take on a kitty cat. They are intimidated by a “meow”!

You need to hang on these 5 winning principles; they not only worked for David; they worked for me and they work for you. So, take those 5 stones and start slinging!

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How Do You Handle Rejection

April 19, 2012 by Olga 12 Comments

How Do You Handle Rejection

by Olga Hermans

Sooner or later everybody experiences rejection: at home, at your job, at school or at church. We can experience it in different forms; some experience abuse, some go through really hard times. We can experience it when we fail at something that we think we could handle. We can go through a deep sense of rejection when a relationship breaks up. The fact is that everybody, no matter the age experiences rejection.

It doesn’t matter where the rejection is coming from; we have to realize that there can be an important lesson in the rejection. Somebody said once “If we don’t handle rejection the right way, rejection will mishandle us the wrong way”. To deal with rejection properly, we need to gain some truth about this.

My family and I love to play UNO, I think it is a very fun game. So when the cards are dealt there is only ONE purpose in my mind and that is to WIN with the cards that are given to me. You see, life is more or less the same; life can offer us cards of rejection. It is up to us how we handle these cards of rejection in a way that we will win in life.

There is a secret here though, because this is only possible when we tune into God and listen to what He tells us on how to get a grip on rejection. When we tune into His wisdom, He will help us to handle rejection and help us to become a better person. He will help us to get to the other side so to speak.

Rejection is painful, but it also is a wake-up call. God uses it to wake us up to our calling. There was a time in my life that I was involved in a “spiritual development” group. My best friend and people that I thought meant the world to me were in this group. One evening we had one of those visualizations, where the leader of the group told us as story, we closed our eyes and saw the story told in front of us.

The images that I saw in front of me were that I went far beyond the group up on a mountain. The group stopped half-way, but something on the inside of me told me to keep going until the very top, where an old man was waiting.

As I stood there I saw a very narrow ridge going to the other side where a man in a white robe was waving me to come over. As I looked down I saw a river of blood, but I couldn’t see myself go to the other side and the man in the white robe disappeared. I looked at that older man and asked him “what do I have to do?” He said: “You will know, you will know at the right time.” That was it.

As always we were to share what we experienced. I told what I had “seen”, I could sense this tremendous rejection coming towards me. My experience was not received very well and to make a long story short, they asked me to leave the group. So, I stood up and left. I was completely sick to my stomach, everything literally turned upside down on the inside of me.

Much later as I looked back I could see that God allowed this to happen to me because He was calling me to Himself. So, this was an alarm clock that God uses to wake up our “callings”. You and I have a purpose in life. One of the ways that we discover that purpose is through rejection.

We always want to know why we got rejected in the first place. You might want to know why this situation or that person turned you down. Or you want to know why you didn’t make the cut, didn’t get the job or didn’t get an email or somebody unfriended you on facebook. Whichever the case is, the fact remains that we do indeed experience rejection from people. But why?

Here are some reasons why we experience rejection:

1. People reject us when we don’t meet their expectations.
They reject us because they think we do something wrong or might be wrong; we are not what they are looking for, so we are disqualified. We get rejected because we don’t have the looks, the qualifications, education or experience. You simply don’t fit in that particular situation and you get removed from the situation,

2. Another reason that people reject us is when we go beyond their expectations.
You can get rejected for being right or doing right. You might stand out just a little too much for what they stand for. If it is a job situation they might tell you that you are overqualified for the job or they cannot afford to pay you, so they don’t hire you.

3. The third reason why we experience rejection from people is somewhat a combination of the first two.
This is where you get rejected for doing right and wrong at the same time. You might have done the right thing, but at the wrong time. Friends and even family might reject us because we try to plan things with them at the wrong time. In this case, you are rejected because of the timing of what you were trying to do.

In his book “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,” Dr. John Maxwell makes a profound comment about timing: “The wrong action at the wrong time leads to disaster; the right action at the wrong time brings resistance; the wrong action at the right time is a mistake; the right action at the right time leads to success.” (Maxwell, 1998, 197)

This information might be something to think about and I would love to hear what you have to say about it. Think about the cards life can bring you, but there is a reason behind it. Like with me it was God calling me out of that group; others might experience rejection because God has another job or another partner for you.

The way we have to learn to deal with rejection and getting our life back is by NOT putting our trust in people, but by putting our trust completely in God. People will always disappoint you, because we are not perfect, we are human. God will never disappoint you, He will show what He has in store for you. When He closes a door for you, He always opens another for you. God is always on your side, He will help you to turn rejection stumbling blocks into stepping stones for success. We can’t control what happens to us, but we can indeed control how we respond to it.

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Where to Find Peace in Times of Trouble?

April 16, 2012 by Olga 2 Comments

Where to Find Peace in Times of Trouble?

by Olga Hermans

There can be a time in our life where we feel constantly bombarded with things that rob us from our peace. People worry about their problems and wonder how they’re going to make it through. We all have times where we feel that kind of pressure isn’t it?

I’d like to give you a few secrets to this today; secrets of what to do in a time of trouble and finding your peace back in your heart that you so desperately need. In times like that we need to be inspired and encouraged by someone who has faced circumstances far worse than our own and found a way to walk through them in victory.

We need to look away from friends or people that are around us that keep on talking about their own anxiety about the critical circumstances around them and start focusing on people who somehow found their way through the storm.

The bible is full of such people. It’s always a good thing to spend some time in the Bible and read about men and women who have gone through the same thing we are going though at the moment. You then will find out how they did it so you can follow in their footsteps and see how God came through for them.

Let’s look at the story of Esther. Did you know that Esther received beauty treatments with the best oils for a whole year before she could even see the King? How about that? The oils give us this great skin and make us smell good, isn’t that right?

Before each young woman was taken to the king’s bed, she was given the prescribed twelve months of beauty treatments—six months with oil of myrrh, followed by six months with special perfumes and ointments. Esther 2:12 NLT

Esther is a great example of someone who prevailed under pressure as a young woman of 18 years old. Here she was; called upon to risk her own life to save her own people from total destruction. She bore the burden of knowing that the lives of millions would be spared or lost as a result of her actions.

Talk about pressure; Esther could be the next poster child, you know. You probably know her story; she responded the way we probably all would have done and tried to argue with Mordecai her way out of the situation. Mordecai rebuked her though and Esther was faced with a dilemma. At this moment she could have fallen apart and seized with anxiety and rushed to the king’s court wailing with hysteria.

She didn’t do that; she made a plan to focus on God at this point. She called everybody else do the same; to fast and pray for three days and something amazing happened. A heavenly peace came upon her. That peace had such a powerful effect on the king that when Esther put on her royal robes and walked into the court, he not only held out to her the golden scepter indicating that she was welcome there, he wanted to give her half of the kingdom.

Peace put Esther in charge of the situation. Suddenly she was standing in a place of complete favor, which was unheard of in that culture. That was nothing less that supernatural. It didn’t happen because Esther wasn’t somebody special. It happened because she followed God’s instructions. Instead of worrying, she prayed and brought the peace of God on the scene.

You can do the same thing.

When you find yourself in trouble and you think you’re going to fall apart from all the pressure, you can pray instead of fretting and being anxious. You can make your desires known to God, thank Him in advance for answering your prayer, and receive the peace that He gives you.

After three days spending time with God, Esther came out of her prayer closet anointed and strong in the Lord; she had this immovable peace over her that even King was overwhelmed. He wanted to give her anything she wanted. Esther knew exactly what to ask; she said that she didn’t want half of the kingdom but she wanted Haman to come to a dinner with the king.

Esther was able to keep her peace in this moment of tremendous pressure. This peace kept the confusion that the devil tried to throw in away from the whole situation. Peace kept Esther dignified so that she knew what to do.

We all know the story that Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built himself. If we walk in the peace of God, we’ll see the same thing happen to our enemy. Peace will pull the plug on him and there is no way that he can do anything to you. It will turn the table on him. He will end up hanging himself on his own rope.

Sometimes you may not know exactly how to pray about all the pressures you are facing. When you face problems that seem big and complicated, you may find it difficult to fully express your heart to God on what is going on in your heart.

Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. Lam 3:41 KJV

You can literally lift up your heart to the Lord by telling Him that you are giving it to Him right now. Tell Him that you trust Him and His goodness and ask Him if He will take care of the situation; He will do it. Then you have to let the problem go. Every time the thought comes to worry, start to think about the goodness of the Lord. Keep your mind focused on Him!

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Filed Under: Making Choices in Life Tagged With: 2012, a home run, answer, answers, breakthrough, choice, choices, Christianity, decision, destiny, discipline, disciplined life, discover, dream, driven life, effective, excerpt of book, for such a time as this, future, God, God knew you before you were born., home run, how to live a life, how to live life, ignite, increase, Jesus, joy, life, life choices, lifestyle, live a life, live life, money, passion, Prayer, profit, prophecies, prophecy, purpose, Restoration, Right Place, Right Time, self control, step up to the plate, stress, supernatural, the answer, the calling, the choice, the life, the power, this is your life, to live, trouble, vision, What

How to Get Out of a Pressure Cooker

April 12, 2012 by Olga 4 Comments

How to Get Out of a Pressure Cooker

by Olga Hermans

Have you ever wondered why the Lord just doesn’t take away all the problems that steal your time and make you feel as though you are in a pressure cooker?

Whatever your call in life, God has a special grace to enable you to be an achiever. There are pressures that keep us from maximizing our time and frustrate the fulfilling of our goals. Even when goals are set and schedules are made it often seems everything that could happen to prevent us from using our time efficiently and effectively.

There are three major enemies of time with which one must deal on a daily basis: the devil, our circumstances and our flesh. Satan will do all that he can to mess up your circumstances and call on your flesh because his aim is to distort your testimony for Jesus and bring you to failure.

Let’s have a look at the life of Paul; he begged three times to take away the “problems.” I believe the “thorn” that troubled Paul the most was the interference of religious people, both Jews and pagan, who continually stirred up trouble for Paul wherever he went to preach the gospel.

Although God revealed to Paul why he ran into so much difficulty, He did not remove the difficulties. The Lord did something better; He reminded Paul of the grace which would enable him to overcome in every situation. God reminded Paul of the grace which would enable him to overcome in every problem situation.

The devil tried to do everything he could to stop Paul, but he couldn’t succeed. Even when Paul was repeated beaten and even shipwrecked of his life; he overcame by grace. Grace is a word often used among Christians; we talk about it, sing about it, and praise God for it. Have you ever thought about what it means to you?

Not even Jesus was exempt from the pressures of daily interferences, temptations and problems. That might surprise you, but Hebrews tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way just as we are. Jesus was never immune to the devil’s interference. This is the reason Jesus can understand and care about those things that trouble us, and He is the one who will always have an answer to our dilemmas.

Have you, like Paul, realized that you can’t handle pressure or problems by yourself? You know, there is nobody in the world that is so wise and powerful or so experienced and so energized and wealthy and favored that a person could manage every day of his or her life without help.

Recognizing our inability is the gateway to receiving God’s ability. We shouldn’t try to manage our life in our strength; we know it won’t work. I have tried to do this so many times and every time I find out, it doesn’t work!

Making the decision to make God your first priority will also keep you in victory when external pressure comes against you. Is your time yours, or is it the Lord’s? You definitely can avoid a great deal of internal pressure by deciding to live for God and not only for yourself!

I remember the time that my children were little and I had to make a decision to be at home for them or having a nice job somewhere. It was an easy decision, but I still had to fight the thoughts that I wanted to be out there and do things that I also would enjoy doing.
Priorities are so important, aren’t they? When you commit your precious time and your precious things to God, He will multiply your time and protect those things that are dear to you and He will do it in a very exciting way!

However, if you try to hold on to your own things, you will really put yourself in a pressure cooker. Don’t give “the thief” an opportunity to fill your days with confusion and frustration. Don’t let him steal the things you value. John 10:10

Why should we struggle to exchange our ways for His ways? When we wait upon the Lord, He lets us in on secrets of wisdom and advice which we would never get hold of any other way.

I like to think of every task I have to do as an opportunity. After I have established my priorities, schedule my day, and committed every moment to the Lord, I know of a certainty that each task, even an unexpected on, is an opportunity to grow, achieve, and succeed.

No matter what pressures each day may bring, I face the day with the knowledge that I have the victory in Jesus. Each day holds the potential of blessing, achievement, victory, and overcoming. God wants you to give Him the opportunity to bless you and make you a blessing.

When pressure comes, take the opportunity to put God in the midst of it and to demonstrate to yourself and others that you are an overcomer and the devil is a loser.

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Grow Up and Be Free to Fulfill Your Destiny

April 9, 2012 by Olga 1 Comment

Grow Up and Be Free to Fulfill Your Destiny

by Olga Hermans

Most Christians desire to fulfill the will of God. They know that they have a covenant with God and that all the promises in that covenant belong to them. Then there is the world on the other side that tries to talk them out of their covenant rights and privileges, especially the promises about prosperity and financial provision.

God has prepared a wonderful inheritance for you and me and those who are mature, responsible and faithful will receive it. Gal.4:1-2 shows us that although this inheritance belongs to us, childlike tendencies will hinder us to receive them.

Do you think that, that is unfair? I love my children very much, but I wouldn’t give them something if they weren’t old enough or mature enough to handle it. I wouldn’t give my son a motorcycle, if I knew he was way too young for it. I wouldn’t give my daughter a sewing machine for instance, if she was way too young for it.

Likewise, our heavenly Father loves us too much to give us things we can’t handle. Therefore it’s important that we understand what’s needed to walk in the abundant life. People grow in different areas in a different way, but God expects to grow all areas of our lives-spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically and financially.

We can make the growth process easier by desiring more of God’s Word. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). That means, when we are thirsty for the Word, we put a demand on the Holy Spirit Who causes us to grow. “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

First Corinthians 13:11 says, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Child of God, if you’re still carrying a chip on your shoulder because of something that happened in the past, get over it and move on!

Stop being jealous when some of your friends gets promoted; instead rejoice with them for what the Lord has done for them and know that you might be next in line. Don’t think about what other people might think of you. One of the biggest things that we need to be set free from is the fear of man; we need to fear the Lord instead!

Put away childish behavior so you can walk in your inheritance. Eph. 4:14-15 Grow up and be free from your old ways in order to fulfill your destiny. If what people think about you moves you more than what God says about you, then God isn’t the Lord of your life. God cannot do anything for you when all you’re concerned about is popular opinion.

We need to get our priorities straight. It is very simple when we keep our eyes on what God says and not what Joe and Annie say about us. We should live to please God; our destiny is in His hands; He created us and has all the answers to all our questions.
Isaiah 51:12 NLT says: “I, yes I, am the One who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear?

Instead of listening to criticism and sarcasm, we should be focusing on God. Listening to critic and sarcastic remarks will cost you your healing, provision and the salvation of family members if you allow it to affect you. You see, it’s not only about you. God wants to bless you so that you can bless others (Gen. 12:2-3).

You really have to be on the alert, because satan will bring people into your life that tell you all the details about how selfish it would be for you to prosper and be blessed. But you and I know that he is the father of lies, he cannot do anything else. John 8:44 He will try to bring shame on you and talk you out of what rightfully belongs to you.

So, rise up and be humble before God, but be bold enough to apply the Word of God to your life and receive His blessings with a thankful heart. You really shouldn’t think twice about who disagrees with what you are believing for. Be free and walk in complete liberty from people and their opinions so you can possess all the Father has for you.

If you are born again, Jesus Christ has made you free from the bondage of opinions so you can glorify God, free from poverty so you can be rich, and free from sickness and disease so you can be healed. He made you free to walk in liberty.

Like any loving father, God wants us all to grow up and become mature. He has prepared a great inheritance for us. Make a quality decision to obtain wisdom through His Word and spend quality time in His presence. Before you know it you’ll be walking in His freedom…and in His blessings continuously.

You can subscribe to The Daily Choice which is a SPIRITUAL Devotion that helps you to make the right choices in your life!

Filed Under: 6 Your Destiny Tagged With: 2012, a home run, answer, answers, breakthrough, choice, choices, Christianity, decision, destiny, discipline, disciplined life, discover, dream, driven life, effective, excerpt of book, for such a time as this, future, God, God knew you before you were born., home run, how to live a life, how to live life, ignite, increase, Jesus, joy, life, life choices, lifestyle, live a life, live life, money, passion, Prayer, profit, prophecies, prophecy, purpose, Restoration, Right Place, Right Time, self control, step up to the plate, stress, supernatural, the answer, the calling, the choice, the life, the power, this is your life, to live, trouble, vision, What

Jesus ALWAYS wants to heal you!

April 5, 2012 by Olga 4 Comments

Jesus ALWAYS Wants to Heal You!

By Olga Hermans

One of your most vital spiritual assets that you need these days is your healing. No matter how committed you are to your assignment from God, it’s tough to keep believing for the victory when your body is hurting. It’s more difficult to be strong in your spirit when you’re physically weak.

You know it, I know and satan knows it!

Sickness can really slip up on us and when we don’t have enough strength to resist it, we get discouraged and end up being robbed of our precious time being effective in what we are doing. That is definitely not the way it should be.

When we desire to be valuable and successful in the Kingdom of God; we need our full strength and health to fulfill all God has called us to do. Please don’t think right now that you know everything you need to know about healing, because you might miss out on something.

You see, healing doesn’t come just by agreeing with the right doctrine. It doesn’t come from just listening what other people say. Jesus Himself is the healer. So, the very first thing we need to do is go to Him.

When you read the gospels you see that people flocked to Jesus by the thousands when they were sick. They didn’t first go to the church, although that is a good thing to do. They didn’t complain to their friends. They went to Him! When they did, He was good to them and preached the Word to them.

It always was Jesus personally who delivered people from their sicknesses and pains. He is the one who took their infirmities away so that they wouldn’t have to suffer with them. If you draw to Jesus and fellowship with Him in His Word, He will speak to you just as personal as He spoke to the people in the Gospels.

He will reach out to you and touch you with His healing power just as He did to Peter’s mother in-law who was sick with fever. As you will stretch your heart towards Him in faith, His healing power will flow into you just as it flowed into the woman with the issue of blood. Absolutely!

Sickness is NEVER a blessing. I don’t know why people think that God loves them and makes them sick at the same time. Jesus is ALWAYS willing to heal you; that is what He said time after time to the people who came to Him for healing. Acts.10:38

Jesus settled the crucial issue of whether or not it was God’s will to heal by answering the leper with one short, simple declaration. “I am willing,” He said, “be cleansed.” Isn’t that awesome? Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t give that man a list of 31 reasons why it might not be God’s will to heal Him? Aren’t you glad that He didn’t say, “Well, let me pray about it; sometimes God uses sickness to teach people things and if that’s the case, I’ll have to leave that sickness on you for a while.”

No, Jesus never said that to anybody. He is ALWAYS available to heal you from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet; every sickness has to go when you come in contact with Him. So, make a choice today and seek Him in the Word and let His healing power flow through your whole being.

Sickness is never God’s will for people. If it was, He would have put some sickness in the Garden of Eden before the fall. When He created Adam and Eve, He would have put some cancer or leprosy on them to bless them and make things better. He didn’t do that back then and He doesn’t do that right now. God has never changed His mind; He is always the same; yesterday, today and forever.

Could you ever look up to the cross and say, “Jesus, is it really Your will for me to be healed?” No, of course not. You know that on the cross He was suffering and dying for every need that you would ever have; from sickness to poverty and for every sin that you would ever commit.

You and I know that healing belongs to us because it has already been bought and paid for. We can reach out with confidence and receive it whenever we need it, knowing that we have “a great High Priest who is able to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities.’ Hebr 4:14-15

We never have to wonder ever again if healing is ours. What Jesus did on the cross settles it. His sacrificial love cuts through all the entanglements of all our theological and denominational opinions.

It doesn’t matter what others say; Jesus has spoken to us His will for all eternity. He has said not just with His lips but with His precious, poured out blood: “I am the Lord who healeth thee.”

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Can You Hit The Mark?

March 29, 2012 by Olga 2 Comments

Can You Hit The Mark?

by Olga Hermans

Goals are very important; no vision takes shape without goals. You must set goals in order to see your vision become reality; otherwise the visions will be just castles in the air. It takes goals to be able to “hit the mark”.

An archer chooses a target before shooting his arrows. Otherwise the archer will waste his time shooting arrows into “thin air”. Without goals you will never hit the mark and your days will be filled with wasted time.

Do you feel sometimes that you are just wasting time? Sometimes we like to depend upon others for our own goals; we like to seek counsel from others instead of having confidence to seek God for ourselves.

God is pleased with us when we come to Him to find out what He has planned for us from the beginning of the earth and then set our goals after His counsel that He gives us. It takes courage to believe that God would fulfill your goals as we cooperate with Him in the way that He leads us.

How high do you set your goals? Do you work at achieving your goals wholeheartedly? Don’t be afraid to let the Lord lead you in setting good goals. He is behind you 100 percent. Get out there in life and win!

When you have a goal in mind, you certainly hope to see that goal come to pass. You set the end result as the final goal, however, just as each day is measured off in minutes and hours, so your ultimate goal is measured off in smaller steps and stages.

Each step is also a goal, equally important as the ultimate goal, but it is only a part in achieving the final result. The major goals in life are not completed in a day, or even a week. Some may take years and others may incorporate a lifetime.

One of my personal goals for me and for you as my subscribers is to discover the life you were born to live, ignite it with passion and turn it into a profit. I strongly believe that God has anointed us to create wealth to support the work that He is doing in this world.

One of my goals is to create an income online with Young Living Essential Oils and I accomplished my first goal just this week; I received a nice check in the mail from them. That was a goal that I had set in the beginning of the year. We never should despise the small beginnings and give all the Glory to God; He is the one who empowers us to do what we need to do to accomplish what we have set before us.

There are gifts and talents on the inside of you that you need to turn into a profit whether in a ministry or a business; your gifts and talents need to come to the forefront and grow and multiply for others to see them and to enjoy them.

Each and every day is an opportunity to achieve goals and work on others. How very important is it then to make the most of every day.

Our lives are always in transaction and change; nothing ever stays the same. Although we may face some unexpected changes in our lives, we can always be on top of the circumstances with God’s guidance and help; and proper goal setting can make this possible.

God has given us a blueprint for our lives and when we carefully and diligently follow that “blueprint,” each day will be a success leading to more success. No sensible building contractor would start building a house without a blueprint. If he did; it would become obvious to everyone in the end that there was no plan.

So many people go through life without a plan and the end result is equally as disastrous as building without a blueprint. In fact it is much greater tragedy, because the value of a house cannot be compared with the value of a life.

That’s why I am so passionate about the fact when people come to my blog that they will discover the life they were born to live and ignite it with passion and bring Glory to the Lord. Maybe you are thinking now that you made too many mistakes or that your situation has gone too far and cannot be changed.

Or you are at midlife or even older and you are reaping the results of not setting goals. Or you have just become a Christian and you realize that all your goals have been wrong and wonder if it really is possible to have a fresh start. I am here to tell you “YES” it is, it’s NEVER too late to pursue your DESTINY; NEVER!”

One of the most amazing things in the life of Jesus is that He fulfilled goals that had been set for Him, centuries before, through the mouths of the prophets. Jesus has goals for you too. Every promise in the bible is a goal that you can reach. He wants you to walk in abundance.

So, if I were you I would press in on what God has for you; press in and seek first His Kingdom and all those things will be added to you. Jesus wants you to exercise authority over satan and his kingdom. Jesus wants you to be free from anxiety and fear by living in His peace. Jesus wants you to be an overcomer because He overcame every sin for us on the cross.

Have I convinced you that setting goals is really important? Your success depends on the goals you set for yourself. If you don’t plan to succeed, you have already planned to fail. You probably have heard that many times, isn’t?

Let me know in the comment section what you like to achieve and I will come in agreement with you!

Do You Want To Be Right or Do You Want To Be Righteous?

March 22, 2012 by Olga 10 Comments

Do You Want To Be Right
or Do You Want To Be Righteous?

by Olga Hermans

Have you ever been in a situation in which standing up for your rights meant stepping out of the will of God? People are crying out for their own rights in the streets. The western world has become a performance-oriented people. It looks like everybody is consumed with making sure nobody violates or breaks their own rights.

We should be very thankful that we live in a country where we can exercise our own rights and that we live in a country in which we are guaranteed certain freedoms by our constitution. But what do you do when you encounter a situation in which standing up for your own rights means stepping out of the will of God?

I believe that the time is coming where we as believers are going to be faced with such decisions; decisions that demand that you choose between “rightness” and “righteousness.” The choices that you will have at that given moment are going to determine for a great deal how your destiny will turn out in the time ahead.

It is important that you will embrace your destiny and pursue the righteousness which is of God, through faith rather than needing to be right all the time.

Do you know somebody in your own circle who wants to be right all the time? Someone who just keeps going until you and everyone else know that they were right all along? That’s what rightness is. On the other hand righteousness is a virtue and refers to uprightness. Righteousness holds the basis of your “rights” or “benefits” with God.

When you have God’s righteousness, you have the right to forgiveness of sin, the right to healing, the right to the presence and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, the right to success and the right to security.

These rights were granted to you because God loves you that much and because of His mercy; you didn’t do anything to earn it or to deserve it. It’s all because God loves you and me; He gave it as a gift to us.

I have always wondered why so many Christians are not enjoying the benefits of their righteousness, which means that we are still ignorant of it. If that would not be the case, we would use all these benefits or promises to our advantage.

When we are ignorant of our righteousness in God, we don’t know about the promises to which we have a right. The consequence then is that we will make an effort to establish our own righteousness or rightness.

I have heard many people share a story of a situation where disagreement occurs with someone over a business transaction. The situation might be that you were cheated out of some money. God tells you not to worry about it and that He will take care of it. You have to make a decision at that moment.

Do you do whatever is necessary to prove that you are right? After all, you have been cheated! Or do you stand in the righteousness of God and trust Him to move on your behalf? The first choice is pursuing your own rightness and the second choice would be that you choose for righteousness.

When you choose for your own rightness rather than righteousness you are concerned with being correct in the eyes of the people around you. When you choose for righteousness; you are definitely concerned about what God thinks and the opinions of people around you don’t matter.

The first choice: rightness is mostly self-centered, because it is all about you. You think you have to defend yourself because you want to look good before man in order to feel good about yourself. You make it very difficult for yourself because you have to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong.

Rightness seeks self gratification and approval from God through good works. In contrast, righteousness recognizes that you are accepted based on what Jesus has done through the shedding of His blood on the cross.

Righteousness on the other hand seeks to please God rather than self and the only way to do that is by faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. When you keep choosing to prove your own rightness to other people, you leave God out of the picture and you’re on your own. At that moment your door is open for the devil and for anything that he wants to throw at you.

But when you seek God’s righteousness first and foremost, God is committed to back you up every step of the way. The first choice puts you in bondage to other people, while the second choice sets you FREE to serve a loving God who loves you so much more than you can ever imagine. He will take care of your reputation, He will back you up and your reputation will be stronger and better than ever.

A good reputation is very important. I’m just saying that you don’t have to run around trying to defend yourself when people accuse you falsely or tell lies about you. We all have enemies. Just don’t get your eyes on them. Keep your focus on the One who is sitting on the throne in heaven and know the Almighty God Who is taking care of you!

It is such a joy for us to be able to trust in the Lord.
Knowing that His eyes never leave us and that He is always there to defend us and fill our heart with excitement!
He has set us apart to bless us with His abundance and surrounds us with His favor as with a shield.
Psalm 5:11

You can subscribe to The Daily Choice which is a SPIRITUAL Devotion that helps you to make the right choices in your life!

You are a River of Living Water

March 19, 2012 by Olga 13 Comments

You are a River of Living Water

by Olga Hermans

On the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Passover, Jesus poured out His Spirit on believers in the upper room, and they began speaking in a new language. Rivers of living water flowed out of them, and they prophesied. This experience – the baptism of the Holy Spirit – is available to every born-again believer.

The origin of the rivers written about in John 7:38, is the river that flows from the throne of God. It is the life of God Himself. As we worship God, His river flows. As we speak in other tongues, His river flows. As we prophesy, His river flows. As we speak the Word, His river flows up and out of us.

Notice that Jesus didn’t say that rivers of living water will flow once in a while from those who believe in Him. He said these rivers of living water will flow continuously. That living water is the Holy Spirit. In this passage, Jesus talks about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which we have received if we have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior – the Person and the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

The river of living water flows within you and me. It is not supposed to be stopped up, but it is to bubble up within us and flow out of us. Many people have never experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They have never let the rivers flow out of them. This experience was foreign to me as I was growing up, because I was raised in the Catholic Church. They also spoke a language that I couldn’t understand – Latin.

I remember very well the day that I got baptised in the Holy Spirit. Although I told people that I desired to speak in tongues, nobody told to me that I could receive this gift any time. My ideas about how spiritual things worked came from my upbringing in the Catholic Church. So I thought that I had to go to a certain service to receive this baptism. Knowing this, God told me to go to a certain meeting that was a two-hour drive away.

At the end of the meeting, they asked if there was anyone who wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I did, and received it gloriously, fluently speaking a language that I had never heard before. I jumped in, and that language suddenly came alive. I loved it.

When you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you are filled with a power that affects your entire being. To walk in victory, you must release the refreshing rivers of the life of God that have been deposited inside of you.

In John 7:37-38 Jesus says, “If you’re thirsty, come and drink and I will cause rivers of living water to flow out of your innermost being.” You see, Jesus was talking about rivers and not just one river.

There are many, many rivers flowing inside of you. One of those rivers is the river of reconciliation which actually is a ministry and is entrusted to every believer.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 2Cor. 5:17-19

There are 3 things in this passage.

You have been made a new creation
You have a new ministry
You have a new message fit for a new creation. You definitely have become a new creation; something profound has happened to you.

I want to share a secret with you that my pastor shared with us. If you like to know more about this you can buy his book.
The more you yield to the river that is most prominent within your spirit, the more it will make exit from within your spirit for others in your life.

There are rivers of prayer, rivers of your destiny, rivers of full things that the womb of your spirit is pregnant with from Heaven; and when you begin to yield yourself over to the ministry of reconciliation, it will become the doorway to the destiny that God has for your life.

Isn’t that awesome? So, when you start to reconcile people to God, that river starts to flow on the inside of you to them and that river opens up other rivers on the inside of you and the door of your destiny will open up before you.

I like to encourage you to yield to that river of reconciliation. That river is on the inside of every believer, and this river is a river of life. You have life on the inside of you to give.

It is good to yield to the Spirit of God, to yield to that grace, and allow the Holy Spirit to control us. Have you ever experienced that God touched your heart in spite of you being hardened or stubborn? Maybe you realized that there was a change in your heart and that’s why you were able to respond to God? That was because of the grace of God that went into your heart.

The grace of God lives on the inside of you; in your heart and when you let it bubble up from within you, it will influence the rest of your life and your whole being and then is tangible for people around you to see it. THAT is your destiny!

You can subscribe to The Daily Choice which is a SPIRITUAL Devotion that helps you to make the right choices in your life!