Tag Archives: spoken word

WISDOM IS TO BE SHARED

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October 25
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Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. – Colossians 3:16(NLT)
WISDOM IS TO BE SHARED
A poem and essay by ILMA
Has the Lord given you counsel?
Why then do you falter?
When you have received wisdom
Teach it so you’ll experience freedom.
Godly knowledge is to be shared
You can’t hoard; it has to be heard
He commissioned each one to spread it
It is not yours to keep says God’s Spirit.
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When I started my art career, most artists never shared their painting techniques. They kept it to themselves in the fear that someone would copy their style. Even chefs and restaurants owners made sure that no recipes are publicly known or they may go out of business. Most people kept their secrets to ensure that no one can benefit from something that you originally thought of. Thirty years later, google and social media was invented. There was an information explosion. Almost everybody shared even the most intimate information about themselves on Facebook, hoping that they can draw attention to their profile. People started to share how they actually do something and the more you share it, the more viral it became. Then you become popular.
The bible talks about how God’s counsel are far more important than getting advice and direction from the world. If God counsels you, he expects you to pass it to others so he can be glorified. ________________________________________
PRAYER
Lord, give me a big heart to never hoard the wisdom you give me.
REFLECTION
Why do you think God wants us to share the counsel that he gives ?
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

FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE

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October 24
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For the Lord grants wisdom. From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding
– Proverbs 2:6(NLT)
FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE
A poem and essay by ILMA
Do you want to understand things in life?
Are there struggles resulting from losing insight
Run to the Lord who is the fountain of knowledge
When he reveals his wisdom, it is a privilege.
From the Lord’s mouth comes understanding
When you consult him, you will keep on winning
He is the source of all truth and wisdom
In him alone will you experience freedom.
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I’ve lived many decades of my life thinking that knowledge comes from different books and experts on certain fields of studies. I read many books for many years and yet I wasn’t peaceful and joyful. I made many foolish choices which led to struggles and sufferings. It wasn’t until I got revelation from the Lord that I was getting knowledge from the world and not from him. That was the reason why I failed despite the work I put into making my goals met. It was based on the world’s imperfect knowledge. The Lord’s Spirit led me to start reading and studying his word. Then he gave me discernment to understand the meaning of his truth and how I had to apply it in my life. It’s sad to see many believers who don’t have God’s wisdom because they never ask him or seek his truth. They don’t acknowledge that he is the fountain of knowledge.
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PRAYER
Lord, let me always consult you in every little or big thing.
REFLECTION
What is the difference between worldly and godly wisdom?
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

ADVANTAGE OF TRUSTING GOD Poem Devotional

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October 23
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I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. – Romans 15:13(NLT)
ADVANTAGE OF TRUSTING GOD
A poem and essay by ILMA
When you believe that the source of hope is Christ
You will experience joy and peace in your life
Trust the Lord completely and you will be free
Doubt him, and you will be unable to see.
As you seek a relationship with Jesus
You will realize how much you are precious
Your life will be full and you will have strength
So, trust only in his Son whom he has sent.
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The most visible manifestations of an authentic Christian life are the abundance of joy and peace in the believer’s life. It doesn’t mean that they don’t encounter trials and sufferings. In fact, they might have more of it. Their choice to constantly relate to the Lord and trust him in all things brings about an expectant hope that is so pronounced in their lives. Unbelievers couldn’t fathom these joy, peace and hope because they do not know the truth. The advantage of knowing the Lord is that they experience a divine power that makes them go through everything in life with courage, boldness and wisdom.
The book of Romans stresses the source of our hope, who is our heavenly Father. He fills us with joy and peace when we completely trust him.
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PRAYER
Lord, grow my faith in you so I can be more hopeful.
REFLECTION
What quenches a person’s hope? How can trusting the Lord be the antidote to hopelessness?
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

PEACE OF MIND AND HEART Poem Devotional

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October 22
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I am leaving you a gift-peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So, don’t be troubled or afraid. -John 14:27(NLT)
PEACE OF MIND AND HEART
A poem and essay by ILMA
It is only by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ
That you will receive peace in your heart and mind
The world will never be able to give you such peace
The enemy brings confusion, chaos and conflicts.
The Lord is the only giver of life and peace
Believe in him and you will be able to see
Pursue peace, do not be troubled or fearful
The Lord never leaves you, he is always faithful.
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Peace was a novelty in the first fifty years of my life. I thrived in conflicts and confusion. Being marinated in traumas and abuse most of my life taught me how to choose the familiar, which was a life of chaos. When one is exposed to much emotional pain and lack, one learns to live with it. It becomes comfortable to be surrounded by struggles. You even look for it when you don’t have it.
Thanks be to God that he delivered me from the bondage of conflict and pain. When I re-committed my life to him, he put an end to the cycle of confusion and traumas in my life for good. He taught me how to receive the peace he has given me from the beginning of his creation.
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PRAYER
Lord, remind me to always pursue peace all the time.
REFLECTION
What things strips you of peace 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

TRUE WORSHIP Poem Devotional

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October 21
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I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. – Romans 12:1(NLT)
TRUE WORSHIP
A poem and essay by ILMA
The only way you can worship truly
Is by giving your body to God openly
Let your life be a holy sacrifice to the Lord
Do not let the world corrupt you; seek his word.
Your mind, body, heart take part in true worship
It seeks God’s will and follows his Spirit
Never forget to honor the Lord fully
It will give him all the praise and the glory.
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Many years of my life were not really lived to honor the Lord. I was ignorant of what true worship was. Guidance to a holy life was not something that I was provided for. Instead, worldly ways were the norm as I was growing up. When I committed my life to Jesus at age seven, I was too young to be left unsupervised to figure out what a holy life was.
The bible tells us that true worship is giving our bodies to God as a grateful response to what he has done for us. He gave us his one and only Son as a living sacrifice so we can be freed from sin. Live a life of true worship.
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PRAYER
Lord, take my whole being so I can praise you with it.
REFLECTION
How can you manifest true worship in your Christian 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

ON SAVING YOUR LIFE Poem Devotional

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October 20
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And if wicked people turn from their wickedness, obey the law, and do what is just and right, they will save their lives. They will live because they thought it over and decided to turn from their sins. Such people will not die. – Ezekiel 18:27-28(NLT)
ON SAVING YOUR LIFE
A poem and essay by ILMA
Are you dying inside from all the trials in life?
Be hopeful and trust only Jesus Christ
When you intentionally choose to do right
You will be enveloped in the Lord’s light.
If you want to be saved, then turn from evil
It will be a big blow for your enemy, the devil
When you decide to choose a life that is righteous
You become heirs to God’s kingdom that is glorious.
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When you face physical danger, what do you do? The body has a built-in automatic emergency response that uses the nervous and endocrine systems to boost the body’s performance when there’s a threat. It’s like an emergency mechanism that the body mobilize to give us “super-strength” when there’s danger. When I was eleven years old, our apartment building almost burned. There was a fire in the market beside our home. My mother was eight months pregnant yet managed to carry a 10 cubic feet refrigerator by herself out of our house.
Do we save our spiritual life just as much as we do our physical bodies? Obedience and trust to God must be your response to spiritual danger.
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PRAYER
Lord, deliver me from evil.
REFLECTION
How can you equip yourself to defeat threats in your spirit?
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

CONSEQUENCE OF SIN Poem Devotional

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October 19
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When righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things, they will die for it. Yes, they will die because of their sinful deeds. – Ezekiel 18:26(NLT)
CONSEQUENCE OF SIN
A poem and essay by ILMA
When a believer decides to continue sinning
He will be blinded and crave for evil things
They will grieve God’s Spirit living inside them
It will open the door for Satan to easily tempt.
The consequence of sin is death to your spirit
If you ask for forgiveness, you will be freed
When you choose to sin, you choose death
When you run to him, you will find rest.
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If you have been living a life of denial, you open up yourself to dangerous living. Those who have never known the Lord will not know the consequences of their sinful living. It is just normal for them. I lived many years in denial that I was angry and that I had so many losses. I hid in performance and wanted people to approve me. I didn’t have self-worth. I was a very insecure person and felt empty because I didn’t feel like I belong to a family. I lived following what the world taught me: to seek pleasure and satisfy myself so I can cover up the pain of losing so many things in my life. I was spiritually dead for five decades, but God resurrected my spirit in Christ.
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PRAYER
Lord, never let me compromise my love for you with worldly desires.
REFLECTION
Why is it important to know the truth in order to make good choices?
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

LIVE AND NOT DIE Poem Devotional

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October 18
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But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten and they will live because of the righteous things they have done. – Ezekiel 18:21-22(NLT)
LIVE AND NOT DIE
A poem and essay by ILMA
Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Turn away from evil and you will have a new life
Do what is just and right so you will surely live
Seek the Lord first and the truth so you’ll be free.
Confess and repent so you will be forgiven
Even here on earth you can experience heaven
Choose to live in truth and you will never die
Christ died so you can be free and live a joyful life.
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Do you ever wonder why someone would choose death over life? It doesn’t make sense why we would want to die instead of live. In the physical realm, we normally always choose to live but sometimes we choose death in our spiritual walk. When believers make choices based on their whims and desires, they choose death instead of life. When they knowingly disobey his commands, we lose our right standing with God. God will forgive transform you into the new person he planned for you to be. Choose God and you will never die.
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PRAYER
Lord, thank you for dying for me so I can live.
REFLECTION
When have you chosen death over life in your spiritual walk? How did God pull you out of death?
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

DON’T DRIFT AWAY Poem Devotional

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October 16
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So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.
-Hebrews 2:1(NLT)
DON’T DRIFT AWAY
A poem and essay by ILMA
What things causes you to drift away?
Are there lies you believe that keeps you astray?
Do you regularly seek the Lord and his word?
It actually guides you to understand this world.
Listen carefully to the truth you’ve heard
Don’t drift away from it as fast as a bird
Embrace every detail of the truth’s certainty
Don’t be lost in this world’s false reality.
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Many of us easily drift from God’s will and his commands. We get tossed and turned by the waves of this corrupt world. Even though we have heard God’s truth for a very long time, we still get derailed from living the instructions of the Lord. Why do we drift from the truth? Many times it is caused by unconfessed sins. This is why the bible tells us to immediately confess our sins as soon as we are convicted of it. The longer we delay the confession, the longer we will go astray. One unconfessed sin leads to another and another. Sooner or later, we will just find ourselves turning our backs to what we have been taught in God’s word.
Just like in hypnosis, we must not be keeping our eyes on this world’s pendulum of sin. Let’s focus on the Lord.
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PRAYER
Lord, help me not to drift away from your truth.
REFLECTION
How can studying God’s word prevent us from drifting away.
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

WHEN I AM SINKING Poem Devotional

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October 15
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But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” -Matthew 14:30-31(NLT)
WHEN I AM SINKING
A poem and essay by ILMA
When I am drowning in fear
I feel your presence so near
When I get tossed by challenges
You are there to make changes.
When I am sinking in unbelief
You are still there to give me relief
When I am overwhelmed and discouraged
You lift me up so I can be encouraged.
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What do you do when you start sinking? The instinctive drowning response is an instinctive reaction that occurs in humans when close to drowning. While distress and panic may sometimes take place beforehand, drowning itself is quick and often silent. A person close to the point of drowning is unable to keep their mouth above water long enough to breathe properly and is unable to shout. Lacking air, their body cannot perform the voluntary efforts involved in waving or seeking attention.
When we start to sink in debt, losses, unbelief, addiction, worries, troubles, our initial reaction is usually fear. We’d do anything to cope with the helplessness the situation. They are called coping mechanisms. Couldn’t we just run to the Lord and ask him to save us instead?
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PRAYER
Lord, remind me that you are always there to pull me out when I am sinking.
REFLECTION
What are you sinking into right now? Have you asked God’s assistance?
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