Everyone who asks receives . . . —Luke 11:10
Ask if you have not received. There is nothing more difficult than asking. We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at the limit of desperation will we ask. It is the sense of not being spiritually real that causes us to ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of your total insufficiency and poverty? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God . . . ” (James 1:5), but be sure that you do lack wisdom before you ask. You cannot bring yourself to the point of spiritual reality anytime you choose. The best thing to do, once you realize you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit, basing your request on the promise of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes everything that Jesus did for you real in your life.
“Everyone who asks receives . . . .” This does not mean that you will not get if you do not ask, but it means that until you come to the point of asking, you will not receive from God (see Matthew 5:45). To be able to receive means that you have to come into the relationship of a child of God, and then you comprehend and appreciate mentally, morally, and with spiritual understanding, that these things come from God.
“If any of you lacks wisdom . . . .” If you realize that you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality— do not put the blinders of reason on again. The word ask actually means “beg.” Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are poor enough spiritually to show our interest. Yet we will never receive if we ask with a certain result in mind, because we are asking out of our lust, not out of our poverty. A pauper does not ask out of any reason other than the completely hopeless and painful condition of his poverty. He is not ashamed to beg— blessed are the paupers in spirit (see Matthew 5:3).
第二步妙法
因為凡祈求的就得著。 （路十一10）
沒有一件事比祈求更難的了。我們會渴望、愛慕，甚至受煎熬；但非等到山窮水盡，無路可走，我們決不會祈求。只有一種不現實的感覺才催使我們去祈求。你有沒有從德性貧乏的深坑中向神祈求？ [你們中間若有缺少智慧的，可以向神求……]但千萬要弄清楚你是真的缺少智慧，你無法照自己的意思隨時面對實際的事物。你若覺得沒有屬靈的實在，第二步最佳的辦法就是照主的話求聖靈（參路十一13）。聖靈的工作就是把耶穌為你所成就的一切，變成真實。
[凡祈求的就得著。 ]這不是說，你不求就得不著（比較太五45），而是說你未去到求的地方，就始終不能從神領受什麼。領受的意思就是已與神建立父子的關係，在理智上、精神上，以及屬靈的悟性上，都知道是從神而來的。
[你們中間若有缺少智慧的……]你知道自己的缺乏，因為你摸著了屬靈的實際。請勿把你理智的閃燈亮起。人們會說：[傳簡單的福音給我們吧；不用叫我們成為聖潔，因為這使人覺得自己一貧如洗，這感覺並不好受。 ][求]就是乞求的意思。有些人家徒四壁而安於貧窮，我們中間一些人在屬靈上也是如此。心目中若有目的去求，就永不會從神獲得；因為是出於情慾，而不是由於貧窮。乞丐求乞，除了一貧如洗的理由之外，便沒有別的理由。因此他並不恥於求乞－－靈裡貧窮的人有福了。
祈禱◆主啊，為著這教會，我稱頌你，因為她正證明你是[窮乏人的力量、是急難中困苦人的力量，是波浪中的避難所、是熱氣下的庇蔭]。
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