Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living

Blessings Readers, for the last couple of weeks I have been writing to you about a spiritual eating disorder in the body of Christ.  The first spiritual disorder we discussed was the bulimic believer, who only digests what they want to believe, only what they are comfortable consuming; only what can be explained and then ultimately they purge everything else out.  Next, we discussed the anorexia believer; this kind of believer never really partakes in the actual eating of God’s word they feed off the desires of their flesh, cannibalism if you will, which leads them to spiritual starvation.  This week I would like to address the obese believer.  The obese believer becomes stationary in their walk with Christ, they become idle. 

2 Thessalonians 3:11says, “we hear that some among you are idle.  They are not busy; they are busybodies.”

An obese believer is always eating but never exercising their authority in Christ. They are all consuming with the word, but are not doers of the word.

 Ezekiel  33:30 says, “As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of their houses, saying to each other, “Come and hear the message that  has come from the Lord.”  My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice.  With their mouth they express devotions, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.  Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them to into practice.

An obese believer fills themselves with so many different things, their possessions, entertainment, jobs, social events, homes, cars, when the day has come to an end, the last light has been turned off they are snuggled down in their beds, and feeling over stuff with the world.  They are anxious, angry, and full of anxiety.  An obese believer hears the word thinks it has a beautiful sound, tells everyone about the great  word of God  but never acts on what they hear.

I would like to share something very personal with the readers this week. One night last August I went to teach my class on the Holy Spirit, my ladies and I were lead to go to the hospital to pray for those who had loved ones residing there.  After we had finished praying I felt lead to buy some food for the needy.  The ladies and I searched for someone who appeared to be homeless and hungry but by that time of night I guess they had already found refuge for the evening.  I explained to the ladies that I had many homeless and hungry people out in the direction I lived and I would distribute the food on my way home.  We all went back to the church where we said our good-byes got into our vehicles and went our separate ways.   As I was driving home I began praying and singing in the Spirit and then the words lead me oh Lord, lead me to the needy came to my mind.  Directly after I had prayed I remembered Robert passing me by on his motorcycle.  I noticed his bandana flying off.  I was going to stop and pick the bandana up for him if I had seen him break.  I did not see Robert brake that night.  Within a few minutes I was kneeling beside Robert praying for him as I laid my hand on his back calling on the name of my Jesus.  I continue to stay with him and pray until the ambulance arrived, and then I was asked to step away,  from a distance I continued to pray because in Matthew 25:35-46 Jesus said, everything you have done unto them you have done unto me.  I didn’t know Roberts name at the time, I didn’t know if he was married nor if he had children.  I didn’t know if his parents were still alive or if Robert had siblings, or grandchildren, but what I did know was, Robert was God’s son and I was not only compelled but driven to pray for God’s son on that August night.  As I stood in the moment which seemed to engulf me a nurse who had been there with me asked me if I would like her to go check on him?  I said, “Yes, would you please?”  She left for just a minute and then reported back that Robert had not made it.  Oh, readers how my heart broke for the man on the motorcycle who belong to God.  As I stood in silence while all the noise of uncertainty was developing around me all I could hear was the Spirit of God saying, “Michele sometimes I will lead you to the hungry and sometimes I will lead you to pray for strangers in a hospital, and sometimes Michele I will lead you to a man dying on the road.”  I knew from that point on my existence would never be the same.  I wanted to be lead by the Spirit for the rest of my life into eternity.  The ladies and I have talked since this happened and we have come to the conclusion that every step we took that August night led me to Robert.  God cared so much about his son that He made sure Robert was not alone when he made the transition from this life to the next. Thank you readers for letting me share my one and only memory of the man on the motorcycle named Robert Reeves. 

Can you ignore the Holy Spirit?  Yes you can, but who will remain untouched because you did.  If this doesn’t make you want to listen and obey the Spirit of God who lives in you to direct and lead you into all truth, to be your comforter in your time of need, to give you wisdom, freedom, peace, understanding, boldness, rebirth, and a reborn cleansing, then you are left to your own demise.  

As the night went on and I had finally made it home embodied in my thoughts I remembered the questions I had been asking on Tuesday nights.   The first question I asked the ladies, are they willing to be an answer to someone else’s prayer?  The second question I asked the ladies was, would they be willing to follow the Holy Spirit without knowing where He was leading?  The third thing I remembered saying to the ladies was not a question but a challenge and the challenge was to treat everyone they see like they were Jesus.  The obese believer hears the word thinks it has a beautiful sound tells everyone about the great word of God, but never acts on what he hears.  He is a hoarder of the word.  Stop right here and ask yourself this question, “would you have stopped?”  If you had to think about your answer or think of an excuse for your answer then maybe you are too stuffed with the food of this world to make a difference in the next.   An obese believer who fills his self up with the cares and worries of this life will be too full to inhale all of what the Holy Spirit has in store for him.  Our purpose is to live out loud on purpose for our Christ Jesus. 

Many of you may be asking yourself which believer am I? I have asked myself the same question while writing the past several columns.  Well to be completely  honest I have the potential to be any of the of the three believers at any given time if I do not stay connected, plugged in, and fastened to the hip of the Holy Spirit. What believer are you?  My goal is to be the radical believer, radically serving God in an untraditional way.   Choices are for the living….

Michele Davenport

For prayer, comments, or questions my e-mail is fbministries@comcast.net