Choices are for the Living

Willingness leads you to his will....Are you willing to be lead by God? I'm not just talking bout in the big decisions, I'm talking about in the everyday living life decisions. For example if you invited someone over for dinner have you ever considered asking God what to serve your guest? Try it, you will be amazed at the results. They will go something like this, "Wow!!! this is one of my favorite meals, or I have been craving this for weeks." What about as your moving in and out of your day, do you ever stop and ask God, what do you want me to do right in this moment?  Philipians 2:3-4, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility considers others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."  Are we really willing to be lead to do His will in our everyday lives?

Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living, taken form my book, "From My Heart to Yours"

Choices are for the Living

The Cross

I could not forgive until I went to the cross

Where I knelt down at your feet crying and lost

When I opened up my eyes all that I could see

Was one faithful man dying for me

Whipped and beaten beyond recognition

For thousands of people this was their petition

Crucify Him He is not real

They have chosen not to believe.  They have chosen to kill

They mocked Him and said, “If you’re truly the one?”

Call up to your Father to free His Son

Jesus could have changed this with one silent prayer

Save me Father, release me from here

But this was not my purpose or my Fathers plan

I was sent here to be the sacrifice for all of men

Then time was silent the battle had been won

Forgive them my Father for they know not what they’ve done.

Luke 23:44-46

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Do you realize that it all started in a garden and it all ended in a garden?  It started with a piece of forbidden fruit hanging on a tree, and ended with Jesus hanging on a tree. I believe Jesus hung on the very tree of life that was in the Garden of Eden.   He represented eternal life and through Him we have eternal life.   The tree of knowledge of good and evil was in the middle of the garden, while Jesus hung on a tree in the middle of two men.  The two men represented the reason why Jesus went to the cross for the saved and unsaved. The bad seed they ate produced a bad seed.  Sowing and reaping can be fatal if the seed you sow is done in sin. 

The word “commend” means “to deposit” to commit for safekeeping.  I love the fact that Jesus dismissed His Spirit this proves that He was in complete control of the situation.  Do you remember Psalms 31:5  when David wrote “In thine hand I commend my Spirit “This Psalms was used as a Jewish child’s bedtime prayer? Jesus deposited His spirit for us and He expects a return.  If you haven’t received Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior please say this prayer of faith, “Jesus I repent for my sins I realize how much I need you in my life.  I know you died on the cross and arose in three days and now you’re sitting at the right hand of your Father. I am confessing this with my mouth and I believe it in my heart.  Jesus you are Lord this is my confession.  Amen (Romans 10:9) Choices are for the Living.

Stacking my stones…Michele Davenport

For prayer or questions email me at fbministries@comcast.net

To order my books or listen to any of my teachings on audio go to fbministries.com

Choices are for the Living

Painted Colors

All through my life I have been painted different colors

Some for me, and some for others

In the far distance I heard you calling my name

Within the season I would be changed

All alone I open my heart

That’s all you needed to make a start

You came right in and made a home

Where you cleansed me, healed me, and called me your own

You stayed with me while I cried my tears

And comforted me through my fears

Fears that I was forever lost,

Fears I would pay the final cost

Death by fire was where I was at,

But I looked different from where you sat

You could see a child, who needed you,

You could see a child broken in two

Through the seasons you chipped away the old paint

And colored me the same color as one of your saints

The color of righteousness, which is white as snow,

Now you’re with me wherever I go

Thank you Lord for chipping away all the old paint,

Then with Your mercy, You marked me one of Your saints.

Romans 5:20 

But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. 
Abounded:  more, it exists in abundance (Vines) 

photo credit - By Pictolicious Nilanjan Bhattacharya

Sin is never in a nonexistent mode.  It is always growing and available, but grace abounds much more.  No matter where you have been if you’re not in hell you still have grace.

I must confess that some of my life colors were not so attractive.   For a long time I had let other people influence me more than God.  I let them color me with their paints.  When they were finished, I was no longer on the canvas of my own life.  I was on the canvas of other people’s thoughts and opinions.  My color had changed.   I let the food of this world almost starve me to death.  As I grew in wisdom and faith, I noticed my canvas started to look different.  The colors were fading away. In my mind I was standing in the art gallery; there was a man holding a paintbrush.  As I watched in silence, I notice the painting He was working on was mine.  He was dipping His brush into a satin white.  He was repainting what the world had painted.  With one stroke of His brush, I was washed new.

           

   

Choices are for the Living

“Choices are for the Living”

Ephesians 6:13-18, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, with which you extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and request.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

Readers, before some of us put on the full armor of God we may need to take some things off.  For example some of us have exchange our belt of truth for a belt of lies. Once we have chosen to exchange one lie for the truth it becomes easier to exchange another if two can slip by then three stands a chance. The next time the enemy tries to wrap a belt of lies around your waist say this, “What does the Bible say?”   “In the ancient garment of the day, the girdle about the loins held in place every other part of the uniform of the soldier. It was essential. A great battle in the past, we are told, was won by a clever general who told his men to cut the belts of their enemy while they were sleeping.   The next morning the enemy troops were so busy holding up their pants that they weren’t able to shoot their guns and, therefore, they lost the battle.”(Resource; Vernon McGee Volume 5)   What battle are you losing because you allowed the enemy to come in while you were sleeping and cut the belt of truth in your life?

The second piece of our armor is the breastplate of righteousness; many of my Readers today have exchanged their breastplate of righteousness for a breastplate of shame, guilt, and condemnation.  You wear it like a Martyr almost in prideful way like a wounded solder with a purple heart. Readers, you need to know who you are in Christ. You have let your pass dictate your future by not excepting God’s forgiveness.  Over the years I’ve heard many people say the hardest person to forgive is me.  Did you know, nowhere in the bible does it say anything about us forgiving ourselves but it does mention God’s forgiveness towards us. We are actually not allowing God’s forgiveness in our lives when we hold onto things we have done in the pass. In Micah 7:19, “You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”  But yet we know the scripture, and we still choose to dive in the depths of the sea to retrieve what our mind will not let go of.  It’s sad but many of you would rather bare the guilt than then forgiveness because punishing ourselves for the sin is the way we compensate for the sin we committed. All that is required is repentance.

The third piece of armor is our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  If our feet aren’t ready for the battlefield we might march when we need to be still and be still when we need to march or go forward when we should turn back.  Have you traded your shoes fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace for a stiletto? There is peace in shoes that fit properly.  Have you ever wore a pair of shoes that didn’t fit your feet, how long did you stand? Were you distracted by the fit of your shoes or the blisters on your feet?  This is exactly what Satan wants is for us to put on shoes fitted with the readiness of distraction. The Word of God is what clothes your feet with the peace of readiness.

The fourth piece of armor we need to take off is, doubt and unbelief so we can distinguish the fiery darts of the enemy. Many of us are not holding our shield of faith for some of us our shield has become nothing more than a suggestion, we have traded our faith for doubt. Many of you are looking for jobs right now and every time you get turned down you say things like, “I knew I wasn’t going to get the job.”  Your words have power, I’m not talking about the name it and claim it movement I’m talking about your confession of the Word of God. Murmuring, complaining, and arguing landed the Israelites in the desert for forty years. Why not try thanking God for the job He has already predestined for you to have. Instead of saying how sick you are what about saying how healed you are.  I know there will be some Nay Sayers in the bunch, but let me tell you, there’s power in your words if you don’t believe me just think back on your life at a time you were hurt the most, were words used at all? We need to guard our tongue as if it were precious gold because life and death rest upon it. The fifth thing we need to take off is, our flipped attitude about salvation; many of us are satisfied knowing the circle we hang around with is going to heaven, but I assure you Jesus is not satisfied with our complacency. If you don’t know if this one applies to you ask yourself one question, “When is the last time you told someone about Jesus?” Sure we put our helmet of salvation on as to protect our minds but what about the Greatest Command, “Love your neighbor as you do yourself.” Would you let yourself go to hell? Challenge yourself to tell at least one person a day about Jesus.   The sixth thing some of us need to take off is business, we have become so distracted by the world we have put our sword away, ( the Word of God,) Oh, we didn’t intentionally do this it began gradual  we started getting busy so we started reading just one paragraph, praying for 10 minutes, then our life got a little busier so we reduced our prayer down to 5 minutes and reading down to one verse, and as life would have it we became extremely busy and our prayer reduced down to Hi, Jesus this is_______________ bless my day and my families day thank you Amen, and our reading became obsolete.  Oh, Readers, some of us need to take off the business of the world and put on the stillness of the Word. Lastly Ephesians’ tells us to pray in all occasions.  Are we praying on all occasions? I think many of us have exchange praying for complaining. I think a vast majority are content if they pray over the dinner occasion. We must pray. We must take the Word of God at its Word. Mathew 6 says when you pray, when you fast, and when you give, not “if.”

 Choices are for the living

Casting my net for Jesus

Michele Davenport

For prayer or questions email me at fbministries@comcast.net

To order my books, “Ripened on the Vine,” a true testimony of my life, or My Devotional called, “From My Heart to Yours.” go to fbministries.com  

Choices are for the Living " "Remember Me"

Choices are for the living 

Luke 22:19-22, “And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and he gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.  But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table.  The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.”

If you read in Luke 22:48, Judas, one of the disciples sitting at the table with Jesus, betrayed him, for thirty silver coins, the mere price of a slave.  What are we betraying the Lord with? Are we so busy worshipping idols of the mind that many of us have filled our memory with images of lies?  In all creation, in every tree, flower, star, ocean, mountain, and valley the Lord calls out “Remember Me.”

Deuteronomy 6:12, “Be careful not to forget your God who brought you out of Egypt.” Why did Moses say be careful not to forget your God? Because remember Moses has been through Egypt with the Israelites and he knows all too well how quickly they forget. In Joshua 4, the Lord is instructing Joshua to choose twelve men one from each tribe to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan and stack them where they were staying for the night to serve as a memorial, because someday their children will ask, “What do these stones mean?” The Lord said, “Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.” The people in the Bible were always erecting a memorial in the Old Testament in honor of the Lord.  It is interesting to know that the word memorial in Hebrew means, to remember. How can we remember?

 Remember Me, when you’re in airport and you see another passenger embracing her elderly parent as if this might be her last chance to feel, touch, and experience the love of a parent  as the tears form a snow globe of memories of her once adorned childhood . “Remember Me.”

What are we doing in remembrance of Jesus? How can we remember the cross if we have forgotten the suffering?  How is it that we can walk by a hurting person and chose to ignore their pain?  Does love compel us anymore or have we let society, television, news, radio, the media in all forms desensitize our compassion for one another? Do we look at life as if it was a movie where we sit down and have popcorn and watch, or have we considered we are actually written in the script, we have a part to play?  Have we let the bread of Christ become a snack?  Christ died for all. What does “all” mean to you, does it mean the elite, the social acceptable, the rich, the admired, the Christians?  Maybe, just maybe, could it mean, the women or man behind a prison wall, could it mean the neighbor who undoubtedly despises the God you love, could remembering Jesus mean serving of one another not for gain but for plain unadulterated love. “Remember Me,” when you’re standing in the grocery store and the lady in front of you begins to put things back because her wallet has dictated the amount of food she will be purchasing today. Proverbs 28:27, “He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.”   “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  Wow! Could this be how we are to remember Jesus by how we remember one another?  “Remember me,” when you get a phone call in the middle of the night from a friend who found out her son had been doing drugs and now his only breath comes from a machine. Isaiah 40:1, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” “Remember Me,” when the doctor enters the room with a solace face to confirm what he had already suspected all along. “1 Peter 2:24, (b) “by his wounds you have been healed.”  “Remember Me,” when the people I trusted to love you, hurt you in ways the world will never know. “Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  “Remember Me,” Jesus called us to remember His body that was broken for us, have we betrayed Jesus by our lack of remembrance? Jesus said, “The one who is going to betray me hand is in mine.”  Could we be in denial that we as born, bought, believers could ever betray our Jesus by the lack of our memorials?  2Timothy 2:8 “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel.” This is it Readers, this is the gospel,  “Remember Jesus is raised from the dead.” Choices are for the living.

 Stacking my stones for the Glory of God……Michele Davenport

For prayer or questions please contact me at fbministries@comcast.net

To order my books, “Ripened on the Vine,” a true story of my childhood through my adult life, “From my Heart to Yours,” a devotional filled with poetry, scriptures, and my commentaries go to fbministries.com

The Will of God-----Do you really want His will in your life?????

Are you willing to do the will of God no matter what the cost? Six times in the New Testament God said, "Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." Paul was beheaded in Rome for who he was, but it was God's will that Paul was an apostle.
Sometimes we paint God's will as a Van Gogh when it should be a Picasso.

Quote from chapter seven in my upcoming book, "Choices are for the Living."

Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living

Choices

 Stop treating me like an option, where you pick and choose

If your decision is wrong, then it is you, who will lose

Can you see that I am the answer? Or is that beyond your reach, Did you know that I walked the earth for years, this is where I preached, I taught the power of healing, and I made a blind man see,

I showed who my Father was, when you looked at me, when my journey was over I went to the cross,

Where I gave my life to His people, who were scared, lonely, and lost,

In three days I arose, to everyone confused, do not make me an option, or you will surely lose,

Many did not believe what they saw with their own eyes when I came to speak to them, they were terrified,

It was their own decision; they chose not to believe, I was sent by my Father to set His people free,

When you’re faced with an option, don’t make me a choice, Sit quietly before me and listen to my voice.

John 10:3(b)-4 “He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He has brought out all of His own, He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know His voice.”

I was trying to quit smoking eighteen years ago.  I went to God and ask Him to help me.  I wanted God’s help but with my conditions. I began talking to God about what I was willing to do in order to be set free but in the same breath I began to tell God what I was not willing to go through to quit the habit of killing myself.  Every year for eight years I tried to quit smoking and every year I would ask God to help me.  Each time I would approach God differently, but I would say the same thing.  Oh God, please, help me, please, help me.  I want to quit smoking but please don’t let me gain weight, please don’t let me go through with-draws, and God I don’t want to get sick or become a grouch.  I would give God my list of demands on how I wanted Him to help me.  Year after year, I remained a victim by choice.  Finally I went to God on the night before Easter.  I was sitting outside smoking and I spoke to God from my heart, I said, “God tomorrow I will be celebrating the resurrection of your Son, the same Son that you allowed to die for my sins.  I think the least I could do on Easter Sunday, is give you one of my sins that He died for.  I would like you to help me put down my addition.  I don’t care what price I have to pay, I don’t care if I get sick or if I gain weight, I just want to glorify you.  It doesn’t matter how you choose to deliver me, just as long I am delivered!  I will fight all night if I can walk away with a new name and a limp (a visual sign I had been in your presence).  The next morning I woke up and I was set free from an eighteen year smoking addition.  I’m here to testify I didn’t have any with-drawls, sickness, nor did I gain weight.

What was the difference this time? I stopped talking. In John 10 the word says, “The sheep listen to His voice and follow Him as He leads them out.” I realized I am His sheep, I know His voice but in order to follow Him out I must be able to hear Him. I must shut up.  I finally let go!  I let go of pride, the need to tell God how to deliver me.  God is the expert on delivering His people, and I was trying to tell Him how to do it.  I have been tobacco free for almost fourteen years now.  Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.” Choices are for the Living….

Casting my net….Michele

For prayer or questions you can email me at fbministries@comcast.net

To order my books you can go to fbministries.com where you will find audio Inspirational teachings along with my testimony, “Ripened on the Vine,” and my Devotional, “From My Heart to Yours.”

Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Have you ever wondered how the old is gone, and the new is here?  I believe the answer can be found in Romans12:2(a) “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The only way the old can leave is by renewing the mind with the new.

As I was getting ready for my day last week the Lord spoke these words into my spirit, “Find out who you are in Christ or you will become someone you’re not.” Wow! As I stood there pondering His words I quickly realized His people are truly perishing because of lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6) 

The numbers would probably be astonishing on the amount of people who don’t know who they are in Christ. I can’t tell you how many times I hear these words, “It runs in my family.” I believe blood bought believers repeated Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. But many of those believers stopped reading right there, what if we would continued reading through Romans 9:10, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess you are saved.”

Readers, here is a very important truth, it is with your heart that you believe, and what you believe in your heart will come out of your mouth according to Matthew 12:34(b), “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”  What are you speaking, what is your confession?  In our family if someone confesses a lie, contrary to the Word of God we say, “If that is your confession.” It makes you stop and think about what you believe, what you’re accepting as your truth, what you have chosen to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth.  Satan has but one job on this earth, and that is to change your confession. How does he do it?  By using the very thing God told us to use for our salvation, “our mouth.”  Here is how I think it works; Satan knows the scriptures better than most, remember he was an archangel fallen from Heaven. He plants seeds of doubt, delay, discouragement, defeat, and diversion in the mind of the believer, but you make them grow with the power of your words.  Listen Readers, Satan does not have the power to make the seeds grow only you do, by what you confess.  A person who is always speaking a negative confession over themselves is like a deadly disease which rapidly spreads through the body. You have allowed yourself to become dehydrated from the water of the Word. Many of you feed yourself a diet made up of nothing but the seeds of Satan.  Words have become your addition of choice, just like a person who has a food addition feeds their selves the food of their choice, most of it being junk food.  The only cure is allowing a transformation of the mind.    Romans 12:2(a), "do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Some of you have let the pattern of this world conform who you are. As I was writing I had a vision of a seamstress who was making a dress, the seamstress already had the fabric, the sewing machine, the thread, and the needles; all she needed now was the pattern.  As the seamstress fumbled through all the different types of patterns she had made over the years she pulled out the one that was most familiar, the one she is most comfortable making, and begins to sew. Although the seamstress has new fabric she is still using an old pattern.  Readers, this is what many of us do after we become believers, we are new creations in Christ we have been cut from a new piece of fabric, but we tend to want use an old pattern, (the world) to resort back to what was comfortable, what was familiar, what was an old habit, instead of the pattern of God’s Word.  Choices are for the living….Find out who you are in Christ or you will become someone you’re not. Meditate on these scriptures this week…Eph.2:8, Romans 1:7,Ps.91:10,11,,Phil 4:13,Gal 2:20 1Peter 2:24,Col.2:7, 1John 5:18, 2Cor.4:18, 2 Cor. 10:4,5 2 Cor. 5:21, Gen 1:31. I will give you more next week.

 Casting my net for Jesus….Michele Davenport

For prayer or question please email me at fbministries@comcast.net
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To order my books, one being a true story about my life called “Ripened on the Vine”, or my Devotional called, “From My Heart to Yours”, go to our web page fbministries.com

Listen Readers, I had an awesome opportunity to serve in my community Friday afternoon and I wanted to share my amazing experience with you. I went to the Shepherd’s Staff Food Pantry located at 1311 Sanders in Harrisonville and helped distribute over 15,000 pounds of food to over 300 families it was truly a blessing to work a long side of these wonderful people who were accurately living it out for the Glory of God, they are living God’s Word not just discussing it. If you live in Cass County and are interested in volunteering for this worthy cause please contact Delbert (816-769-4988) at Shepherd’s Food Pantry they need volunteers every Friday from 2-6pm. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)  Choices are for the Living…Make a difference, volunteer. Any and all donations are welcomed….  See you there.

picture credit - http://open-doors-at-st-joseph-maplewood.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html