Free Will

Free Will. That built in method Father God gave us to help us decide who we are.

Look that up in the Bible and you will find - absolutely nothing. 



And that odd, obscure story of Jonah.

Jonah came to fame before the boat, the storm, popular acclaim and the whale.

Jeroboam II King of Israel reigned forty-one years. 

Proving the rain falls on the just and the unjust.

However Jeroboam II was the same as Jeroboam I:

2 Kings 14

24 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.

25 He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea,[ in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

26 The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering;[f] there was no one to help them. 27 And since the Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.


His Successor?

29 And Zechariah his son succeeded him as king.

Skip a few years and we have Zechariah again. 

Zechariah achieved a free will,  dominant attitude to Gabriel and Zechariah lost his voice. Until God had mercy, when John the Baptist, his son was born.

So far we are not proving Free Will. But the opposite.

GOD' WILL. God says His Name is "I Am."

History is the story of His Story. Winston Churchill thought so and he wrote this: History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

Jeremiah, said, he couldn't do the will of God. He did!

Paul asked Jesus to look away, He was a sinner. He did God's Will.

Need another free will story?

Joseph of Jacob and the multicolored cape. 

Winston Churchill went on to say this:
History is written by the victors.

Which is exactly what my English Professor, in 2nd Semester English Literature, said to me. The Bible is a collection of "suuuure". And she used the invisible, untrue, fake Hittite Empire. I went up after class, because I love to discuss the Bible and, particularly, Jesus. We had a lovely conversation where she and I were most kind and did disagree. I was stumped - I had no clue the Hittites never existed. Low and behold two weeks later the headlines of The Dallas Morning News found - The Library of the Entire Hittite Nation intact. Which, I betcha, lead to Hollywood adding to Indiana Jones.

And the Hittite Papyrus sealed in containers like the Dead Sea Essenes - were proof the Bible actually is written by Thee Victor, Who Never Lies.


 (PS Indiana Jones, Jeremiah wrote the Babylonian Exiles as he was free. Later  2 Maccabees 2:4-9- The Ark is on Mt. Nebo and is well hidden and sealed by God Himself)


(The Rest of the College English Literature Story is I felt so comfortable speaking with my College Professor, I left a message with her office about The Dallas Morning News Article. She was out of town, but when the grades arrived I was pleased to find I had an A on my paper and for the semester.)

Ok another Free Will Example. Ok, Two Examples.

Daniel and Ezekiel.

 Daniel sounds like he is fun. Your Sunday School or you want to know Daniel. The Holy Spirit manifests this in Daniel. Perhaps we like Daniel for this very reason...

Daniel 1
9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel

Ok, Free Will???

Daniel 1

2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.

Ezekiel was also carried off. Ezekiel - son of Buzzi. This Dude was making faith part of all the exiles lives. Taking the boundaries given to him and making The Way, The Truth, The Life.


Boundaries...

Nebuchadnezzar II named his son Am-el Marduk.

Nebuchadnezzar, grew up in the Assyrian Empire where Jonah has caused a spark, a Light - of interest in the Hebrew God "I Am" and his messengers, His archangels are all called El - therefore Am-El was his son. Nebuchadnezzar had read Isaiah and believed he had found - himself - in God's Word.

Isaiah 14

12“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;c
14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
16Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?’
18All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb.

Daniel, I am sure, loved being anointed by God in his own boundaries - however the lions were a bit much.

And Nebuchadnezzar found the Living Power in God's Word as he suffered and recovered. A characteristic of believers.

Boundaries and Miracles.

Now this is the part where we discover ourselves in the Living Water's of God.


Guideposts reports:

For two decades, Mary Ann Franco was blind. Until an accident helped her see. Mary Ann was blind for 20 years and found she needed surgery. When she woke up - she found her boundaries had changed. She was no longer blind. In fact, all her life she had been color blind and now could see color for the First Time.
Seeing her grandchildren for the first time.

This tells us, today, our boundaries are in the hands of God Himself.

Do we need another example. A living example of God's Word Today about Free Will???

Almost every week Joel Olsteen tells his Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas and his television congregation This:

We all work in jobs, situations, care taking, tight economies that are tight and ill fitting. Times that require this!

Romans 5

3We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.


Because God wants to save the world in Jesus Christ. We hope for the Blessing of God Himself. Knowing that in our problems, trials, endurance, character, we find God's Love
and discover His Will for Today - Is Making Us Stronger. His Will is Good.

So life leaves us in tight corners.

What if Mary had said, " No WAY. I have a choice."

This is where we just acknowledge - we are in His care. Hopeless to always arrive at change. Proving Einstein wrote the same mathematical formulas again and again and again to arrive at boundary change, in God's Time.

We find Free Will. This is what God says about Free Will.

Joshua was Centered in God: Waiting 40 years to do His Will.

Joshua 24:15
Choose this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.


Proverbs 16:9
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.


Being like Pope John Paul II, Pappa! The Catholic Pappa said, "We are the Easter People", who ask Jesus to dwell, to live and move and have His Being in our souls:

John 1:12-13
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Remembering like Billy Graham, Father God has seen our last chapter and this turns out Very Well!

Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.


Our Free Will is finding

His Will is our Hope and Future.

We do not serve a God who is disappointed in us. We serve a God who tells us we do a flawed Ultimate for His Highness, in in our, just, Love We Hold for Jesus - God is going to Run to Us.

How does God feel about YOU - You who Love Jesus?

When YOU Believe in Your Heart Jesus is Your Love. Your God. Your Savior.

2 Corinthians 1:14
as you have already understood us in part, so that you may boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of our Lord Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 2:
for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, 18because we wanted to come to you—

19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 For you are our glory and joy.

Feel free to Love the Lord Your God with all Your Heart.






Father God,

We live in a time where people fall from faith and hope and joy. Muck surrounds us. When we lift our heads, muckety mucks say we fail at life, hope, and faith with attitudes. The culture hopes to throw muck on our loved ones, on our families. We live lifting our faces up to Jesus.

Help us each day to know like Max Lucado says "Father God would put our refrigerator art on His refrigerator."

To feel the certainty that Father God would Run to Lift us.

The Thanksgiving, The Great GLORY OF OUR FATHER GOD

Bring the whole blessing God saves The World in Jesus our Hero.

His unending, never diminishing storehouse, where all things are possible.

The test God gives us to Believe Jesus in our Hearts and Profess His Blessing of Salvation with our Mouths.

For us. For you, for you, His Child by His own Will, His own Call. Jesus will open the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

In this Blessing, let us pray for those we Love. For the People He has given us. And be filled Loving them with Peace, Joy, Comfort, Gentleness, Patience, Encouragement, Tenderness, Diligence, Dignity, Self Control. Seeing the Good in others and holding them to Jesus.

And this Holy Spirit goodness sweeps our homes, the hope we have for the future, our words of Life. This Love brings forth fathers, to families, to Churches, to Communities, to Cities, to States and His Love covers the Nation to be a Light to the World.

Because in our Love Jesus has for us, we have encouragement to Love and Hope.

Let your Words pick Life.

Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Our Blessing is in You, Jesus Christ. Our Strength.

Amen and Alleluia.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves!  †

2 Timothy 2:14-26 ~ one approved

2 Timothy 2:14-26

¹⁴ Remind them of these things, and charge them before God ^{[the Lord]} not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. ¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, ^{[one approved after being tested]} a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. ¹⁶ But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, ¹⁷ and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸ who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. ¹⁹ But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

²⁰ Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. ²¹ Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 

²² So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. ²³ Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. ²⁴ And the Lord's servant ^{[bondservant]} must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, ²⁵ correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 

Matthew 23:23  
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others."

We can take all of our denomination differences. We may look at King James Version or the English Standard Version and stake our claim. Or we can say - God is Love. Jesus never quoted the added Chapter and Verse. He merely said, "It is written." Jesus gave us ideals and He lived them. Mercy with Truth over all else. Every day. His Father's ideals and He gave His life for them. For us. Beyond that..... we must say to ourselves each day - cast the first stone. And our attitudes and words must reflect the ideals of Jesus. And the mercy of Jesus.


Romans 4:25
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

  Church at Varengeville Against the Sunlight - (Wings of Morning.) Painted By Claude Monet.

John 1

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Father God,

You are a Stronghold to the poor of health, heart, spirit, finances

a shelter from the storms of life

and a shade from the heat of poor self esteem, criticism or reproach.

In telling us of the Feast in Jesus Christ. We find the Table of Lord God, our You, Our Father has Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Comfort and is a Strong Help in times of need. The Table of the Lord God is where You long to enfold us in Your arms, a chick gathers her young.

In Heaven, You will complete us and we will be filled with all the Goodness of You.

You do not change Your mind. You Promise and Fulfill.

When we Trust in You, You pour out blessings. Hope does not put us to shame, because Your love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Jesus Christ, You are faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are Your house, and we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. Eternity always and today.

Father God, we praise you because You wanted to make the unchanging nature of Your purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, You have confirmed it with an oath.

Cover us in Your Name. Amen Jesus.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves!  †

1 Timothy 3:16 ~ Taken up in Glory.

Did we ever stop to consider Jesus as not just the Holy Spirit for all the years before He came to our lives. He and the Father planned - Jesus planned to be the fulfillment of God's Will. And He found supreme Joy there.

Before Abraham, I am.

A Son God Delights in. Jesus said He saw Satan fall out of the Heavens like Lightning. Jesus was returning to the Father as the Son who presented Him with a new Heaven and a new earth.

No wonder this is the Son With Whom God Delights




In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

The True Light, which gives Light to everyone, was coming into the world.

Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for Whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through Whom we exist.

Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son and His Name shall be called Emmanuel. God with us.

Wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger.
No room for Them in the inn.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord...

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

For my eyes have seen your salvation

A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.



And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

When they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

Get up, take the Child and His Mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there



The significance appeared to be gone.

The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.


True light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.


In Capernaum. 

They called Him Lamb of God.
I myself did not know Him
He said to them, “Come and you will see.”
 He said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 


Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!
"We have found the Messiah”


A grown Man took friends and went to stay with His mother,attending a wedding.

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”
You have kept the good wine until now.


“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

“Zeal for your house will consume me.”

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Brought to Him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and He healed them all.

The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the a sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto Him

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd

How often He has longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing

When Jesus saw His mother* and the disciple there whom He loved, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”

They nailed His hands and feet unto a cross, He made restitution for our sins. for this is His blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins.

There was a written notice above Him, which read: this is the King of the Jews.

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

About noon, and darkness came over the whole land
For the sun stopped shining
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.

Then said Jesus, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit!” And having said this He breathed His last.

The centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this Man was innocent!”

Go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”

These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

He told them, "As you go into all the world, proclaim the Gospel to everyone."

He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory!!!


Father God,

While You stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy Son Jesus.

Let us pray the place and remember in Acts 4 they were shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Let Your Word go forth.
Let Healing come to All Believers. As our boundaries are in you. And You change our lives to Your Will.

All our cares, concerns, loved ones, Lifted to You, Father God.

Your Will in Jesus is Good. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves!  †

Luke 2:51 ~ Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Luke 2:51

51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.


I believe we all feel a little deprived because we aren't given a lot of views of Jesus' growing up years.

We can be assured of this time and what was happening in Jesus and around Jesus:

49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”



Macrobius (ca. AD 400), one of the last pagan writers in Rome, in his book Saturnalia, wrote: “When it was heard that, as part of the slaughter of boys up to two years old, Herod, king of the Jews, had ordered his own son to be killed, he, the Emperor Augustus, remarked, ‘It is better to be Herod’s pig.'

If we assume God is King of the Universe and Lord of Lords, we can assume Jesus was born in 1 A.D., He was three or four when Jesus returned to Nazareth from Egypt.

Jesus saw something of this:

The Flight Into Egypt - Frederick Goodall

By Edwin Longsden, Holy Family in Egypt

Why would Father God send His Son to Egypt?

Isaiah 19
In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

The Lord sees Salvation as God Sized.

Acts 7:11
Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food.

Mark settles in Africa. Mark founded the Church of Alexandria, one of the most important episcopal sees of Early Christianity.

Jesus in His beginning is in Egypt and continues this to feed all His Children.



Jude the Brother of Christ briefly describes this.

⁵ Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt


Jude has confidence in His Brother, Jesus.

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.





And returning to Nazareth the view was this:

We know Jesus was called the carpenter's son. The Talmud, the Sadducean Council records record and report the difficulty in Luke 1 for Mary. How did she survive in a town of 300 and her parenting skills with Joseph are remembered as being seamless?

Mary had some Help! Joseph had help!

Two times in the Gospels, we are told Mary and Joseph are recognized as very good parents. Whew, we thought Jesus was left willy nilly behind.


James, the Brother of Jesus tells us how Jesus was dealing with life.

James 1
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

James records what Jesus witnessed in His own Brothers:

6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.



John tells us too. John witnessed Jesus say:

John 15:11
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.



We can be sure, what the men who saw Jesus grow in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Saw This:

The different readers of the original texts say:

Mark 10:32
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed,
in awe,
astonished.

The Bible goes on to say afraid. Angels have rehearsed what to say. "Fear Not." In all the seasons and millenniums - this is well done and to the point!



Father God,

Mark records meeting Jesus and feeling with the people, the astonishment of encountering God on earth. This is his First Gospel Chapter of Jesus. Matthew records this as well.

We thank You for the many astonishing things Jesus has given us. Rejoicing in all of Jesus' ways, knowing the names and thoughts of people, helped His Family. Rejoicing in the example of Jesus going home to visit for the Wedding in Cana.

We ask all the Blessings of Jesus continue to fall upon us. And Thank You for Your Willing Holy Spirit. We do not claw out answered prayers, but look to see where Your Holy Spirit willing blesses.

With expectation of seeing more of Your Joy, we ask for Peace, Joy, Gladness, Love, Hope, Protection and Safety, Good Health, and Give Thanks for the Blessings we know You have Given Willingly.

We lift up to you the tender hearts of the ones we love, for their comfort and joy in You. And for this Nation and the people all over the world. In Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves!  †