Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living

What does it mean to fear God?  What does that even look like to you?  Could it mean to tremble every time you sin?  Could it mean shaking when His name is spoken aloud?  Or could it possibly mean reading His Word and then doing His Word, according to His word.  Examine the scriptures for yourself and let them reveal His truth.  The word fear is written in the NKJV bible 367 times and of those 367 times, 118 times are associated in direct fear of the Lord.

I’m not sharing this because I have arrived in any way shape or form understanding the fear of the Lord, but because I believe it has been misunderstood therefore ignored I am beginning to research the teaching myself.  If I could, I would take out the 51 times in the NKJV scriptures that said, "Do not fear."  It would make my goal easier if the Bible did not appear to contradict itself.  Do not fear, then fear, sounds like a contradiction to the word.  We must distinguish between the two fears.  "Do not fear" means "do not fear for I am with you" as it is written in Isaiah 41:10 NIV.  Hebrews 11:7 NIV says, "By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.  By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith".  The fear of the Lord actually saved mankind; the whole human race was saved because Noah took God at His word.  God said build an ark and Noah grabbed the nails and went to the wood pile.  Noah not only built an ark but he and his whole household entered the ark when God told them to. Allow me to take a little liberty with the word of God for a moment. I can see in my mind the day Noah began to build, with every coat of pitch and with every piece of wood the Nay Sayers were on the scene mocking the very thing God had willed Noah to do. For 120 years Noah stayed the course and remained faithful to the word which was spoken to him. Why? I believe it was because Noah had a reverent fear of the Lord.  He believed what God said, and acted on what he believed. Would your life look different if you read the scriptures with the fear of the Lord, if you believed what you read?   Noah obeyed God longer than most of us live it took him 120 years to build the ark, 120 years of faithfulness, 120 years of people laughing at him, 120 years of hard work and dedication, 120 years of consistency. Wow! It’s hard for some of you to be consistent in going to church, tithing, or reading your bible. Noah was repetitious with believing no matter how long the rain held back Noah moved forward.  Noah lived expecting the word of God to come to pass.

 I know when this story is told Noah is the one we recognize and we should recognize Noah, but let’s not forget about the other seven people who built right along with him. God spoke to Noah but Noah passed down the vision and the other seven seen what God showed Noah and began to build as well. Readers, I know many of you have received a word from the Lord and because you fear the Nay Sayers more than you fear God you remain stagnant, complacent, and unfulfilled in your lives. God spoke to Noah, Noah passed the vision on it witness to the others and an ark was built, a generation was saved, and the Lord was pleased.  Habakkuk 2:1-3 “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”  

The word of God said, “I will stand”, not moan, groan, complain, sleep or whine, but stand. Habakkuk positioned himself in the best position to receive God’s message. I challenge you today to get the vision, write it down and position yourself to receive the power to complete what God has called you to do. Ephesians 2:10,” For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.  Mankind was saved because Noah feared God.  Whose life could be changed because you chose to fear the Lord and obey. Choices are for the Living

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10  

Do what He has called you to do and build your ark.

Michele Davenport
For prayer request or questions about my column you can email me at my new email address fbmin02@gmail.com

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Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living    

Reduction…..

Wake up, eyes lifted, ears aroused by the noise of living a life of existence.  Rush around preparing for your day, gathering your thoughts and reducing them to your surroundings.  Reducing, is what we have become masters at, reducing the hunger pains of another person whether it’s food or love.  Reducing the homeless to the selected few you observe a holding a sign. Reducing the imprisoned to an outreach program or by defining the imprisoned; to only the ones who are locked behind bars. We have become reduction experts. We reduce the millions who die every day; due to lack of clean water, nutrition, medicine, and preventable vaccines. How do we reduce them, by letting our minds slumber, the part of our mind that should be awake and respond has become reduced, the faces of the dying has been tucked away in a bed covered with complacency.  Self is in the forefront of everything we do.  Reducing the people who have a need to our limited resources, to what only we can believe for. I wonder what difference we would make in the world around us if we really believed what we prayed. We have even reduced our prayers according to our limited understanding; because we don’t fully understand how our prayers could work we don’t pray with the authority given to us through Jesus. Have we allowed our faith to be reduced to the size less than a mustard seed?  Reducing your giving according to your bank account, instead of what God can supply. Have we become the kind of givers who give only what we obtain in the natural?  That is what the world does should we not be different than the world?   We have become reduction experts; just ask us we will tell you how to do it.

Have we reduced our compassion for others down to what we are comfortable feeling? Are you guilty of reducing your life to your own existence, your own survival, and your own needs? Have we reduced ourselves down to nothing but a mere memory of what was supposed to be?  Something interesting happens when reduction continues, soon nothing but a vapor appears. Choices are for the living, chose to refuse to live a life of reduction allow God to increase you in every area where you slumber.

Revelation 3:2-3, “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.  Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”

John 14:12, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Living a life awake…….Michele Davenport

For prayer or questions about today’s message email me at my new email fbmin02@gmail.com to listen to my teachings on audio or to order my books go to fbministries.com