When God’s Spirit moves, the Word come alive. 神の御霊が動くとき、御言葉が生きてきます。
Pierre brief testimony.
For me:
Romans 10:9 came alive because I was so hungry to know the bottom line of salvation.
The prodigal son “came to his senses” – I had been seeking sign and experiences but the HS showed me that a true conversion experience does not need to be sensational.
Mat 19. Praying over a familiar passage and the Holy Spirit showed me the importance of Jesus’ words. It was like a light went on.
Acts 2:42 says this: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Disciples of Christ are dedicated to His Word.キリストの弟子は御言葉に専念します。 We don’t listen to the Word as we would listen to talk back radio. We don’t read the Word as we would flip through a magazine or read a newspaper. Rather, we devote ourselves to it.
What’s interesting is that this dedication to the Word is usually both a prerequisite for spiritual growth and a measure of it. You can tell if a person is on fire for God by their devotion to the Word. 御言葉に専念することは、たいてい霊的成長に必要不可欠であり、その成長のはかりでもあります。神に心が燃えているかどうかはその人が御言葉に専念しているかどうかで分かります。
“Spirit controlled Christians don’t usually have to force themselves to read the Bible; the Spirit gives them a Holy appetite for it.” Cymbala p56
By contrast, when a Christian has little interest in the Word, it seems dull, there’s little respect for its authority – something is wrong. If we think we can go on living a Christian life like this, we open ourselves to deception – and that only leads to doubt, confusion and dissatisfaction. When we open ourselves to the HS, He creates in us a hunger/craving for God’s truth and a delight in that truth. We rejoice in His truth and it becomes our strength.
一方、御言葉にほとんど興味がないクリスチャンは、鈍く、御言葉の権威にほとんど敬意を示さず、どこかおかしいのです。
聖霊に心を開くなら、神の真理を求める思いとその真理に喜びを感じさせてくれます。私たちは神の真理に喜び、それが私たちの力となるのです。
The Holy Spirit is a better teacher than Jesus. 聖霊はイエスより良い教師です。That’s why Jesus said He had to go so the Spirit of Truth could come to guide us in all truth. Jesus taught from the outside in. The Holy Spirit teaches from the inside out. (This is something we sing about.) The Holy Spirit pierces our hearts – He overcomes the limitations of our voices, ears and brains and teaches our souls. That’s why we can read a passage dozens of times and it can have no special meaning for us, and then suddenly we read it again and it has life-changing power. That is the teaching ministry of the HS.
聖霊は私たちの声、耳、脳の限界を克服し、魂に教えてくれます。だから同じ箇所を何度読んでも特に意味はありませんが、突然、もう一度読んだときに人生を変えるような力があるのです。それが聖霊の教えの働きです。
Do you pray before you read the Bible? 聖書を読む前に祈りますか (I mean, really pray about it)? If you don’t, you’re likely reading the Bible merely with your eyes and your intellect. If you pray beforehand and ask God to open the eyes of your heart to scripture, He will help you see the wonderful things of the law. (Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. Psalm 119:18)
読む前に祈り、心の目を聖書に開いてくださるように神に求めれば、みおしえのすばらしいことが見えるように助けてくださいます。
“If we repeatedly read the Bible without the help of the Holy Spirit, it tends to reinforce our own prejudices and rock hard doctrinal positions.” Cymbala p61
聖霊の助けなしに聖書を何度も読むと、私たち自身の偏見や岩のように硬い教義的な見解を強化しがちです。
We can become so spiritually set in our ways and proud that the Spirit we profess to seek is actually hindered in helping us grow in the things of God.
Egs: Many churches’ response to the abolition of slavery.
The Pharisees.
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39-40
The Pharisees were so passionate for the Word of God – they worshipped it! – but their understanding of it was so poor, they couldn’t recognise the Messiah when He was standing right in front of them! It was the same with the religious leaders who plotted His death. They referenced God’s Word without without any Spirit of revelation, without any brokenness or humility. We, too, without the HS to help us understand what God is saying are likely to read our own biases into the Word.
パリサイ人たちは神の御言葉にとても情熱的で、御言葉を礼拝していました。しかし、御言葉の理解に乏しく、メシヤが目の前に立っていてもその方がメシヤだと分かりませんでした。 彼らは御霊の啓示なしに、砕かれた心や謙虚さもなく神の言葉を言及していました。私たちも神が何を言っているのか理解する聖霊の助けなしでは、御言葉を偏った読み方をしてしまうでしょう。
Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit [the humble before God], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Mat 5:3
We need to ask and allow the HS to not only remind us of the truths we already know and to teach us new things, but to even change our beliefs sometimes. When we come before Him with this sort of humility, trust and openness, we will see fresh priorities, have fresh understanding, see true transformation in our minds and our lives, receive fresh joy, receive new mercies and deeper insight. 謙り、信頼し、心を開いて神の前に来るなら、新たな優先順位が見え、新たな理解ができ、私たちの心と人生に真の変化が見え、新たな喜びを受け、新しい憐れみとより深い洞察力を受けるのです。
1 Cor 2:9-10: “However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”
Do you understand this? If we open our hearts to the HS working with the Word, it says we can even understand the deep things of God.
I’d like some of that!
When you read the Bible this week, ask God – and allow Him – to speak to and teach your soul.
今週、聖書を読むときに、神に魂に語り、教えてくださるよう求めてみてください。
Pray.