November 6
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If you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. – Luke 11:8(NLT)
UNASHAMED PERSISTENCE
A poem and essay by ILMA
When you commit your life to God
You will surely want to walk in love
Do not give up; always persist
God will answer your prayers and plea.
He values diligence and faithfulness
Continue to pursue and live in righteousness
Have an unashamed persistence to obey
Be bold and brave to follow his ways.
________________________________________Persistence is defined as determination to do something even though it is difficult or other people oppose it. It is continuing to do something despite obstacles. In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” This was the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18 that Jesus told.
Persistence can be a good thing if it is something true and right, it is pressing on and never giving up. We are urged to have shameless persistence.
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PRAYER
Lord grant me an attitude that persists and never gives up.
REFLECTION
Share a shameless persistence that you have done in your life.
For more testimonials about God’s word, please go to YouTube and type ILMA’s poem devotional or go to www.ilmaarts.com posts. To receive emails of my poem devotionals, email me at ILMA.ARTS.STUDIO@gmail.com
Monthly Archives: November 2018
CONSEQUENCE OF UNREPENTANCE Poem Devotional
November 5________________________________________
If a person does not repent, God will sharpen his sword. He will prepare his deadly weapons and shoot his flaming arrows. -Psalm 7:12-13(NLT)
CONSEQUENCE OF UNREPENTANCE
A poem and essay by ILMA
When you are convicted with sin
Do you admit or ask God to forgive?
Confess your sin to him and repent
The consequence of unrepentance is big.
Any form of sin angers the Lord
It defies him and doesn’t bring him laud
Are you ready to suffer as a result of rebellion?
If you don’t repent, you will end up in oblivion.
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When the psalmist talks about God sharpening his sword and shooting his flaming arrows at the unrepentant person in this verse in Psalm 7, I shivered. I couldn’t imagine God can hurt anyone. Then I suddenly remembered verses like God created us in his image. It also brought me back to that verse in James 4:4 which says “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Now it is starting to make sense that God hates sin and the corruption of this world. He considers loyalty to the world as an act against him. They become an enemy. It is only therefore justified if God takes a weapon to shoot back at those who betrayed him. The consequence of unrepentance is high.
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PRAYER
Lord, please grant me a repentant heart at all times.
REFLECTION
What would you do to someone who betrays you and considers you an enemy?
For more testimonials about God’s word, please go to YouTube and type ILMA’s poem devotional or go to www.ilmaarts.com posts. To receive emails of my poem devotionals, email me at ILMA.ARTS.STUDIO@gmail.com
OBEDIENCE: A SPIRITUAL WEAPON
November 4________________________________________
This is how I spend my life: obeying your commandments. – Psalm 119:56(NLT)
OBEDIENCE: A SPIRITUAL WEAPON
A poem and essay by ILMA
Have you submitted yourself to Jesus Christ?
What have you done to imitate his life?
A life of obedience glorifies the Lord
It leads to you overcome this world.
Without obedience, one can’t have victory
Rebellion is how we are attacked by the enemy
When we follow God’s instructions
It becomes a weapon against temptations.
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Many of the people that God used in fulfilling the promise of a Messiah had one thing in common. They were all obedient to God’s call. Abraham was the epitome of complete surrender to God’s call. In Genesis 12, Abram was called by the Lord and instructed to leave his native country, his relatives and his father’s family to go to a land that he wasn’t sure of. God instructed him in verse 1-2 that he will show him where that place is going to be and that he will make him into a great nation. In verse 3, God said that all families on earth will be blessed through him. Abram came from Ur in the Chaldees and they were from a pagan land. God used him to bring his people to Canaan, the promised land. Because of his obedience, he became the father of all nations. He became the leader of many nations.
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PRAYER
Lord, let me always live in obedience to your will.
REFLECTION
How is obedience a spiritual weapon against Satan?
For more testimonials about God’s word, please go to YouTube and type ILMA’s poem devotional or go to www.ilmaarts.com posts. To receive emails of my poem devotionals, email me at ILMA.ARTS.STUDIO@gmail.com
THE GOD WHO SEES Poem Devotional
November 3________________________________________
“You are the God who sees me.” – Genesis 16:13(NLT)
THE GOD WHO SEES
A poem and essay by ILMA
Has anyone really seen your entire being?
There is no one else but the Lord Almighty
He sees your every move, your every thought
He wants you to grow and always live in truth.
Humans can’t understand His omniscience
He also is the only one who can always be present
The heavenly Father loves you very much
Do you give back his unconditional love?
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According to Wikipedia, the first formal charter to set out the rights of children was drafted by British social reformer, Eglantyne Jebb in 1923. Jebb believed that the rights of a child needed be especially protected and enforced. This manifesto was adopted by the International Save the Children Union and endorsed by the League of Nations in 1924. In 1925, the first International Child Welfare Congress was held in Geneva, where the Declaration was widely discussed and supported by organisations and governments. I Jebb is God-sent so people can understand why children are very special to God.
As a child, I didn’t think I had a voice or rights. I felt non-existent and neglected in terms of my spiritual growth. No one cared about who I am. They didn’t see my gifts or my person because they were busy making me the person that they never became and dreamed of becoming. Only God knows and sees me.
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PRAYER
Thank you for seeing who I really am my Lord.
REFLECTION
How do you respond to the truth that only God sees you?
For more testimonials about God’s word, please go to YouTube and type ILMA’s poem devotional or go to www.ilmaarts.com posts. To receive emails of my poem devotionals, email me at ILMA.ARTS.STUDIO@gmail.com
Babbling Prayers poem devotional
November 2________________________________________
When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. -Matthew 6:7(NLT)
BABBLING PRAYERS
A poem and essay by ILMA
When you repeat again and again your request
It leads you nowhere, it is a futile quest
Some people think that by nagging the Lord
They can have every wish they have in this world.
God knows already what you need even before you ask
Why not just be honest with Him and open your heart?
Babbling and rote prayers doesn’t have meaning
They are just an exercise for sound uttering.
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I grew up surrounded by people who prayed formula prayers. At age seven, I can remember the mass in Latin where I just heard sounds and a language I can’t understand. It seemed like it was all a ritual. We were going inside the church, genuflecting before I sat in the pews and making sure my head was covered with veil, not making noise aside from what we were told to answer and saying out loud in unison with everybody the prayers that were taught to us in school. It is amazing that even at that young age, the Holy Spirit was teaching me that this kind of praying was wrong. So, I had this voice inside my mind that told me to talk to Jesus instead. It felt right to pray this way. ________________________________________
PRAYER
Lord, please let me never babble on when I pray.
REFLECTION
How can one avoid babbling when praying?
For more testimonials about God’s word, please go to YouTube and type ILMA’s poem devotional or go to www.ilmaarts.com posts. To receive emails of my poem devotionals, email me at ILMA.ARTS.STUDIO@gmail.com
A GOOD STEWARD Poem Devotional
November 1________________________________________
Guard what God has entrusted to you. – 1 Timothy 6:20 (NLT)
A GOOD STEWARD
A poem and essay by ILMA
A good steward cares for what’s given him
He doesn’t hoard for his pleasure such gifts
He makes sure that what’s entrusted will prosper
He guards it and uses it to give God the honor.
The more gifts we are given, the more is expected
God gave us all this so that his kingdom will be propagated
Use what is assigned to you with love and wisdom
He rewards good stewards with much joy and freedom.
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In Matthew 25:13-40, a master entrusted money to three of his servants. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. Then he left them. The one who got five bags invested it and earned five more. The one who received two also went to work and earned two more. The last servant who got one, dug a hole in the ground and hid it there. After a long time, the master came back and asked for an account from the three servants what they did with the money he left them. When he found out what the three did, he praised the first and the second servants but threw the third one out because he didn’t steward well what was entrusted to him.
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PRAYER
Lord, please help me never to take for granted what you give me.
REFLECTION
How can you be a good steward to God’s gifts to you?
For more testimonials about God’s word, please go to YouTube and type ILMA’s poem devotional or go to www.ilmaarts.com posts. To receive emails of my poem devotionals, email me at ILMA.ARTS.STUDIO@gmail.com
STUDY AND REFLECT ON GOD’S WORD Poem Devotional
October 31________________________________________
I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word. – Psalm 119:15-16(NLT)
STUDY AND REFLECT ON GOD’S WORD
A poem and essay by ILMA
When you become a believer of Jesus Christ
Follow his words and changes happen in your life
As you study and reflect on God’s ways
You will be stronger not to be swayed.
If you hide his truth in your heart
He will live in it and never depart
Delight in his commands and obey it
It is how we can have the fruits of the Spirit.
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As a new born again Christian, I was surprised to know that there are many Christians who do not really spend time on the word of God. I was a voracious reader of many different subjects before I became born again, but since I started studying the bible, there is no other book that can transform me and heal me. In Timothy 3:16 we know that Scriptures is God breathed and is there to teach us, correct us and tell us what to do. If this is the map to life, how come many believers don’t use it. It is sad to know that many of us don’t want to grow spiritually or else we won’t miss a day in reading, meditating and applying the word of God. We need to feed on it daily.
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PRAYER
Lord, give us all a hunger for your truth in the word.
REFLECTION
Why do you think some Christians fail to study and meditate on the word of God?
For more testimonials about God’s word, please go to YouTube and type ILMA’s poem devotional or go to www.ilmaarts.com posts. To receive emails of my poem devotionals, email me at ILMA.ARTS.STUDIO@gmail.com