Friday, March 21, 2014

Choose Your Best Marriage Now! 英語と日本語--結婚 第二部  今から素晴らしい結婚を選びましょう

日本語したに書いてあります。  Scroll down for Japanese.

Last time we talked a little about how to make marriage last a long time.  Today, we will talk about one of the foundations of a long-lasting, successful, happy marriage. This foundation has two pillars.

  1. How to find and choose a marriage partner. 

What kind of person do you want to marry?  Let me suggest a few qualities.  Most of the qualities we want in a marriage partner are the same as those we want in a good friend.

Honest
   Who wants a friend who is a liar?  How can you be friends with, or live with, a person who does not tell the truth ALL the time?

Hard-working
Whether you meet a person at work or school, notice how he or she works or studies. Do you want a lazy partner or friend? Remember, one of you can become sick and the other will have to work very hard to take care of the other and of course, the children.  You want a partner who will work hard at work and at home.  You do not want a lazy partner.

Kind, Patient, Loving
Remember, as you look around for a wife or husband, you are also looking for a mother or father for your children.  EVEN IF right now you think you will not have children, keep this in mind. You may change your mind in a few years.  You can love your kids now by finding them a wonderful mother or father.
Dependable, a promise-keeper
Unless you want a life filled with disappointment, you need to find a partner who is dependable.  If he says he will do something by a certain time, you can believe that it will be done.  AND, if she promises not to do something or to stop doing something, you can believe her. You want to marry someone who keeps promises.

Serious and Funny
The best marriages are filled with laughter, but you also need someone who knows when to be serious.  Just like a diet of sweets is not good for you, too much laughter can be a bad sign in a partner.  

VERY IMPORTANT  So far everything we have said is true of a good friend or colleague.  And you will need many good friends and colleagues.  But there is one relationship that is exclusive - - just between you and one other person.  One of God's best gifts to humans is the gift of sex.  But it also one of the most dangerous gifts.  In His great love, he has given us one rule for sex and put it deep into our hearts.  This rule?  Sex is to be shared ONLY with one person, and only inside the safety, trust, and love of marriage.  
Why?  Think a little.  Do you want a partner who has sex with other people after you are married?  Of course not. You want a person who has sex with only one person - you.   So before marriage, you wait for your special one, and after marriage you keep the trust and safety and love alive by protecting the love you share.

II. How to become a good marriage partner.
This part is easy to write, easy to read, easy to understand, but may be hard to do.  Simply, become the kind of person you are looking for.

Work at becoming Honest, Hard-working, Dependable, Kind, Patient, and Loving, and Serious and Funny!


And... remember to save sexual relations for the person you will marry.  This is the best way to love that person, your future children, and even yourself.


前回は、どのように結婚生活を長続きさせるかについて少しお話ししました。今日は、幸せな結婚生活をうまく長続きさせる基礎についてお話ししましょう。
この基礎には二本の支柱があります。
 1.   結婚相手をどのように選び、見つけるか。 あなたはどんな人と結婚がしたいですか。いくつかの特質を挙げてみましょう。結婚相手に望まれる特質のほとんどは、良い友人に望まれる特質と同じです。 
誠実さ:うそつきの友人がほしいと思う人は誰もいません。いつも真実を言うわけではない人と友達になったり、いっしょに生活したりすることはできないものです。 
働き者:あなたが出会う人が、職場であれ、学校であれ、その人がよく働くか、よく勉強するか見てください。あなたは怠け者の相手や友人を望みますか。あなたは病気になるかもしれないし、その時相手はもう一方の(もちろん子供たちも含まれます)面倒を見るために一生懸命に働かなければならなくなることを覚えておいてください。あなたは職場でも、家庭でも一生懸命に働く人を望みます。怠け者の相手はいらないでしょう。
親切、寛容、愛: あなたが妻、または夫をさがすということは、あなたの子供たちの母親、父親をさがすことでもあるということを覚えてください。たとえ、もし今あなたが子供を持つつもりがないとしても、このことは心に止めておいてください。二~三年たてば、あなたの気持ちが変わるかもしれません。相手がすばらしい母親、または父親だとわかると、あなたは子供たちを愛してあげることができます。
 約束を守る、頼りになる人:あなたの生活が失望感で満たされたいと思うのでなければ、頼りになる相手を見つける必要があります。もしその人がある決まった時に何かをすると言うなら、あなたはそれがなされることを信じていいのです。さらに、その人が何かをしないとか、何かすることをやめるとか約束するなら、その人を信じていいのです。あなたは約束を守る人と結婚したいでしょう。
 真面目さとおもしろさ:最高の結婚生活は笑いに満ちています。しかし、あなたは真面目になるべき時を知っている人が必要です。お菓子ばかりの食生活があなたにとって良くないように、笑ってばかりいる相手は悪い兆候と言えます。
とても重要なこと:
これまで述べたことはすべて良い友達や同僚について言えることです。あなたには多くの良い友達、同僚が必要でしょう。しかし、一つだけこれに含まれない関係(あなたと相手との間で)があります。人間に与らえた神の最もすばらしい贈り物の中に、性という贈り物があります。しかし、同時にそれは最も危険な贈り物でもあるのです。神の偉大な愛の中で、彼は性に関して一つのルールをお与えになり、それを私たちの心の中に深く刻まれました。どんなルールでしょうか。性は、安全で信頼のおける愛ある結婚生活の中でのみ、また、たった一人の人と共有されるべきものです。
なぜでしょうか。少し考えてみてください。あなたはあなたと結婚してからも他の人と性的関係を持つ相手を望みますか。もちろん望まないでしょう。あなたはただ一人、つまりあなただけと性的関係を持つ人を望みます。ですから結婚するまで、あなたは大切な人のために待ちます。そして結婚後、信頼と安全と愛を生かしながら、あなたが共有する愛を守っていきます。 
2.   良い結婚相手となるためにはどのようにするか
このことについては、書いたり、読んだり、理解したりすることは簡単ですが、いざ実行するとなると容易ではありません。しかし、要するに、あなたが探している人のようになりなさいということなのです。
 誠実で、よく働き、頼りになって、親切、寛容、愛情を持ち、真面目で、おもしろい人になるように努めなさいということです。
 そして・・・あなたが結婚する人のために、性的関係を大事に取っておくことを忘れないでください。このことは相手のため、将来の子供たちのため、そしてあなた自身のために一番良い方法です。 


Sunday, March 16, 2014

HOLY SPIRT VERSES in some context, for your meditation

Mt. 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Acts 10: 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.  Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

I Cor 12:1-13  Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans,somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.  4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.  
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

 2 Cor 2:14 ff

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

2 Cor. 3: 4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.


Rom. 8:9-11,14ff

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives lifehas set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the fleshcannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodiesbecause of his Spirit who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.


> Eph 3:16ff

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,17 so that Christ may dwell in your heartsthrough faith. And I pray that you, being rootedand established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.


1 cor. 2:10


God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[b]—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[c] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness,and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”[d]

But we have the mind of Christ.


Jon. 14:26

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that dayyou will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you.26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

“Come now; let us leave.


Eph 1:9

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemptionthrough his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

11 In him we were also chosen,[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal,the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

 Gal 5:16,18,25

13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another.

14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye not be consumed one by another.

16 This I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

18 But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, quarreling, rivalry, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. About these things I tell you again, as I have also told you in times past, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26 Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another and envying one another.


Rom 8:2,4,16

 (NIV)

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives lifehas set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the fleshcannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodiesbecause of his Spirit who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

John 16:12f

John 16

New International Version (NIV)

16 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me.None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocatewill not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.


12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”