Do you find yourself thinking about Freewill? I have been reading a book “Proof of Heaven” and it has stirred up thoughts in my mind. We are granted freewill by God, He wants us to return to Him. He wants us to seek Him through the Word, through His Son Christ. There is intent and purpose for us, but at times we wander aimless, looking for something to catch our eye. But God is so much more deeper than the latest trend or the hot new thing. Yes, we are like children, but children can grow and become discerning in our decisions. This week’s scriptures are a continuation of what we have been focusing on over the past weeks. The body and blood of Christ, we are coming to a point, it has to do with freewill and the Spirit.
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 1)Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God. 2)Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. 14)”Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15)”If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” 16)The people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17)for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. 18)”The LORD drove out from before usually the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.” Joshua, the helper of Moses, calls the people out. God knew of the rumblings from within His people, He gave them a choice, freewill, Me or them. Thankfully, they remembered all that God and His majesty had done and will continue to do on behalf of His people.
Psalms 34:15-22 15)The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. 16)The face of the LORD is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17)The righteous cry, and the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18)The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19)Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. 20)He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. 21)Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22)The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. Getting it all spelled out here, these are bold promises for us to take to heart. Though “many are the afflictions of the righteous”, which means we should expect them, God is here, we are not forsaken no matter how much it hurts or brings us to our knees. We all know that feeling, everyday we know someone who needs our prayers.
Ephesians 6:10-20 10)Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11)Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12)For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13)Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14)Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15)and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16)in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17)And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18)With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19)and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20)for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Whoa, Paul, he always gets to the point doesn’t he! He is letting us know, things are gonna happen, but here is the plan. . . we can be prepared. God in His infinite wisdom has given us tools and thoughts, even the Spirit to guide us through our difficulties. When we run up against a problem, and you know that they are coming, our arsenal is our knowledge of the Word, the appeal of prayer, the guidance from the Spirit. Prayer is way more powerful than you might know. Always have that open line of communications with God and His Son.
John 6:56-69 56)”He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 57)”As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58)”This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” 59)These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 60)Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” 61)But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? 62)”What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63)”It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64)”But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. 65)And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” 66)As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. 67)So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” 68)Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go: You have words of eternal life. 69)”We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” We heard about this last Sunday, and I touched on it last week. All these people that were clamoring after Christ, when He opened up this conversation, people were leaving in droves. Probably shaking their heads and thinking that this was crazy talk. And yet, there were the twelve. Peter had the perfect answer, imagine how reassuring it was to Jesus to hear Peter say that! He was getting through to the ones He had hand picked. All of this, every last bit, is a mind blowing concept where we can empathize with those people who walked off. What a shame, yet when Jesus says that we can only come to Him through the invitation of the Father, that honor is so great it brings me to tears. It is the Spirit, the Spirit that Jesus left with us, the helper He spoke of before He ascended to Heaven. Let the Spirit grow, feed it the Word, Pray, repent.
Through Christ, Seek God,
D.J. Schoneweis