August 14, 2014

The Discipline of the Lord

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him —Hebrews 12:5

It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly, “Oh, that must be from the devil.”

“Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, “Don’t be blind on this point anymore— you are not as far along spiritually as you thought you were. Until now I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I’m revealing it to you right now.” When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you. Allow Him to put you into a right-standing relationship before God.

“. . . nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.” We begin to pout, become irritated with God, and then say, “Oh well, I can’t help it. I prayed and things didn’t turn out right anyway. So I’m simply going to give up on everything.” Just think what would happen if we acted like this in any other area of our lives!

Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me— sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me. But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me completely, whatever the cost (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).


管教

你不可輕看主的管教,北他責備的時候,也不可灰心。 (來十二5)

消滅聖靈的感動是很容易的,只要我們輕看主的管教,在他責備的時候灰心,那便成了。我們對聖靈的認識若是膚淺,就會把影子當作實體,聖靈一攔阻,我們就會說:[嗯,那一定是魔鬼。 ]

聖靈說:[不要再在這事上盲目了;你不知道自己所處的光景。我一直未能向你顯示,但現在我要向你啟示。 ]這時候,你不可消滅聖靈的感動,也不可輕看他。當主這樣管教你,就讓他去做吧,讓他恢復你與神的正常關係。 [被他責備的時候,也不可灰心。 ]我們往往生神的氣說:[唉,我也沒有辦法;我曾禱告,但事情並不如理想,我要全部放棄了。 ]試想若在生活其他事情上也這樣說,會帶來怎樣的後果!

我是否願意讓神用大能抓緊我,以致他在我身上作他的工作?成聖不是要神為我作什麼,乃是神要在我身上作什麼。他必要使我心誌上有正確的態度,以致不惜任何代價,我也願意全然成聖。

祈禱◆願你使我對你的感覺、辨認和專注更加敏銳,以致我最關注的,是與你的關係。

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