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

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.”