Keep “Da Flame Of Jah” Strong

1. Wat da Bible tell true love stay like?

“LOVE stay jalike one strong fire, da flame of Jah.” An “plenny watta no can pio love. Da rivas no can wash um away.”b (Love Song 8:6, 7, NWT) Dass one nice way fo tink about true love, no? Dese scripchas tell one importan trut fo married peopo. You can have one strong love fo each odda.

2. Wat one couple gotta do fo make shua dea love no cool down?

² Fo one husband an wife have strong love fo each odda all dea life, dey gotta work at um. Fo exampo, fo one campfire fo keep burning you gotta keep putting wood on um. If you no do dat, goin pio. Same ting fo one husband an wife, dea love can stay strong ony if dey work on um. Sometimes one couple might feel dat dea love stay cool down speshly wen dey stay goin thru plenny pilikia wit money, dea health, o presha from raising kids. So if you stay married, how you can keep “da flame of Jah” strong in yoa marriage? In dis lesson we goin talk about three ways fo have one strong an happy marriage.c

KEEP MAKING YOA FRENSHIP WIT JEHOVAH MOA STRONG

3. How sticking tight wit Jehovah goin help one couple keep dea love strong? (Da Teacha 4:12) (Go look da picha.)

³ Fo keep “da flame of Jah” strong, both da husband an wife gotta work hard fo stay tight wit Jehovah. How dat goin help dea marriage? Wen being frens wit Jehovah matta to dem, one couple like lissen him an dat goin help dem stay away from an get thru tings dat can make dea love fo each odda cool down. (Read um Da Teacha 4:12.) Spiritual kine peopo work hard fo copy Jehovah an get betta at showing qualities He get—like make nice, be patient, an let each odda go. (Efe 4:32–5:1) Wen one couple show dis kine qualities goin make um moa easy fo dea love grow. One sistah name Lena dat stay married fo ova 25 years tell, “moa easy fo love an respeck somebody dat stay spiritual.”

4. How come Jehovah wen choose Joseph an Mary fo be da maddah an faddah of da Messiah?

⁴ Try tink about dis Bible exampo. Wen Jehovah had fo choose da maddah an faddah fo da future Messiah, He wen choose Joseph an Mary outa all da guys in David’s bloodline. How come? Cuz da two of dem was tight wit Jehovah an He wen know fo shua dey was goin put him firs in dea marriage. You guys dat stay married, wat you can learn from Joseph an Mary?

5. Wat husbands can learn from Joseph?

⁵ Joseph wen like lissen to wat Jehovah had tell him, dat wen make him one betta husband. At least three times, Jehovah wen tell him wat fo do wit his family. Erytime he was fas fo lissen, even wen was hard. (Mat 1:20, 24; 2:13-15, 19-21) By doing wat Jehovah wen tell, Joseph wen proteck Mary an take kea her. Tink about wat Joseph had do an how dat wen make Mary love an respeck him even moa! Husbands, make like Joseph an look da Bible fo know how fo take kea yoa family.d Wen you do wat da Bible tell, even if you gotta change tings up sometimes, you show love fo yoa wife an make yoa marriage moa strong. One sistah dat stay married fo ova 20 years in Vanuatu wen tell, “Wen my husband lissen an do wat Jehovah tell, I respeck him even moa. I feel safe an I can trus wat he choose fo do.”

6. Wat wifes can learn from Mary?

⁶ Mary had her own frenship wit Jehovah, dass how come her faith neva depend on wat Joseph wen do. She wen know da Scripchas real good. (Luk 1:46.) In Luke 1:46-55 she wen talk about ova 20 stuffs from da Hebrew Scripchas. She wen make da time fo tink hard. (Luk 2:19, 51) Fo shua, cuz Mary was frenz wit Jehovah, dat wen make her one real good wife. Plenny wifes do da same like Mary today. Jalike one sistah name Emiko tell: “Wen I no was married I had my own spiritual schedule. But afta I wen get married I had come fo see dat my husband was da one who wen pray fo us an take kea oua spiritual kine tings. I wen figga dat I had depend on him fo do all dose tings fo me. I wen see I needed fo take kea my own kuleana fo stay tight wit Jehovah. Now I make shua I get time fo be wit Him by myself—praying, reading da Scripchas, an tinking real hard about wat I wen study.” (Gal 6:5) Wifes, wen you keep making yoa own frenship wit Jehovah moa stronga, yoa husband goin tell good tings about you an love you even moa.​—Smart Guys 31:30.

7. Wat couples can learn from Joseph an Mary about worshiping togedda?

⁷ Joseph an Mary wen work togedda fo make shua dea frenship wit Jehovah stay strong. Dey wen undastan how importan was fo worship Jehovah togedda az one family. (Luk 2:22-24, 41; 4:16) Mighta been hard fo do dat, speshly wen da family wen get bigga, but dey wen do um. Az one real good exampo fo guys dat stay married today. If you get kids jus like Mary an Joseph, maybe you get hard time go meetings o do family worship. Might be even harder fo find time fo study an pray wit each odda. No foget, wen you worship Jehovah togedda you goin come moa closa to Jehovah an wit each odda. So make worship da numba one ting.

8. Wat one couple can do fo get da mos out of family worship even if get problems in da marriage?

⁸ Wat if get problems in yoa marriage? Cuz a dat you no like even tink about being togedda fo family worship. If dass how you feel, try start wit someting you like an is short, someting dat you both like talk about. Doing dis can make you love each odda moa an make you like do spiritual tings togedda.

SPEND TIME TOGEDDA

9. How come one husband an wife gotta spend time togedda?

⁹ You guys who married, you can keep yoa love strong by spending time togedda. Wen you guys do dat it goin help you stay close cuz you know wat each odda tinking an feeling. (Start 2:24) Look wat Lilia an Ruslan wen find out right afta dey wen get married ova 15 years ago. She tell: “We wen see dat we no could spend az much time togedda az we thought we was goin. All oua days we go work, clean da house, an den layta on take kea oua kids. We wen come fo see dat if we neva make time fo each odda we no was goin stay az close.”

10. How couples can do wat da Bible tell at Fo Da Efesus Peopo 5:15, 16?

¹⁰ Wat couples can do fo make shua dey spend time togedda? You gotta make da time o plan one time fo be wit each odda. (Read um Fo Da Efesus Peopo 5:15, 16.) One braddah in Nigeria name Uzondo tell: “Wen I plan out da tings I goin do, I make shua time wit my wife stay in my plans too, an I put um at da top of da lis.” (Php 1:10) In Moldova, look how Anastasia, one wife of one braddah fo da circuit, make da bestes use of her time. She tell: “I try fo do all da tings I like do wen my husband take kea his kuleanas. Dat way we can spend time togedda bumbye.” But wat if yoa schedules make um hard fo be togedda?

11. Wat tings Aquila an Priscilla wen do togedda?

¹¹ Dose who stay married can learn plenny from Aquila an Priscilla. Plenny of da firs year Christians wen really respeck dem. (Rome 16:3, 4) Even tho da Bible no tell plenny about dea marriage, it tell us dat dey wen work, preach, an help oddas togedda. (Jesus Guys 18:2, 3, 24-26) Weneva da Bible talk about dem, it always talk about dem being togedda.

12. Wat one husband an wife can do fo spend moa time togedda? (Go look da picha.)

¹² How couples can copy Aquila an Priscilla? Try tink about all da tings dat you an yoa odda half gotta do. You can do some of dose tings togedda instead of by yoaself? Aquila an Priscilla wen preach togedda. You can make plans fo do dat togedda o wat? Dey even wen work togedda. Even if you no moa da same job, you can work around da house togedda o wat? (Teacha 4:9) Wen you help each odda get someting done dass jalike you one team an you get moa chance fo talk. Robert an Linda stay married fo ova 50 years. He tell: “To tell you da trut, we no moa plenny time fo go play. But wen I wash da dishes an my wife wipe um o wen I stay pull weeds an she come out fo help dat make me real happy. Doing tings togedda make us moa close an oua love come moa strong.”

13. Fo be tight wit each odda, wat one husband an wife gotta do?

¹³ Rememba, jus cuz you around each odda all da time no mean you goin come moa tight wit each odda. One wife in Brazil tell: “Nowadays, cuz we stay so busy, easy fo tink we spending time togedda jus cuz we living in da same house. I wen learn you gotta do moa den jus be togedda. Da odda ting I gotta do is give my odda half da attention he need.” Look how Bruno an his wife, Tays, make shua dey give each odda attention. He tell: “Wen we spend time togedda we put away oua phones an enjoy each oddas company.”

14. If one couple no like spend time togedda wat dey can do?

¹⁴ Wat if you an yoa odda half no like spend time togedda? You no like do da same tings o you come all irraz wit each odda. Wat you can do? Rememba da campfire we wen talk about earlia. Da ting no jus burn hot right away. Gotta feed um slowly, keep putting bigga an bigga pieces of wood each time. Same ting wit spending litto bit time togedda ery day. Try do someting you both like, not someting you might fight about. (Jam 3:18) Wen you start wit small tings, you get chance fo see yoa love get moa strong.

SHOW EACH ODDA RESPECK

15. How come one couple gotta have respeck fo keep dea love strong?

¹⁵ You gotta have respeck in one marriage. Az like da air dat make da campfire burn moa bright. If no moa dat, da fire goin pio. Same ting, if one couple no moa respeck, dea love goin pio too. But one couple dat try erytime fo show respck to each odda stay working fo keep dea love strong. One ting you gotta rememba, it no matta if you tink you show respeck, wass importan is yoa odda half feel you stay respeck dem. Penny an Aret stay married fo ova 25 years. She tell: “Cuz we get respeck fo each odda, eryting stay good in da house. We no sked tell wat stay on oua mind cuz we know dat wat we say to each odda stay importan.” So wat you can do fo show yoa odda half dat you really respeck him o her? We go check out wat wen happen wit Abraham an Sarah.

16. Wat husbands can learn from Abraham’s exampo? (1 From Peter 3:7) (Go look da picha.)

¹⁶ Abraham wen respeck Sarah. He wen lissen to wat she had fo say an wen respeck how she feel about tings. One time, Sarah had someting dat wen bodda her plenny. She wen let Abraham know how huhu she was an even wen blame him. Abraham wen snap back at her? No. He had know dat mos of da time Sarah back him up an lissen wat he tell. So he wen lissen to her an try fo fix da problem. (Start 16:5, 6) Wat us can learn? Husbands, you get da right fo choose wat yoa ohana do. (1 Cor 11:3) But, da loving ting fo do would be fo tink about how yoa wife feel befoa you make one choice, speshly if da choice goin affeck her. (1 Cor 13:4, 5) Odda times, maybe yoa wife stay stressing an maybe jus like tell you how she feel. You show you respeck her wen you lissen good o wat? (Read um 1 From Peter 3:7.) Angela an Dmitry stay married fo ova 30 years. Talking about how her husband show her plenny respeck, she tell: “Dmitry, he always ready fo lissen to me wen I stay mad o wen I jus like talk. He hang in dea even wen I get all emotional.”

17. Wat wifes can learn from Sarah’s exampo? (1 From Peter 3:5, 6)

¹⁷ Sarah wen show respeck fo Abraham by backing up wat he choose fo do. (Start 12:5) One time, Abraham wen choose fo show aloha to some visitas dat wen show up. He wen ask Sarah fo drop wateva she was doing an go bake plenny bread. (Start 18:6) Sarah wen do um right away fo back up wat Abraham wanted fo do. Wifes, make like Sarah an back up da tings yoa husband choose fo do. Wen you do dat you goin make yoa marriage moa strong. (Read um 1 From Peter 3:5, 6.) Dmitry, da guy we jus wen talk about, tell how his wife make him feel dat she respeck him. He tell: “I really like how Angela try hard fo back up wat I choose fo do even if she no agree. If no work out, she no make me feel bad.” Easy fo love somebody dat show you respeck!

18. How come is good married couples work hard fo keep dea love strong?

¹⁸ Satan like pio da love so dat Christian couples no love each odda. He know dat if dat happen dey might stop loving Jehovah too. But you no can pio true love! If you get dat in yoa marriage, goin be like da kine love dat Da Love Song talk about. Make up yoa mind fo put Jehovah firs in yoa marriage, make time fo each odda, show respeck fo wat each odda feel an need. Wen you do dat yoa marriage goin honor Jehovah, wea fo real kine love come from. An like one fire dat somebody stay feed, yoa love goin burn strong fo as long as you live.