these scriptures seem to apply to this topic. Any opinions?

Isaiah 30:1
"Woe to the rebellious children," says the LORD, "Who
take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but
not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin;

Proverbs 3
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
        And lean not on your own understanding;
        6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
        And He shall direct your paths.

Matthew 10:30
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Acts 17
26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.


Ezekiel 41
17from the space above the door, even to the inner
room, as well as outside, and on every wall all
around, inside and outside, by measure. (God is
concerned even about the smallest details)


Psalms 33:11
11The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.

Jeremiah 29
11   For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to
give you an expected end.


Proverbs 16:9
A man's heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his
steps.

Proverbs 19:21
There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless
the LORD's counsel--that will stand.

Jeremiah 10


Jeremiah's Prayer
23 I know, O LORD , that a man's life is not his own;
it is not for man to direct his steps.

Bellow is part of an email a friend of mine received from someone who was counseling her. This has to do with the same subject I posted a couple of days about- whether or not God has a specific person in mind for each Christian to marry or whether or not He has no specific Christian in mind. It would be great to hear everyone's opionions.
--------------------------------------------------------------

the following 'scriptures' aren't my words-
they are from the Bible.

How can you and Oyvind marry and still be following
God's biblical guidlines for marriage when you know you are
the one who is much more spiritually mature? How can
oyvind be the spiritually leader of the marriage if
you are much more spiritually mature than he is? You have told me that he isn't strong in the Lord, that he is a baby Christian.

1 Timothy 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to
have authority over a man;

Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife
as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of
which he is the Savior.

Ephesians 5:24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so
also wives should submit to their husbands in
everything


Genesis 3
16 To the woman he said,

"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."

1 Timothy 3:4 He must manage his own family well and
see that his children obey him with proper respect

How can you and Oyvind be "one flesh" Gn 2:24
when your goals aren't the same? footnote: Totally
united in life, purpose, and pleasure is presented.

And how can you be in spiritual unity when you're on
completely different spiritual levels of maturity?


As the verses below show, God brings a man and woman
together for the purpose of ministry.

How are you to be in ministry with a man who isn't
prepared or from what you've said doesn't even feel a
calling toward ministry?


Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, unless they are
agreed?

John 14:13
And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that
the Father may be glorified in the Son.


Matthew 22:14
"Many are called but few are chosen" (for ministry).

John 15:16- "Ye have not chosen Me,
but I have chosen you and ordained you, that you
should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit
should remain"


I encourage you to be aware of false peace
about your situation because the enemy always wants to
ruin ministry plans. If your decision to marry Oyvind
is not in line with scripture then how could your
peace be anything but false? Because God is unable to
lead you into something that is against His Word. God
is too holy and cannot do that. God has purposed
marriage to be a ministry which brings glory to His
name and He has put a guidline in place that says the
male needs to be the spiritual leader. Ask any wise
pastor and they will show you there is no way around
the clear and simple meaning of these scriptures.

 

Yeah, I just saw your other post.

Thanks for the greeting. I kinda forgot that . Hi everyone. My name is Ben,30, IL. Accepted Jesus at 13 (didn't walk consistently with the Lord), baptized in the Holy Spirit at 18, still learning about the Bible of course .

If anyone has any insight about intercession they would like to share then I would be really thankful. I'm working on putting together some information on that subject from a recent study.

Do you think He has a specific set of plans (ministry) for specific Christians in marriage or do you believe He blesses any Christian marriages in ministry just the same (marriages between two people who marry each other simply because each one is Christian?

Here is the reason for my question. I have a friend who is a female and is involved in various ministries. She is considering marrying an older man who is far less mature spritually than she is and who isn't interested or prepared for any kind of ministry, much less the specific ones she is called to (counseling, deliverance, teen ministry, leading Bible studies, healing, etc.). I'm assuming this guy may at least be a Christian. So how important do you all think it is that she hold out for someone who has the same vision, goals, and passion for serving God- a minister instead of just a Christian? Thanks.

Do you think He has a specific set of plans (ministry) for specific Christians in marriage or do you believe He blesses any Christian marriages in ministry just the same (marriages between two people who marry each other simply because each one is Christian?

Here is the reason for my question. I have a friend who is a female and is involved in various ministries. She is considering marrying an older man who is far less mature spritually than she is and who isn't interested or prepared for any kind of ministry, much less the specific ones she is called to (counseling, deliverance, teen ministry, leading Bible studies, healing, etc.). I'm assuming this guy may at least be a Christian. So how important do you all think it is that she hold out for someone who has the same vision, goals, and passion for serving God- a minister instead of just a Christian? Thanks.

I believe I've come to a final conclusion on at least
one of those questions I asked you. Here's what I
believe about conversion/being born again:

Justification is obviously positional. But I believe
the Bible teaches that sanctification is also
positional and happens at the same time as
justification- It happens at the moment of true
conversion (when we accept Christ into our lives by
faith and with repentance/ a turning away from sin).
But sanctification is also a progressive work of the
Holy Spirit. So justification and sanctification both
happen at conversion but sanctification is also a
continued work of the Holy Spirit which forms us to be
more and more Christ-like.

We aren't saved by this progressive sanctification but
on the other hand even those who were once 'truly'
converted can turn away from Christ/wilfully practice
a lifestyle of certain sins, and lose their salvation.



Being born again is the same as conversion and is
something the Holy Spirit does at the point of both
faith and repentance when our spirits are made alive.
Being born again is not a gradual process- that
gradual process is sanctification- though again, we
are sanctified at the point of faith and repentance
(conversion/being born again).


In my last email I wasn't totally convinced that
either original sin or total depravity were true
teachings- Though I knew everyone sinned at some point
which brought about spiritual death and our sin nature
(Also, I knew Adam's sin brought about our physical
death). So obviously I knew that if spiritual death
and sinful nature didn't come with physical birth then
it still always happened at some point.

But now, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm thinking
that original sin and that one point of the Calvinism
tulip (total depravity) are probably both correct.
That's what I'll probably stick with believing anyway,
because eventhough there is some evidence against
those two beliefs, there's not enough of it to
convince me that they are false. Or I don't know,
maybe I'm just tired of thinking about that subject.

I believe that repentance, along with faith, is
necessary for conversion. And I believe in ministry
(in my case, counseling teens) it's important to make
people aware of what the Bible teaches/God expects
concerning repentance and conversion. When I was young
I used to focus a lot on confession, "easy believism".
But now I believe that 'truly' confessing Christ as
savior and Lord is not what saves but is a result of
faith and repentance.


And about the other question I asked. I'm still not
convinced that God initially draws the lost through
intercessory prayer only. I'm going to continue
seeking the answer to this to satisfy my own
curiosity. Though I know however way the lost are
initially drawn, it's the work of the Holy Spirit that
does it. Because even if preaching (for one example)
is involved in that initial work then it's through
God-given annointings that allows the Holy Spirit to
flow.

I felt like I needed to brush up on an old Bible
course I took in the past (www.rogma.org). So here is
something from that website on the subject of God
drawing the lost. At some point I'm going to work on
typing those scriptures that I mentioned to you, the
ones I have marked in my Bible about this subject.


VI. THE METHOD: WHEN AND HOW DOES THE MIRACLE OF THE
NEW BIRTH TAKE PLACE IN A HUMAN HEART AND LIFE?

First, God acts to bring us to this condition. He
employs two agents:
THE HOLY SPIRIT. (Read carefully John 16:8; John
3:5-6,8; John 6:63; Romans 8:16 and Titus 3:5-6.)
The Holy Spirit plays a major role in our
regeneration.
He convicts us of our sin (John 16:8-9).
He reveals Christ as our only hope (John 16:13-14).
He causes us to repent (Acts 2:37-38).
THE WORD. (Read carefully Romans 10:17; James 1:18; 1
Peter 1:22-23; Hebrews 4:12; and
Mark 4:20.) It is through the WORD and primarily
through the preaching of the WORD, that the Holy
Spirit convicts of sin, reveals Christ, imparts life,
and assures of salvation (John 3:5;
Romans 8:16).




Take care,