Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living

Ignorance is running rampant in the body of Christ.  I believe many of Christians have patterned themselves after the world.  What is the typical pattern of the world?  Get up, get dressed, get a bite to eat, get coffee, and get going.  There is not enough desire to get Jesus.  The pattern of this world, and many Christians who live in it, just do not make Jesus a priority in their lives.  I watched an Oprah show several years ago.  A man came on her show to reveal the truth about why men act the way they act when it came to dating.  He deflated all the myths of the social scene by letting the women ask him questions as he openly and honestly answered them and who better to do this than a man who proclaimed to be womanizer at one time in his life.  One of the ladies from the audience asked "at the end of the date why do men say they will call you but never do?"   Another lady asked, “Why is it after dating a man for three years he is still not ready for a commitment?”  "How come my boyfriend never takes me out in public?" Several more questions were asked, but they all received the same answer, plain and simple -- the men aren’t into you that much.  Readers, Can I say here lies the problem with some of us, we are just not into Jesus that much not unless we need something. Isn’t that how some men act towards women or women act towards men?  Have we become God-izers? We turn to God only if we want something.  Joshua 7: 10, “The Lord said to Joshua, Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?”  He was on his face because he had lost a sure win do to sin in the camp.  Achan had sinned he kept some of the devoted things after God had told him not to. Achan had stolen and lied and God needed Joshua to stand up and deal with it instead of tearing his clothes face down in the dirt whining.   Readers, “Stand up” and do the work the Lord has told you to do if there is sin in the camp deal with.  Stop making excuses, stop tearing your clothes and throwing dirt in your face begging God to help you. Stop being drug around like a rag doll, pick yourself up and stand naked before your God and let Him clothe you with His Glory, wisdom, mercy and love. God’s answer is to stand when you have done all you can do, stand according to Ephesians 6:13-14.  
Colossians 2:15, “and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”  I would like for us to pay close attention to the word “spoiled” This word is taken from the Greek word apekdusamenos, and it is referring to the act of stripping off your garments down to bare nakedness.  The Holy Spirit is saying I have stripped the principalities and powers of Satan down to nakedness there is nothing hidden in the darkness; all his tricks can be seen.  What is not hidden is revealed and what is revealed can be conquered. Bear in mind being in the dark activates all your other senses, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. 

There will be times when you are in a war that you may feel like you’re in darkness, but that’s when you’ll be able to smell the frank sense of victory, taste the myrrh of forgiveness, hear the sounds of the trumpet blow, and feel the presence of Jesus.  Remember you are not alone even if the darkness tries to hold you captive; it’s in that moment when the light invades the darkness you’ll realize Jesus was standing beside you all along. Are you a God-izer? Are you into Him enough to get the sin out of your camp and stand? Choices are for living - smell the victory

Michele Davenport

For prayer or questions please feel free to email me at my new address fbmin02@gmail.com

To order my book “Ripened on the Vine”, a true story about my one girls journey to find Vertical Faith in the midst of abuse. 

Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living

Joshua 2:1, “Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land, “he said, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rehab and stayed there.”

Readers, as I read through the scripture I thought to myself, Wow! I noticed the word “then” Then Joshua sent two spies over.  The word “then” lead me to ask what happen before,  then Moses took his last breath, God told Joshua, “now then you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan into the land I am about to give you.”  God went on to tell them every place they placed their foot was theirs, no one will be able to stand against them as He was with Moses He was with them. God furthermore said, “I will never leave you or forsake you be strong and courageous, because you will lead the people to inherit the land I swore to the generations before them.” In addition God told them not to let the law depart from their mouth; meditate on it day and night, so they would be careful to do everything that is written. Then you will be prosperous and successful.  Don’t be afraid for I the Lord God I am with you wherever you go. So Joshua went through the camp commanding the people to get their supplies ready three days from now we are going to take the land.  Joshua 1:10, “Then they answered Joshua, Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.”

To be transparent Readers, I don’t understand why Joshua waited three days to cross over when God clearing said get ready and go. God went into great detail in how He was going to be with them, but yet they still waited three days until they could receive their, THEN moment.  Has God spoken a “then” moment into your life but you still find yourself standing on the wrong side of the Jordan?  What is holding you back? I noticed the spies were sent to a prostitute house where they stayed; listen Readers, you don’t want to miss the lesson flowing in between the pages of God’s miraculous Word.  The first lesson way was; the spies had to believe what God had said to them to actually go to the walls of Jericho and the prostitute Rahab, had to not let her past mistakes keep her from future blessings. God had a new script for her with new lines to recite.  She helped the spies and in turn she was written into the hall of faith book, Hebrews 11:31.  In one act of faith she became a part of the genealogy of Jesus written in Matthew 1:5.  After reading this chapter I quickly figured out fear and lack of faith keep most people on the wrong side of the Jordan. In order to get to the promise land folks we have to cross over the Jordan. Readers, don’t allow your THEN moment to become a never moment by the choices you make.  I remember a moment when we were in the military right before we received our first orders to California, God spoke a then time in my life. God said many things but after those things were said He said, “Then when you get to California there will be a mother figure waiting for you, she will comfort you and become your friend while you are stationed there without your mother.  Listen Readers, when we arrived there my spiritual antenna was on high alert. I think it was about the third or fourth day we were in our apartment as I was walking down the side walk I met my older neighbor her name was Joni.  I told her the word I had received and it witness to her spirit, her and my mom had two things in common their names and me. God was absolutely right she was all He said she would be and more. I could have missed my then moment had I not believed God and been aware of His word coming to pass.  I was expecting her.   Choices are for the Living

Living in my promise land

Michele Davenport

For prayer you can reach me at fbmin02@gmail.com

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

Choices re for the Living

Choices are for the Living

Did God really say is the question of the twenty first century population?  I have never in my life heard so many doubts and confusion about what the word of God says.  It seems to me people have taken the bible and rewrote the passages to describe what they are comfortable reading what they are comfortable doing instead of reading the infallible word of God. The question I have been ask more times than any other question isn’t how do we know if there is a God, what is the trinity, is speaking in tongues for today, or even does God still heal?   No, the question I am asked most frequently is “how do we know the bible is the infallible word of God because men wrote it? I believe God spoke it man wrote it.

Genesis 3:1- , “Now the serpent was craftier than any other wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the women, “Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”? From the very moment those words were introduced to the human vocabulary until now we have been asking the same question, “Did God really say?” It never seizes to amaze me the people who insist on asking this question without ever reading the Bible.  So many opinions without the knowledge to back what they claim to believe. The main reason people dispute the bible is over selfish desires let me explain, let’s say someone who wants to watch “R” rated movies, view pornography, or get drunk they will say things like well it doesn’t say anything about it in the BIBLE. My answer to that is what about Philippians 4:8, “Finally, (in Greek means most importantly) brothers most importantly, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.”  Here is your leaning post, every time you don’t know if something is right to do or say lean upon Philippians 4:8 weigh your decision against the Apostle Paul’s words. Paul was warning us about protecting our minds.    I’ve also heard people say things like, “I don’t believe the bible.” The first question I tend to ask is, “Have you read the Bible?” Not to my surprise, 99.9 percent say, “No, not the entire bible, for goodness sakes not many blood bought proclaimed Christians have read the entire bible, yet they are among the ones who voice their opinions the loudest at times.” Readers, how can we make an informed decision without all the facts? How can we say things like, “Did God really say,” without knowing what He said? It sounds ludicrous but it happens all the time. You want to know what the bible says about healing, read your bible.  If you want to know what the bible says about speaking in your prayer language, read your bible.  If you want to know about heaven, read your bible. I challenge anyone who has been mislead, or mis-fed the word of God to pick up their bible and read it in its entirety. Then fall on your knees and pray to God to reveal His truth, not your mamma’s truth not your daddy’s, not your grandma’s truth, not even the church you attend truth, but God’s truth then and only then can you make an educated decision on what you believed. I can tell you this much believing in God and His word is a faith walk not everyone will believe, not everyone will discover the truth on their journey, some will find bits and pieces, while others will find exactly what they set out to find. Philip Yancey, a well known New York best seller author, set out to prove the bible wrong only to end up proving it to be authentic.  He decided to taste for himself if the word of God was good.  Did God really say?  Find out read your bible.

Choices are for the Living… Michele Davenport

Reading the bible like I believe it

For prayer or questions about my column you can reach me at my new email fbmin02@gmail.com

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