You Take Control By Your Choice

 

You Take Control By Your Choice

by Olga Hermans

Some people think that self-control is not important, but I’d like to prove you otherwise. One of the things you need to know is that you area  spirit being; when you are Christian your spirit is the most important part of you. You probably know that you are a three-part being, right? Spirit, soul and body. 1Thess.5:23 You are a spirit, you have a soul and you live in a body. The part that everybody sees is the body. However, the real you is your spirit man.

If you do not build up your spirit, then your soul and body will dominate your life. You soul and body will then convince you to do what feels good at the moment or what looks easiest and most convenient. The soul and body will also convince you that no one will ever know, or what difference will it make to do a little of whatever you want to do.

Some people never learn to walk in self-control because they don’t take time to build up their spirit man. They learn to shove aside the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to them and instead follow their emotions or their own desires and reasoning.

Sometimes they may even put a religious coat on it and say that they felt God lead them to do what they did, when in fact, if they closely examined what they did, they would know that it goes against the principles of the Word of God.

When you desire to walk in the Spirit, you have to exercise self-control. You and I will have to learn to say “no” to that which pulls on our flesh and emotions to sin.

As Christians, we are to take control of what we see, hear and read, and whom we allow to influence our lives. We are responsible for our emotions, impulses and desires. For example, circumstances may press your emotions to respond negatively, but through the fruit of self-control, you choose to respond differently.

You choose to walk in peace while others may want to argue. You choose to forgive and show mercy when others offend, disappoint, or fail you. You choose to keep the joy of the Lord when you feel unhappy. You choose not to speak when your emotions are wanting your mouth to speak. All of these are example of self-control in operation.

Some may say, “Well, I believe you should vent your emotions.” There have been so many people today who have vented their emotions that we have destruction everywhere – destroyed marriages, destroyed family relationships, murders, and broken hearts, depressed and abused personalities, etc. Some people have vented their emotions and later regretted ever saying or doing what they said and did but cannot change it now.

Get control by submitting to God’s Word in your life personally. There are those who have learned that freedom is not doing whatever you feel at the moment. Freedom is in choosing to walk in love toward God and others. The love walk requires self-control. Gal.5:13

Jesus said in Luke 17:1 that offenses would come. He also said in John 16:33 to rejoice in the midst of tribulation. Walking in peace demands self-control! I remember somebody say once, “I have no problem walking with God. It’s just all the other Christians I have problems with!” That sounds funny, but that’s really the way some people feel.

When we become a part of the family of God, we must learn to live together as a family. God can use other brothers and sisters in the Lord to develop fruit in our lives if we allow Him to. We may not always appreciate the part they are playing in our spiritual growth, but we will realize it is a way God works the rough edges off of us.

Here are a few guidelines for helping you to strengthen the fruit of self-control in your life:

1. Take time to daily read the Word of God. Psalm 119:9-11. Hide God’s Word in your heart, so you will not sin against Him and will be able to live in His Blessings.
2. Take time daily in prayer. Matth.26:41. We need to “watch and pray” over our own lives. Watch for the attacks of the enemy in your life and then pray immediately.
3. Guard your heart with all diligence. Proverbs 4:23 We need to examine our attitudes and our thoughts on a regular basis and make adjustments as needed.
4. Be sensitive in your spirit to hear God. Hebr.3:7. When we hear from God we can choose to respond with humility and trust or
harden our hearts and ignore Him.

5. Be righteousness conscious. Remember, having an attitude of righteousness in Jesus makes you want to stay right with Him. 2Cor.5:21
6. Be quick to repent if you sin, and reckon yourself dead to sin and alive unto God. Gal.2:20.
7. Cast down wrong thoughts. Phil.4:8. Do you ever think about what you are thinking about? If you are not careful, your thought life can lead you into problems. It is important to think before you act.
8. Keep humble before God. James 4:6. We have our own ideas about what we can accomplish, but often we think more highly of
ourselves than we ought. We need humble attitudes, knowing that apart from God, we can do nothing.

9. Submit to God and to His Word, and resist the devil. We must remember that the devil is not going to just sit back and allow us to take new ground without putting up a fight, but James 4:7 says that he will flee if we submit to God and resist the enemy.
10. Set you affections upon the Lord. If you want to live the resurrection life that Jesus provides, then seek that new, powerful life by setting your mind and keeping it set on things above, not on things on the earth.

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

You Are Unbeatable

 

 

 

You Are Unbeatable

by Olga Hermans

Did you know that you were designed to be unbeatable? You were created to be more than a conqueror and yes, again, UNBEATABLE! 

But, words like: winners, victory, determination, champions, legends, perseverance…are definitely words that come up, right?

All those answers are great, but the thing is that we all go through times in our lives where we feel inadequate and unqualified. Have you ever felt that way?

Sometimes you go through a week where things are really rough, you go to your job, the boss calls you into his office and tells you that you are no longer needed. Feelings of insignificance will come to you and that you are not good enough, that you do not really have what it takes. You might even feel that you have lost your reason and your purpose.

We all have had moments like this, where we feel like a defeated spirit. Things didn’t turn out the way we hoped they would. Things that we hoped would happen didn’t happen. Maybe one of your children started doing things that you had never thought would happen. Maybe things with your marriage, or a diagnosis that the doctor gave.

In those moments we have to ask ourselves if we still believe that God has a plan for us. Even when we are released from our job and the bills are stacking up and everything looks like it defeated us. Is there still something on the inside of us that is willing to believe and willing to hold on?

God has a plan for us and satan has a plan for us too, right? John 10:10 says: A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

Which plan do you like best? I like the real and blessed life and I know you do too, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this post. Satan has a plan for us to stay depressed, to feel inadequate, and to feel insignificant and that we really don’t have any gifts, talents or purpose.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I see people who seem to have all the gifts and talents and I feel like God gave that person ALL the talents that exist. If we are not careful we can get in this mode and think “well, everybody has a gift and a talent, except for me. My talent is just to breathe! Everybody else can build a business, dance, or play hockey, they are good with numbers and statistics, but here I am just talented with breathing.

That is the lie of the devil!! The evil one wants you think that you don’t have a gift. That you don’t have a purpose and that there is no reason to live and that you were made by accident and that you are insignificant. Because the devil believes that if we believe that lie that we will never fulfill the purpose that God created us to fulfill.

And that lie keeps us from making a difference in our marriage and in our family’s life. The truth is that God has a plan for us, that we would live, and live our lives to the fullest.  He created us to live victorious and make a difference in the lives of others. He created you and me to be unbeatable.

Even if you would believe this right now, you still have to recognize this in your life and that you have to do something to make things happen in your life. You have to prove to yourself that you believe this. Not by comparing yourself with others but by competing with yourself, and then, there is no limit! Take the lid off your life and let the true you come out of the box. You might be surprised at all the talents and gifts that were there for such a long time, they were just dormant on the inside of you.

You might be doing things out of routine and tradition, but there is no life in it and you know it. You have to get up my friend and dust yourself off. This is a new day with a new beginning. We don’t want to do things any longer just because they are a good thing to do. We do them because we believe they are good things and that they will bring results in our lives.

We need to come to the understanding that what we believe and what we are saying will actually come to pass. Your words will bury you or they will resurrect you. They will take you over the top or they will put you under.

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

LOVE Never Gives Up


 

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.

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

 

5 Principles to Have a Winning Attitude

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 23rd 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!

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

How Do You Handle Rejection

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.

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

Where to Find Peace in Times of Trouble?

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!

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


How to Get Out of a Pressure Cooker

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.

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

Grow Up and Be Free to Fulfill Your Destiny

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!

Jesus ALWAYS wants to heal you!

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.”


Today Is The Day – Now Is The Time

Today Is The Day – Now Is The Time

by Olga Hermans

I’d like to share one of my favorite scriptures with you today; I have quite a few and this one is certainly one of them.

Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. Psalm 66:12 KJV

I took this translation because I like the fact that it speaks of a wealthy place.

God wants to bring you into that place, into your very own wealthy place in Him. You live in Him and you have your whole being in Him. You live in Him and He lives in you. When you are in that place, it will have an effect on all the areas of your life for the good.

God is a good God; He will not force you into that place but He will lead you and in some instances He will even go before you! Because He wants to lead you to that place, you have to learn how to find your wealthy place and then let God bring you there.

I have gone through some rough spots in my life and so have you most likely; I felt at times that I could hardly hold my head above the water and sometimes I felt that I was burned on every side. I remember a time that we were financially in a very tight spot and if somebody hadn’t come in and paid the rent for us, we might have ended up on the streets.

I learned that it is God’s perfect will for us that we come out of those places; we don’t have to stay in those tight spots where we can hardly breathe.

God is a good God and He does NOTHING halfway. His intention is always to bring you out of something to bring you into something better. God brought the children of Israel out of the wilderness into the land flowing with milk and honey.

Have you ever been through the “fire and water” concerning money? There is a big chance that you have like many others and you even might have accepted it. But you know what; we have accepted some things that we should not have accepted.

Now you might be thinking that it is normal to be broke. Let me tell you this and I hope you believe it; it is not normal to be broke; it is abnormal. God has given us this promise in Psalm 102:13 He is telling us to ARISE. This is time to arise to the favor of the Lord.

This is the time for you to realize that you are in a covenant with God and that He has provided everything for you in Christ. He has a plan and a purpose for you; His design for you and me is to be wealthy.

If you don’t know how His covenant works; you probably will think that the prosperity message is a message for the greedy, lazy bunch and you don’t want it. But God providing for your every need is to bring Him Glory; God wants to show the world how well He takes care of you and me.

Do you remember what He did for Ruth? At the time that her husband died, she wanted to stay with her mother-in-law. The next thing that happens is that she meets Boaz who is a wealthy business man and eventually marries him. One minute Ruth was broke and the next minute so to speak she is living in a palace.

Ruth was very faithful; she took care of God’s business by staying with her mother in law and God blessed her tremendously as a result. When you know what God’s will is for you and you give Him 1st place in your life by developing a personal relationship with Him, you are putting yourself in a position to be blessed by Him.

How many are there that have no clue that there is a wealthy place in God that He wants to bring them into. As Abraham’s seed and heir of the world you have the power to get wealth in every form like wisdom and faith, revelation knowledge and the anointing for increase, gifts and fruit of the Spirit; creative ideas, concepts and insights; houses, land, businesses, contracts, favor, jobs, promotions, inheritance, debt cancellation, transportation vehicles and so much more.

You have to exercise diligence, for the hand of the diligent makes rich. Today God’s grace is abounding toward you and your family with a bountiful harvest from all the seed that you have ever sown.

We all need more understanding of the will of the Lord. The 23rd Psalm tells us that the Lord is our shepherd and that we shall not want. Psalm 23:5 tells us that our cup will run over. I believe that when God did it for David, He’ll do it for you and me!

Psalm 66:12 talks about that wealthy place in God. One more time, He doesn’t only want to bring you out; He also wants to bring you in a much better place. When you got saved, you were “brought out” of the Kingdom of darkness. God doesn’t want to stop there. He wants to bring you into a wealthy place too. Receive it by yielding to His will.

Today is Your day! Now Is The Time!