. . . only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you —Genesis 41:40
I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not “set aside the grace of God”— make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.
Paul said, “I beseech you . . . that you present your bodies a living sacrifice . . .” (Romans 12:1). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
聖靈的殿
惟獨在寶座上，我比你大。 （創四十一40）
在神的主權下，我必須向神交代怎樣管理自己的身體。保羅說他不能徒受神的恩典，就是把神的恩典當作無用的。神的恩典是絕對的，耶穌的救恩是完全的，是永遠有功效的。我不是在蒙拯救中，乃是已經得救。救恩正如神的寶座一樣永恆不改；我要作的，是把神放進我裡面的活出來。 [作成你們得救的功夫]是我的責任，意思是我要明明的，著力的，而不是隱秘的，以我的身子活出主耶穌的生命。 [我是攻克己身，叫身服我。 ]每一聖徒都當把身體服在神絕對的管治下。神要我們管理整個聖靈的殿，管理自己的幻想和情感。為此我們要負責任，絕不可放任感情。我們往往嚴於責人，寬於恕己；為自己製造許多藉口，卻定別人的罪，因為那些事是我們自己天性不喜好的。
保羅說：[我以神的慈悲勸你們，將身體獻上，當作活祭。 ]決定的因素在於：[我同意以我的身體作神的殿麼？ ]若然，那我整個身體的律就總括在這個啟示裡；我的身體是聖靈的殿。
祈禱◆主啊，我肉身的生命若沒有了你，是何等暗晦，冷漠和憂鬱；求你以你神性的生命，來充滿我。
Showing posts with label Life Example. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life Example. Show all posts
December 05, 2014
November 25, 2014
The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
屬靈貫徹的秘訣
但我斷不以別的誇口，只誇我們主耶穌基督的十字架。 （加六14）
一個人在重生之初，會有很多不一致的地方- 有一些互不協調的情感，也有一些互不相連的事物。在使徒保羅最深處有堅強穩固的貫徹如一，任憑外在生活怎樣改變，也不受騷擾，因為他是紮根在神的根基上。我們沒有屬靈上的協調，多半是因為我們太著意於外在事物的協調。保羅住在地下室，而我們卻活在表面事物上的上層，兩者未有相通的機會。保羅的協調是建基於最基本的事上。他協調最大的根源，就是神救贖人類所付上的痛苦- 耶穌基督的十字架。
你要向自己重述所信的是什麽，然後把其馀的事物除掉，歸回那唯一的基石- 主耶穌的十字架。從歷史的觀點看來，十字架是微不足道的。可是從聖經觀點來看，卻比世上所有王國更重要。我們傳講的資訊，若不提神在十字架上的慘痛，就必無所成，神的能力也無法傳遞給人。這聽來似乎很有趣，但確是沒有十架，就毫無能力。當傳揚十字架，神的能力就釋放出來。 [神就樂意用人所當作愚拙的道理，拯救那些信的人。 ][我們卻是傳釘十字架的基督。 ]
祈禱◆主啊，我在你面前的生活，似乎是毫無目的、黯淡無光，直至你在我裡面出現。因著我相信你大能的救贖，我敬拜你。可是，噢！能夠察覺你的感動卻是另一回事！
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
屬靈貫徹的秘訣
但我斷不以別的誇口，只誇我們主耶穌基督的十字架。 （加六14）
一個人在重生之初，會有很多不一致的地方- 有一些互不協調的情感，也有一些互不相連的事物。在使徒保羅最深處有堅強穩固的貫徹如一，任憑外在生活怎樣改變，也不受騷擾，因為他是紮根在神的根基上。我們沒有屬靈上的協調，多半是因為我們太著意於外在事物的協調。保羅住在地下室，而我們卻活在表面事物上的上層，兩者未有相通的機會。保羅的協調是建基於最基本的事上。他協調最大的根源，就是神救贖人類所付上的痛苦- 耶穌基督的十字架。
你要向自己重述所信的是什麽，然後把其馀的事物除掉，歸回那唯一的基石- 主耶穌的十字架。從歷史的觀點看來，十字架是微不足道的。可是從聖經觀點來看，卻比世上所有王國更重要。我們傳講的資訊，若不提神在十字架上的慘痛，就必無所成，神的能力也無法傳遞給人。這聽來似乎很有趣，但確是沒有十架，就毫無能力。當傳揚十字架，神的能力就釋放出來。 [神就樂意用人所當作愚拙的道理，拯救那些信的人。 ][我們卻是傳釘十字架的基督。 ]
祈禱◆主啊，我在你面前的生活，似乎是毫無目的、黯淡無光，直至你在我裡面出現。因著我相信你大能的救贖，我敬拜你。可是，噢！能夠察覺你的感動卻是另一回事！
January 09, 2014
Prayerful Inner-Searching
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
“Your whole spirit . . . .” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.
求神省察
願你們的靈，與魂，與身子，得蒙保守，在我主耶穌基督降臨的時候，完全無可指摘。 （帖前五23）
[你們的靈（整個靈）……] 聖靈最奧妙的工作是隱藏在我們裡面，這個隱密處，連我們自己也無法探究。試讀詩篇一三九篇。詩人說：你是清早的神，你是深夜的神，你是山峰的神，你是海洋的神。可是，我的神啊，我的靈魂裡有比清晨更廣遠的天際，比黑夜（世間的）更深沉的黝黑，高過任何崇山峻嶺，深過任何大海深淵；但你是這一切的神，求你做我的神。我攀不上那頭顛峰；也達不到那深淵；有許多動機，我追溯不了；有許多夢想，我無法實現。我的神啊，找我出來吧。
你信否神的保守遠非我們所能想像？ [基督耶穌的血洗淨我們一切的罪]這句話若只是感知上的經驗，願神憐憫我們。那在罪中麻木的人，他可以說並不感覺到罪。其實罪得潔淨，是靠我們裡面得靈。當我們活在光明中，如同神在光明中，那充滿耶穌基督生命的聖靈，也必把生命的靈灌注在我們裡面。
惟有當神以聖靈的大能，防衛著我們，我們的靈與魂與身子，才得蒙保守，毫無瑕疵，而且在神眼中無可指摘，直到主來。我們往往未懂得把心思放在神這些重要得真理上。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，今天親臨在我們當中，又牽引我們進入你裡面；請先由我開始。潔淨我，噢，主啊，除去我的一切瑕疵；縱使我對它們仍渾然不知，你卻早已一目了然。
“Your whole spirit . . . .” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.
求神省察
願你們的靈，與魂，與身子，得蒙保守，在我主耶穌基督降臨的時候，完全無可指摘。 （帖前五23）
[你們的靈（整個靈）……] 聖靈最奧妙的工作是隱藏在我們裡面，這個隱密處，連我們自己也無法探究。試讀詩篇一三九篇。詩人說：你是清早的神，你是深夜的神，你是山峰的神，你是海洋的神。可是，我的神啊，我的靈魂裡有比清晨更廣遠的天際，比黑夜（世間的）更深沉的黝黑，高過任何崇山峻嶺，深過任何大海深淵；但你是這一切的神，求你做我的神。我攀不上那頭顛峰；也達不到那深淵；有許多動機，我追溯不了；有許多夢想，我無法實現。我的神啊，找我出來吧。
你信否神的保守遠非我們所能想像？ [基督耶穌的血洗淨我們一切的罪]這句話若只是感知上的經驗，願神憐憫我們。那在罪中麻木的人，他可以說並不感覺到罪。其實罪得潔淨，是靠我們裡面得靈。當我們活在光明中，如同神在光明中，那充滿耶穌基督生命的聖靈，也必把生命的靈灌注在我們裡面。
惟有當神以聖靈的大能，防衛著我們，我們的靈與魂與身子，才得蒙保守，毫無瑕疵，而且在神眼中無可指摘，直到主來。我們往往未懂得把心思放在神這些重要得真理上。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，今天親臨在我們當中，又牽引我們進入你裡面；請先由我開始。潔淨我，噢，主啊，除去我的一切瑕疵；縱使我對它們仍渾然不知，你卻早已一目了然。
December 05, 2013
“The Temple of the Holy Spirit”
. . . only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you —Genesis 41:40
I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not “set aside the grace of God”— make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.
Paul said, “I beseech you . . . that you present your bodies a living sacrifice . . .” (Romans 12:1). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
聖靈的殿
惟獨在寶座上，我比你大。 （創四十一40）
在神的主權下，我必須向神交代怎樣管理自己的身體。保羅說他不能徒受神的恩典，就是把神的恩典當作無用的。神的恩典是絕對的，耶穌的救恩是完全的，是永遠有功效的。我不是在蒙拯救中，乃是已經得救。救恩正如神的寶座一樣永恆不改；我要作的，是把神放進我裡面的活出來。 [作成你們得救的功夫]是我的責任，意思是我要明明的，著力的，而不是隱秘的，以我的身子活出主耶穌的生命。 [我是攻克己身，叫身服我。 ]每一聖徒都當把身體服在神絕對的管治下。神要我們管理整個聖靈的殿，管理自己的幻想和情感。為此我們要負責任，絕不可放任感情。我們往往嚴於責人，寬於恕己；為自己製造許多藉口，卻定別人的罪，因為那些事是我們自己天性不喜好的。
保羅說：[我以神的慈悲勸你們，將身體獻上，當作活祭。 ]決定的因素在於：[我同意以我的身體作神的殿麼？ ]若然，那我整個身體的律就總括在這個啟示裡；我的身體是聖靈的殿。
祈禱◆主啊，我肉身的生命若沒有了你，是何等暗晦，冷漠和憂鬱；求你以你神性的生命，來充滿我。
I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not “set aside the grace of God”— make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.
Paul said, “I beseech you . . . that you present your bodies a living sacrifice . . .” (Romans 12:1). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
聖靈的殿
惟獨在寶座上，我比你大。 （創四十一40）
在神的主權下，我必須向神交代怎樣管理自己的身體。保羅說他不能徒受神的恩典，就是把神的恩典當作無用的。神的恩典是絕對的，耶穌的救恩是完全的，是永遠有功效的。我不是在蒙拯救中，乃是已經得救。救恩正如神的寶座一樣永恆不改；我要作的，是把神放進我裡面的活出來。 [作成你們得救的功夫]是我的責任，意思是我要明明的，著力的，而不是隱秘的，以我的身子活出主耶穌的生命。 [我是攻克己身，叫身服我。 ]每一聖徒都當把身體服在神絕對的管治下。神要我們管理整個聖靈的殿，管理自己的幻想和情感。為此我們要負責任，絕不可放任感情。我們往往嚴於責人，寬於恕己；為自己製造許多藉口，卻定別人的罪，因為那些事是我們自己天性不喜好的。
保羅說：[我以神的慈悲勸你們，將身體獻上，當作活祭。 ]決定的因素在於：[我同意以我的身體作神的殿麼？ ]若然，那我整個身體的律就總括在這個啟示裡；我的身體是聖靈的殿。
祈禱◆主啊，我肉身的生命若沒有了你，是何等暗晦，冷漠和憂鬱；求你以你神性的生命，來充滿我。
November 25, 2013
The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
屬靈貫徹的秘訣
但我斷不以別的誇口，只誇我們主耶穌基督的十字架。 （加六14）
一個人在重生之初，會有很多不一致的地方- 有一些互不協調的情感，也有一些互不相連的事物。在使徒保羅最深處有堅強穩固的貫徹如一，任憑外在生活怎樣改變，也不受騷擾，因為他是紮根在神的根基上。我們沒有屬靈上的協調，多半是因為我們太著意於外在事物的協調。保羅住在地下室，而我們卻活在表面事物上的上層，兩者未有相通的機會。保羅的協調是建基於最基本的事上。他協調最大的根源，就是神救贖人類所付上的痛苦- 耶穌基督的十字架。
你要向自己重述所信的是什麽，然後把其馀的事物除掉，歸回那唯一的基石- 主耶穌的十字架。從歷史的觀點看來，十字架是微不足道的。可是從聖經觀點來看，卻比世上所有王國更重要。我們傳講的資訊，若不提神在十字架上的慘痛，就必無所成，神的能力也無法傳遞給人。這聽來似乎很有趣，但確是沒有十架，就毫無能力。當傳揚十字架，神的能力就釋放出來。 [神就樂意用人所當作愚拙的道理，拯救那些信的人。 ][我們卻是傳釘十字架的基督。 ]
祈禱◆主啊，我在你面前的生活，似乎是毫無目的、黯淡無光，直至你在我裡面出現。因著我相信你大能的救贖，我敬拜你。可是，噢！能夠察覺你的感動卻是另一回事！
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
屬靈貫徹的秘訣
但我斷不以別的誇口，只誇我們主耶穌基督的十字架。 （加六14）
一個人在重生之初，會有很多不一致的地方- 有一些互不協調的情感，也有一些互不相連的事物。在使徒保羅最深處有堅強穩固的貫徹如一，任憑外在生活怎樣改變，也不受騷擾，因為他是紮根在神的根基上。我們沒有屬靈上的協調，多半是因為我們太著意於外在事物的協調。保羅住在地下室，而我們卻活在表面事物上的上層，兩者未有相通的機會。保羅的協調是建基於最基本的事上。他協調最大的根源，就是神救贖人類所付上的痛苦- 耶穌基督的十字架。
你要向自己重述所信的是什麽，然後把其馀的事物除掉，歸回那唯一的基石- 主耶穌的十字架。從歷史的觀點看來，十字架是微不足道的。可是從聖經觀點來看，卻比世上所有王國更重要。我們傳講的資訊，若不提神在十字架上的慘痛，就必無所成，神的能力也無法傳遞給人。這聽來似乎很有趣，但確是沒有十架，就毫無能力。當傳揚十字架，神的能力就釋放出來。 [神就樂意用人所當作愚拙的道理，拯救那些信的人。 ][我們卻是傳釘十字架的基督。 ]
祈禱◆主啊，我在你面前的生活，似乎是毫無目的、黯淡無光，直至你在我裡面出現。因著我相信你大能的救贖，我敬拜你。可是，噢！能夠察覺你的感動卻是另一回事！
January 09, 2013
Prayerful Inner-Searching
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
“Your whole spirit . . . .” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.
求神省察
願你們的靈，與魂，與身子，得蒙保守，在我主耶穌基督降臨的時候，完全無可指摘。 （帖前五23）
[你們的靈（整個靈）……] 聖靈最奧妙的工作是隱藏在我們裡面，這個隱密處，連我們自己也無法探究。試讀詩篇一三九篇。詩人說：你是清早的神，你是深夜的神，你是山峰的神，你是海洋的神。可是，我的神啊，我的靈魂裡有比清晨更廣遠的天際，比黑夜（世間的）更深沉的黝黑，高過任何崇山峻嶺，深過任何大海深淵；但你是這一切的神，求你做我的神。我攀不上那頭顛峰；也達不到那深淵；有許多動機，我追溯不了；有許多夢想，我無法實現。我的神啊，找我出來吧。
你信否神的保守遠非我們所能想像？ [基督耶穌的血洗淨我們一切的罪]這句話若只是感知上的經驗，願神憐憫我們。那在罪中麻木的人，他可以說並不感覺到罪。其實罪得潔淨，是靠我們裡面得靈。當我們活在光明中，如同神在光明中，那充滿耶穌基督生命的聖靈，也必把生命的靈灌注在我們裡面。
惟有當神以聖靈的大能，防衛著我們，我們的靈與魂與身子，才得蒙保守，毫無瑕疵，而且在神眼中無可指摘，直到主來。我們往往未懂得把心思放在神這些重要得真理上。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，今天親臨在我們當中，又牽引我們進入你裡面；請先由我開始。潔淨我，噢，主啊，除去我的一切瑕疵；縱使我對它們仍渾然不知，你卻早已一目了然。
“Your whole spirit . . . .” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.
求神省察
願你們的靈，與魂，與身子，得蒙保守，在我主耶穌基督降臨的時候，完全無可指摘。 （帖前五23）
[你們的靈（整個靈）……] 聖靈最奧妙的工作是隱藏在我們裡面，這個隱密處，連我們自己也無法探究。試讀詩篇一三九篇。詩人說：你是清早的神，你是深夜的神，你是山峰的神，你是海洋的神。可是，我的神啊，我的靈魂裡有比清晨更廣遠的天際，比黑夜（世間的）更深沉的黝黑，高過任何崇山峻嶺，深過任何大海深淵；但你是這一切的神，求你做我的神。我攀不上那頭顛峰；也達不到那深淵；有許多動機，我追溯不了；有許多夢想，我無法實現。我的神啊，找我出來吧。
你信否神的保守遠非我們所能想像？ [基督耶穌的血洗淨我們一切的罪]這句話若只是感知上的經驗，願神憐憫我們。那在罪中麻木的人，他可以說並不感覺到罪。其實罪得潔淨，是靠我們裡面得靈。當我們活在光明中，如同神在光明中，那充滿耶穌基督生命的聖靈，也必把生命的靈灌注在我們裡面。
惟有當神以聖靈的大能，防衛著我們，我們的靈與魂與身子，才得蒙保守，毫無瑕疵，而且在神眼中無可指摘，直到主來。我們往往未懂得把心思放在神這些重要得真理上。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，今天親臨在我們當中，又牽引我們進入你裡面；請先由我開始。潔淨我，噢，主啊，除去我的一切瑕疵；縱使我對它們仍渾然不知，你卻早已一目了然。
December 05, 2012
“The Temple of the Holy Spirit”
. . . only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you —Genesis 41:40
I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not “set aside the grace of God”— make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.
Paul said, “I beseech you . . . that you present your bodies a living sacrifice . . .” (Romans 12:1). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
聖靈的殿
惟獨在寶座上，我比你大。 （創四十一40）
在神的主權下，我必須向神交代怎樣管理自己的身體。保羅說他不能徒受神的恩典，就是把神的恩典當作無用的。神的恩典是絕對的，耶穌的救恩是完全的，是永遠有功效的。我不是在蒙拯救中，乃是已經得救。救恩正如神的寶座一樣永恆不改；我要作的，是把神放進我裡面的活出來。 [作成你們得救的功夫]是我的責任，意思是我要明明的，著力的，而不是隱秘的，以我的身子活出主耶穌的生命。 [我是攻克己身，叫身服我。 ]每一聖徒都當把身體服在神絕對的管治下。神要我們管理整個聖靈的殿，管理自己的幻想和情感。為此我們要負責任，絕不可放任感情。我們往往嚴於責人，寬於恕己；為自己製造許多藉口，卻定別人的罪，因為那些事是我們自己天性不喜好的。
保羅說：[我以神的慈悲勸你們，將身體獻上，當作活祭。 ]決定的因素在於：[我同意以我的身體作神的殿麼？ ]若然，那我整個身體的律就總括在這個啟示裡；我的身體是聖靈的殿。
祈禱◆主啊，我肉身的生命若沒有了你，是何等暗晦，冷漠和憂鬱；求你以你神性的生命，來充滿我。
I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not “set aside the grace of God”— make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.
Paul said, “I beseech you . . . that you present your bodies a living sacrifice . . .” (Romans 12:1). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
聖靈的殿
惟獨在寶座上，我比你大。 （創四十一40）
在神的主權下，我必須向神交代怎樣管理自己的身體。保羅說他不能徒受神的恩典，就是把神的恩典當作無用的。神的恩典是絕對的，耶穌的救恩是完全的，是永遠有功效的。我不是在蒙拯救中，乃是已經得救。救恩正如神的寶座一樣永恆不改；我要作的，是把神放進我裡面的活出來。 [作成你們得救的功夫]是我的責任，意思是我要明明的，著力的，而不是隱秘的，以我的身子活出主耶穌的生命。 [我是攻克己身，叫身服我。 ]每一聖徒都當把身體服在神絕對的管治下。神要我們管理整個聖靈的殿，管理自己的幻想和情感。為此我們要負責任，絕不可放任感情。我們往往嚴於責人，寬於恕己；為自己製造許多藉口，卻定別人的罪，因為那些事是我們自己天性不喜好的。
保羅說：[我以神的慈悲勸你們，將身體獻上，當作活祭。 ]決定的因素在於：[我同意以我的身體作神的殿麼？ ]若然，那我整個身體的律就總括在這個啟示裡；我的身體是聖靈的殿。
祈禱◆主啊，我肉身的生命若沒有了你，是何等暗晦，冷漠和憂鬱；求你以你神性的生命，來充滿我。
November 25, 2012
The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . . it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
January 09, 2012
Prayerful Inner-Searching
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
“Your whole spirit . . . .” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.
求神省察
願你們的靈，與魂，與身子，得蒙保守，在我主耶穌基督降臨的時候，完全無可指摘。 （帖前五23）
[你們的靈（整個靈）……] 聖靈最奧妙的工作是隱藏在我們裡面，這個隱密處，連我們自己也無法探究。試讀詩篇一三九篇。詩人說：你是清早的神，你是深夜的神，你是山峰的神，你是海洋的神。可是，我的神啊，我的靈魂裡有比清晨更廣遠的天際，比黑夜（世間的）更深沉的黝黑，高過任何崇山峻嶺，深過任何大海深淵；但你是這一切的神，求你做我的神。我攀不上那頭顛峰；也達不到那深淵；有許多動機，我追溯不了；有許多夢想，我無法實現。我的神啊，找我出來吧。
你信否神的保守遠非我們所能想像？ [基督耶穌的血洗淨我們一切的罪]這句話若只是感知上的經驗，願神憐憫我們。那在罪中麻木的人，他可以說並不感覺到罪。其實罪得潔淨，是靠我們裡面得靈。當我們活在光明中，如同神在光明中，那充滿耶穌基督生命的聖靈，也必把生命的靈灌注在我們裡面。
惟有當神以聖靈的大能，防衛著我們，我們的靈與魂與身子，才得蒙保守，毫無瑕疵，而且在神眼中無可指摘，直到主來。我們往往未懂得把心思放在神這些重要得真理上。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，今天親臨在我們當中，又牽引我們進入你裡面；請先由我開始。潔淨我，噢，主啊，除去我的一切瑕疵；縱使我對它們仍渾然不知，你卻早已一目了然。
“Your whole spirit . . . .” The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139 . The psalmist implies— “O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature. You who are the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot discover, dreams I cannot realize. My God, search me.”
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.
求神省察
願你們的靈，與魂，與身子，得蒙保守，在我主耶穌基督降臨的時候，完全無可指摘。 （帖前五23）
[你們的靈（整個靈）……] 聖靈最奧妙的工作是隱藏在我們裡面，這個隱密處，連我們自己也無法探究。試讀詩篇一三九篇。詩人說：你是清早的神，你是深夜的神，你是山峰的神，你是海洋的神。可是，我的神啊，我的靈魂裡有比清晨更廣遠的天際，比黑夜（世間的）更深沉的黝黑，高過任何崇山峻嶺，深過任何大海深淵；但你是這一切的神，求你做我的神。我攀不上那頭顛峰；也達不到那深淵；有許多動機，我追溯不了；有許多夢想，我無法實現。我的神啊，找我出來吧。
你信否神的保守遠非我們所能想像？ [基督耶穌的血洗淨我們一切的罪]這句話若只是感知上的經驗，願神憐憫我們。那在罪中麻木的人，他可以說並不感覺到罪。其實罪得潔淨，是靠我們裡面得靈。當我們活在光明中，如同神在光明中，那充滿耶穌基督生命的聖靈，也必把生命的靈灌注在我們裡面。
惟有當神以聖靈的大能，防衛著我們，我們的靈與魂與身子，才得蒙保守，毫無瑕疵，而且在神眼中無可指摘，直到主來。我們往往未懂得把心思放在神這些重要得真理上。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，今天親臨在我們當中，又牽引我們進入你裡面；請先由我開始。潔淨我，噢，主啊，除去我的一切瑕疵；縱使我對它們仍渾然不知，你卻早已一目了然。
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