No Need for a Bucket List When We Walk with Christ

I don't have a bucket list because I am grateful to God for all the things in my life that brought me wisdom and joy in learning that wisdom.

Since I have no need to have an adventure on this earth beyond the blessing of knowing Jesus Christ, I can look forward to what I know for sure is coming for me when I pass from this world or am taken up in the rapture.

Nothing on this earth is worth pining away for, wishing for or clamoring to find before I pass.

The devil entices the world to desire and need something that is not possible for most people. By the time we can afford to do some exciting adventure we are too old and frail to carry it out, there is a sense of loss for those who have bucket lists.

Each day with Christ is full of joy and an adventure knowing He is in control and each new day is another day to learn something I didn't know before.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

James 4:13-16

"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil."

Proverbs 19:21

"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."

When we know that God has a purpose in all things for those of us who have been born again, we can rest content in each day. Today I looked out my window watching a small herd of six dear grazing in our yard. Just sitting there praising God for this sight to enjoy from my window was great joy as I pondered that God provided those deer for my enjoyment.

It is my belief that "bucket lists" exist more for bragging rights than they provide any sense of joy personally to the one who says they have one. There is no greater joy than contentment with what God has given us and what we will be doing when Christ takes us home.

1 Timothy 6:6-10

"But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."

Perhaps the Lord provided infirmity in our elder years so that we learn the futility and uselessness of wandering the earth to see things that we can boast to others we did.

I am grateful to the Lord for placing in me contentment and the knowledge of what is to come when I leave this world.

Born Again Believes Agree Most of the Time

Reposting from 2021 Husbands Who Sin

Many years ago a “Christian” man told me he had advised a new believing woman that she had to obey her husband when he demanded that she watch pornographic videos with him. The premise was one small phrase out of the Bible taken out of context to justify sin. That phrase was “obey your husbands in all things.”

 
This phrase to obey our husbands had nothing to do with obeying sinful demands. It had to do with his godly leadership as described by God, that is to lead by example of godliness and tender protection of his wife and children.

 
1 Peter 3:1-2 “1 Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives 2 when they see your pure and reverent demeanor. “
It is not pure and reverent behavior to look at filthy movies.

 
God gave the woman authority over her household as the helpmate and the keeper of the home. Her authority extended to the activities that go on in the home.

 
A husband can be won to the Lord by the wife’s example of godliness. As she lives for God in all her ways she can be evidence of strength as she “obeys God rather than man.”

 
1 Peter 3:1
Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.”

Demanding that a woman watch filth with the husband only diminishes his respect for her. It is to treat her with disrespect as well as contempt. Any man who does such a thing is an evil man and must be resisted when he pressures his wife to sin with him.

Remember Ananias and Sapphira? There is a very good example of a wife who didn’t love her husband. She was more concerned about her appearances with others than obeying God. Perhaps if she had counseled her husband not to sin against God by lying to the Holy Spirit, they both would not have been killed by God. Or perhaps Ananias would have refused to listen and sinned alone and died alone.

 
Read Acts 5 for this story.
1 Peter 3:16
“Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good life in Christ.” King James uses the word “conversation” in place of "life" here but the original word meaning was “by her lifestyle” not merely words.

 
1 Peter 2:12
“Having your conversation (lifestyle) honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

Ephesians 5:22-24 “22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 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. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."

What does leading in a family look like: Husbands are to lead by example and edification, not by bullying and coercion. The leader must never do anything to cause his wife to sin. His mandate is to protect his wife as he would his own body.

Ephesians 5:25-29 “25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.”

Watching filth on the television is the height of disrespect and contemptuousness toward the wife. A wife does not have to obey such orders. If the husband will not listen to the counsel of his wife to restrain himself from this act of watching filth, she can count him as committing adultery through this activity. To watch filthy films is adultery and pressuring the wife to watch such films is defiance of the Word of God that commands the husband to protect his wife. These films are devastating to the delicate sensibilities of the female soul.

 
The example of the husband in a case like this is the opposite of what God commands to protect his cherished vessel, the wife.

 
The man who told me what he had counseled the tender new believer to do with her husband, called me a rebellious woman for not believing a husband should be allowed to demand his wife to sin against God.

 
To watch this filth was an act of adultery against his wife and the pressure for her to sin in adultery. Watching it will be judged by God severely if the man does not repent. Just like Ananais and Sapphira if the wife goes along with her husband they will both be punished.

 
Have we forgotten the account of Ananias and Sapphira in which the husband and the wife conspired together to lie to the Holy Spirit and they both were killed by God for it? Read Acts 5 for the whole story.

The wife is never told by God in the Word to obey a sinning husband. The Bible instructs the woman to be the keeper of her home. A job that was given to her by God, not by her husband. She is to protect her home by preventing ungodly activities from taking root within that home.

 
The husband is the protector of the wife and children. He is required to lead by his example as well as teach principles of God. If a man does not do this he is disobeying God.

 
As in the account of the three Hebrew young men in the book of Daniel, named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who defied their authority, the king, in order to obey God. So must a woman refuse to sin against God to obey her husband. To obey the husband against God is to make the husband the god in a woman’s life.

Daniel 3:16-28
1 Timothy 2:5 “5For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”

Ladies if a man refused to obey God and encourages his wife to sin against her God, this man is in rebellion and must repent. Pray for his soul that he will be convicted of his sin and you must stay true to God no matter what the consequences. One day there will be a reward for obeying God rather than man.

Do not allow the devil to get a foothold, honor your husband by caring about his wishes and needs but never accept sin or engage in it with your husband.
There are many woman who live with sinning husbands, without love and kindness, they will be rewarded one day if they obey God.

Submission is a Choice and Takes Many Forms

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cBXJa66ci0U

Protecting and Serving is for Both Husband and Wife

For many years people have falsely taught that the head covering for a woman as mentioned in Corinthians was a symbol to show a wife's submission to her husband. This is not the truth.

The head covering mentioned in Corinthians was a symbol that the woman was representative of the church and the man who was to be uncovered was representative of Christ.

Yes, The church is to submit to Christ, therefore the woman is to submit to Christ as Christ submits to the Father. Both husband and wife are to submit to Christ.

This is just one example of misunderstandings that have come about because men who translated the English Bibles were translating according to their own Western mindset rather than what God actually said.

The man is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. Christ led by teaching, nurturing, and love not by force or intimidation. Christ died for mankind so that He might build His church.

When a man sees his wife as nothing more than someone to be bossed, used and treated with disrespect he is violating the scripture in which God tells him to cherish, protect and love his wife as Christ did for His church.

Ephesians 5:24-26 "…24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,…"

Ephesians 5:2

"and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God."

Ephesians 5:24

"Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."

Ephesians 5:28

"In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself."

Ephesians 5:33

"Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."

Colossians 3:19

"Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them."

1 Peter 3:7

"Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered."

Everyone is to submit to everyone else, we are called to be cooperative with one another so that everyone is treated with honor and respect.

Christ is the head of the church and what did He do for us?!!!!

He died for us, and provided protection for us. He told the truth and deferred to others continually. He even obeyed His mother when He was a man when she told Him to make wine. John 2 And, He washed the feet of others to show His purpose on earth was to serve.

He served the first time He came, the second time He comes He will rule over the entire earth.

When God said in Genesis that the woman's desire will be to rule over her husband but her husband will rule over her, God was not saying it was good for the husband to rule over his wife or that she should rule over her husband. He was saying this was a sinful condition of the fall of man after sin came into the world.

A Christian marriage in which the husband is the head and leads by his service should not remotely resemble the condition of the marriage after the fall. The marriage is redeemed from that mess in the fall, to something much more beautiful and precious as the man protects and serves his wife and she submits to his godly leadership.

Everything is a choice not a reluctant action. Man is to choose to lead and serve and the woman is to choose to freely counsel her husband as the helpmate.

Leading does not have to do with a man just getting his way to dominate a woman, this is worldly and ungodly. A woman is not to intimidate a man into doing what he should do, she is to do her own part and he is to do his own part as given to each of them by God.

No one forces, intimidates, mocks or ridicules the other, they encourage the roles God has given them by trusting God to work in one another.

When scripture is taken out of context and those who enforce rules do not seek God we have continual frustration and problems that need not be.

When we trust Christ we need not attempt to shape others into what we think they should be, we lovingly and graciously allow people to be led by the Holy Spirit His way.

Proverbs 4:23

"23 Watch over your heart with all diligence,

For from it flow the springs of life."

Where is That Spiritual Connection?

It is getting harder and harder to know who is saved and who is not because so many people claiming Christianity have no fruit but follow the rules to be accepted but have never been born again.

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

God tells us not to pull up the tares in the church because we might be pulling up the wheat. God said let them grow together; in the end, He will sort it all out.

Also, we read in Matthew 7:21-23 that many, probably most, who say they are Christians will hear the terrible words when they get to heaven; "I NEVER knew you."

Matthew 7:21-23

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Those who are born again do the work but through the Holy Spirit and not in their own flesh.

Have you noticed that there are many people who say they are Christians, who even attend church every week faithfully but you sense no deep connection with them in the Spirit? I am noticing this more and more as time marches toward the end times apostasy.

When we love Christ and others have the Holy Spirit in them we can sense that connection that is Spiritual and not just words.

Anyone Attempting to Gain Heaven by their Own Effort is not Born Again

No authentically born-again believer will ever lose their salvation.

All born-again believers overcome and are preserved by the Spirit of Christ Who lives in them.

We cannot make ourselves saved it is a work of God and we cannot keep ourselves saved, that too is a work of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new [a]creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

God is the One Who changes us into a new creation, we do not do that to ourselves. After we repent and desire to be changed by Christ He comes to live in us and changes us.

Ephesians 2:10

"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

We cannot undo anything God has done and we cannot do anything God can do.

Ephesians 1:13-14

"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in [d]Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

We get no glory for our salvation because the only part in it that we have is to repent. The thief on the cross had no works he had done to earn salvation, His only part in it was that he trusted that Christ was Who He was and did what He did in paying for our sins.

The scriptures people use to claim one can lose their salvation are taken out of context and describe non-believers who were never born again in the first place.

Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

God does not throw people away for sin whom He has changed into a new creation in their Spirit, He disciplines them to bring them back to obedience.

Every believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day the Lord takes them home.

Ephesians 1:13-14

"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

We belong to Christ after He changes us and no one and nothing can undo what He did in us.

John 10:27-29 "…27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28 give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.…"

God said; "I give them life and they will NEVER perish.

In the parable of the 10 virgins, five had oil and were saved and five knew of the oil but didn't have it, they were not saved.

The oil is representative of the Holy Spirit, five had the Holy Spirit because they were saved and the other five knew about God but did not have the Holy Spirit because they were attempting to obtain salvation in their own effort. Matthew 25 1 John 2:19-20 "19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us. 20 You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.…"