No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him . . . —John 6:44
When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says? If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain as God’s throne.
In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will. Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.
Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transformation in my life.
父吸引人
若不是差我的父吸引人，就沒有能到我這裡來的。 （約六44）
神吸引我的時候，就是要運用意志的時候－－我對神賜的啟示有反應嗎？我肯到他那裡去麼？把屬靈的事拿來議論，是不合體統的；神說話的時候，不要人討論。信心不是一項智力上的舉動，乃是一種道德的反應，特意要把自己投上去。我願否絕無保留地把自己投上，照神所說的去做？若肯，就會發現自己紮根於安穩如神寶座的實體上。
傳福音的時候，記得要提出意志的問題。信仰必須出於意志。意志必須順服，而不是屈服在說服力之下，乃是立誌全部投向神和他所說的話，直至不再把信心建在自己所作的事上，而是惟獨信神。其中的攔阻在於我不肯信神，只信自己頭腦的理解。以感覺上來說，我必須不顧一切的投注，必須憑意志相信；這樣，我必須盡很大的努力，把以往對事物的看法丟棄，只對準神自己，否則便無法做到。
人有一種向自己以外去尋索的本能。是神先吸引我，我與他的首要關係，是個人的，不是理智上的。我因著神的吸引，和我決意的相信，便進入與神的關係中，然後，開始在理智上體會並明白這相交的奇妙。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，願你大能的同在，今天如帳棚般四面環繞我，願你的榮耀就在其中。
Showing posts with label Holy Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Spirit. Show all posts
December 22, 2012
December 17, 2012
Redemption— Creating the Need it Satisfies
The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him . . . —1 Corinthians 2:14
The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe . . .” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have no sense of need for the gospel. It is God who creates this sense of need in a human being, but that person remains totally unaware of his need until God makes Himself evident. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you . . .” (Matthew 7:7). But God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He wants to withhold something from us, but that is the plan He has established for the way of redemption. Through our asking, God puts His process in motion, creating something in us that was nonexistent until we asked. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time. And as redemption creates the life of God in us, it also creates the things which belong to that life. The only thing that can possibly satisfy the need is what created the need. This is the meaning of redemption— it creates and it satisfies.
Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need. But once Jesus Christ is “lifted up,” the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
救贖創造需要，也滿足需要
然而屬血氣的人不領會神聖靈的事，反倒以為愚拙。 （林前二14）
神的福音能叫人產生對福音的需要。保羅說：[如果我們的福音蒙蔽。 ]是對那些惡人蒙蔽嗎？不是的。 [蒙蔽在滅亡的人身上，此等不信之人，被這世界的神弄瞎了心眼。 ]大多數人都有自己持守的道德觀念，覺得不需要福音。神於是造出這個需要來；他若不彰顯自己，根本沒有人覺得有此需要。耶穌說：[祈求，就給你們。 ]但人未祈求，神就不能給。不是他保留不給，但這是他根據救贖所定下的原則。正因我們求，神就作工，為我們創造那些未求之前不存在的東西。救贖的精義，就是不斷的創造。救贖既在我們裡面創造了神的生命，也創造屬於那生命的東西。惟有叫人產生這需要的，才能滿足這需要。這就是救贖的意思－－它創造，它也滿足。
[人子若從地上被舉起來，就必吸引萬人來歸我。 ]我們傳講自己的經歷，別人雖感興趣，可是卻不喚起他的需要。若耶穌基督被舉起來，神的靈便叫人覺得需要基督。在傳揚福音的背後，是神不斷創造的救贖大工在人心裡動工。個人見證絕對不能拯救人。 [我對你們說的話，就是靈，就是生命。 ]
祈禱◆主啊，我何其渴望看見你、聽見你、默想你和愈來愈像你！你曾經說過：[又要以耶和華為樂，他就將你心裡所求的賜給你。 ]
The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe . . .” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have no sense of need for the gospel. It is God who creates this sense of need in a human being, but that person remains totally unaware of his need until God makes Himself evident. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you . . .” (Matthew 7:7). But God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He wants to withhold something from us, but that is the plan He has established for the way of redemption. Through our asking, God puts His process in motion, creating something in us that was nonexistent until we asked. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time. And as redemption creates the life of God in us, it also creates the things which belong to that life. The only thing that can possibly satisfy the need is what created the need. This is the meaning of redemption— it creates and it satisfies.
Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need. But once Jesus Christ is “lifted up,” the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
救贖創造需要，也滿足需要
然而屬血氣的人不領會神聖靈的事，反倒以為愚拙。 （林前二14）
神的福音能叫人產生對福音的需要。保羅說：[如果我們的福音蒙蔽。 ]是對那些惡人蒙蔽嗎？不是的。 [蒙蔽在滅亡的人身上，此等不信之人，被這世界的神弄瞎了心眼。 ]大多數人都有自己持守的道德觀念，覺得不需要福音。神於是造出這個需要來；他若不彰顯自己，根本沒有人覺得有此需要。耶穌說：[祈求，就給你們。 ]但人未祈求，神就不能給。不是他保留不給，但這是他根據救贖所定下的原則。正因我們求，神就作工，為我們創造那些未求之前不存在的東西。救贖的精義，就是不斷的創造。救贖既在我們裡面創造了神的生命，也創造屬於那生命的東西。惟有叫人產生這需要的，才能滿足這需要。這就是救贖的意思－－它創造，它也滿足。
[人子若從地上被舉起來，就必吸引萬人來歸我。 ]我們傳講自己的經歷，別人雖感興趣，可是卻不喚起他的需要。若耶穌基督被舉起來，神的靈便叫人覺得需要基督。在傳揚福音的背後，是神不斷創造的救贖大工在人心裡動工。個人見證絕對不能拯救人。 [我對你們說的話，就是靈，就是生命。 ]
祈禱◆主啊，我何其渴望看見你、聽見你、默想你和愈來愈像你！你曾經說過：[又要以耶和華為樂，他就將你心裡所求的賜給你。 ]
November 29, 2012
The Supremacy of Jesus Christ
He will glorify Me . . . —John 16:14
The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.
The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!
Jesus said, “. . . when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, . . . He will glorify Me . . .” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.
The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.
The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!
Jesus said, “. . . when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, . . . He will glorify Me . . .” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.
November 08, 2012
The Unrivaled Power of Prayer
We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered —Romans 8:26
We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.
“He,” the Holy Spirit in you, “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). And God searches your heart, not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is.
The Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His prayers of intercession. “. . . your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . .” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, “. . . He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16). The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple, and said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer . . . . But you have made it a ’den of thieves’ ” (Mark 11:17).
Have we come to realize that our “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don’t know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.
We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.
“He,” the Holy Spirit in you, “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). And God searches your heart, not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is.
The Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His prayers of intercession. “. . . your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . .” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, “. . . He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16). The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple, and said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer . . . . But you have made it a ’den of thieves’ ” (Mark 11:17).
Have we come to realize that our “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don’t know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.
November 07, 2012
The Undetected Sacredness of Circumstances
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . . —Romans 8:28
The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of your circumstances and say, “I’m going to be my own providence here; I will watch this closely, or protect myself from that.” All your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.
Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being vague and unsure, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession— utilizing the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them.
Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, “. . . but the Spirit Himself makes intercession” in each of our lives (Romans 8:26). And without that intercession, the lives of others would be left in poverty and in ruin.
環境是不知不覺中的聖地
萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處。 （羅八28）
信徒的際遇是神所命定的，信徒生命中沒有偶然那一回事。神在他的旨意中，預備一些你不明白的環境，但神的靈卻明白。他把你帶到某些地方，叫你遇到某些人，遭遇某些事，為使聖靈的代求透過你，行在某一道路上。切勿在環境中說：[我要自己作主；我要當心這個，小心那個。 ]一切環境都在神手中，所以不必為所處的環境滿腹狐疑。你代求的責任，不是要千辛萬苦，乃是用神給你日常的生活際遇，把神安排給你碰到的人帶到他座前，讓你裡面的聖靈有機會為他們代求。這樣，神就能透過聖徒得著整個世界。
我是否無目的，叫聖靈難以工作？我是否要代替聖靈來工作？在代求的事上，我要盡上人的本分，這是指我所處的環境，和我接觸的人。我得把這有知覺的生命作聖靈的聖地，把不同的人帶到神面前，讓聖靈為他們代求。你的代求不能代替我的，我的代求也不能代替你的，只有聖靈在我們個別生命中代求。沒有這代求，人的生命就必受到虧損。
祈禱◆主啊，我投向你，因著你大能的救贖，我以那偉大的勝利禱文來作祈禱：[我們若照他的旨意求什麽，他就听我們，這是我們向他所存坦然無懼的心。 ]
The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of your circumstances and say, “I’m going to be my own providence here; I will watch this closely, or protect myself from that.” All your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.
Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being vague and unsure, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession— utilizing the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them.
Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, “. . . but the Spirit Himself makes intercession” in each of our lives (Romans 8:26). And without that intercession, the lives of others would be left in poverty and in ruin.
環境是不知不覺中的聖地
萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處。 （羅八28）
信徒的際遇是神所命定的，信徒生命中沒有偶然那一回事。神在他的旨意中，預備一些你不明白的環境，但神的靈卻明白。他把你帶到某些地方，叫你遇到某些人，遭遇某些事，為使聖靈的代求透過你，行在某一道路上。切勿在環境中說：[我要自己作主；我要當心這個，小心那個。 ]一切環境都在神手中，所以不必為所處的環境滿腹狐疑。你代求的責任，不是要千辛萬苦，乃是用神給你日常的生活際遇，把神安排給你碰到的人帶到他座前，讓你裡面的聖靈有機會為他們代求。這樣，神就能透過聖徒得著整個世界。
我是否無目的，叫聖靈難以工作？我是否要代替聖靈來工作？在代求的事上，我要盡上人的本分，這是指我所處的環境，和我接觸的人。我得把這有知覺的生命作聖靈的聖地，把不同的人帶到神面前，讓聖靈為他們代求。你的代求不能代替我的，我的代求也不能代替你的，只有聖靈在我們個別生命中代求。沒有這代求，人的生命就必受到虧損。
祈禱◆主啊，我投向你，因著你大能的救贖，我以那偉大的勝利禱文來作祈禱：[我們若照他的旨意求什麽，他就听我們，這是我們向他所存坦然無懼的心。 ]
October 22, 2012
The Witness of the Spirit
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit . . . —Romans 8:16
We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him—we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.
Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself—He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . . .” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).
The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.
聖靈的見證
聖靈與我們的心同證……（羅八16）
我們常存交易的心到神面前。我們順服神吩咐之前，先要求見證。 [為什麼神不向我顯示他自己？ ]他不能。不是他不肯，而是不能，因為你若不完全降服於神，你就成為神向你顯示的攔阻。你一降服，她就即時為自己作見證；他不能向你見證，乃是向他在你裡面的本性見證。若你先得著見證，那不過是情感作用。在你不再理論爭辯的那一刻，神見證他的作為，你會因自己的悖逆而詫異，因為你竟讓神苦等。若以仍為神是否能救人脫罪的問題爭辯的話，最好是讓他去做，或乾脆對他說：你無此能力。不要引用這人或那人的說話，試試馬太福音十一章28節的話－－[到我這裡來。 ]你若勞苦擔重擔，來吧；你若自知有罪，求吧（路十一13）。
我們天然常理的抉擇，往往來得很簡單，很容易誤認作聖靈的見證；可是，聖靈只對他的本性，和救贖的工作見證，而不能向我們的推理見證。若一味要聖靈向我們的理性見證，難怪我們總在黑暗疑雲中。把這些一概拋開，信靠神，他自然給我們見證。
祈禱◆主啊，我無助地來到你面前，卻盼望因著你的靈的內住，我可以被你的愛、你神性無私的屬性，你慈憐的忍耐所充滿，不再被個人的因素所傷害。
We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him—we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.
Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself—He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . . .” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).
The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.
聖靈的見證
聖靈與我們的心同證……（羅八16）
我們常存交易的心到神面前。我們順服神吩咐之前，先要求見證。 [為什麼神不向我顯示他自己？ ]他不能。不是他不肯，而是不能，因為你若不完全降服於神，你就成為神向你顯示的攔阻。你一降服，她就即時為自己作見證；他不能向你見證，乃是向他在你裡面的本性見證。若你先得著見證，那不過是情感作用。在你不再理論爭辯的那一刻，神見證他的作為，你會因自己的悖逆而詫異，因為你竟讓神苦等。若以仍為神是否能救人脫罪的問題爭辯的話，最好是讓他去做，或乾脆對他說：你無此能力。不要引用這人或那人的說話，試試馬太福音十一章28節的話－－[到我這裡來。 ]你若勞苦擔重擔，來吧；你若自知有罪，求吧（路十一13）。
我們天然常理的抉擇，往往來得很簡單，很容易誤認作聖靈的見證；可是，聖靈只對他的本性，和救贖的工作見證，而不能向我們的推理見證。若一味要聖靈向我們的理性見證，難怪我們總在黑暗疑雲中。把這些一概拋開，信靠神，他自然給我們見證。
祈禱◆主啊，我無助地來到你面前，卻盼望因著你的靈的內住，我可以被你的愛、你神性無私的屬性，你慈憐的忍耐所充滿，不再被個人的因素所傷害。
October 21, 2012
Impulsiveness or Discipleship?
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . . —Jude 20
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes.
被沖動引導
"你們卻要在至聖的真道上造就自己" 猶20
我們的主既沒有衝動的本性，也不是冷血無情，他有一種鎮定的力量永遠不會陷入恐慌。我們大多數人是按著自己性情的方式來過基督徒的生活，而不是按著神的方式。衝動是天然生命的特性，但我們的主卻總是不顧它，因為衝動會阻礙門徒生命的成長。留意神的靈如何阻止我們的衝動，他的阻止帶來一種自覺愚蠢倉促，使我們立刻想要為自己辯護。對於一個孩子，衝動還可以接受，但對於一個大人，衝動就是災難性的了。一個衝動的人常是一個耍小孩子脾氣的人。衝動必須要藉著管教訓練成為直覺。
作門徒完全建造在神超自然的恩典上。行走在水面對於憑著一股衝動的勇氣是容易的，但行走在乾地上作耶穌基督的門徒卻是一件不同的事情。彼得在水面上向耶穌走去，但在地上卻遠遠地跟著他。我們不需要神的恩典去面對危機，人的本性和驕傲已經足夠了。我們可以高貴地面對壓力，但每天二十四小時活出聖徒的生活，像一個門徒一樣經受勞苦，過一個平凡、沒人留意、被人忽視的生活，就一定需要神超自然的恩典。我們的天性想要為神做一件特別的事，但不需要這樣。我們應當在平凡事上成為不平凡，在簡陋的街道中,在卑劣的人群中成為聖潔，這不是五分鐘學得會的功課。
There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes.
被沖動引導
"你們卻要在至聖的真道上造就自己" 猶20
我們的主既沒有衝動的本性，也不是冷血無情，他有一種鎮定的力量永遠不會陷入恐慌。我們大多數人是按著自己性情的方式來過基督徒的生活，而不是按著神的方式。衝動是天然生命的特性，但我們的主卻總是不顧它，因為衝動會阻礙門徒生命的成長。留意神的靈如何阻止我們的衝動，他的阻止帶來一種自覺愚蠢倉促，使我們立刻想要為自己辯護。對於一個孩子，衝動還可以接受，但對於一個大人，衝動就是災難性的了。一個衝動的人常是一個耍小孩子脾氣的人。衝動必須要藉著管教訓練成為直覺。
作門徒完全建造在神超自然的恩典上。行走在水面對於憑著一股衝動的勇氣是容易的，但行走在乾地上作耶穌基督的門徒卻是一件不同的事情。彼得在水面上向耶穌走去，但在地上卻遠遠地跟著他。我們不需要神的恩典去面對危機，人的本性和驕傲已經足夠了。我們可以高貴地面對壓力，但每天二十四小時活出聖徒的生活，像一個門徒一樣經受勞苦，過一個平凡、沒人留意、被人忽視的生活，就一定需要神超自然的恩典。我們的天性想要為神做一件特別的事，但不需要這樣。我們應當在平凡事上成為不平凡，在簡陋的街道中,在卑劣的人群中成為聖潔，這不是五分鐘學得會的功課。
September 24, 2012
The “Go” of Preparation
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift—Matthew 5:23-24
It is easy for us to imagine that we will suddenly come to a point in our lives where we are fully prepared, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished. In fact, it is a process that must be steadily maintained. It is dangerous to become settled and complacent in our present level of experience. The Christian life requires preparation and more preparation.
The sense of sacrifice in the Christian life is readily appealing to a new Christian. From a human standpoint, the one thing that attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense of the heroic, and a close examination of us by our Lord’s words suddenly puts this tide of enthusiasm to the test. “. . . go your way. First be reconciled to your brother. . . .” The “go” of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely. Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light. If there is sin in your life, don’t just admit it— confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?
Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you. You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go. But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, “I will not give up my right to myself”— the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
[去]的準備
所以你在祭壇上獻禮物的時候，若想起弟兄向你懷怨，就把禮物留在壇前，先去同弟兄和好，然後來獻禮物。 （太五23-24）
我們很容易幻想自己會達到一個完全準備妥當的地步，但其實準備功夫不是突然間可以作成，準備乃是一個不斷持續的過程。陷進固有的經歷中，是一種危險。我們要準備加上準備。 [犧牲精神]對青年信徒來說，是很具吸引力。按人性論，唯一吸引我們向主耶穌的，就是那英雄氣概。可是在主話的細察下，這熱潮要受到考驗。主說：[先去同弟兄和好。 ][去]的準備，是先讓神的話查驗。單有英雄氣概是不夠的。聖靈要在你身上查處不合用於事奉的意向。這意向，除了神以外，沒有人能查察出來。你有什麼東西要向神隱藏？若有，就讓神用他的光來搜查。若有罪，就要認罪，不要單單承認。不管是怎樣卑躬，你願意順服主麼？
千萬不可不顧良心的譴責。若神的靈叫你想起那事，那事就是重要的，是他所要查察的。你以往不斷要找些大的事來放棄，神卻要你註一些小事。因為在這小事的背後，正藏著頑梗的大本營：[我不肯放棄自己的主權。 ]若要作耶穌基督的門徒，神要你放棄的正是你的主權。
祈禱◆主啊，讓今天充滿了對你的讚美。願你使我脫離各式各樣的煩擾。為著我的思想能專注於你，我讚美你，但我仍渴望你的美善臨到我身上。
It is easy for us to imagine that we will suddenly come to a point in our lives where we are fully prepared, but preparation is not suddenly accomplished. In fact, it is a process that must be steadily maintained. It is dangerous to become settled and complacent in our present level of experience. The Christian life requires preparation and more preparation.
The sense of sacrifice in the Christian life is readily appealing to a new Christian. From a human standpoint, the one thing that attracts us to Jesus Christ is our sense of the heroic, and a close examination of us by our Lord’s words suddenly puts this tide of enthusiasm to the test. “. . . go your way. First be reconciled to your brother. . . .” The “go” of preparation is to allow the Word of God to examine you closely. Your sense of heroic sacrifice is not good enough. The thing the Holy Spirit will detect in you is your nature that can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light. If there is sin in your life, don’t just admit it— confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be?
Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you. You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go. But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, “I will not give up my right to myself”— the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
[去]的準備
所以你在祭壇上獻禮物的時候，若想起弟兄向你懷怨，就把禮物留在壇前，先去同弟兄和好，然後來獻禮物。 （太五23-24）
我們很容易幻想自己會達到一個完全準備妥當的地步，但其實準備功夫不是突然間可以作成，準備乃是一個不斷持續的過程。陷進固有的經歷中，是一種危險。我們要準備加上準備。 [犧牲精神]對青年信徒來說，是很具吸引力。按人性論，唯一吸引我們向主耶穌的，就是那英雄氣概。可是在主話的細察下，這熱潮要受到考驗。主說：[先去同弟兄和好。 ][去]的準備，是先讓神的話查驗。單有英雄氣概是不夠的。聖靈要在你身上查處不合用於事奉的意向。這意向，除了神以外，沒有人能查察出來。你有什麼東西要向神隱藏？若有，就讓神用他的光來搜查。若有罪，就要認罪，不要單單承認。不管是怎樣卑躬，你願意順服主麼？
千萬不可不顧良心的譴責。若神的靈叫你想起那事，那事就是重要的，是他所要查察的。你以往不斷要找些大的事來放棄，神卻要你註一些小事。因為在這小事的背後，正藏著頑梗的大本營：[我不肯放棄自己的主權。 ]若要作耶穌基督的門徒，神要你放棄的正是你的主權。
祈禱◆主啊，讓今天充滿了對你的讚美。願你使我脫離各式各樣的煩擾。為著我的思想能專注於你，我讚美你，但我仍渴望你的美善臨到我身上。
September 08, 2012
Do It Yourself (1)
. . . casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God . . . —2 Corinthians 10:5
Determinedly Demolish Some Things. Deliverance from sin is not the same as deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, that the saint can only destroy through sheer neglect. But there are other things that have to be destroyed through violence, that is, through God’s divine strength imparted by His Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but only to “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord . . .” (see Exodus 14:13). But every theory or thought that raises itself up as a fortified barrier “against the knowledge of God” is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not through human effort or by compromise (see 2 Corinthians 10:4).
It is only when God has transformed our nature and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin— Jesus Christ conquered that in His redemption of us. The conflict is waged over turning our natural life into a spiritual life. This is never done easily, nor does God intend that it be so. It is accomplished only through a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense that He makes our character holy. He makes us holy in the sense that He has made us innocent before Him. And then we have to turn that innocence into holy character through the moral choices we make. These choices are continually opposed and hostile to the things of our natural life which have become so deeply entrenched— the very things that raise themselves up as fortified barriers “against the knowledge of God.” We can either turn back, making ourselves of no value to the kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things, allowing Jesus to bring another son to glory (see Hebrews 2:10).
自己做
將各樣的計謀，各樣阻攔人認識神的那些自高之事，一概攻破了。 （林後十5）
從罪得釋放，並不等於從人性中得釋放。人性中有些東西（例如偏見），聖徒要不顧，才能毀滅；有些東西要靠強力，就是神屬天得能力來拆毀；而另外有些東西則不用爭戰，我們只管站住，靜靜觀看神的拯救。任何理論或觀念，若阻礙了對神的認識，就必須立志靠神的能力去拆毀，而不是靠肉體的努力或妥協（林後十4）。
惟有當我們的性情被神改造，進入成聖的經驗裡去，這一場爭戰才可開始。這場仗不是向罪打，我們永無法與罪對抗：耶穌嫉妒的救贖已對付了罪。戰線是在於把天然生命轉為屬靈生命，這不是容易的，神也不想把這事變得容易。這事的作成，是要經過一連串的道德選擇，神使我們成聖，並不在品性上；乃是叫我們無罪，然後把這無罪透過一連串的道德選擇，轉變成為聖潔的品性。這些選擇往往不斷與我們天然生命的盤踞點，及那些阻攔我們認識神的保壘對抗。我們以回頭，在神的國里一事無成；或者，我們可以決意拆毀這些東西，讓耶穌多得一個兒子進到榮耀裡去。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，願你這天成為一個完全屬乎你這位王的日子。感動我們，噢，主啊，讓我們在屬靈和物質上的一切生活，都可以配合你的計劃。只要是出於你的感動，一切都會變得美好。
Determinedly Demolish Some Things. Deliverance from sin is not the same as deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, that the saint can only destroy through sheer neglect. But there are other things that have to be destroyed through violence, that is, through God’s divine strength imparted by His Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but only to “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord . . .” (see Exodus 14:13). But every theory or thought that raises itself up as a fortified barrier “against the knowledge of God” is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not through human effort or by compromise (see 2 Corinthians 10:4).
It is only when God has transformed our nature and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin— Jesus Christ conquered that in His redemption of us. The conflict is waged over turning our natural life into a spiritual life. This is never done easily, nor does God intend that it be so. It is accomplished only through a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense that He makes our character holy. He makes us holy in the sense that He has made us innocent before Him. And then we have to turn that innocence into holy character through the moral choices we make. These choices are continually opposed and hostile to the things of our natural life which have become so deeply entrenched— the very things that raise themselves up as fortified barriers “against the knowledge of God.” We can either turn back, making ourselves of no value to the kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things, allowing Jesus to bring another son to glory (see Hebrews 2:10).
自己做
將各樣的計謀，各樣阻攔人認識神的那些自高之事，一概攻破了。 （林後十5）
從罪得釋放，並不等於從人性中得釋放。人性中有些東西（例如偏見），聖徒要不顧，才能毀滅；有些東西要靠強力，就是神屬天得能力來拆毀；而另外有些東西則不用爭戰，我們只管站住，靜靜觀看神的拯救。任何理論或觀念，若阻礙了對神的認識，就必須立志靠神的能力去拆毀，而不是靠肉體的努力或妥協（林後十4）。
惟有當我們的性情被神改造，進入成聖的經驗裡去，這一場爭戰才可開始。這場仗不是向罪打，我們永無法與罪對抗：耶穌嫉妒的救贖已對付了罪。戰線是在於把天然生命轉為屬靈生命，這不是容易的，神也不想把這事變得容易。這事的作成，是要經過一連串的道德選擇，神使我們成聖，並不在品性上；乃是叫我們無罪，然後把這無罪透過一連串的道德選擇，轉變成為聖潔的品性。這些選擇往往不斷與我們天然生命的盤踞點，及那些阻攔我們認識神的保壘對抗。我們以回頭，在神的國里一事無成；或者，我們可以決意拆毀這些東西，讓耶穌多得一個兒子進到榮耀裡去。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，願你這天成為一個完全屬乎你這位王的日子。感動我們，噢，主啊，讓我們在屬靈和物質上的一切生活，都可以配合你的計劃。只要是出於你的感動，一切都會變得美好。
August 22, 2012
“I Indeed . . . But He”
I indeed baptize you with water . . . but He . . . will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire —Matthew 3:11
Have I ever come to the point in my life where I can say, “I indeed . . . but He . . .”? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. I indeed am at the end, and I cannot do anything more— but He begins right there— He does the things that no one else can ever do. Am I prepared for His coming? Jesus cannot come and do His work in me as long as there is anything blocking the way, whether it is something good or bad. When He comes to me, am I prepared for Him to drag every wrong thing I have ever done into the light? That is exactly where He comes. Wherever I know I am unclean is where He will put His feet and stand, and wherever I think I am clean is where He will remove His feet and walk away.
Repentance does not cause a sense of sin— it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals. Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possibly trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John is not speaking here of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience, but as a work performed by Jesus Christ. “He will baptize you . . . .” The only experience that those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit are ever conscious of is the experience of sensing their absolute unworthiness.
“I indeed” was this in the past, “but He” came and something miraculous happened. Get to the end of yourself where you can do nothing, but where He does everything.
我是……但祂
我是用水給你們施洗，……但……他要用聖靈與火給你們施洗。 （太三11）
我是否已經到達可以說[我是……但他]的地步？未經歷這一刻，便實在不知道聖靈的洗到底是什麼意思。我果真到了盡頭，一無辦法；他就在此開始作人所無法作的。我預備好迎接他的來臨嗎？若路上有東西阻隔，不論是好是壞，他都不能來。在他來的時候，我是否預備好讓他把我一切的錯失帶到光中對付？他正要在這些事上臨到你。我明知不潔的地方，他就插足其中；我以為潔淨的地方，他就離去。
悔改並不會帶來罪疚感，只會叫人覺得自己絕對的不配。我悔改時，知道自己無能為力，連替他提鞋也不配。我有沒有這樣悔改過？還是暗地裡還為自己留一點餘地？神仍未能進入我的生命，是因為我還未徹底悔改。 [他要用聖靈與火給你們施洗。 ]約翰並沒有把聖靈的洗當作一個經歷，他是視之為耶穌基督的工作。 [他要給你們施洗。 ]凡受過聖靈施洗的人，唯一的知覺就是自己完全不配。 [我是……]這樣或那樣，[但他]來了，奇妙的事就發生。我們退居末位吧，讓他成就一切。
祈禱◆主啊，我多麼貧乏！那麼多的軟弱潛伏在隱藏的地方，要將我整個人摧毀。噢，主啊，我投向你。我何等需要認識到，離開了你，我便不能作什麼。
Have I ever come to the point in my life where I can say, “I indeed . . . but He . . .”? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. I indeed am at the end, and I cannot do anything more— but He begins right there— He does the things that no one else can ever do. Am I prepared for His coming? Jesus cannot come and do His work in me as long as there is anything blocking the way, whether it is something good or bad. When He comes to me, am I prepared for Him to drag every wrong thing I have ever done into the light? That is exactly where He comes. Wherever I know I am unclean is where He will put His feet and stand, and wherever I think I am clean is where He will remove His feet and walk away.
Repentance does not cause a sense of sin— it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals. Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possibly trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John is not speaking here of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience, but as a work performed by Jesus Christ. “He will baptize you . . . .” The only experience that those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit are ever conscious of is the experience of sensing their absolute unworthiness.
“I indeed” was this in the past, “but He” came and something miraculous happened. Get to the end of yourself where you can do nothing, but where He does everything.
我是……但祂
我是用水給你們施洗，……但……他要用聖靈與火給你們施洗。 （太三11）
我是否已經到達可以說[我是……但他]的地步？未經歷這一刻，便實在不知道聖靈的洗到底是什麼意思。我果真到了盡頭，一無辦法；他就在此開始作人所無法作的。我預備好迎接他的來臨嗎？若路上有東西阻隔，不論是好是壞，他都不能來。在他來的時候，我是否預備好讓他把我一切的錯失帶到光中對付？他正要在這些事上臨到你。我明知不潔的地方，他就插足其中；我以為潔淨的地方，他就離去。
悔改並不會帶來罪疚感，只會叫人覺得自己絕對的不配。我悔改時，知道自己無能為力，連替他提鞋也不配。我有沒有這樣悔改過？還是暗地裡還為自己留一點餘地？神仍未能進入我的生命，是因為我還未徹底悔改。 [他要用聖靈與火給你們施洗。 ]約翰並沒有把聖靈的洗當作一個經歷，他是視之為耶穌基督的工作。 [他要給你們施洗。 ]凡受過聖靈施洗的人，唯一的知覺就是自己完全不配。 [我是……]這樣或那樣，[但他]來了，奇妙的事就發生。我們退居末位吧，讓他成就一切。
祈禱◆主啊，我多麼貧乏！那麼多的軟弱潛伏在隱藏的地方，要將我整個人摧毀。噢，主啊，我投向你。我何等需要認識到，離開了你，我便不能作什麼。
August 14, 2012
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。
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。
July 25, 2012
Am I Blessed Like This?
Blessed are . . . —Matthew 5:3-11
When we first read the statements of Jesus, they seem wonderfully simple and unstartling, and they sink unnoticed into our subconscious minds. For instance, the Beatitudes initially seem to be merely soothing and beautiful precepts for overly spiritual and seemingly useless people, but of very little practical use in the rigid, fast-paced workdays of the world in which we live. We soon find, however, that the Beatitudes contain the “dynamite” of the Holy Spirit. And they “explode” when the circumstances of our lives cause them to do so. When the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance one of the Beatitudes, we say, “What a startling statement that is!” Then we must decide whether or not we will accept the tremendous spiritual upheaval that will be produced in our circumstances if we obey His words. That is the way the Spirit of God works. We do not need to be born again to apply the Sermon on the Mount literally. The literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is as easy as child’s play. But the interpretation by the Spirit of God as He applies our Lord’s statements to our circumstances is the strict and difficult work of a saint.
The teachings of Jesus are all out of proportion when compared to our natural way of looking at things, and they come to us initially with astonishing discomfort. We gradually have to conform our walk and conversation to the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations— it is a picture of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His unhindered way with us.
我有這福嗎？
……有福了。 （太五3-10）
初讀主耶穌的話時，但覺平平無奇，於是不自覺地拋諸腦後。例如八福就似乎只是一套溫和優美的觀念。是為那些超世閒逸的人而設的，對於這個冷酷、平凡的世界，並無實際用場。可是，不久我們就會發現，八福其實有聖靈的炸藥，當碰到生活環境的引發線，就會爆炸。聖靈會提醒人八福中的某一項，我們就會說：[多令人震驚的一句話呀！ ]我們就得決定，是否願意接受屬靈上的重大的改變。我們若肯順服，在所處的環境中就必產生得救的人，也可以依字面應用登山寶訓。按字面意義來解釋登山寶訓是小孩的玩意；但照神的靈把主的話應用在我們的際遇上，卻是聖徒一項嚴肅的功課。
耶穌的教訓與我們看事的常理大不相同，開始的時候會令人渾身不舒服。當聖靈把主的話應用在我們實際環境中，我們便要慢慢學習，依從主耶穌的觀念來做事及說話。登山寶訓不是一套規條，而是生活的寫照，就是當我們順服聖靈時所活出的生命。
祈禱◆主啊，最近我感到暗晦而不明朗，好像你正在帶領我進入一個真理的範疇，是我前所未到過的。主啊，高舉我，直至我看見你；支持我，直至我完成你的計劃。
When we first read the statements of Jesus, they seem wonderfully simple and unstartling, and they sink unnoticed into our subconscious minds. For instance, the Beatitudes initially seem to be merely soothing and beautiful precepts for overly spiritual and seemingly useless people, but of very little practical use in the rigid, fast-paced workdays of the world in which we live. We soon find, however, that the Beatitudes contain the “dynamite” of the Holy Spirit. And they “explode” when the circumstances of our lives cause them to do so. When the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance one of the Beatitudes, we say, “What a startling statement that is!” Then we must decide whether or not we will accept the tremendous spiritual upheaval that will be produced in our circumstances if we obey His words. That is the way the Spirit of God works. We do not need to be born again to apply the Sermon on the Mount literally. The literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is as easy as child’s play. But the interpretation by the Spirit of God as He applies our Lord’s statements to our circumstances is the strict and difficult work of a saint.
The teachings of Jesus are all out of proportion when compared to our natural way of looking at things, and they come to us initially with astonishing discomfort. We gradually have to conform our walk and conversation to the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations— it is a picture of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His unhindered way with us.
我有這福嗎？
……有福了。 （太五3-10）
初讀主耶穌的話時，但覺平平無奇，於是不自覺地拋諸腦後。例如八福就似乎只是一套溫和優美的觀念。是為那些超世閒逸的人而設的，對於這個冷酷、平凡的世界，並無實際用場。可是，不久我們就會發現，八福其實有聖靈的炸藥，當碰到生活環境的引發線，就會爆炸。聖靈會提醒人八福中的某一項，我們就會說：[多令人震驚的一句話呀！ ]我們就得決定，是否願意接受屬靈上的重大的改變。我們若肯順服，在所處的環境中就必產生得救的人，也可以依字面應用登山寶訓。按字面意義來解釋登山寶訓是小孩的玩意；但照神的靈把主的話應用在我們的際遇上，卻是聖徒一項嚴肅的功課。
耶穌的教訓與我們看事的常理大不相同，開始的時候會令人渾身不舒服。當聖靈把主的話應用在我們實際環境中，我們便要慢慢學習，依從主耶穌的觀念來做事及說話。登山寶訓不是一套規條，而是生活的寫照，就是當我們順服聖靈時所活出的生命。
祈禱◆主啊，最近我感到暗晦而不明朗，好像你正在帶領我進入一個真理的範疇，是我前所未到過的。主啊，高舉我，直至我看見你；支持我，直至我完成你的計劃。
July 13, 2012
The Price of the Vision
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord . . . —Isaiah 6:1
Our soul’s personal history with God is often an account of the death of our heroes. Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discouraged. Let me think about this personally— when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?
My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me. Before I can say, “I saw the Lord,” there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is God’s surgical procedure— His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.
Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, “In all the world there is no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You.”
Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision.
異象的代價
當烏西雅王崩的那年，我見主坐在高高的寶座上。 （賽六1）
我們心靈與神的歷程，往往是英雄人物式逝去的歷程。神一次又一次地把我們的朋友挪開，使他自己可以代替他們的地位，我們卻因此失敗灰心。就個人經驗來說：那年那個替代了神位置的人死了——我是否萬念俱灰？病了？頹喪灰心？還是看見了主？
我對神的異象，有賴於我品性的狀況。品性決定啟示。我若要說[我看見了主]，就必先在品性上有了與神相呼應的成分。在我重生得見神的國以前，所看見的都隨我的偏見而定；我需要接受手術，切除外在的事物，也需要內裡的潔淨。第一是神，第二、第三也是神，直到生命單單面對神，其他人都無關重要。 [世上除你還有誰？我的神，只有你。 ]不斷付代價，讓神知道你甘願達成異象。
祈禱◆主啊，我感謝你，因為我發現自己在盼望你再來時，深感熱切的喜樂！噢由此我可以在你眼前蒙恩，並且，要讓自己的行事為人，與你的偉大救恩更為相稱！
Our soul’s personal history with God is often an account of the death of our heroes. Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discouraged. Let me think about this personally— when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?
My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me. Before I can say, “I saw the Lord,” there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is God’s surgical procedure— His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.
Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, “In all the world there is no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You.”
Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision.
異象的代價
當烏西雅王崩的那年，我見主坐在高高的寶座上。 （賽六1）
我們心靈與神的歷程，往往是英雄人物式逝去的歷程。神一次又一次地把我們的朋友挪開，使他自己可以代替他們的地位，我們卻因此失敗灰心。就個人經驗來說：那年那個替代了神位置的人死了——我是否萬念俱灰？病了？頹喪灰心？還是看見了主？
我對神的異象，有賴於我品性的狀況。品性決定啟示。我若要說[我看見了主]，就必先在品性上有了與神相呼應的成分。在我重生得見神的國以前，所看見的都隨我的偏見而定；我需要接受手術，切除外在的事物，也需要內裡的潔淨。第一是神，第二、第三也是神，直到生命單單面對神，其他人都無關重要。 [世上除你還有誰？我的神，只有你。 ]不斷付代價，讓神知道你甘願達成異象。
祈禱◆主啊，我感謝你，因為我發現自己在盼望你再來時，深感熱切的喜樂！噢由此我可以在你眼前蒙恩，並且，要讓自己的行事為人，與你的偉大救恩更為相稱！
June 29, 2012
The Strictest Discipline
If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell —Matthew 5:30
Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off his right hand, but that “if your right hand causes you to sin” in your walk with Him, then it is better to “cut it off.” There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says that if it hinders you in following His precepts, then “cut it off.” The principle taught here is the strictest discipline or lesson that ever hit humankind.
When God changes you through regeneration, giving you new life through spiritual rebirth, your life initially has the characteristic of being maimed. There are a hundred and one things that you dare not do— things that would be sin for you, and would be recognized as sin by those who really know you. But the unspiritual people around you will say, “What’s so wrong with doing that? How absurd you are!” There has never yet been a saint who has not lived a maimed life initially. Yet it is better to enter into life maimed but lovely in God’s sight than to appear lovely to man’s eyes but lame to God’s. At first, Jesus Christ through His Spirit has to restrain you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. Yet, see that you don’t use your restrictions to criticize someone else.
The Christian life is a maimed life initially, but in Matthew 5:48 Jesus gave us the picture of a perfectly well-rounded life— “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
操練的方向
若是右手叫你跌倒，就砍下來丟掉。寧可失去百體中的一體，不叫全身下入地獄。 （太五30）
耶穌並沒有叫人把手砍掉，他只是說：[若你右手阻礙你與我同行，就把它砍下來。 ]有許多事本來是完全合情合理的，但你若要專心跟從神，就不能去做了。右手是你最有用的東西，但耶穌說如果它阻礙你跟從他，就把它砍掉。這種鍛煉的方法，是人類空前最嚴厲的。
神藉著重生改變了一個人，那生命起初的特徵就是殘廢。你有許多事不敢做了，而那些事在你眼中，在認識你的世界眼中，是等於你的右手或眼睛那樣重要。不屬靈的人就會說：[這件事有何不妥？你真是太古怪了！ ]有史以來，從沒有一個聖徒開始的時候，不是從無手無足的殘缺中起步的。可是，寧可被神視為美好而帶著殘廢進入永生，勝過在人眼中看為美麗，在神卻視為殘廢。重生初期，有許多事情是耶穌藉著殘廢禁止你做的；雖然別人作這些事或許完全沒有問題，你卻不可作。但得小心；不可以用你所受的限制去批評別人。
生命的開始是殘廢的，但在第四十八節中，耶穌卻展開了一幅豐盛生命的圖畫－－[你們要完全，像你們的天父完全一樣。 ]
祈禱◆主啊！願你今天帶領我進入你更多恩慈和奇妙的作為中。願你那滿有恩典和能力的慈手，今天覆庇我。
Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off his right hand, but that “if your right hand causes you to sin” in your walk with Him, then it is better to “cut it off.” There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says that if it hinders you in following His precepts, then “cut it off.” The principle taught here is the strictest discipline or lesson that ever hit humankind.
When God changes you through regeneration, giving you new life through spiritual rebirth, your life initially has the characteristic of being maimed. There are a hundred and one things that you dare not do— things that would be sin for you, and would be recognized as sin by those who really know you. But the unspiritual people around you will say, “What’s so wrong with doing that? How absurd you are!” There has never yet been a saint who has not lived a maimed life initially. Yet it is better to enter into life maimed but lovely in God’s sight than to appear lovely to man’s eyes but lame to God’s. At first, Jesus Christ through His Spirit has to restrain you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. Yet, see that you don’t use your restrictions to criticize someone else.
The Christian life is a maimed life initially, but in Matthew 5:48 Jesus gave us the picture of a perfectly well-rounded life— “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
操練的方向
若是右手叫你跌倒，就砍下來丟掉。寧可失去百體中的一體，不叫全身下入地獄。 （太五30）
耶穌並沒有叫人把手砍掉，他只是說：[若你右手阻礙你與我同行，就把它砍下來。 ]有許多事本來是完全合情合理的，但你若要專心跟從神，就不能去做了。右手是你最有用的東西，但耶穌說如果它阻礙你跟從他，就把它砍掉。這種鍛煉的方法，是人類空前最嚴厲的。
神藉著重生改變了一個人，那生命起初的特徵就是殘廢。你有許多事不敢做了，而那些事在你眼中，在認識你的世界眼中，是等於你的右手或眼睛那樣重要。不屬靈的人就會說：[這件事有何不妥？你真是太古怪了！ ]有史以來，從沒有一個聖徒開始的時候，不是從無手無足的殘缺中起步的。可是，寧可被神視為美好而帶著殘廢進入永生，勝過在人眼中看為美麗，在神卻視為殘廢。重生初期，有許多事情是耶穌藉著殘廢禁止你做的；雖然別人作這些事或許完全沒有問題，你卻不可作。但得小心；不可以用你所受的限制去批評別人。
生命的開始是殘廢的，但在第四十八節中，耶穌卻展開了一幅豐盛生命的圖畫－－[你們要完全，像你們的天父完全一樣。 ]
祈禱◆主啊！願你今天帶領我進入你更多恩慈和奇妙的作為中。願你那滿有恩典和能力的慈手，今天覆庇我。
May 27, 2012
The Life To Know Him
. . . tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high —Luke 24:49
The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The statement in John 7:39 — “. . . for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”— does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified— our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness.
The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.
It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ— it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make you think of time or eternity— it is one amazing glorious now. “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). Begin to know Him now, and never finish.
活的生命
你們要在城裡等候，直到你們領受從上頭來的能力。 （路二十四49）
門徒要等候五旬節的來臨，不單是為了準備自己，更是要等主得榮耀，成為一件歷史事實。他得榮耀就怎樣了？ [他既被神得右手高舉，又從父受了所應許的聖靈，就把你們所看見所聽見的，澆灌下來]。約翰福音七章39節所作的註解－－[那時還沒有賜下聖靈來，因為耶穌尚未得著榮耀。 ]並不適用在我們身上，因為聖靈已經賜下來了，主也得了榮耀。我們所等候的，不是神旨，而是自己有沒有預備好。
五旬節前，聖靈的感動與能力已在作工，但他並不在那裡。主一升天得榮耀，聖靈就降臨世間，而且一直在這裡了。我們必須領受這個啟示，知道他在這裡。接受聖靈，是信徒必須一直持守的。我們接受了聖靈，就從升天的主接受了生氣蓬勃的生命。
叫人改變的並不是聖靈的洗，乃是升天的基督藉聖靈進入人生命中。我們往往把新約中不可分割的事分割開來。聖靈的洗不是一種在耶穌基督之外的經歷，而是基督升了天的明證。
聖靈的洗不會叫你想到時間和永恆，卻令你想到寶貴的現今。 [認識你……這就是永生。 ]現在就開始認識他，直到永遠。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，我感謝你的話語－－[不是倚靠勢力，不是倚靠才能，乃是倚靠我得靈方能成事。 ]今天，我祈求你的靈給予我這種幫助，讓我可以使你滿意。
The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The statement in John 7:39 — “. . . for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”— does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified— our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness.
The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.
It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ— it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make you think of time or eternity— it is one amazing glorious now. “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). Begin to know Him now, and never finish.
活的生命
你們要在城裡等候，直到你們領受從上頭來的能力。 （路二十四49）
門徒要等候五旬節的來臨，不單是為了準備自己，更是要等主得榮耀，成為一件歷史事實。他得榮耀就怎樣了？ [他既被神得右手高舉，又從父受了所應許的聖靈，就把你們所看見所聽見的，澆灌下來]。約翰福音七章39節所作的註解－－[那時還沒有賜下聖靈來，因為耶穌尚未得著榮耀。 ]並不適用在我們身上，因為聖靈已經賜下來了，主也得了榮耀。我們所等候的，不是神旨，而是自己有沒有預備好。
五旬節前，聖靈的感動與能力已在作工，但他並不在那裡。主一升天得榮耀，聖靈就降臨世間，而且一直在這裡了。我們必須領受這個啟示，知道他在這裡。接受聖靈，是信徒必須一直持守的。我們接受了聖靈，就從升天的主接受了生氣蓬勃的生命。
叫人改變的並不是聖靈的洗，乃是升天的基督藉聖靈進入人生命中。我們往往把新約中不可分割的事分割開來。聖靈的洗不是一種在耶穌基督之外的經歷，而是基督升了天的明證。
聖靈的洗不會叫你想到時間和永恆，卻令你想到寶貴的現今。 [認識你……這就是永生。 ]現在就開始認識他，直到永遠。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，我感謝你的話語－－[不是倚靠勢力，不是倚靠才能，乃是倚靠我得靈方能成事。 ]今天，我祈求你的靈給予我這種幫助，讓我可以使你滿意。
April 01, 2012
Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?
It is Christ . . . who also makes intercession for us. . . . the Spirit . . . makes intercession for the saints . . . —Romans 8:34, 27
Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors-that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25), and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.
Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.
Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?
Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors-that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25), and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.
Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.
Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?
February 08, 2012
The Cost of Sanctification
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself . . .” (John 17:19). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.
Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us?
隨時隨地堅守不移的成聖
願賜平安的神，親自使你們全然成聖。 （帖前五23-24）
我們成聖，有沒有打算按這經文中的標準呢？我們把成聖這句話看得太輕率了。對成聖所要求的代價，我們有沒有預備付出？代價是我們減少一切屬地的興趣，而擴大對神國度的興趣。成聖是我們全神貫注留意神的心意與觀點；也是約束身體靈魂所有的智慧，專為完成神的旨意。我們肯不肯讓神在我們身上下工夫，成就神分別為聖的目的？又他在我們身上的工作完成之後，我們肯像耶穌一樣，甘願分別自己為聖歸於神？ [我為他們的緣故分別為聖]。我們未能進入成聖的經歷裡，是我們未從神的觀點了解成聖的意義。成聖就是與耶穌合而為一，以致那支配他的，也支配我們。我們預備付出那代價麼？就是一切在我們裡面不屬於神的東西，都要放下。
我們能否與保羅的禱告起共鳴？我們能否說：[主，你能叫一個蒙恩得救的罪人有多聖潔，就求你使我有多聖潔？ ]耶穌禱告要我們與他合一，正如他與父合一一樣。聖靈在人身上唯一的特徵，就是叫人酷肖耶穌基督，宛如骨肉，同時擺脫一切與基督相反的性情。我們肯把自己分別出來，讓聖靈在我們裡頭作工麼？
祈禱◆主啊，當我的心思不是完全被你掌管，它很容易胡思亂想！願我身心靈的主權都穩操在你的手中。
When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself . . .” (John 17:19). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.
Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us?
隨時隨地堅守不移的成聖
願賜平安的神，親自使你們全然成聖。 （帖前五23-24）
我們成聖，有沒有打算按這經文中的標準呢？我們把成聖這句話看得太輕率了。對成聖所要求的代價，我們有沒有預備付出？代價是我們減少一切屬地的興趣，而擴大對神國度的興趣。成聖是我們全神貫注留意神的心意與觀點；也是約束身體靈魂所有的智慧，專為完成神的旨意。我們肯不肯讓神在我們身上下工夫，成就神分別為聖的目的？又他在我們身上的工作完成之後，我們肯像耶穌一樣，甘願分別自己為聖歸於神？ [我為他們的緣故分別為聖]。我們未能進入成聖的經歷裡，是我們未從神的觀點了解成聖的意義。成聖就是與耶穌合而為一，以致那支配他的，也支配我們。我們預備付出那代價麼？就是一切在我們裡面不屬於神的東西，都要放下。
我們能否與保羅的禱告起共鳴？我們能否說：[主，你能叫一個蒙恩得救的罪人有多聖潔，就求你使我有多聖潔？ ]耶穌禱告要我們與他合一，正如他與父合一一樣。聖靈在人身上唯一的特徵，就是叫人酷肖耶穌基督，宛如骨肉，同時擺脫一切與基督相反的性情。我們肯把自己分別出來，讓聖靈在我們裡頭作工麼？
祈禱◆主啊，當我的心思不是完全被你掌管，它很容易胡思亂想！願我身心靈的主權都穩操在你的手中。
January 05, 2012
The Life of Power to Follow
Jesus answered him, ’Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward’ —John 13:36
“And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ’Follow Me’ ” (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, “Follow Me” (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).
Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. “. . . He breathed on them, and said to them, ’Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to “receive the Holy Spirit.” “Receive the Holy Spirit “— the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ’Follow Me’ ” (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, “Follow Me” (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).
Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. “. . . He breathed on them, and said to them, ’Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to “receive the Holy Spirit.” “Receive the Holy Spirit “— the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
後來的生命能力
我所去的地方，你現在不能跟我去，後來卻要跟我去。 （約十三36）
[說了這話，就對他說，你跟從我吧。 ]三年前，耶穌曾說；[來跟從我]，那時彼得很輕易就跟從了他。彼得是被耶穌所吸引而自動跟隨，並不需要聖靈來幫助。然而後來，他卻落到否認耶穌的地步，心碎欲絕。不過，他受了聖靈，耶穌又再一次對他說：[來跟從我。 ]這時除了主耶穌基督以外，再沒有別人了。第一次的[跟從]並沒有什麼可引起驚奇的，那隻是外表上的跟從；如今卻是殉道者的跟從（約二十一18）
在這期間，彼得曾發咒起誓否認耶穌。此時，他已來到自己的盡頭，所有的自滿自恃不足倚仗。就在這絕境中，他符合了接受復活主賜與的條件。 「他向他們吹一口氣說：『你們受聖靈』」因此，無論神在你身上做了什麼改變，都切勿倚仗這些改變，只要建立在主耶穌身上合他所賜的聖靈。
我們縱有誓言與決心，到頭來還是否認主，因為我們沒有能力實行出來。惟有當我們真正來到自己的盡頭，這才能領受聖靈不是幻想出來的。 [你們受聖靈]意思是受聖靈的征服。如今在你生命中只有一顆北斗星（意即引導方向者），就是主耶穌基督。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，以你偉大的能力來堅立我，印著耶穌的救贖，我相信自己又權利這樣祈求。令我的身體盡獻己力，以致你的光輝可以在我身上彰顯。
January 03, 2012
Clouds and Darkness
Clouds and darkness surround Him . . . —Psalm 97:2
A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him . . . .” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable “darkness” of realizing who He is.
Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us — “clouds and darkness”— then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words.
密雲和幽暗
密雲和幽暗，在他的四圍。 （詩九十七2）
一個未從神的靈而生的人會對你說，耶穌的教訓簡單得很。可是你一旦受了聖靈的洗，就會發現[密雲和幽暗，在他的四圍]。當我們認識耶穌基督的教訓，就必恍然大悟。領悟耶穌教訓的唯一途徑，是神的靈在裡面光照。若果我們從未把習以為常的宗教鞋，從我們習以為常的宗教腳上脫下；也從未把我們親近神那種魯莽隨便的態度，一概革除，那麼，我們到底曾否真正站在神的面前，那也是疑問。那些輕率、浮躁的人，根本從未認識耶穌基督。因為在我們明白了耶穌基督所作所行，滿懷稀奇興奮。自由釋放之後，就會經歷到一種因認識他是誰而無法看透的幽暗。
耶穌說：[我對你們說的話就是靈，就是生命。 ]一向以來，聖經對我們不過是一大堆的話語－－密雲和幽暗為何忽然之間變成了靈和生命？因為耶穌在某種特殊情況下，向我們再說了一遍。神就是這樣對我們說話，不是藉著異夢，乃是通過話語。人來到神面前，就是憑著最簡單的方法－－他的話語。
祈禱◆[密雲和幽暗在祂的四圍；公義和公平是祂寶座的根基。 ]與我親近，噢，主啊，讓我可以知道我在你裡面是光明的。
A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him . . . .” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable “darkness” of realizing who He is.
Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us — “clouds and darkness”— then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words.
密雲和幽暗
密雲和幽暗，在他的四圍。 （詩九十七2）
一個未從神的靈而生的人會對你說，耶穌的教訓簡單得很。可是你一旦受了聖靈的洗，就會發現[密雲和幽暗，在他的四圍]。當我們認識耶穌基督的教訓，就必恍然大悟。領悟耶穌教訓的唯一途徑，是神的靈在裡面光照。若果我們從未把習以為常的宗教鞋，從我們習以為常的宗教腳上脫下；也從未把我們親近神那種魯莽隨便的態度，一概革除，那麼，我們到底曾否真正站在神的面前，那也是疑問。那些輕率、浮躁的人，根本從未認識耶穌基督。因為在我們明白了耶穌基督所作所行，滿懷稀奇興奮。自由釋放之後，就會經歷到一種因認識他是誰而無法看透的幽暗。
耶穌說：[我對你們說的話就是靈，就是生命。 ]一向以來，聖經對我們不過是一大堆的話語－－密雲和幽暗為何忽然之間變成了靈和生命？因為耶穌在某種特殊情況下，向我們再說了一遍。神就是這樣對我們說話，不是藉著異夢，乃是通過話語。人來到神面前，就是憑著最簡單的方法－－他的話語。
祈禱◆[密雲和幽暗在祂的四圍；公義和公平是祂寶座的根基。 ]與我親近，噢，主啊，讓我可以知道我在你裡面是光明的。
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