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Monthly Archives: May 2019

What Are Your Deep Intentions Of Your Heart, What Is Behind All That You Do?

28 May

I was inspired to share with you about an experience from my life, which was a great lesson to me and also an incredible testimony. I faced something I did not expect. It turns out that you can do God’s work and think that you do it all for the glory of God and you delight Him with your deeds, without even knowing that the real picture is very different than you thought. 
Question: what are the deep intentions of your heart, what is behind all that you do?

🕊✨ All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD. (Proverbs 16:2 NIV)

🕊✨Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts. (Proverbs 21:2 NKJV)

This experience changed the trajectory of my path. It also showed how the Lord gives all that is needed when you do His work. But in order to experience His blessing in its fullness, it is necessary to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit and to be in obedience to the way God leads you, and not be stubborn and carry out your plans as you want.

This was 6 years ago. When the opportunity opened, I shared my testimony about what the Lord has done in my life, wrote a book telling my story-testimony and it seemed that I stood well, fulfilling my promise to God, and doing what I love. In May 2013, I thought that my book’s manuscript was finished and the next step was to find a good editor and funding to cover the editing and publishing expenses. I needed $10,000. 

I immediately began to look for ways where I could find the editor and funding. But everywhere I looked it seemed that I ran into a wall and could not take a single step forward. In my persistence and zeal to do everything possible, ignoring the quiet voice inside that prompted me to come before the Lord in my prayer about the next step, I took the matter into my own hands and started a fundraising project. I was perplexed as I was watching how I received encouraging messages and heard many greetings and comments about how excited people were about my book, but the funds were coming in very slowly. It seemed as if the invisible hand would not allow the money to come.

The voice of the Holy Spirit continued urging me to leave everything I was going to work on and go before the Lord in my prayer. In prayer, in the spirit, I clearly heard/felt “The editor and the money are already prepared by Me, it will come all at once and you will not even have to do anything to find them. But it will come when the time is right. Now, leave everything aside and go study My Word, search for My will for you.”

I did what the Lord said. It was not easy to stop everything. But I knew that without God’s blessing I will not have success in my pursuits no matter how much I try. I understood that this time I had to be still, not to do anything, but trust the Lord and wait until He would provide everything; meanwhile, I had to go deep into His word and hear what He wants to say to me. 

So, after I pushed all my to-dos aside, I opened the Bible, and with a prayer began reading His Word. On the very first day, while reading His word, it felt as though I was struck by lightning – I saw that I was walking in the wrong direction!

Imagine the plane has a route to its destination. At some point, the pilot looks at the compass and sees that the plane is slightly off course. The shift can be very small, almost to the point that you don’t even have to worry about it because it won’t matter much. But what will happen if the pilot makes no changes and allows the aircraft to fly a little off course? The shift may not be visible in the very beginning of the journey. But after thousands of miles, this aircraft will be completely knocked off course. Arrival will be far from the destination, where he was supposed to land. This is what I saw in my life – the arrow of my compass was slightly shifted from the course.

🕊✨ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 NKJV)

The word “selfish ambitions’ got my attention. In the classic translation of the Greek Testament, it’s self-seeking.

To be honest, I felt uneasy. Suddenly the Lord showed me the depths of my heart… Even if I love God and sincerely did everything I did, in the depths of my heart behind my work bringing the glory of God, there were also my personal ambitions. Ambitions to achieve my success. I was shocked. It was such a fine line that I did not even notice it! For so long, it seemed to me that I stood right before God because I lived by His word, for His glory and I constantly saw Lord’s blessing in everything. It turned out that it only seemed so to me.

And if the Lord did not stop me now and did not show me the depth of my intentions, I would have gone in a completely different direction than I thought. And, ultimately, this would lead me to great pride and arrogance, and I would be aiming for goals that for the most part are not His will and even the opposite.

🕊✨ These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look…. (Proverbs 6:16-17NKJV)

 🕊✨ Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility. (Proverbs 18:12 NKJV)

It was not an easy time for me. But, it became very valuable and special time. I examined myself, my values, my aspirations and intentions behind them. I spent a lot of time reassessing everything and, having changed my aspirations and intentions, I brought my arrow to the correct course.

It was a very difficult process, but at that time the direction in which I was going changed, and at the end, I was very grateful for this time period. See, I aspired to do so much, but I was not even ready yet for my ministry! In addition, it turned out that my book was also not ready for publication – it was not yet finished. During that time period, I added several new chapters and made a lot of changes in the manuscript, which radically changed the book.

And when the book was fully completed, and my heart also changed, the Lord did what He told me in the prayer — a professional editor and the money indeed came to me at one time, and I didn’t even have to look for it. One of the country’s best editors came to the company where I worked, and soon one person, having learned that I was writing a book and what I needed to publish it, surprised me by handing me an envelope with a check in it for $10,000, and said “I prayed about it. This money belongs to “Unstoppable”. Go ahead, publish your book, the world needs to know your story and what the Lord has taught you” 
It was just INCREDIBLE!!

See, the Lord has everything you need and He can provide. If your plans do not follow through, stop and call upon Him to show you. It might not be working out for you not because you are a loser or because the enemy is working against you, but because for certain reasons the Lord himself does not allow you. Maybe it’s not the right time yet. Or, maybe you are not ready. 

Examine yourself. Check what are true intentions in your heart. Weigh your heart and what stands behind your goals, what your true motives are behind the ministry that you carry or want to carry. Looking for your selfish desires to be fulfilled, to realize your ambitions, to achieve significance in the eyes of people can end very painfully. 

Before you do something, ask the Lord about His will. Be in obedience to Him even if it seems to you that it’s better to do other than what the Lord has directed you to do. The enemy will try to deceive you and will tempt you to do the opposite of how the Lord directed and it may indeed seem that this way is more logical and better (This is another lesson in this story, but I will share it another time). But not everything that shines is gold. 
You will be successful in your affairs only when you are in obedience to God and will do exactly the way He directs you.

~ Inga

#unstoppableinga
Http://www.BecomingUnstoppable.org/

 
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Posted by on May 28, 2019 in Uncategorized

 

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BLESSING IN TRIALS. God Is Shaping A Diamond Out Of You

17 May

So many people who love the Lord face troubles and hardships in life. Sometimes it’s tempting to say “Lord, how much longer can I bear this, why is this happening in my life?”

After the tragedy in my life, I was in constant emotional anguish and physical pain. And over the years since then, challenges and trials one after another were coming my way. At times it felt as though difficulties and struggle became my daily bread. Sometimes I could hardly endure it. At the time, I just knew I had to be strong and overcome. And so gaining endurance from trusting the Lord, I made every effort to be steadfast and worked hard to change and improve my circumstances. It wasn’t easy at all to go through the trials. But there came a time when I started seeking for the value in a bad situation. And what a surprise and astonishment it was to see how beneficial those hardships were! Today, I am grateful to them for so many things.

It’s because of problems and continuous difficulties that I became stronger, resilient, and persistent. The car accident and following insurmountable obstacles, pain and ongoing challenges tested me and formed me into a different person than I used to be. Hardships taught me how not to give up when I felt couldn’t take it anymore. Severe pain developed both endurance and compassion within me. Obstacles taught me how relentless effort can break through any kind of barrier. Challenges taught me how to push myself and go beyond what I thought I could do. Devastating destruction, betrayal, and heartbrokenness taught me how to be unstoppable.

One of the highest values that I’ve gained through the devastation and hopelessness is that through them I have learned to have unshakable faith and trust the Lord at all times, and I have experienced the most incredible testimonies of answered prayers. It’s because of my experiential knowledge my faith became stronger than ever before and I have learned very valuable lessons that I could not have learned otherwise.

Understanding how much value I received from the times of trials totally transformed my attitude toward them and radically changed my experience going through difficulties later on. Since then, it became much easier for me to handle challenges.

Our human nature tries to avoid trials and tribulations, but in the Word of God, we find that they are actually for our own good. As seen in verses below, trials form us into persons who we need to become.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.( 1 Peter 1: 6-7)

…Rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.( Romans 5:2b-4)

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Problems, hardships, and circumstances that seemed to be the exact opposite of what I had asked in my prayer served an important and valuable purpose in my life. I only made it harder for myself by allowing my concerns and frustrations to disturb my peace. I want to pass on to you the lesson that I had to learn the hard way – do not fear, but remain in peace fully trusting that the Lord has everything under control. Furthermore, in His Word, it’s written that all things work together for good in the lives of those who are chosen and who love Him. Whatever situation you are going through right now –it will work for the good, too. It might be difficult for you to agree with it right now, but you will see/understand it when the time comes.

God is bringing you through the tough pressure and heat for a reason. God is shaping a diamond out of you. Did you know that a diamond is nothing more than a piece of coal which was under highly intense work? No matter how strange it may sound, but both coal and diamond are one and the same. Coal and diamond look completely different, but they both are exactly the same chemical element (carbon atom), it’s just they are in a different form. Changing the crystal structure with high pressure and high temperature, coal becomes a diamond. No matter how unbelievable it might look, a diamond is really a black stone, which has gone through the intense process of high pressure and high temperature before it became a beautiful jewel. And it takes a long time for it to become so beautiful.

You might be going through a very tough time right now. But know that this is how God is teaching you and is working with you to develop necessary character traits within you. It is difficult for you now, but there will come a day when you will become as beautiful as these diamonds are and you will shine for His glory.

Meanwhile, the key is to have a close relationship with Him and allow Him to do the work with you. Instead of dwelling on how hard and painful it is, look at your situation through a different perspective – ask yourself “What is really going on behind this event? What am I supposed to learn from this experience? What good can I see in all of this?”

The Lord will do His part and He is faithful, but there is also a lot of responsibility on our part. The end result will depend on our choices. We have a choice to murmur, complain and be a victim, but we know that the end of this path may lead you to even greater sorrow. Stories in the Bible are there as lessons to us to not repeat the mistake of Israelites. Another choice is to be steadfast and patiently go through this time. Instead of fear and doubt choose to trust the Lord. Equipped by unshakable faith, step out of your comfort zone with courage and determination. Persevere to continuously improve your situation and never give up.

And when you feel you have no strength to withstand the adversities you’re facing, ask the Lord to strengthen you. Remember, that only through high temperature and high-pressure coal transforms into a beautiful diamond. And with God, you are strong enough to go through it all.

Oh, bless our God, you peoples!

And make the voice of His praise to be heard, Who keeps our soul among the living,

And does not allow our feet to be moved.

For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.

You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs.

You have caused men to ride over our heads;

We went through fire and through water;

But You brought us out to rich fulfillment. (Psalm 66:8-12)

 
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Posted by on May 17, 2019 in Uncategorized

 

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He Shall Be Like a Tree Planted By The Rivers Of Water

10 May
He Shall Be Like a Tree Planted By The Rivers Of Water

Last week, when the Lord turned my attention to these verses from the Bible, I completely stopped my ‘busyness’ and revised my daily schedule, my priorities. In prayer, I was inspired to share this with you.

How much time do we spend in communion with Him, reading His Word, meditating on what the Lord teaches us? Do we nourish our inner man? Do we come to the sources of water — to His word and prayer — in order to receive His revelation, guidance, and strength to bear the fruit? Also, He drew my attention to another verse “…the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me….. Without Me you can do nothing. “

We can work, put a lot of effort in something, and have very busy schedules. It may seem to us that if we are constantly in action, it means we are moving forward in life, and it is a good thing. But sometimes we might not even notice that we are like a squirrel in a wheel, who runs and runs nonstop in a circle … to nowhere. At the same time, vanity has the ability to devour us completely and steal our inner strength from us. As a result, if we do not abide in Him we may end up in an endless cycle of busyness and, come to the point of inner exhaustion. There will be no fruit without a close connection with Jesus.

Daily responsibilities, work, goals, interests, friends, world news and social media daily bombard us, and we do not even realize that while we consider ourselves living in faith, we often put off our prayer or reading His Word “for later”, on “when I have time.”

Over the years, I noticed that every time I got fully engaged in some projects and other urgent matters, leaving prayer and reading His word for ‘later, another time, when I have a free moment’, I would lose my inner strength. It seemed as though my inner energy, liveliness and aspirations within me dried up. I felt empty, and tired. And when I came to my senses that this was a wrong inner state, I realized that in order to gain inner vitality, I needed to return to a constant close communion with God. And surely, I felt a huge difference every single time when I returned to my source of life! Through His word and prayer, it felt as though I approached the sources of the waters, and everything inside me came to life. I felt vigorous, filled with energy and strength. Cheerfulness was overflowing! And, in addition, my projects went completely differently: everything was lining up in my favor and I had successful results in everything I did.

As we drink water and eat food to support our physical body, we must give the same to our spirit. If we want to be healthy spiritually, have guidance from the Lord, and bear fruit, we must have a close relationship with Jesus through His word and fellowship with Him in prayer.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither;And whatever he does shall prosper. (Psalm 1:2-3)

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

We all live in a very noisy world. And certainly, other interests and endless cycle of things to-do will surely appear on our path, pushing our time with the Lord to ‘later’. The question is, what will win – our desire to have a close relationship with the Lord, or our choice to give in to what appears in our way?

~ Inga

 
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Posted by on May 10, 2019 in Uncategorized

 

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My Covenant I Will Not Break, Nor Alter The Word That Has Gone Out Of My Lips. Psalm 89:34

02 May

God’s Word… it’s a letter filled with His promises to all who believe. When I began reading the Bible and learning about God’s promises I was in amazement at what He has prepared for us in order for us to have a fulfilling life. The big change happened in me and my life when in my prayer I began proclaiming these promises. When I didn’t know how to pray because my own words seemed so insignificant, I prayed the way it’s written in His Word. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil He said, “It is written…” and the devil had nothing to say in return and could not say anything against the Word of God. I can say to any problem, sickness, struggle, addiction, stronghold, etc. “It is written…” and I too, can overcome and have that which I proclaim.

It’s not about how many verses I have memorized. It’s about whether I believe what God says to me in the verses that I already know. I ponder over each word, I soak them in, I make them part of who I am. Christ lives in me and His word must live within me and pour out of me.

God’s promises became my comfort, my sturdy rock, my sword, my faith of what is and what is to come. Our God the Father and Jesus will not break their promises and will not change what they had said. I can place my confidence and hope in the Lord and in His Holy Scriptures. I PRAY:

Father, Your Word is true and Your promises stand forever. You never change and I can always rely on You. In Your Word, You say that You are the one who goes before me. You are always with me, you will not leave me or forsake me. That is why I will not be afraid or be discouraged. You say that if I rely on You Lord I will renew my strength. I will rise up with wings like eagles, I will run and will not be weary, and I will walk and will not get tired. No matter what troubles are happening in my life right now, I know You will deliver me from them because You have said that the righteous have many sorrows, but You deliver him from all of them. I submit to you God and resist the devil and he flees from me. Jesus, you have made me free, and I am truly free! I am Your child and You have called me according to Your purpose. I know that all things work together for my good because You have called me and I love you, Lord. I praise You and I honor You with my life. Thank you, Jesus, for everything You have done for me and for all You will do. I pray in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)

But those who wait on the Lord, Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Psalms 34:19 (NKJV)

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7 (NKJV)

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:36 (NKJV)

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 New King James Version (NKJV)

~ Anzhelika, Becoming Unstoppable team

 
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Posted by on May 2, 2019 in Uncategorized

 

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