Tag Archives: idols

IF YOU LOVE OTHERS MORE THAN GOD Poem Devotional

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November 28________________________________________
If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. – Matthew 10:37 (NLT)
IF YOU LOVE OTHERS MORE THAN GOD
A poem and essay by ILMA
If you spend hours with someone and don’t have time for God
You are not worthy to be called His people, you don’t give laud
When you prioritize your family than Jesus
You are showing that they are more precious.
If you claim to be a believer of Christ
You must manifest it in your life
Investing time to praise and worship Him
Must be your priority so you won’t sin.
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In Luke 2:39-52, we are given an account when Jesus and his family went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. Jesus and Mary didn’t realize that Jesus wasn’t with them when they came back home and they looked for him and came back to Jerusalem. When Mary found him, she said “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Jesus replied with “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” His parents didn’t understand what he meant. This story clearly tells us that Jesus prioritized God the Father and his purpose for his kingdom.
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PRAYER
Lord, help all of us to remember that you come first than anyone else if we claim to love you.
REFLECTION
How can family be idols?
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

IDOLS COMPETE WITH GOD Poem Devotional

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October 29________________________________________
How foolish to trust in your own creation-a god that can’t even talk. – Habakkuk 2:18(NLT)
IDOLS COMPETE WITH GOD
A poem and essay by ILMA
When one trusts his own creations
It is an impediment to receive salvation
God is the only one who has infinite wisdom
How foolish to turn away from God’s kingdom!
When you turn to idols created by mere creatures
You are competing with God’s sovereignty and power
Anything man-made is fleeting and temporary
Trust only in the Lord who can bring you eternity.
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According to the international bible society, Habakkuk is somewhat unique among the prophetic writings in that it includes no oracle addressed to Israel. It contains, rather, a dialogue between the prophet and God. This account of wrestling with God is, however, not just a fragment from a private journal but that it was composed for Israel. No doubt it represented the voice of the godly in Judah, struggling to comprehend the ways of God. God’s answers therefore spoke to all who shared Habakkuk’s troubled doubts. And Habakkuk’s confession became a public expression—as indicated by its liturgical notations. Anything that distracts us from having a relationship with God or making him first in our lives is a form of idol. Habakkuk warns us not to rely on idols because it is not going to bring us eternal life. It is actually allowing competition to hinder our pure relationship with God.
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PRAYER
Help me Lord to never allow any idols to come between us.
REFLECTION
How can idols become a way of competing with 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

IDOLATRY INSULTS THE LORD Poem Devotional

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September 13________________________________________
All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols. – Isaiah 65:3(NLT)
IDOLATRY INSULTS THE LORD
A poem and essay by ILMA
Are you aware of the idols in your life?
The literally snuff off God’s glorious light
Is it a career or an obsession that steals your time?
What are you idolizing that makes you lose insight?
It insults the Lord when you praise other gods and things
He considers it unfaithfulness and a grave sin
He is a jealous God and he doesn’t want competition
He wants you to make him first, so resist the temptation.
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What is the worst thing one can do when he or she is in a relationship? Unfaithfulness is what breaks and ruins relationships. Why do you think it is so? The bible says that God is love in 1 John 4:8. In Genesis 1:27, we are told that we are made in the image of God. The way God created us is exactly like him. We were not created for betrayal, unfaithfulness and adultery. It is the exact opposite of love. So, when we focus our attention, priorities, time and adulation to someone or something other than the Lord Jesus Christ, we are committing adultery. James 4:4 bluntly calls us adulterers when we become friends with the world. Idolatry is one way that Satan derails us from the straight path to Jesus. It insults the Lord seriously when we worship idols.
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PRAYER
Lord, deliver me from anything that will take away my focus on you.
REFLECTION
What kinds of idols can easily sneak in our lives?
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

WOE TO IDOLS & IDOLATRY Poem Devotional

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January 16
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What sorrow awaits you who say to wooden idols, ‘Wake up and save us!’ To speechless stone images you say, ‘Rise up and teach us!’ Can an idol tell you what to do? – Habakkuk 2:19 (NLT)
WOE TO IDOLS & IDOLATRY
A poem and essay by ILMA
What sort of idols are you giving praise?
Is it money, power or any new craze
What sorrow awaits those who have idols
They are making God so very jealous.
When people prioritize other things over the Lord
They lose much by following the standards of this world
Why waste time on things that fade away
Only the Lord is the real God who can save.
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The New Living Translation gives a background to the book of Prophet Habakkuk. He preached during the last days of Judah, before its fall to Babylon in 586 B.C. He foresaw the impending doom and was troubled by two things: why God allowed the people of Judah to sin and how God could use a sinful nation like Babylon to punish Judah. Desperate for answers, Habakkuk boldly and confidently took his complaints directly to God which the Lord replied with righteousness ultimately prevailing despite the impending dark days ahead.
Habakkuk 2:18-19 is a warning to all regarding idols and idolatry. How meaningless it is to put your trust in idols carved by man. He warns the people to give up idolatry for there is much sorrow awaiting them.
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PRAYER
Lord, convict me of any idols in my life.
REFLECTION
What is the gauge that something or someone is becoming an idol?
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

IDOLS PEOPLE WORSHIP Poem Devotional

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June 27
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So I went in and saw the walls covered with engravings of all kinds of crawling animals and detestable creatures. I also saw the various idols worshiped by the people of Israel.
– Ezekiel 8:10(NLT)
IDOLS PEOPLE WORSHIP
A poem and essay by ILMA
People have turned their backs to God
Minds are twisted and hearts are hard
They worship all kinds of idols to replace Him
They disconnected to his love and lived in sin.
Wealth, people, money, even family are some idols
Living your life against his will is turning against the Lord
Religious acts and legalism bring hypocrisy at its height
Jesus died so we can have relationship, stop putting up a fight.
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Many decades of my life was wasted on idols. The Lord revealed to me these past six years the real reason why he transported me to Canada. I married a Canadian, so God used this decision (which I did out of loneliness) to pull me out of a country that was predominantly dominated by the spirit of idolatry and religion. It was amazing how I got freed from these strongholds that have kept me in bondage for many years. I kneeled on images in the past and not read any of his truth in the bible. I didn’t realize how cleverly Satan created idols in the form of my own child, spouse, career, knowledge, etc. I prioritized them instead of making God first in my life.
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PRAYER
Lord, forgive me each time I idolize and prioritize other things instead of you.
REFLECTION
How does God rank 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

IDOLS SAP STRENGTH Poem Devotional

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August 2
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Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength, but they don’t even know it.
-Hosea 7:9(NLT)
IDOLS SAP STRENGTH
A poem and essay by ILMA
What distracts you from worshiping the Lord?
What things or people prevent you from giving him laud?
How much time do you use up for things that are worldly?
Do you realize they sap you of time, strength and energy?
Prioritizing God in all you do will bring you prosperity
Leaving him last will deplete you and deprive you of victory
There is only one God who can deliver you from the enemy
Christ is all knowing, all powerful, loving and full of mercy.
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There is a misnomer that idolatry only involves other foreign gods. The enemy prevents us from knowing and seeing that even other things and people can become our idols. An idol is something or someone that keeps us away from praising and worshiping the only one true God, Jesus Christ. A job can easily be an idol. If we spend long hours on it and never acknowledge God for the blessing of being employed, we are idolizing our jobs. If our relationships hinder us from being close to God, we are compromising our intimacy with God and these people become idols.
The bible talks about how the Israelites’ idolatry of foreign gods have sapped them of their strength without being aware of it. Idols distract us from focusing on God.
PRAYER
Lord, show me instantly what idols I have in my life.
REFLECTION
What idols does the enemy use to keep you away from 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

TRUSTING IN YOUR OWN Poem Devotional

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July 17________________________________________
How foolish to trust in your own creation. –Habakkuk 2:18 (NLT)
TRUSTING IN YOUR OWN
A poem and essay by ILMA
Do you believe in your creator?
Do you think you are any better?
God has power beyond your capacity
He is all powerful and mighty
How foolish to trust in your own ability
It will never be at par with the Almighty
Trusting in your own is idolatry
It will never bring you victory.
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I became a self-taught painter in the early 90’s and became obsessed with painting and drawing for almost two decades. I was very prolific. I painted over two thousand works in the last two decades of my life. My artworks became so important to me. When I came to Canada, God revealed to me that it was my artworks that got in the way of my relationship with him. I couldn’t see his plan because I was clinging to my idol, my art.
The Lord spoke to the prophet Habakkuk about the dangers of idolatry and what it does to the people who believe in their own creation making their own gods. In our modern day setting, we need not create our own god carved from wood or other materials. The enemy has cunningly camouflaged idolatry in many other forms. Media has bombarded society with many idols such as Hollywood stars, beauty, wealth, power, fame and many more.
PRAYER
Lord, help me to detect any forms of idolatry in my life.
REFLECTION
What idols are you clinging to that hampers your spiritual growth?

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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