Mercy Is The Missing Piece

May 10, 2012 by Olga 19 Comments

Mercy Is The Missing Piece

by Olga Hermans

I don’t think I am wrong when I say that most of us desire to receive more from the Lord than we have in the past. Maybe you are thinking that because you have made so many mistakes and you have done so many wrong things that blessings will never come to you as it does to other people.

Let’s talk about that today, because you might have to wake up to the mercy of God in a brand-new way. Lam 3:22-23 says: The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.

One way to receive more from God is by getting a deeper revelation of the mercy of God. To receive something from God, we must have faith. We all know that! We must believe that God has the ability to do what we ask for; we must believe that He is willing to do it. We have confidence in Him that He is a good God and that He is all that we read about in the Bible.

We must know that He is always the same. So there is not a day that He is moody or that He wants to bully us or not act according to His word, right? He is what He says He is and He is a God of His Word; what He says is always yes and amen to us.

This tells us that it comes down to us; we are the ones who have problems believing and maybe even a more difficult time to receive. If you doubt His willingness, you won’t be able to receive from Him. Or if you think He is angry, critical, or judgmental, you won’t be confident that He desires to bless you abundantly.

Even though you know that He has provided for all your needs, because everybody says that and you have heard this message preached over and over again. But the fact is that the blessings are still not coming your way.

You keep thinking why this is and why are others more blessed than I am? You need to realize how amazingly merciful and kind He is; then it is easy to reach out and receive from Him. It is easy when we realize how much He loves us, how much He cares for us and how much He wants to bless us despite of us.

Always remember He is a good God and His mercies are new every morning. EVERY MORNING, His mercies are new and are there for us to receive. Psalm 103 makes it very clear to us that every miracle that was ever done, was done because of His mercy and love. God is merciful in all His acts and all His ways.

My pastor has been preaching about the acts and the ways of God for some time now; the acts of God refer to all the supernatural miracles that God has done for His people: things like the deliverance out of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the cloud by day and the fire by night and the many great victories He gave the Israelites when they entered the promised land.

The ways of God are the reasons He did those things. Psalm 103:8 tells us that those reasons are very simple. He did them because He “….is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy…”

God has a father’s heart, and He pities His children, so the Lord pities those who fear” Psalm 103:13 I like that because that lets us know that God covers us with His tender love and concern for all our needs the same as our parents. We should see Him this way, wanting to give us everything He has to give.

I want everything that He has for me, what about you? I don’t want to let anything go to waste; Jesus died on the cross for all our needs, so that makes us responsible to receive everything.

Aren’t you glad that God isn’t standing behind a door with a big stick ready to whack us for something we did wrong? NO!! He is bending over us with great joy and love and excitement because we are His children.

He is putting His arms around you and me and is filled with mercy and compassion, always wanting to forgive us. He desires to help us and pour out His blessings over us. Why? Because that is who He is; that is His very nature.

Many people don’t understand that about God. Religion has given them the impression that He actually enjoys punishing the wicked and disobedient, but the Bible doesn’t say that. Ez.33:11 “God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked for death is strange to His nature.”

You have to start believing that God delights in extending His mercy to you. The entire ministry of Jesus was all about Him giving mercy to people around Him; He demonstrated His mercy everywhere He went. Jesus talked to every person who came to Him and He always told them that He was willing to heal them or to forgive them. He always let them know how much He loved them.

He is continually moved with compassion toward people. He is always willing and desiring to have mercy on you and me. I believe that we should read through the Bible f or the only purpose to see for ourselves with a fresh eye all the merciful acts and ways of the Lord. That would give us such a great revelation of God’s mercy.

I am convinced that a greater revelation of divine mercy will open a door for the blessings of God into our lives. Start meditating on the mercy of the Lord and let the Holy Spirit reveal it to you in a greater measure; your life will be forever transformed.

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Joy Stealers; What Is That All About?

November 17, 2011 by Olga 11 Comments

Joy Stealers; What Is That All About?

by Olga Hermans

In our previous post we talked about the fact that joy is not the same as happiness. Thank you so much for all your emails and comments. I really do appreciate them! A few months ago I watched a service online where Dr. Don Colbert talked about joy stealers.

Just like those happiness traps that we get stuck in, there are also joy stealers. There are attitudes, that when you have them, you will not be able to enter into joy. I always appreciate Dr. Colbert and I follow a lot of his advice, especially this one on joy stealers. That’s why I like to share these with you today.

1. A critical, complaining attitude. If you have a critical, complaining attitude, you can never sow seeds of joy and reap a harvest of joy. You can NEVER do that! Philippians 2:14 says: Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining [against God] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves] Not some things, ALL things!

You have to identify this. If you have it or your spouse has it, repent and resist this attitude. We all know how the Israelites grumbled in the desert; they are a great example to us. They had a grumbling, faultfinding and complaining attitude.

They hated the manna that God gave them from heaven every day that had every bit of nourishment in it they needed to live free of disease for years and years. Numbers tells us that there were fiery serpents among them, they bit the people and many of them died. So, the people asked Moses to pray for the Lord to take the serpents out of their midst.

Did the Lord take the serpents away? NO! Here is why: If you are murmuring and complaining, faultfinding; guess what? You are going to be in trial after trial after trial, represented by the many, many snakes. God is not taking the snakes away; you have to deal with it with an attitude of gratitude.

God hates a murmuring, faultfinding, complaining attitude and if you have that attitude; repent, because you will never have joy with that attitude; ever. Here is the 2nd joy-stealer attitude

2. Offense. If you get offended easily, you will never have joy: impossible!

You might think that your situation is much different from any other because nobody can understand what has been done to you. Listen to what Paul said in Acts 24:16 … I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.

He exercised to be free of offense, In other words, he worked at it and kept working at it. Every single day! A lot of people keep offense towards God when a loved one died because of a car accident. Do you know what unforgiveness does in the body? It causes the stress response in the body to become stuck.

Just like an accelerator on a car can become stuck, you can get stuck. You stir in your own stress juices and these stress juices were meant to save your life in the short run but they also will destroy your life in the long run when they are stimulated continuously! A chronic stress response is deadly and causes tremendous disease. It is at the root of most diseases.

The main thing that gets people stuck in that stress response is: offense, unforgiveness, bitterness and resentment. Forgiveness is that important! Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Eph 4:31 It says ALL bitterness and ALL anger, ALL rage.

The word ALL is very important. And it says to be kind to one another, tender-hearted and forgiving one another, just as Jesus has forgiven you. You might think that this is not fair. It is not about being fair, it is about being obedient to God’s Word.

God knows that if you don’t do this, it is going to eventually effect your health and it will eventually poison every relationship you are in and it is going to eventually affect your health and destroy your health; mentally, emotionally and it will also affect your relationship with God.

Many people cannot simply feel the presence of God; their prayers are not being answered and that is because they have a spirit of offense. They carry bitterness and they do not release the hurt. Let me tell you, if you don’t forgive them; you are going to pay the price.

Jesus said: If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15 That’s why proverbs says: above all else, guard your heart because out of it flow the issue of life.

We have to guard our heart, we cannot let bitterness in, and we cannot let offense in because it will destroy our joy and we will never be able to plant seeds of joy and have a harvest of joy. You will always wonder, why that other person is so happy and why can I never sense the presence of God? That is because of that poisonous root of bitterness that will always destroy and prevent happiness form taking root.

3. The person with stinking thinking. If you want to discover the life you were born to live, you have to learn how we can clean our thinking up.

Mark Twain said: I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.

The majority of bad things we think are going to happen to us, never happen. Phil.2:5 says: “allow this mind to be in you”, which means that we can have the mind of Christ or allow this mind that was in Jesus to be in us, which means we can have the mind of Christ, but we need to get the word of God inside of us and we have to get the trash out.

We sometimes carry too many deadly emotions inside us and “somebody has done me wrong songs”. We have to allow God to change the way we think. Rom.12:2 Dr. Colbert also taught that we have a joy center in the brain, did you know that?

He came up with research after research, very interesting! He is writing a book about it, which will be released sometime soon. He said that when this joycenter is developed, it has executive control just like the president; it has executive control over the entire emotional system. Also, when it is developed, it regulates emotion, pain and immunity.

The joycenter, if it is developed, is able to override the main drive centers of food, sexual impulses, temper and rage. So, if you can effectively develop this joycenter, guess what? You’ll be able to resist giving into any cravings for food (even chocolate), sexual impulse cravings, affairs and pornography and sexual addictions. You can resist terror, and you can overcome it.

You can resist giving into rage; you can resist giving into blind rage or fury. You can control it. Because when you develop that joy center it is literally to exert executive control over every emotional center in your mind. That means it overcomes depression, fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, blame, etc.

Every single emotion has to bow before the chief executive which is the joy center. Well, I thought this was worth writing a post about, what do you think? I value your comments! You can subscribe to

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The Responsibilities of Responsible People

October 13, 2011 by Olga 22 Comments

The Responsibilities of Responsible People

by Olga Hermans

Do you like gong to the movies? Just a week ago my husband and I went to see the movie “Courageous”. We were very, very impressed. This movie is advertised as a powerful motion picture about police officer dads who struggle with their roles as fathers.

The men in the movie have to face their biggest challenge, which is fatherhood. Being a “good enough” father doesn’t cut it when tragedy strikes and the faith of these four men is tested. When secrets are revealed and life becomes unbareable, they must draw closer to God and their families to survive.

Have you ever been in a place like that? I sure have and at the moment it wasn’t fun, but after some time when I was able to look back I could see my inner growth and how I made progress in many areas of my life. You know, you only can make progress when you take responsibility in your own life. You will be able to manage others when you are able to manage yourself first.

That is where responsibility comes in. Adam Mitchell, the main character in the movie first had to take responsibility for his own life before he was able to reach out to others.

Being responsible is something a lot of people don’t know much about. A faithful person is a responsible person. To be responsible is to give account or to be dependable.

Reliable friends who do what they say are
like cool drinks in sweltering heat–refreshing! Pro 25:13

NO wonder Solomon said this person is “as refreshing as a cool drink in sweltering heat” A responsible person is one who can be trusted. These kinds of people are hard to find, but when we find them we will notice that they are different than the average person; their motives are totally different.

Here are 2 of the elements RESPONSIBLE people have:

1. They are motivated because they feel responsible; because they want to be trusted, they are willing to prove themselves. These people are driven by certain ethics and principles that they will fight for.

For example, abortion is an issue that may not affect us or our family, but we may fight against it and be willing to risk our friendships or reputation without any personal benefits.

These people are fixed; they have a firm foundation that they live by. They are people of value. They take pride in being strong and they don’t care if they are different.

2. They are motivated because they feel responsible to keep going.

For example, someone who is a millionaire several times over and has all he will ever need to go fishing or traveling for the rest of his life, but instead, he or she keeps on working every day and may even undertake something totally new and keep on going.

Some people may see that as greedy, but this person simply enjoys being responsible and likes to be an achiever. These people may do what others say can’t be done, simply for the sake of accomplishment.

Being responsible is more than making a commitment. It is a desire or an inner force that holds them accountable to themselves. They do things for the sake of getting them done or for the enjoyment of seeing them done.

Being responsible just for the sake of being responsible will make you a great servant. Jesus was a true servant. He had nothing to gain for himself. He gave up His reputation to build His name. He was humiliated and rejected to gain our trust. He was truly and purely motivated from within.

He saw what we were, and took the responsibility of making sure we got the opportunity of being what we could be. It cost Him something, but He now has earned the greatest name ever in history of mankind, and also in the world to come.

The Father sent Him on a mission because He knew that He was responsible and could be trusted. He was and still is as refreshing as cool drinks in the sweltering heat of a hot summer.

We too, have to make a choice to be willing to be responsible to achieve our dreams and our destiny. We have to set a good example. It is so very important because people believe a lot more of what they see you do than what they hear you say. So, take the responsibility to set a good example.

Living responsibly in our society is a big job. I think we should watch ourselves a little more and not be a hypocrite. Author and speaker John Maxwell says everything rises and falls on leadership. I believe that. What about you?

My Question to you is: Do you consider yourself a responsible person? How well are you currently applying this principle in your life?

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How to Prevent Stress -12 Ways to Prevent it Before it Takes Control

October 3, 2011 by Olga 18 Comments

Prevent Stress – 12 Ways to Prevent it Before it Takes Control

by Olga Hermans

Stress is one of the greatest enemies we face in life. A National Health Interview Survey tells us that 75% of the general population experiences at least “some stress” every two weeks. Stress also contributes to the development of alcoholism, obesity, suicide, drug addiction, cigarette addiction, and other harmful behaviors.

Unhealthy stress has reached epidemic proportions today. Its effects are felt in every segment of our society. The truth is, God didn’t design you to live under stress. He created you for a place of pleasure and good things. He intended for your lives to be in harmony with Him, with each other and with nature.

Yes, things happen in our everyday lives that produce stress. Things happen that are beyond our control. What is in our control, however, is how we confront and deal with those situations.

You can take this simple stress test at home on your own. Take the word “stress” and make something out of every letter of that word. Do it in the negative, and then do it in the positive. Here’s what I came up with:

Stretched to the limits. Everybody knows how it feels when we are stretched to the limits. When we take a rubber band and stretch it until it doesn’t go any further, it snaps. We can stretch ourselves to the point that we can’t do any more and we feel like we are at our breaking point.

Time thief. A survey done in the 1970’s asked, “What is your biggest need?” The answer was “Money.” A survey repeated in the 2000 revealed that the biggest need was “Time.” People everywhere are saying there’s not enough time in day to get your work done. You know how an hourglass works isn’t it?

It is shaped like a funnel, and then it opens into a larger container. When you get to the last few thousands of particles of sand in that hourglass, it speeds up. Well, we’re closing out this age of time and so as we’re narrowing down, time is speeding up and it’s getting faster and faster, and that’s why you don’t have enough time in the day. That causes stress.

Responsibilities. Some people just do too much; they have to many things on their plate. So maybe you have to manage your responsibilities that you have taken on. The things that you’re doing don’t have to be necessarily bad things; just might have taken on too many projects.

Emotions. Your soul is made up of your mind, your will, your thinking faculties, and your emotions. Emotions can give the greatest feelings of pleasure one could imagine; they can also poison our lives and be a source of torment. Emotions are fickle! We can go to bed feeling one way and wake up feeling entirely different.

When you’re stressed out,” it can cause your emotions to lose control. The smallest challenge can bring you to tears. God has a great plan for your life and it is one that includes emotional stability and peace of mind.

Speaking doubt and unbelief. When we are under stress, we have a tendency to speak things that are contrary to God’s Word. We have to control the words of our mouth and the thoughts that are in us. Just because you’re under stress doesn’t mean you throw everything you learned out the window!

Satan. You can just make two lists on paper. Draw a line right down the middle, and anything bad happening to you comes from Satan, and anything good happening to you comes from the Lord. John 10:10 One of the great, big, gigantic snares Satan tries to put in our path is offenses and unforgiveness, getting upset, having hurt feelings, and always going around upset with somebody over something. That causes stress.

Now, we will look at the positive things of the word S-T-R-E-S-S

Secret Place. Psalm 27:5 says, “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; and he shall set me up upon a rock.” This psalm has been one of my most favourite ones for a long time now.

When you are in trouble, there is always that place (under the shadow of His wings) that you can run to. If you don’t have the money to pay your bills on time, then you get yourself behind those closed doors in your prayer closet, and you allow the anointing of God to begin to multiply in your life. God will begin to give you sources and extra income and job increases in your life to cause you to be able to come out on top. Go to the secret place and get away with God.

Thoughts. We’re to bring every thought that doesn’t line up with God’s Word into captivity. 2 Cor. 10:4 You have to capture those thoughts. You have to harness them. I’m telling you, God will work in your behalf.
You have to be able to push away negative thoughts. God’s Word is positive and uplifting; we need to come to that place where we honor God with our thoughts, as well with our actions and our deeds.

Resist the Devil. James 4:7 says: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Resist means to withstand, to oppose, to strive against, set against. And how do you resist the devil? With the written Word of God. You resist the devil with “It is written.” He is a spirit, and you fight him with spiritual weapons. Quote the Word of God to him.

Expose the devil. Do you know Proverbs 6:30? This is a great promise!
Satan is a thief. He will try to steal everything from you. If you let him, he will rob every area of your life. He will try to steal your work, your family, your relationships, your health, your finances, your time and your peace. When things have been stolen from you, make sure that you get it back in Jesus’ name.

Smile Everyone knows how to smile. It’s one of the greatest gifts God has given us. A smile makes people feel good, and people look beautiful when they smile. Living your life with the “joy of the Lord” will chase off negative and stressful circumstances.

Shake it off and step up! We all have times when we seem to be bombarded with bad situations, but there is a right and wrong way to handle these times of distress. Do you know the story of the little donkey?

One day a farmer’s donkey fell into a well. The animal cried pitifully for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do about it. Finally the farmer decided that the animal was too old to justify the efforts it would take to get him out of the well. So he asked his neighbours to help him shovel dirt into the well and end the donkey’s life.

As the dirt began falling on the donkey’s back, he realized what was happening and cried horribly. (Do you know the feeling? “I just feel like everything is caving in on top of me”?) And then, to everyone’s amazement, the donkey quieted down. After shovelling in a little more dirt, the farmer looked down into the well and was astonished at what he saw.

With every shovelful of dirt that hit the donkey’s back, the donkey was doing something amazing; he was shaking it off and then stepping on top of it. As the farmer and his neighbours continued to shovel dirt into the well, the donkey just kept shaking it off and stepping up!

This is a beautiful analogy to shake off the stress that is falling upon us; shake it off and use the situation to get to a higher level in your life!

You don’t have to be stressed out or stretched to the limit. You have a secret place of the Most High God that you can run to, and He will cause you to overcome this stress, this overwhelming time in your life. Not only that, you can go through this challenge with a smile on your face, your head held high and joy in your heart. God is on your side.

Filed Under: 4 Your Habits Tagged With: Forgiveness, How to Choose, love, Moments, motivation, moving on, Olga Hermans, parenting, passion, Prayer, purpose, relationships, self esteem, the choice

Your Heart Needs Attention

September 22, 2011 by Olga 18 Comments

Your Heart Needs Attention

by Olga Hermans

Today there are more than half of our young people in the world living in single-parent households during their childhood. This creates a sense of abandonment and rejection in their lives. Yet God desires for each and every one of us to be whole and fully restored to how He created us to be.

One of the signs of an abandoned heart is that people refuse to look at personal problems and personal responsibility. When was the last time you looked at the attitudes and conditions of your heart? Whether you realize it or not, many of these were established by your childhood environment and carried into adulthood.

Your life experiences affect your heart. They definitely have an effect on how you make choices for your life. And you probably will find it difficult to make decisions, because it is difficult for you to look ahead and see your future. When you are able to spend time with a good family and a great church family as well, your heart has time to recover. But hurts, bitterness, and lies will produce problems in your heart.

As you renew your mind to God’s Word, your heart will open up again to the good things of life. When you start making the necessary adjustments in your life, the problems in your heart will fade and you will begin to experience positive results.

When you know that your life is on target with God, you only need to make some small changes to keep going and continue to grow, increase, improve and prosper.

Let’s say for instance, you are driving from Vancouver to Dallas. You know, it is all the way south, but you need to make some changes to stay on course, like changing roads now and then. But you know, that you just have to keep on going to get there and not to stop and not give up, because that is the way to get there right?

If you have made some really bad decisions and wrong choices in your life; you better stop your car and change direction, and find the road that will take you to God’s best for your life. Most people have made some bad decisions, but that doesn’t mean we should stay there. No! There is always a new start waiting for us.

Sometimes you have to make more than small adjustments, you may have to do a U-Turn and get serious about life changes. I want you to know, it is never too late. It is never too late to turn around and set your life on the right foundation. Stop sabotaging your life and stop tolerating that your life is running on an almost empty tank.

The “roots” of your heart produce positive and negative results.

…looking diligently [becoming aware, plugging in, learning] lest anyone fall short of the grace of [or live below God’s will, His grace, His blessing]; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Hebrews 12:15

Bitterness means “a bitter root…producing a bitter fruit.” Springing comes from the Greek work phuo meaning “to puff or blow” or “to swell up.” Defile means “…to taint” or “contaminate.” A bitter root from negative circumstances in life swells up and contaminates our hearts. Take this motto: “Don’t get bitter; Get Better”!

You gotta watch those roots

How is it possible that a married couple still divorces after being together for many years? It is because a root springs up. Why do people get in debt and poverty when they know that God wants them to prosper? That specific root came up.

Why do we accept to be depressed and discouraged when we are full of the Spirit of God and know the joy of the Lord belongs to us and the peace of the Lord is ours? A root defiles our hearts. It keeps us from God’s best.

Roots grow below the surface. We are able to see the trunk, leaves, and branches on the conscious, surface level. When you renew the spirit of your mind to God’s best for your life, you are willing to dig up the negative roots and move toward a healed, whole heart.

The roots of your life, all those issues in your life; they predict your future. It will never work when you keep covering them up, ignoring and denying them. There will be a moment in your life, where you will have a big garbage dump of issues that you knew you had but never wanted to deal with.

Have you ever seen those acreages where truckload after truckload has been dumped “until it is full”. Then they decide to cover it up with beautiful grass and everybody sees “a beautiful park”. It looks so nice on the surface.

But then after some years, people in the neighbourhood begin to experience some ails and physical problems. After some research, methane gas is found and it came rising up through the grass. So, a complicated system of piping needs to be built to deal with the problem. The gases are gathered and burned off so the gas will not escape into the atmosphere. Why? Because they didn’t want to deal with the garbage issues from the beginning.

Your Life Needs to be Detoxified

Sure, you can cover the garbage of your past, but it will never be able to heal your heart. When you go places or go to church on Sunday, you may look nice, but gases are rising from the surface below and you know it. There are personality disorders. You love the Lord, you are on your way to heaven, but you still cannot get your relationships right. You trust God, you believe in God, you work hard, but you still struggle financially.

Maybe you believe the bible and you quote Scripture, but you cannot serve others or get close to them. You feel lonely, isolated, and separated. You call yourself a Christian, but you do not have time for your children, you talk disrespectfully about your husband, and you gossip to your neighbors.

We can look good on the outside, but the hurts, pains, and problems of our past are bringing up gases. There is a tendency to blame others and point the finger. We want to say, “It’s that spouse who left me,” “It’s that guy who raped me,” “It’s that parent who rejected me.”

Certainly they had a part to play, but you have to decide right now if you want a whole, healthy, healed heart.

Let Your Spiritual Roots Spring Up

God has always been there for you; He always gives you opportunities to be healed and to deal with the issues in your heart; those roots in your heart. Wake up and become aware of what is going on, on the inside of you. Make that choice not to hide what you cannot hide anyway.

We all have seen those roots that grow through the cement and sometimes can even tear a road to pieces; that is how powerful they are. No matter what you put on top of them, they will spring up at any given time. They have a way of coming up when you least expect them. Make a choice to determine not to ignore them or even deny them.

Our habits and attitudes are linked to a root system in our lives. In the natural, sometimes you can pull up one root and realize it has gone way over to the other side of the yard. It is not so easy to get rid of.

Likewise, in the spirit realm, we must begin to look below the surface of our lives.

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8 Bad Habits and What You Can Do About Them

June 23, 2011 by Olga 16 Comments

Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow. ~Yiddish Proverb

8 Bad Habits and What You Can Do About Them

by Olga Hermans

Would you say “YES” to the following statement? “We are created by God for progress, accomplishment and fruit bearing”. Ok, so if we want to be sure we are being fruitful and passionately pursuing our purpose, we might have to take a serious look at our lives. It is possible that you and I are doing things that are not doing us or anyone else any good at all. I have discovered some things which I will share with you, but you can probably add to the list and please do so in the comment section; I can’t wait to read what you have to share. On the other hand this might not be a list that you would expect such as the habit of smoking or overeating and so forth, but it nevertheless is an important list and I hope that you will add your habit in the comments, ok?

So, here we go:

1. Worry is a bad habit

Why? Because it is a waste of time. Jesus told us not to worry because it does no good. (Matt 6:34) There are many things in life we cannot do anything about, but God can. Worrying does not move the hand of God, but faith does. When you exchange your worry for trusting God; you will see progress. The next time you are tempted to worry, just remind yourself it won’t do you or anyone else any good.

After all, it is hard to be passionate about your purpose and worry. Worry slows down your drive and puts roadblocks up in front of your determination. So, why do it?

2. Guilt is a bad habit.

We are going to make mistakes, and to be honest, if we wanted to, we could waste every day of our lives feeling guilty about yesterday. But we don’t have to, because Jesus bore our sins on the cross. He paid for them so we might live free from the tyranny of them.

Perhaps you need a new attitude toward guilt, and a new way of looking at it. Do you feel obligated to feel guilty when you make mistakes? If so, you need a new attitude. Our attitude is what feeds our feelings. Many people say they cannot help feeling guilty. We as human beings make mistakes; that is precisely why we need a Saviour.

3. Trying to change everything is impossible, so it is a bad habit

When you try to change what only God can change is a waste of energy. There is an old saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Isn’t that how we approach life sometimes?

We know that ultimately it is up to God to work something out; yet we continue struggling and try to do something that only God can do.
I have tried to change my husband, it has not worked so far. So why would I want to struggle with it any longer? God is the only one that can change him, or is it me who needs to change? Have you been there?

4. Complaining is one of those bad habits that we have

Most of us have a tendency to complain each time something displeases or upsets us. It might be a great miracle of God if we get through one complete day without complaining about anything or murmuring in our hearts. Let me tell you that nothing positive will ever come from it. What it does is that it creates a negative atmosphere where the devil finds opportunity to work.

I am actually pretty sure that grumbling, fault-finding and complaining open a door for the devil to bring destruction into our lives.
The whole world seems to be complaining about something, but each of us can make the decision to set a different and more positive example. If you cannot change something, then change the way you think about it, but don’t complain about it.

5. Anger…isn’t that a bad habit?

Anger is very dangerous; do you realize that it is one letter short of danger? I have heard a minister say once that refusing to be angry gives you back your life. Being angry and bitter doesn’t hurt your enemies but it does hurt you. They are probably out having a good time while you are sitting at home upset.

The world is becoming filled with more and more angry people all the time. In Vancouver, they lost a hockey game and all hell broke loose – looting, burning, destruction and you name it. Patience and long-suffering are character traits we don’t see very often any more, but we need to.

Anger is an emotion that will surface from time to time, but Jesus said not to let the sun go down on our anger. The longer we keep anger, the more opportunity it has to take root in our lives and choke the life out of us.

You might be angry at God, yourself or someone else, but it is time to give it up. Anger is useless. It doesn’t change anything except you, and not for the better. Make a quality choice today like that minister said: “refusing to be angry gives you back you back your life”.

Pastor Billy Joe always said: “don’t get bitter and you will get better”!

6. Fear is also one of those bad habits we make

Fear can actually steal your destiny. Anyone who lives in fear will never fulfill God’s purpose for their lives. Fear hinders progress and that is exactly why the devil uses it as his favourite weapon against people. The devil does not want you to go forward. If you do decide to go forward, you will have to confront fear because fear will never evaporate or disappear. It must be confronted.

If we seek God when we are afraid, we would hear Him say what He said to the Israelites: Fear not for I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. God is greater than any problem you will ever have.

7. Blame is a game that you shouldn’t play

If you are playing this game, it might be time for you to stop it and start taking responsibility. Maybe you say: “it is not my fault.” As humans we seem to be determined to do things over and over even when they don’t seem to work. We blame each other, we blame ourselves, and we even blame God. Instead of blaming, we need to let go of the past and press into the future. God doesn’t want us to spend our days feeling guilty; He wants us to be responsible.

The first step toward change is the decision to take responsibility to do what needs to be done and to stop blaming. Be responsible, be bold!

8. Comparison doesn’t bring you anything either

I am satisfied with everyday life until I start comparing it with someone else’s life or business. It is very tempting to compare what you have to what someone else has. Stop looking to the side and start concentrating on what’s in front of you. God has an incredible individual plan for each of us.

We all have times when we wonder why God doesn’t deliver us from a difficult situation or why He has not done something we have asked Him to do. Plus we also have the tendency to look at someone else we know definitely seems to have life easier than we do and the comparisons begin. Don’t waste your time comparing, because it only leads to jealousy, envy, resentment and confusion.

Trust God that He has a good plan for you. He may take you on a road you would not choose, but He has a reason.

Post/Tweet this: Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow. ~Yiddish Proverb #TheDailyChoice

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Filed Under: 4 Your Habits Tagged With: choices, destiny, friends, happiness, How to Choose, life choices, Olga Hermans, passion, purpose, quotes

All You Need to Know About Persistence

June 2, 2011 by Olga 9 Comments

All You Need to Know About Persistence

by Olga Hermans

There is another principle that you must know how to apply when you go after your dreams and goals and purpose for your life. When you give up, you invite defeat in your life. When you regularly make a choice to give up, you create a defeat mentality.

If you keep giving up then it won’t take near as much pressure the next time for you to give up because you have created a habit in your life. Sometimes habits are hard to break, but they can be broken, however it will take the Word of God to do it.

The act of continuing creates a habit. Anything you continue to do is going to become habitual to you. Well, you can create the habit of winning. You can create the habit of being persistent. You can create the habit of setting goals and achieving each and every one of them.

I am here to help you to be free to be yourself and to be the person God made you to be. Obviously satan will not just roll over; play dead, and let you accomplish this without a fight. He doesn’t want your life story or your life’s experiences to encourage anyone else. Why? Because it proves he is defeated.

So how can he stop you? By getting you to doubt yourself, your calling, your uniqueness, your forgiveness, and ultimately try to get you to just give up!

Determine in your heart that you will become the winner that God has called you to be. When you determine that that quitting is no longer an option in your life, then you are going to develop a winning lifestyle.

You may have setbacks but those setbacks are temporary. They are not permanent. Every successful person has had setbacks, but the difference between them and others is that successful people do not quit.

You are not a loser. You are a winner. Learn to be persistent. You are going to accomplish all God has for you, but you will not if you are going to quit every time there is pressure. You have what it takes to win. Keep telling yourself that. Stick with it and refuse to give up. It’s well worth it. Persistence is always rewarded.

Persistence is the key to being all God made you to be.

The reason why so many Christians don’t win is because it takes discipline to be a winner; most people don’t like that word. I used to be one of them. So, ask me how I know. You have to make some rules for yourself that perhaps the average Christian would not make.

A lot of Christians see other Christians winning and they wish they could have what they have, but they will not do whatever is necessary to win. It’s only when you get desperate to win that you will finally be willing to do whatever it takes.

Discipline is what makes a winner out of you. I frequently hear people say, “I am just not a disciplined person,” or something like it. It is time to start renewing your mind by meditating this thought: “I am disciplined and selfcontrolled.” You will never arise above what you believe and as long as you believe you are not a disciplined person, then you won’t be one.

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (The Message)

Go for the above and beyond. Don’t be satisfied with being average. Determine that you will excel in everything you do. Too many times we are too quick to give in and to give up. Persistence is what it takes to be victorious in every adversity. Determine today that “turning back” is no longer an option in your life.

Kenneth E.Hagin used to say that if you will prepare to stand forever; then it will not take very long. Make up your mind that regardless of how long it takes, you are not going to give in.

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Filed Under: 4 Your Habits Tagged With: choices, destiny, friends, happiness, How to Choose, life choices, Olga Hermans, passion, purpose, quotes, young living essential oil

5 Things That Master The Fear of Failure [Part 2]

May 26, 2011 by Olga 4 Comments

“No Fear Here” – Kenneth Copeland

“Courage is not only the absence of fear but the mastery of it.” Mark Twain

“You must do the thing that you fear until the fear of that thing becomes no more.”
– Brian Tracy

5 Things That Master The Fear of Failure [Part 2]

by Olga Hermans

You can read Part 1 by clicking here

1. See yourself as God sees you.

Meditate on who God says you are.

Start talking about yourself the way God sees you. God sees you through the blood of Jesus. God sees you as more than a conqueror. He sees you as the redeemed of the Lord.

There is a direct relationship between how vividly you can see yourself as God sees you and how rapidly you become that person. In other words, the more faithful you are about spending time in God’s Word, then the quicker you will become the person that God sees.

2. Become passionate and enthusiastic about what God says you can do.

The word enthusiasm comes from the Greek word which literally means “God-inspired” and” God-in”. When you are enthusiastic, that means that you can see God in every situation. Others may not be able to see what you see, but you see victory and success coming your way. You can see God at work in your behalf and it creates enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm and passion deepens your faith. Nothing great is ever achieved without them. You must be enthusiastic about whatever you do. You have to be passionate about establishing a ministry, or building a church, or about starting a business. Once again, nothing great is ever achieved without it.

3. Constantly affirm to yourself who you are, what you are and what you can do in Christ Jesus.

I realize this sounds basic and you may have already heard it 10.000 times but you are not going to be free to be you nor will you be the success that you are destined to be until you act on them every day of your life.

What does it mean to affirm? Affirmations are strong statements regarding what you believe. Affirm who you are and what you can do changes what is on the outside to what you see on the inside. Keep your conversation throughout the day consistent with what you believe God is saying about you. Remember to guard your mouth!

4. Feed your spirit daily on God’s Word and faith-building material.

The more you read, the more you listen, and the more you watch faith building programs, the less you will have to deal with fear because faith will come and fear will go. Be very selective about what you read, what you watch and what you listen to.

5. Associate with winners.

Associate with people who have conquered fear. Associate with winners. Stay away from people who constantly talk fear and stay away from people who constantly talk failure. Success breeds success and failure breeds failure. Who you associate with has everything to do with your outcome.

“He that walks with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed”. Prov.13:20

I like to give some extra today, here we go with 9 Winning principles from Daisy Osborn’s book “5 Choices for Women Who Win”.

Click Here to Purchase the Book

1) Practice the art of doing for others what you want them to do for you.

2) Recognize and value the unique person that you are.

3) Accept responsibility for the fact that your life is and will always be what YOU yourself make of it through your innate powers of choice, of decision and of action.

4) Absorb the principle that failure is never final, so if you do not succeed the first time, keep on trying.

5) Realize that whatever is worth your doing is worth doing the very best that you can.

6) Understand that true happiness is having hope, experiencing love and doing things for the betterment of people.

7) Assimilate the irreversible law that you are, and you become the tangible reality of the sum and substance of your own thoughts.

8) Grasp the winning criterion that what you learn, discover, prove and know becomes the only power that you yourself can utilize in this world.

9) Actualize the power within you by being calm and confident, accepting your own uniqueness, by knowing your distinct purpose, by being sure that your goals are right and good for God, for people and for yourself; and by going forward with Him as your source, without intimidation, inferiority or hesitation.

Make a choice today to be a doer of the Word and not let this information just sit on the pages, but take it to heart and act on it. Master the fear and do it as long as until the anxiety of the thing that you fear becomes no more and you can truly say: “No Fear Here”.

Thanks for the reading of this article. Tell me what you think and also tell me if there is a special that you would like me to write about. I value all of you who take the time and read this blog. Thank you very much. Scroll down a little and let me now what you think, ok?

Filed Under: 4 Your Habits Tagged With: choices, destiny, friends, happiness, How to Choose, life choices, Olga Hermans, passion, purpose, quotes, young living essential oil

Why Are You Offended

March 16, 2011 by Olga Leave a Comment

When You Take Offense At Someone, Your Spiritual Walk Is Immediately Crippled

Why Are You Offended

by Olga Hermans

Talking you into offense is a major strategy satan uses to get you dig up the Word seed. When the Word is in your heart, satan has no authority to get it out himself. He has to convince you to cast the Word out of your heart. If he can get you offended, you will destroy your own harvest. When you choose to become offended, you stumble and make false steps in life.

The Amplified Bible gives a good illustration of this concerning those who have stony-ground heart: And in the same way the ones sown upon stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once receive and accept and welcome it with joy; And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away. Mar 4:16-17

When a person chooses to take offense, immediately his spiritual walk begins to wither away. The flow of life from his spirit begins to ebb and he begins to dry up inside. The Amplified says “they stumble and fall away”. Becoming offended is a stumbling block.

We never, ever should be drying up on the inside. We are believers! We have the Word. Psalm 119:165 says, “Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them.” As we continually feed our spirits with the Word and keep our roots strong and established, we gain spiritual strength we need to avoid the enemy’s strategy of offense altogether.

Don’t allow offense in your life.

The basic problem with stony ground is that the Word is not rooted because the soil is shallow and full of rocks. Sometimes people get turned on to the Word of God and put it into motion in their lives. But six weeks later – when they don’t see any difference in their situation – they become offended. Nothing has happened. No results. No return. No increase.

We have to be willing to make a stand that the Word of God is true, regardless of how things look and no matter how long it takes to manifest in the natural realm. A lot of times it doesn’t happen because as soon as we want it to and the number one reason why it doesn’t happen sooner is not God – it’s you and me.

Maybe you think, it’s been six weeks since I started believing for my healing and I can’t tell any difference in my body. God must not have heard me. He must not care anything about me.

Be careful! You are offended and you are thinking like stony ground. Don’t let the devil talk you into being offended at God. God is never your problem.

If things are not going right in your lives, we have to look at what we are doing. It is a total waste of time to blame it on God. He is full of compassion. He is always right and he is always good. He always wants the best for us.

When the devil can’t cause us to take offense at God, he tries to cause us to become offended at our pastor who taught us the Word. The enemy whispers thoughts to our minds like, your pastor doesn’t preach right! What he said doesn’t work. That was all just talk!

If you don’t take offense at your pastor, the devil will then try to offend you through your spouse, your children, your neighbor, or your friends – anyone he can find! He wants to get you under his control again so he can put you back into poverty, bondage and sickness. He knows that strife, envy and offense are bog open doors he can walk through to take over your life.

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. Jas 3:14-16

You see, when you take offense at someone, your spiritual walk is immediately crippled. Your faith won’t work, because faith works by love Gal.5:6. No matter what anyone does to you, it’s never all right for you to be offended, you are wrong! Choose to not give offense a place to start. When you get out of love, immediately repent and make it right. Choose to stay on fire for God and to stay in the Word.

We have to start making the right choices; choices that lead us to the life that God has promised, us filled with blessings. We have the power to choose wisely; satan has NO power over us.

Filed Under: 4 Your Habits Tagged With: choices, destiny, friends, How to Choose, life choices, Olga Hermans, passion, purpose, quotes, young living essential oil

Acceptance or Rejection

March 7, 2011 by Olga Leave a Comment

Acceptance Or Rejection

Acceptance or Rejection

by Olga Hermans

When we choose to reject ourselves, we should understand that rejecting ourselves does not change us. It actually multiplies our problems. Have you ever thought why we as humans reject ourselves? Isn’t it the most foolish and thoughtless thing to do? We reject ourselves and then we run after people and beg them more or less to accept us; such contradiction.

Acceptance causes us to face reality and then begin to deal with it. We cannot deal with anything as long as we are refusing to accept it or denying its reality.

Webster’s defines accept as “1. To receive (something offered) willingly 2.a.To consider as usual, proper or right b. To consider as true.”

We have to engage our will to make the right choices. Wouldn’t you say that rejecting ourselves causes death to come into our lives? If I like to apply this definition to self-acceptance, I see that I can choose or not choose to accept myself as I am, but I have a free will and can refuse to do so if I choose.

People who reject themselves do so because they cannot see themselves as proper or right. They only see their flaws and weaknesses, not their beauty and strength. This is a very unbalanced attitude, one that was probably instilled by authority figures in the past who majored on what was weak and wrong rather than on what was strong and right.

The word acceptance from the same dictionary is defined in part as “approval” and “agreement.” If we have problems accepting ourselves as we are, I suggest that we need to get into agreement with God that what He created is good and that includes us.

In Amos 3:3 we read, Do two walk together except they make an appointment and have agreed? To walk with God, we must agree with God. He says He loves us and accepts us; therefore, if we agree with Him, we can no longer hate and reject ourselves.

We need to agree with God that when He created us, He created something good.

Once again let me emphasize that I realize everything we do is not good, but at this point we are discussing ourselves, not our behavior.

Rejection is a mean spirit. You know, satan was rejected by God when pride came all over him. God rejected him out of heaven. The very essence of sin is rejection. Rejection is etched into the cells of the human mind. The disease of the devil has spread to every person born on the earth until He Who was perfect was born of God; Jesus Christ. He wants to make sure that we feel rejected by God; if we feel rejected by God, we reject God isn’t it? Well, that’s his plan. If we feel rejected by God; we want to reject ourselves.

The fact is that everyone on this planet has been forced to experience the painful consequences of what happened in an uncounted eon far from here and long ago.

Maybe you are in a place right now where you feel rejected. You see the things in yourself that need to be changed and it is very difficult for you to think or say, “I accept myself.” You feel that to do so would be to accept all that is wrong with you, but that is not the case.

I personally don’t believe we can even begin the process of change until this issue is settled in our individual lives. I, myself have been dealing with rejection for a very long time. One of the things that I would recommend is to sit in the presence of God and tell Him what is going on. Be honest and open to God. Choose to acknowledge the thoughts that He has for you; He loves you no matter what you do or have done. There is nothing we can do to make God love us any less or anymore; only to receive that He loves us no matter what we do.

By making this choice to accept God for who He is and accept yourself step by step for who you are; it is a wonderful process, really. It is such a blessing to experience a change in yourself that only God could have done. Choose to say: “I accept myself.” There you go! Say it many times a day! Make the choice!
Remember, God loves you!

Source: How to Succeed at Being Yourself by Joyce Meyer

Filed Under: 4 Your Habits Tagged With: choices, destiny, friends, How to Choose, life choices, Olga Hermans, passion, purpose, quotes, young living essential oil