September 2
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CALL TO GRACIOUS ACT OF GIVING
A poem by ILMA
Dear fellow believers, God in his kindness did through the Macedonian churches
They are all being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor
But they’re also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity
For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more.
And they did it of their own initiative and their free will
They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give
To share themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do
So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place
We encourage you to finish this ministry of giving
Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith
your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us
I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.
It’s not a command, But I am testing how genuine your love is
And comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich,
For your sakes he became poor, so that by this, he could make you wealthy.
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MEMORY VERSE
You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. – 2 Corinthians 8:9
Read: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9
In this letter of Paul to the Corinthians, he urges them to the act of gracious giving. It is amazing how he focuses on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, became poor so we can be rich.
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REFLECTION
• Why is giving a good act of showing that you are following Jesus?
• What have you generously given to someone that made you feel like you are following the footsteps of the Lord?
Tag Archives: spoken word
LIGHT CAN’T LIVE WITH DARKNESS Poem Devotional
September 1
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LIGHT CAN’T LIVE WITH DARKNESS
A poem by ILMA
Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers
How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness?
How can light live with darkness?
What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil?
How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?
And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols?
For we are the temple of the living God
As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them.
He further said: “I will be their God, and they will be my people
Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,
And separate yourselves from them, says the LORD
Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.
I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters,
Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves
We need to stay away from everything that can defile our body or spirit
And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.
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MEMORY VERSE
Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.
– 2 Corinthians 6:14-16
Read: 2 Corinthians 6: 14-7:1
Paul explains to the Corinthians how light and dark can never live together. We are asked to work toward complete holiness if we are believers. Never compromise purity.
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REFLECTION
• Why are we discouraged to live with unbelievers if we are true believers?
• What happens if we associate with those who are living in darkness?
GOD’S PARTNER Poem Devotional
August 31
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GOD’S PARTNER
A poem by ILMA
As God’s partners, we beg you not to ignore this gift of God’s kindness
God says, “At just the right time, On the day of salvation, I helped you.”
Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation
We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us.
In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God
We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind
We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs,
We worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.
We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, By the Holy Spirit and by our sincere love, we faithfully preach the truth
God’s power is working in us; we use the weapons of righteousness
We serve God whether people honor us or despise us.
We are honest, but they call us impostors
We are ignored, even though we are well known
We live close to death, but we are still alive
We have been beaten, but we have not been killed.
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MEMORY VERSE
As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. – 2 Corinthians 6:1
Read: 2 Corinthians 6: 1-9
In this account of Paul, we are summoned to be God’s partner. We are asked to prove ourselves by our purity, understanding, patience and kindness. It is through the Holy Spirit power that we can live a life of holiness and righteous living.
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REFLECTION
• What have you done to prove that you are God’s partner in life?
• Why is it important to let the Holy Spirit be alive in you all the time?
• What are the things we do that we can lose God’s Spirit in us?
WONDERFUL MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION Poem Devotional
August 30
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WONDERFUL MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION
A poem by ILMA
Because we understand our responsibility to the Lord, we persuade others
If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God for Christ’s love controls us
Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we died to the old life
He died for all who receive his new life and those who don’t live for themselves.
Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them
So, we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view
At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human perspective
This means all those who have committed to Jesus are new persons.
The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God who reconciles people to himself
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself
He no longer counting people’s sins against them.
And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation
So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us
We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin.
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MEMORY VERSE
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. – 2 Corinthians 5:18
Read: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21
This letter of Paul to the Corinthians addresses how God wants us all to reconcile everyone to himself. This is the only purpose we have in life. All those who believe Christ are called to bring back others to God.
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REFLECTION
• Have you brought the message of reconciliation to someone?
• What happens when we give up our comfort zone to bring Christ to someone?
• Have you died to the old life when you committed yourself to Christ?
HEAVENLY BODIES Poem devotional
August 29
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HEAVENLY BODIES
A poem by ILMA
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down
That is, when we die and leave this earthly body, we’ll have a house in heaven,
It is an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands
We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies.
We will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies
While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want, We want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up God himself has prepared us for this, and guaranteed us his Holy Spirit.
Though we know that while we’re in our bodies, we are not at home with God
We live by believing and not by seeing; we’d rather be separate from our bodies
That’s how we’ll be at home with the Lord; whether we’re here on not
Our goal is to please him, for we must all stand before Christ to be judged.
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MEMORY VERSE
So, we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing.
– 2 Corinthians 5:6-7
Read: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
Christians can easily be derailed at looking at the big picture. Because we live in this world, it can be a challenge to continue to believe even if we don’t see. In these verses, we see how Paul addresses the importance of focusing on what has been promised to us by God, our heavenly bodies which will be united with him when He comes back for us on Judgment day. Do you get into the pitfall of clamoring to stay in your physical bodies and fail to look forward to what God promised us, a heavenly body to join him.
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REFLECTION
• How can we not lose track of the spiritual and avoid focusing on the physical?
• Why is the heavenly body we’re promised didn’t make sense to unbelievers?
CHRIST-LIKE FRAGRANCE & LETTER CARVED ON HUMAN HEARTS Poem DEvotional
August 27
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CHRIST-LIKE FRAGRANCE & LETTER CARVED ON HUMAN HEARTS
A poem by ILMA
God has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ
He uses us to spread Christ’s knowledge everywhere like a sweet perfume
Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God but is perceived differently
By those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.
To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom
But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume
And who among us all believers is adequate for such a task as this?
We preach the God’s word with sincerity knowing that God is watching us.
Are we beginning to praise ourselves again?
Are we like others, who need to bring letters of recommendation?
Who ask you to write such letters on their behalf?
The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves.
Your lives are a letter written in our hearts so all can recognize God’s work
Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result his ministry among you.
A “letter” written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God
It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.
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MEMORY VERSE
Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.
– 2 Corinthians 2:15
Read: 2 Corinthians 2:2:14 – 2 Corinthians 3:3
In this letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses how God has made us captives by using His knowledge to spread everywhere like a sweet perfume. Paul also mentions how our lives are like a letter written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.
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REFLECTION
• Is your life bonded to the Lord Jesus Christ that all the knowledge he gave you is like a Christ-like perfume smelling sweetly everywhere?
• Is your life like a letter written with God’s Spirit for everyone to know him?
VEIL THAT KEEPS US FROM KNOWING Poem Devotional
August 26
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VEIL THAT KEEPS US FROM KNOWING
A poem by ILMA
Now that the Holy Spirit is giving us life
Aren’t we to expect greater glory under the new way?
If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious
How much more it is with the new way, it makes us right with God.
In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the new way
So, if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious,
How much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!
This new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold.
To this day whenever the old covenant is heard, the same veil covers their minds They cannot understand the truth. And this veil can only be taken away by Christ Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings.
Their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.
But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there’s freedom So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect God’s glory who is He makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
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MEMORY VERSE
But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. – 2 Corinthians 3:16-17
Read: 2 Corinthians 3:7-18
The veil that is being talked about in this part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians hampers us all to see the glorious presence of God. In this chapter, Paul stresses the importance of having that veil removed only by Christ. We just need to ensure that we haven’t turned our backs on God and this veil will be removed.
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REFLECTION
• How do we ensure that the veil is going to be removed from us?
• Why do you think some people carry on the veil that prevents them from knowing?
GOD COMFORTS US ALL
August 25
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GOD COMFORTS US ALL
A poem by ILMA
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others
When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort.
The more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort
It is for our benefit when we are weighed down with troubles
For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort others.
Then we can patiently endure the same things we suffer.
We are confident that as you share in our sufferings,
You will also share in the comfort God gives us
We think you ought to know about the trouble we went through
We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure.
We thought we would never live through it and we expected to die
But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and relied only on God
He did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again
He will continue to rescue us because God has graciously answered prayers.
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MEMORY VERSE
For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. – 2 Corinthians 1: 5
Read: 2 Corinthians 1:1-11
The world views suffering very differently as God would. Getting comforted from someone is something we all desire as human beings. When we don’t get it from people, we expect it from, we get frustrated and sometimes angry. It leads us to become needy. What we don’t realize is that God always gives us comfort, but we need to look at the sacrifice of Christ on the cross to understand this.
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REFLECTION
• Why do you think comfort is something that we people can’t do without in this world?
ORDER TO THE RESURRECTION Poem Devotional
August 24
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ORDER TO THE RESURRECTION
A poem by ILMA
Why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead?
For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised
And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching and your faith is useless
We’ll all be lying about God—it can’t be true if there’s no resurrection of the dead.
If there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised
And if Christ has not been raised, then you are still guilty of your sins
In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost!
And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are to be pitied.
Christ has been risen and he’s the first of a great harvest of all who have died
Just as death came into the world through the man Adam
Now the resurrection from the dead has begun through God’s Son
Everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.
There’s an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest Then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back
After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over his Father,
Having destroyed every ruler and authority and power.
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MEMORY VERSE
But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back. – 1 Corinthians 15:23
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:12-24
Those who are believers need to be reminded of the order to the resurrection. When Christ was risen from the dead, he was the first one to be the first of the harvest. His promise to those who love him and are faithful will also experience the resurrection.
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REFLECTION
• Do you believe that you will be resurrected like Christ was? What do you do to keep this promise of Christ possible for you as a believer?
• What does the resurrection power do to all who believe in Jesus?
PAUL’S REMINDER OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION Poem Devotional
August 23
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PAUL’S REMINDER OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION
A poem by ILMA
Let me now remind you of the Good News I preached to you before
You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm and trust the Lord
It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message
I passed on to you what’s been passed on to me and what’s most important.
Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures spoke about
He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day
He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve apostles
After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers.
Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles
Lastly, as though I’d been born at the wrong time, I also saw him
For I am the least of all those who followed him and called
I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after I persecuted God’s church.
But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his favor on me
And not without results, for I have worked harder than any of the others
Yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace
So, it makes no difference who preaches, the message is the same.
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MEMORY VERSE
But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me.
– 1 Corinthians 15:10
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
It is easy to forget the importance of focusing on the resurrection of Jesus. It was what saved us all and reminds us of the undeserved favor He gave us all. Whenever we go through stages of spiritual dying in our lives, we must focus on the Risen Christ who can raise us from whatever circumstances we go through.
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REFLECTION
• How can you remind yourself constantly of what the resurrection means?