《竭诚为主》3月3日 放不下的使命
2015-03-03 章伯斯 每日恩典 每日恩典
每日恩典

你喂养我的羊。（约二十一17）


这是爱的模造。神的爱不是被造的，乃是他的本性。我们一接受了圣灵，他就使我们与神联合，神的爱就藉我们彰显出来。人的心灵藉着圣灵的内住与神联合，并不就完事；我们是要与父合一，正如耶稣与父合一一样。耶稣与父的合一是怎样的呢？就是父差他到世间来，为我们竭尽所有。然后说：“父怎样差遣了我，我也照样差遣他们。”


彼得这时被主刺心的问话启示，体会自己真的爱主；接着就是将自己耗尽。主对他说：“你不必见证你怎样爱我，也不必宣告你所得的超奇启示，只要喂养我的羊。”耶稣有许多奇特古怪的羊，有肮脏的羊，有粗鲁好斗的羊，还有迷路的羊！神的爱从不会枯干，人的爱若从同一源泉发出，也就同样的不会枯干。神的爱是不理会那个性中的差异。我若爱主，就不该受天然性情所左右；我必须喂养他的羊。这使命是不容间断的。但当心不可依照人天然的同情心去假冒神的爱，否则就是亵渎神的爱。



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March 3rd The Unrelieved Quest


“Feed My sheep.” John 21:17


This is love in the making. The love of God is un-made, it is God's nature. When we receive the Holy Spirit He unites us with God so that His love is manifested in us. When the soul is united to God by the indwelling Holy Spirit, that is not the end; the end is that we may be one with the Father as Jesus was. What kind of oneness had Jesus Christ with the Father? Such a oneness that the Father sent Him down here to be spent for us, and He says – “As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.”


Peter realizes now with the revelation of the Lord's hurting question that he does love Him; then comes the point – “Spend it out.” Don't testify how much you love Me, don't profess about the marvellous revelation you have had, but – “Feed My sheep.” And Jesus has some extraordinarily funny sheep, some bedraggled, dirty sheep, some awkward, butting sheep, some sheep that have gone astray! It is impossible to weary God's love, and it is impossible to weary that love in me if it springs from the one centre. The love of God pays no attention to the distinctions made by natural individuality. If I love my Lord I have no business to be guided by natural temperament; I have to feed His sheep. There is no relief and no release from this commission. Beware of counterfeiting the love of God by working along the line of natural human sympathy, because that will end in blaspheming the love of God.

《竭诚为主》3月4日 我果真如此吗？

我却不以性命为念，也不看为宝贵。（徒二十24）

没有异象就去事奉神，是容易的；没有蒙召就去事奉神，也是容易的；因为你根本不需理会神的要求。头脑上的知识，加上信徒的情感就知道，你会干得很成功。心情可优悠自得，只要你从未经历神的呼召。可是，一旦你接受了耶稣基督的差使，神就整日驱策着你；那你再也不能根据头脑上的知识来为他工作。

我看什么为宝贵？我若未被主耶稣抓住，我会看事奉为宝贵，为神摆上的时间为宝贵，以我的生命为宝贵。保罗说，他看生命宝贵，只因他能完成所交托他的使命；他拒绝在任何事上花费他的精力。使徒行转二十章24节中说保罗对别人叫他顾虑自己的安慰，几乎又一种极端的烦恼；除了完成主所交托的使命外，他绝对不管别的。有时实际的工作，会取去人归向神的心，因为实际的工作是根据“记住你在这里多派用场”，“想想你在某项工作上有多难得”。这种态度没有把主耶稣作为方向的指引，却用自己的判断来决定我们在哪里最有用。千万别思量自己有没有用，却要紧记你不属于自己，乃属于主。

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March 4th Could This Be True Of Me?

“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself.” Acts 20:24

It is easier to serve God without a vision, easier to work for God without a call, because then you are not bothered by what God requires; common sense is your guide, veneered over with Christian sentiment. You will be more prosperous and successful, more leisure-hearted, if you never realize the call of God. But if once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God wants will always come like a goad; you will no longer be able to work for Him on the common-sense basis.

What do I really count dear? If I have not been gripped by Jesus Christ, I will count service dear, time given to God dear, my life dear unto myself. Paul says he counted his life dear only in order that he might fulfil the ministry he had received; he refused to use his energy for any other thing. Acts 20:24 states Paul's almost sublime annoyance at being asked to consider himself; he was absolutely indifferent to any consideration other than that of fulfilling the ministry he had received. Practical work may be a competitor against abandonment to God, because practical work is based on this argument – Remember how useful you are here, or – Think how much value you would be in that particular type of work. That attitude does not put Jesus Christ as the Guide as to where we should go, but our judgment as to where we are of most use. Never consider whether you are of use; but ever consider that you are not your own but His.

《竭诚为主》3月5日 祂真是主吗？


只要（“喜乐地”，英文译本）行完我的路程，成就我从主耶稣所领受的职事。（徒二十24）


喜乐的意思，是我能圆满地完成被造和重生的目的，而不是因为成功地完成一件事。我们主的喜乐，就是在于遵行父神的旨意，他说：“我父怎样差遣了我，我也照样差遣你们。”我有从主接受职事吗？若有，我必须忠于所托，将生命的价值完全放在达成那使命上面。想想当主对你说：“好，你这又良善又忠心的仆人。”你会何等的心满意足，因已完成主差你去做的事。我们必须寻找人生的岗位，在属灵上说，就是寻找主托付你的是什么。要达成所托，就必须与主同行；要更深认识他，不单是把他作为个人的救主。“我也要指示他，为我的名必须受许多的苦。”


“你爱我吗？”然后，“你喂养我的羊。”事奉是不容你取舍的，只有绝对效忠于主；效忠于你最贴近神时所领受的。若你从耶稣接受了一项事奉，就会知道需要并不等于呼召，需要乃是机会，呼召则是忠于你与主相交时所领受的。这并不是说，从此有无数的事奉要划分出来给你，而是你要撇开其他方面事奉的需求。



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March 5th.?Is He Really Lord?


“. . . so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 20:24


Joy means the perfect fulfilment of that for which I was created and regenerated, not the successful doing of a thing. The joy Our Lord had lay in doing what the Father sent Him to do, and He says – “As My Father hath sent Me, even so am I sending you.” Have I received a ministry from the Lord? If so, I have to be loyal to it, to count my life precious only for the fulfilling of that ministry. Think of the satisfaction it will be to hear Jesus say – “Well done, good and faithful servant”; to know that you have done what He sent you to do. We have all to find our niche in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive our ministry from the Lord. In order to do this we must have companied with Jesus; we must know Him as more than a personal Saviour. “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My sake.”


“Lovest thou Me?” Then – “Feed My sheep.” There is no choice of service, only absolute loyalty to Our Lord's commission; loyalty to what you discern when you are in closest contact with God. If you have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the need is never the call: the need is the opportunity. The call is loyalty to the ministry you received when you were in real touch with Him. This does not imply that there is a campaign of service marked out for you, but it does mean that you will have to ignore the demands for service along other lines.

《竭诚为主》3月6日 琐务缠身



经文：就如在许多的忍耐、患难、穷乏、困苦...（林后六 4）



没有异象，没有观众，要踏上下一步，实在需要全能神的恩典。奉献的下一步，求学的下一步，读书的下一步，烹饪的下一步，工作的下一步，没有从神来的异象，没有热情的汹涌，也没有观众。这时比传福音更需要神的厚恩，更需要刻意地从神支取，才能走下一步。



每一个信徒要有份于道成肉身的精义，就必须脚踏实地，付诸行动，用十个指头去实践。我们在没有异象、没有刺激、日复一日平凡无奇的生活下，容易萎靡不振。其实，至终为神与人所共认的，是那些在暗中坚忍耐劳的工作。若要生命不至于受摧压，唯一的方法是仰望神而活。



求神使你心灵的眼睛注目于复活的主，这样，一切的辛劳就无法击败你了。要从你心思中不断的除掉繁琐的事物，专心思想约翰福音十三章。




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March 6th Amid A Crowd Of Paltry Things



“. . . in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses.” 2 Corinthians 6:4



It takes Almighty grace to take the next step when there is no vision and no spectator – the next step in devotion, the next step in your study, in your reading, in your kitchen; the next step in your duty, when there is no vision from God, no enthusiasm and no spectator. It takes far more of the grace of God, far more conscious drawing upon God to take that step, than it does to preach the Gospel.



Every Christian has to partake of what was the essence of the Incarnation, he must bring the thing down into flesh and blood actualities and work it out through the finger tips. We flag when there is no vision, no uplift, but just the common round, the trivial task. The thing that tells in the long run for God and for men is the steady persevering work in the unseen, and the only way to keep the life uncrushed is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the Risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to damp you. Continually get away from pettiness and paltriness of mind and thought out into the thirteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel.

《竭诚为主》3月7日 不朽的喜乐



     然而靠着爱我们的主，在这一切的事上，已经得胜有余了。（罗八37）

     保罗列举许多的事情，似乎会把圣徒与神的爱隔开；但奇特的是，没有任何事物可以将圣徒与神的爱隔绝。这些事可以而且实际的进入人的事奉操练中，隔开了神，叫个人的生命与神分开。但是，绝没有一样能插入神的爱与圣徒的心灵中间。我们信仰的基石，就是神在加略十架上彰显出来那高深莫测、奇妙无比的爱，这爱是我们永远不配得的。保罗说正因为这缘故，我们在这一切事上已经得胜有余，成为超然的得胜者；在那似乎要把我们制服的事上，获得无比的喜乐。


     游泳者所惧怕的波涛，对滑浪者却是驾浪凌空的赏心乐事。应用在我们的身上，这些事——患难、困苦、逼迫——在我们里面却生出喜乐来；这些事不是我们争斗的物件、藉着他，我们在这一切困扰里面已经得胜有余。不是“尽管”有这些也得胜，乃是置身其中仍然得胜。信徒从来不会因为“徒有”患难，就体会主里的喜乐，乃是由于在患难之中而体会到的。保罗说：“我在患难中格外喜乐。”

     不绝的喜乐，并非建筑在短暂的事上，乃是在神永不改变的爱上。人生的经历不论是可怕的或是单调的，都无法影响神的爱，这爱是在我们的主基督耶稣里的。


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        March 7: Undaunted Radiance


        “Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” Romans 8:37

     Paul is speaking of the things that might seem likely to separate or wedge in between the saint and the love of God; but the remarkable thing is that nothing can wedge in between the love of God and the saint. These things can and do come in between the devotional exercises of the soul and God and separate individual life from God; but none of them is able to wedge in between the love of God and the soul of the saint. The bedrock of our Christian faith is the unmerited, fathomless marvel of the love of God exhibited on the Cross of Calvary, a love we never can and never shall merit. Paul says this is the reason we are more than conquerors in all these things, super-victors, with a joy we would not have but for the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.

     The surf that distresses the ordinary swimmer produces in the surf-rider the super-joy of going clean through it. Apply that to our own circumstances, these very things – tribulation, distress, persecution, produce in us the super-joy; they are not things to fight. We are more than conquerors through Him in all these things, not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. The saint never knows the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it – “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation,” says Paul.

     Undaunted radiance is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can alter. The experiences of life, terrible or monotonous, are impotent to touch the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

《竭诚为主》3月8日 全舍的生命


         我已经与基督同钉十字架。（加二20）

         一个真正与耶稣基督联合的人，不但舍弃了罪，更把个人对事物的观点也一概舍弃。从上头、从圣灵而生的意思，就是先放下，然后才得着；而第一步要放下的就是一切虚假。主要我们带到他面前的，不是良善、不是诚实、不是努力，而是罪；他所要接受的就是这些。那他以什么代替我们的罪呢？真正的义。但我们先得放下一切自以为是的伪装，一切自以为配得神恩眷的资格。

         然后，圣灵会继续显示我们还有什么要放下的。我必须在任何情况下，放弃自己的主权。我是否愿意视自己与基督同死，放弃一切所有的？放弃感情上羁绊，放弃所有手上执着的东西。不再紧紧抓住，视为己有。

         我们放下之先，总会经历刻骨铭心的痛苦。当人真以主的眼光看自己，震惊的不是那些肉体可怕的罪，而是心中对耶稣基督那惊人的高傲本性。当他在主的光中看见自己，那羞愧、惊惧、绝望，必显露无遗。要是你正在面临“放下的问题”，就必须经过那抉择的关头。若能放下一切，神便按他的心意模造你。


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       March 8th. The Relinquished Life

       “I am crucified with Christ.” Galatians 2:20

       No one is ever united with Jesus Christ until he is willing to relinquish not sin only, but his whole way of looking at things. To be born from above of the Spirit of God means that we must let go before we lay hold, and in the first stages it is the relinquishing of all pretence. What Our Lord wants us to present to Him is not goodness, nor honesty, nor endeavour, but real solid sin; that is all He can take from us. And what does He give in exchange for our sin? Real solid righteousness. But we must relinquish all pretence of being any thing, all claim of being worthy of God's consideration.

       Then the Spirit of God will show us what further there is to relinquish. There will have to be the relinquishing of my claim to my right to myself in every phase. Am I willing to relinquish my hold on all I possess, my hold on my affections, and on everything, and to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?

       There is always a sharp painful disillusionment to go through before we do relinquish. When a man really sees himself as the Lord sees him, it is not the abominable sins of the flesh that shock him, but the awful nature of the pride of his own heart against Jesus Christ. When he sees himself in the light of the Lord, the shame and the horror and the desperate conviction come home.

       If you are up against the question of relinquishing, go through the crisis, relinquish all, and God will make you fit for all that He requires of you.

《竭诚为主》3月9日 灵性的倒退


你们也要去吗？（约六67）

多刺透人心的问题。主最深入人心的话，往往是最简单的话。我们虽然知道耶稣是谁，但他仍然要问：“你们也要去吗？”对主我们必须时刻持着敢作敢为的态度。 “从此他门徒中多有退去的，不再和他同行。”他们转身不与耶稣同行，并不回去犯罪，只是回复原形，依然故我。今日不少人为主作工竭尽心力，可是并没有他同行。神要我们持守的，是要我们与耶稣基督合一。成圣之后，属灵生命的操练是循这方向走。神若在你心中清楚地启示他的心意，你不要用什么特别的方法去保持与神的关系，只要顺其自然地、完全靠赖耶稣基督而生活。与神同行的生活除了依循神的路径之外，万不能别开蹊径。这条路就是要绝对忠心爱他。我真知道自己无知 ——这就是与主同行的秘诀了。

彼得只看见耶稣是他的救主，是世人的救主。但主却要我们与他同负一轭。在第70节耶稣答复了彼得的问话，填补他想法上的漏洞。我们不可以代人作答。

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March 9: The Time Of Relapse

“Will ye also go away?” John 6:67

A penetrating question. Our Lord's words come home most when He talks in the most simple way. We know Who Jesus is, but in spite of that He says – “Will ye also go away?” We have to maintain a venturing attitude toward Him all the time.

“From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” They went back from walking with Jesus, not into sin, but they relapsed. Many to-day are spending and being spent in work for Jesus Christ, but they do not walk with Him. The one thing God keeps us to steadily is that we may be one with Jesus Christ. After sanctification the discipline of our spiritual life is along this line. If God gives a clear and emphatic realization to your soul of what He wants, do not try to keep yourself in that relationship by any particular method, but live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Never try to live the life with God on any other line than God's line, and that line is absolute devotion to Him. The certainty that I do not know – that is the secret of going with Jesus.

Peter only saw in Jesus Someone to minister salvation to him and to the world. Our Lord wants us to be yoke-fellows with Him.

v. 70. Jesus answers the great lack in Peter. We cannot answer for others.

《竭诚为主》3月10日 要有言教，更要有身教


务要传道。（提后四2）


我们得救，并不单是做“导管”，乃是做神的儿女。我们不是变成属灵的媒介，乃是属灵的使者；所传的资讯必须是我们本身一部分。神的儿子本身就是神的资讯，他的话就是灵和生命。我们作他门徒的，生命必须成为资讯的印证。人天然的心喜欢做许多的事奉，但是要心灵真正在罪的自责中破碎，被圣灵浇灌，被搓揉进神的旨意里去，这时生命才成为资讯的印证。


作见证与讲道原有分别。传道人是有神的呼召，决志竭尽一切传神的真理。神把我们从自己的观念里领出来，把我们陶冶塑造，加以使用，正如五旬节后的门徒一般。五旬节并没有教导门徒什么，神只是把门徒变成为他们所传的资讯——“你们要作我的见证”。


你说话的时候，要让神有绝对的自由。神的话释放别人灵魂之先，必须先释放你。然后将你所经历的说出来，为主发光。



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March 10: Have A Message And Be One


“Preach the word.” 2 Timothy 4:2


We are not saved to be “channels only,” but to be sons and daughters of God. We are not turned into spiritual mediums, but into spiritual messengers; the message must be part of ourselves. The Son of God was His own message, His words were spirit and life; and as His disciples our lives must be the sacrament of our message. The natural heart will do any amount of serving, but it takes the heart broken by conviction of sin, and baptized by the Holy Ghost, and crumpled into the purpose of God before the life becomes the sacrament of its message.


There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is one who has realized the call of God and is determined to use his every power to proclaim God's truth. God takes us out of our own ideas for our lives and we are “batter'd to shape and use,” as the disciples were after Pentecost. Pentecost did not teach the disciples any thing; it made them the incarnation of what they preached – “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.”


Let God have perfect liberty when you speak. Before God's message can liberate other souls, the liberation must be real in you. Gather your material, and set it alight when you speak.

《竭诚为主》3月11日 异象

我没有违背那从天上来的异象。（徒二十六19）

我们若失了异象，必须单独承担责任。失去异象的原因，就是灵性上出现问题。我们对神的信仰，若不付诸实践的话，神赐的异象就会消失。要不违背从天上来的异象，唯一的途径是为神倾尽所有，并且不住地、坚持地重温那异象。考验是每分钟里的六十秒，每小时里的六十分钟，而不单是祈祷或培灵会里的事。

“虽然迟延，还要等候。”我们不可能凭自己实现异象，乃是要活在那异象的感动里，直到实现出来。有时我们太现实化了，以致忘记了那异象。起初，我们看见异象，却不等候，往往一冲而出去做；当异象实现，我们又看不见。异象的等候，是考验我们对神的忠心。若只一味专注在实际的工作上，错失了异象的实现，对灵命的造益来说，是大有损害的。

要注意神的旋风，神把圣徒散播出去，唯一的方法是用他的旋风。你最终是否是一条空的豆荚？就在乎你是否真的行在神的亮光中。让神把你散播出去，他不行动，你不要擅自出去。你若选择自己喜欢的地土，必长成空豆荚。若神把你散播出去，就结出果子来。

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March 11: Vision

“I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” Acts 26:19

If we lose the vision, we alone are responsible, and the way we lose the vision is by spiritual leakage. If we do not run our belief about God into practical issues, it is all up with the vision God has given. The only way to be obedient to the heavenly vision is to give our utmost for God's highest, and this can only be done by continually and resolutely recalling the vision. The test is the sixty seconds of every minute, and the sixty minutes of every hour, not our times of prayer and devotional meetings.

“Though it tarry, wait for it.” We cannot attain to a vision, we must live in the inspiration of it until it accomplishes itself. We get so practical that we forget the vision. At the beginning we saw it but did not wait for it; we rushed off into practical work, and when the vision was fulfilled, we did not see it. Waiting for the vision that tarries is the test of our loyalty to God. It is at the peril of our soul's welfare that we get caught up in practical work and miss the fulfilment of the vision.

Watch God's cyclones. The only way God sows His saints is by His whirlwind. Are you going to prove an empty pod? It will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of what you have seen. Let God fling you out, and do not go until He does. If you select your own spot, you will prove an empty pod. If God sows you, you will bring forth fruit.

It is essential to practise the walk of the feet in the light of the vision.

《竭诚为主》3月12日 撇弃一切

彼得就对他说：看哪，我们已经撇下所有的跟从你了……（可十28）


主的回答是说为他而撇下，而不是为了门徒自己能换得什么。当心别把商业贸易的精神掺入“撇下”里去——“我把自己给神，因为我要脱离罪，因为我要成圣。” 这些都是与神和好的结果，却不是基督教信仰里的精神。“撇下”根本不是为任何东西。我们已经变得太商业化了，到神面前只是为得那一点什么，而不是为他本身。这好像是说：“主啊，我不要你，我要自己；我要自己洁净，充满圣灵；我要登上你的橱窗说：『看神为我做的一切。』”若我们为神撇下，为的是要得更多的，那么，我们的撇下便没有圣灵，只是可怜的商业自利。我们得上天堂，罪得赦免，合神使用，这些在真正的“撇下”里，绝不是原因。真正的撇下，乃是个人专诚的拣选耶稣基督自己。


当我们面对人际关系的屏障，耶稣的地位何在？我们多半遗弃他说：“不错，主，我听见你的呼召；但我母亲阻着去路，还有我的妻子，我的喜好，我无法前行。” 耶稣说：“这样，你不能作我的门徒。”


撇下的考验总是与亲情有切肤之痛。越过它，神会尽所有去怀抱你撇下时所伤害的人。要当心撇下不可中途而废。我们多半只在异象中认识什么叫做撇下。



原文：


March 12: Abandonment


“Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee. . . .” Mark 10:28


Our Lord replies in effect, that abandonment is for Himself, and not for what the disciples themselves will get from it. Beware of an abandonment which has the commercial spirit in it – “I am going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” All that is the result of being right with God, but that spirit is not of the essential nature of Christianity. Abandonment is not for anything at all. We have got so commercialized that we only go to God for something from Him, and not for Himself. It is like saying, “No, Lord, I don't want Thee, I want myself; but I want myself clean and filled with the Holy Ghost; I want to be put in Thy show room and be able to say – ‘This is what God has done for me.’” If we only give up something to God because we want more back, there is nothing of the Holy Spirit in our abandonment; it is miserable commercial self-interest. That we gain heaven, that we are delivered from sin, that we are made useful to God – these things never enter as considerations into real abandonment, which is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.


When we come up against the barriers of natural relationship, where is Jesus Christ? Most of us desert Him – “Yes, Lord, I did hear Thy call; but my mother is in the road, my wife, my self-interest, and I can go no further.” “Then,” Jesus says, “you cannot be My disciple.”


The test of abandonment is always over the neck of natural devotion. Go over it, and God's own abandonment will embrace all those you had to hurt in abandoning. Beware of stopping short of abandonment to God. Most of us know abandonment in vision only.

《竭诚为主》3月13日 神的舍弃



神爱世人，甚至将他的独生子赐给他们……（约三16）



救恩并不只是从罪恶中得解救，也不只是个人成圣的经历；救恩乃是神把人从自己解脱出来，与他合一。我对救恩的认识，是从脱离罪开始，以致个人成圣；可是救恩的真谛，是圣灵使我接触到神自己；因这超越自我千万倍的主宰震撼激荡，我被神的牺牲吸引住了。若有人说我们被召是要传圣洁与成圣之道，就偏差了。我们被召是要传耶稣基督。他救我们脱离罪，使我们成圣，这不过是神奇妙牺牲中的一部分。



真正的舍弃，是不会对本身所作的有所知觉，因为整个生命已经被那一位我们为他摆上的主所占有了。你若不知道何为放下舍弃，就不要随便讲说。除非你明白约翰福音三章16节里的意思：神怎样毫无保留地将自己赐给人；否则，你永不会明白何为舍弃。我们的舍弃就是把自己完全交给神，正如神为我们舍了自己，不计算代价一样。舍弃的后果如何，不会在我们的人生观上显露，因为我们的生命已经充满了基督。



原文：

March 13: The Abandonment Of God



“God so loved the world that He gave. . .” John 3:16



Salvation is not merely deliverance from sin, nor the experience of personal holiness; the salvation of God is deliverance out of self entirely into union with Himself. My experimental knowledge of salvation will be along the line of deliverance from sin and of personal holiness; but salvation means that the Spirit of God has brought me into touch with God's personality, and I am thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself, I am caught up into the abandonment of God.



To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification, is to get into a side eddy. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ. The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is part of the effect of the wonderful abandonment of God.



Abandonment never produces the consciousness of its own effort, because the whole life is taken up with the One to Whom we abandon. Beware of talking about abandonment if you know nothing about it, and you will never know anything about it until you have realized that John 3:16 means that God gave Himself absolutely. In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as God gave Himself for us, without any calculation. The consequence of abandonment never enters into our outlook because our life is taken up with Him.

《竭诚为主》3月14日 顺服



      顺从谁，就作谁的奴仆。（罗六16）

      要省察自己被什么力量辖制，首先要承认一个难以接受的事实，就是我这样辖制，自己要负责，因为我向此力量屈服了。我若做自己的奴仆，便要自己承担责任，因为我向自己屈服了。同样地，我若顺服神，是因为自己向神降服。

      人若自幼顺从了自私自利之心，就会发现这是世上最强暴的捆锁。这种因降服而形成的桎梏，是人本性没有能力摆脱的。你只要对情欲稍为纵容（所谓情欲，就是人一定要立刻得着的，这包括肉体的情欲和心思上的情欲），便成为它的奴仆了。一旦降服，你尽管恨自己不该如此，也无济于事。除非有神的救赎，靠自己绝对没有解救的出路；所以必须完全谦卑屈服在主耶稣面前，惟有他能溃败辖制你的权势。“耶和华用膏膏我……报告被掳的得释放。”我们在极小的事上，便可以发现：“啊！我要放下这嗜好是随时都做得到的。”是不能的。你会发觉这嗜好牢牢地辖制着你，因为你是甘愿向它降服。唱“他断开一切锁链”很容易，但同时却明明活在自我的捆锁里。只有降服于耶稣才能解脱人生中任何的奴役。


原文：
        March 14: Obedience

      “His servants ye are to whom ye obey.” Romans 6:16

      The first thing to do in examining the power that dominates me is to take hold of the unwelcome fact that I am responsible for being thus dominated. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because at a point away back I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because I have yielded myself to Him.

      Yield in childhood to selfishness, and you will find it the most enchaining tyranny on earth. There is no power in the human soul of itself to break the bondage of a disposition formed by yielding. Yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust (remember what lust is: “I must have it at once,” whether it be the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind) – once yield and though you may hate yourself for having yielded, you are a bondslave to that thing. There is no release in human power at all but only in the Redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One Who can break the dominating power viz., the Lord Jesus Christ – “He hath anointed me . . . to preach deliverance to all captives.”

      You find this out in the most ridiculously small ways – “Oh, I can give that habit up when I like.” You cannot, you will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you yielded to it willingly. It is easy to sing – “He will break every fetter” and at the same time be living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. Yielding to Jesus will break every form of slavery in any human life.

《竭诚为主》3月15日 惊惧的训练

跟从的人也害怕。（可十32）

       在开始时候，我们自认为清楚认识基督耶稣便欢喜地变卖所有，投身在爱的劳苦中。但如今却不敢这样自信了。耶稣走在前面，看来多么陌生。“耶稣在前头走，门徒就稀奇。”

       在耶稣身上有另一面叫门徒寒心，使他们整个属灵生命似乎喘不过气来。这超奇的一位，面如坚石，步伐稳重，令人战栗起来。他不再是策士同伴，因他心里所想的，我一点也不知道，我只有惊愕的份儿。初时我自以为很了解他，可是现今却不敢如此自信。我开始体会到：他与我之间，有了距离；我不再与他亲热了。他在我前面，却不转过身来。我不晓得他到哪里去，那目的地显得极其遥远。

       耶稣基督要发掘人一切的罪孽与忧苦，使他显得怪异。看见他这一面时，我们就不认识他了。对于他生命特异之处，也辨认不出来，所以根本不知道从何跟随他。他走在前头——一位陌生的领路者——我们却不能与他并驾齐驱。

       要过门徒的生活，这种惊愕的训练，是不可或缺的。但有一种危险，就是回到自己的火场中去，点燃着自己的热心（赛五十10-11）。当惊愕莫名的黑暗临到你，要忍耐直到它过去，因为从这经历中出来后，跟随耶稣就成为说不出来的喜乐了。

原文：

       March 15: The Discipline Of Dismay

       “And as they followed, they were afraid.” Mark 10:32

       At the beginning we were sure we knew all about Jesus Christ, it was a delight to sell all and to fling ourselves out in a hardihood of love; but now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is on in front and He looks strange: “Jesus went before them and they were amazed.”

       There is an aspect of Jesus that chills the heart of a disciple to the core and makes the whole spiritual life gasp for breath. This strange Being with His face “set like a flint” and His striding determination, strikes terror into me. He is no longer Counsellor and Comrade, He is taken up with a point of view I know nothing about, and I am amazed at Him. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize there is a distance between Jesus Christ and me; I can no longer be familiar with Him. He is ahead of me and He never turns round; I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely far off.

       Jesus Christ had to fathom every sin and every sorrow man could experience, and that is what makes Him seem strange. When we see Him in this aspect we do not know Him, we do not recognize one feature of His life, and we do not know how to begin to follow Him. He is on in front, a Leader Who is very strange, and we have no comradeship with Him.

       The discipline of dismay is essential in the life of discipleship. The danger is to get back to a little fire of our own and kindle enthusiasm at it (cf. Isaiah 1:10-11). When the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come that following of Jesus which is an unspeakable joy.

《竭诚为主》3月16日 主的审判

因为我们众人，必要在基督台前显露出来。（林后五10）

保罗说，我不论是传道人，还是平信徒，“必要在基督台前显露出来”。你若随时随地活在基督圣洁的光中，审判将使你因神在你身上的工作而欢乐。使自己可以面对基督的审判台；尽力行在最圣洁的光中。不管你如何圣洁，若对别人存有一丝恶意，至终必带进魔鬼的灵。只要你下一个属血气的论断，你就尝到地狱的苦味。要立即去到主的光中，对主说：“我的神啊，我在这事上有罪了。”要不然刚硬的心，就会充满全人。罪的刑罚，就是罪的本身。神不但要刑罚罪，罪在人身上的结果，也已证实了。无论怎样挣扎祷告，都不能停止做那些事；那罪的刑罚就是要你渐渐习惯，不再觉得这是罪，除了圣灵的能力，没有其他办法改变罪所带来的后果。

“我们若在光明中行，如同神在光明中……”我们不少人认为行在光中，就是行在我对别人要求的标准中。今日最致命的法利赛主义，不是假冒为善，乃是与现实脱节而不自觉。

原文：

March 16 The Master Assizes

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:10

Paul says that we must all, preacher and people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” If you learn to live in the white light of Christ here and now, judgment finally will cause you to delight in the work of God in you. Keep yourself steadily faced by the judgment seat of Christ; walk now in the light of the holiest you know. A wrong temper of mind about another soul will end in the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment, and the end of it is hell in you. Drag it to the light at once and say – “My God, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, hardness will come all through. The penalty of sin is confirmation in sin. It is not only God who punishes for sin; sin confirms itself in the sinner and gives back full pay. No struggling nor praying will enable you to stop doing some things, and the penalty of sin is that gradually you get used to it and do not know that it is sin. No power save the incoming of the Holy Ghost can alter the inherent consequences of sin.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light.” Walking in the light means for many of us walking according to our standard for another person. The deadliest Pharisaism to-day is not hypocrisy, but unconscious unreality.

《竭诚为主》3月17日 工人专一的情志

我们立了志向，要得主的喜悦。（林后五9）


“立了志向（英文有劳苦作工的意思）……”乃是尽心竭力，把最大的愿望摆在首位。意即由年首至岁终，持守着最高的理想。这种理想，并不是热心去得人灵魂，或者建立教会、举办奋兴会，而是热衷于“得主的喜悦”。我们的失败，并非由于缺乏属灵的经历，而是没有竭力持定那理想的标竿。每一个礼拜，至少要在神面前结算一次，看看你的生命是否够得上他所要求的水平。


保罗好像一个音乐家，他不管听众赞赏不赞赏，只要获得主人的青睐，就已心满意足了。任何野心只要稍微偏差，不指向“得主喜悦”的目标，就会叫我们成为被弃绝的人。要学习分辨心志的方向，你就会明白为什么要向着主耶稣而活。保罗说：“我怕我的身体会领我走入歧途，因此我不断地提高警觉，攻克己身，叫身服我。”（林前九27）


我必须学习把一切所做的连接在这首要的心志上，同时保守它不间断。在公众面前我在身心里有多少价值，是视乎我私下里的为人。我最高的心志是要讨神喜悦，还是为了次一等看来很高贵的目标？


原文：

March 17: The Worker’s Ruling Passion


“Wherefore we labour that . . we may be accepted of Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:9


“Wherefore we labour . . . .” It is arduous work to keep the master ambition in front. It means holding one’s self to the high ideal year in and year out, not being ambitious to win souls or to establish churches or to have revivals, but being ambitious only to be “accepted of Him.” It is not lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but lack of labouring to keep the ideal right. Once a week at least take stock before God and see whether you are keeping your life up to the standard He wishes. Paul is like a musician who does not heed the approval of the audience if he can catch the look of approval from his Master.


Any ambition which is in the tiniest degree away from this central one of being “approved unto God” may end in our being castaways. Learn to discern where the ambition leads, and you will see why it is so necessary to live facing the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says – “Lest my body should make me take another line, I am constantly watching so that I may bring it into subjection and keep it under.” (1 Cor. 9:27.)


I have to learn to relate everything to the master ambition, and to maintain it without any cessation. My worth to God in public is what I am in private. Is my master ambition to please Him and be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how noble?

《竭诚为主》3月18日 我达到这水平吗？


敬畏神，得以成圣。（林后七1）

“我们既有这等应许。”这原是对的，不过只是人的方面；在神的方面来说，透过这些应许，人要承认神的主权。比方，我把身体看为是圣灵的殿呢，还是让劣根性存着，使不能反照神的光？藉着成圣称义，神的儿子住在我里面，但我必须顺服他，叫天然的生命改变成为属灵的生命。

神的教导，是一丝不苟的；他查究你的时候，不要与血肉之人商议，而要立即自洁。在每日的生活行事上，保守自己圣洁无污。

我要除掉肉体及心灵中一切的污秽，使与神的性情一致。我心里的意念与神儿子在我里头的生命，是否吻合？他从不凭自己说什么，乃时常儆醒，对父神不住的顺服。我要持守与主的灵合一，耶稣就会逐渐把我抬举，到他当日的光景里去——完全贴合父神的旨意，至于其他的事就一概不理。我有没有敬畏神，追求这一种圣洁，且力臻完善？神在我身上能遂其所愿吗？人家能从我身上愈来愈多看见神吗？

认认真真对神吧，其他的一切则视作等闲。要切切实实地把神放在首位。

原文：

March 18 Shall I Rouse Myself Up To This?

“Perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1

“Having therefore these promises.” I claim the fulfilment of God’s promises, and rightly, but that is only the human side; the Divine side is that through the promises I recognize God’s claim on me. For instance, am I realizing that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, or have I a habit of body that plainly will not bear the light of God on it? By sanctification the Son of God is formed in me, then I have to transform my natural life into a spiritual life by obedience to Him. God educates us down to the scruple. When He begins to check, do not confer with flesh and blood, cleanse yourself at once. Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.

I have to cleanse myself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit until both are in accord with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I insubordinate in intellect? Am I forming the mind of Christ, Who never spoke from His right to Himself, but maintained an inner watchfulness whereby He continually submitted His spirit to His Father? I have the responsibility of keeping my spirit in agreement with His Spirit, and by degrees Jesus lifts me up to where He lived – in perfect consecration to His Father’s will, paying no attention to any other thing. Am I perfecting this type of holiness in the fear of God? Is God getting His way with me, and are other people beginning to see God in my life more and more?

Be serious with God and leave the rest gaily alone. Put God first literally.

《竭诚为主》3月19日 亚伯拉罕信心之道

出去的时候，还不知往哪里去。（来十一8）


在旧约时代，个人与神的关系，是在“分离”上显出来。这可从亚伯拉罕离开本地本族本家的生平中看出来。在今日，这“分离”却侧重在心思道德方面的意义。我们所亲爱的人若与神没有个人关系，我们对事物的看法就与他们不同了。耶稣基督也强调这一点（路十四26）。


信心是从来不知道要往哪里去，却知道且深爱领路的那一位。我们的生活是信心的生活，不是理智理性的生活，因为知道谁叫我们“去”。信心的根源是出于对神的认识。但有一个最大的陷阱，是我们以为神一定领我们成功顺利。


信心生活的最终阶段，是性格的完成。人个性的改变，有不少是短暂的。我们祷告时，感到神的祝福包围着我们，那时确有了改变。过后回到日常生活中，又依然故我，而那荣光也就消失了。信心的生活不是展翅上腾的生活，乃是脚踏实地的行走而不颓废。这不是成圣的问题；是比成圣更进一步，是经过考验而证实及格的。亚伯拉罕不是成圣的模式，乃是信心生活的模范。他的信心是经过誓言，是建立在真神上。“亚伯拉罕信神”。



原文：


March 19 The Way Of Abraham In Faith


“He went out, not knowing whither he went.” Hebrews 11:8


In the Old Testament, personal relationship with God showed itself in separation, and this is symbolized in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and from his kith and kin. To day the separation is more of a mental and moral separation from the way that those who are dearest to us look at things, that is, if they have not a personal relationship with God. Jesus Christ emphasized this (see Luke 14:26).


Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of Faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us “go.” The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.


The final stage in the life of faith is attainment of character. There are many passing transfigurations of character; when we pray we feel the blessing of God enwrapping us and for the time being we are changed, then we get back to the ordinary days and ways and the glory vanishes. The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting. It is not a question of sanctification; but of something infinitely further on than sanctification, of faith that has been tried and proved and has stood the test. Abraham is not a type of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith, a tried faith built on a real God. “Abraham believed God.”

《竭诚为主》3月20日 与神为友


我所要作的事，岂可瞒着亚伯拉罕呢？（创十八17）



与神为友的快乐。这一章说出与神真正为友的快乐，较之祈祷时偶尔感到他同在是大有不同。若与神亲密到一个地步，不需要求他向你指示他的心意。这样，你的信心生活就进入成长的阶段了。与神的关系正常，生命就自由快乐；你就是神的旨意，你一切凭理智所作出的决定，就是他在你身上的旨意，除非他有特别的拦阻。你与神有美好愉快的友谊，便可以决定一切事情，因为就是决定错了，他总会阻止；他一阻止，就该立刻停止。



与神为友的困难。亚伯拉罕为什么停止了祷告？他与神的关系还未够亲密，所以在神未答应他的要求之前，便不敢前进。这时他与神的关系，仍有待改进。我们祷告时，若突然中止，说：“唔，我不敢肯定，这也许不是神的旨意。”这样，你还有另一些阶段要经历。我们认识神还未及耶稣的深切，也未达到他要我们应有的认识 ——“使他们合而为一，像我们合而为一。”试想想你最后祷告的事是什么？是专注于自己的需求呢？还是神自己？是坚持要得一些圣灵的恩赐？还是要见神的面？ “你们没有祈求以先，你们所需用的，你们的父早已知道了。”所以，祈求的目的是使你更认识神。“要以耶和华为乐，他就将你心里所求的赐给你。”不住的祷告，使对神有更完全的认识。



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March 20 Friendship With God



“Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” Genesis 18:17



Its Delights. This chapter brings out the delight of real friendship with God as compared with occasional feelings of His presence in prayer. To be so much in contact with God that you never need to ask Him to show you His will, is to be nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, it is a life of freedom and liberty and delight, you are God’s will, and all your common-sense decisions are His will for you unless He checks. You decide things in perfect delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will always check; when He checks, stop at once.



Its Difficulties. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He was not intimate enough yet to go boldly on until God granted his desire, there was something yet to be desired in his relationship to God. Whenever we stop short in prayer and say – “Well, I don’t know; perhaps it is not God’s will,” there is still another stage to go. We are not so intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as He wants us to be – “That they may be one even as we are one.” Think of the last thing you prayed about – were you devoted to your desire or to God? Determined to get some gift of the Spirit or to get at God? “Your Heavenly Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.” The point of asking is that you may get to know God better. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Keep praying in order to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.

《竭诚为主》3月21日 一己的权益还是与主同死？


我已经与基督同钉十字架。（加二20）

     属灵上的一个迫切需要，就是向罪宣判死亡。就是在一切感情上、理智上，有一个新的信念，遂向罪下判决。这罪就是为自己的权益所持的主权。保罗说：“我已经与基督同钉十字架。”他不是说：“我决定效法基督。”或“我努力跟随基督。”而是“我已经自视与他同死了。”每逢我作这属灵的抉择，并付诸实行，那么基督在十架上为我成就的，便在我里面成全了。我自愿的顺服神，让圣灵把耶稣基督的圣洁，加在我身上。

     “但我如今活着……”我依然存在，但生命的主流——那支配我性情的，却急剧地改变了。人的肉身依然，可是昔日撒旦的主权已毁掉了。“我如今在肉身活着……”这不是我想望中的生命，或祈求要得的生命，而是现金活着的，这个别人可见的生命，“是因信神的儿子而活”。这信心不是保罗对耶稣基督的信心，而是神儿子所分与他的信心。

     “信神的儿子（或作神儿子的信）。”不再是相信信心，乃是超越一切观感的规限，如同神儿子的信心。


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        March 21 Interest Or Identification?


     “I have been crucified with Christ.” Galatians 2:20


     The imperative need spiritually is to sign the death warrant of the disposition of sin, to turn all emotional impressions and intellectual beliefs into a moral verdict against the disposition of sin, viz., my claim to my right to myself. Paul says – “I have been crucified with Christ”; he does not say – “I have determined to imitate Jesus Christ,” or, “I will endeavour to follow Him” – but – “I have been identified with Him in His death.” When I come to such a moral decision and act upon it, then all that Christ wrought for me on the Cross is wrought in me. The free committal of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the chance to impart to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.

     “. . . nevertheless I live. . . .” The individuality remains, but the mainspring, the ruling disposition, is radically altered. The same human body remains, but the old satanic right to myself is destroyed.

     “And the life which I now live in the flesh . . . ,” not the life which I long to live and pray to live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh, the life which men can see, “I live by the faith of the Son of God.” This faith is not Paul’s faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith that the Son of God has imparted to him – “the faith of the Son of God.” It is no longer faith in faith, but faith which has overleapt all conscious bounds, the identical faith of the Son of God.

《竭诚为主》3月22日 焚烧的心

我们的心岂不是火热的吗？(路加福音24:32)

       我们要学习这火热的心的秘诀。耶稣忽然向我们显现，热火就焚烧起来，我们得了奇妙的异象；然后就要学习怎样持守这火热的心，以致能经历各样的际遇。平淡无奇、日复一日的生活、加上日常的工作与来往的人事，会叫心中的火熄灭——除非我们学会常住在主耶稣里面。

       我们作基督徒的痛苦，多半不是因罪而来，乃是因我们不认识自己本性的律，例如，要查验某一种感情是否应该发展，唯一的方法就是看看那感情的后果如何。把它推到逻辑上的结论去，若后果是神会定罪的，就不要让它继续下去；但若那感情是神的灵燃点的，而你却不容它在你生命中占该有的位置，它就会在低一层的水平上发挥作用。情感主义者就是这样造成的。我们若不让感情有正确的宣泄，那么情绪愈高，那堕落的光景就愈惨了。神的灵若激动你，就要尽量付诸实行，不要管后果怎样。我们不能长留在变像的山顶，而必须顺服在山上所接受的亮光。神赐你异象，就要照着异象所指示的，切实去做，不管代价有多大。

       心灵所存的火，不是人意可燃点，
灵在吹动又静止，人心活在隐秘里。
但密室启示的顺服，却藉暗地的劳苦完成大工。


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       March 22 The Burning Heart

       “Did not our heart burn within us?” Luke 24:32

       We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, the fires are kindled, we have wonderful visions, then we have to learn to keep the secret of the burning heart that will go through anything. It is the dull, bald, dreary, commonplace day, with commonplace duties and people, that kills the burning heart unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.

       Much of our distress as Christians comes not because of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test as to whether we ought to allow an emotion to have its way is to see what the outcome of the emotion will be. Push it to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something God would condemn, allow it no more way. But if it be an emotion kindled by the Spirit of God and you do not let that emotion have its right issue in your life, it will react on a lower level. That is the way sentimentalists are made. The higher the emotion is, the deeper the degradation will be, if it is not worked out on its proper level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many things inevitable as possible, let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay on the mount of transfiguration, but we must obey the light we received there; we must act it out. When God gives a vision, transact business on that line, no matter what it costs.

       “We cannot kindle when we will
The fire which in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still,
In mystery our soul abides;
But tasks in hours of insight will’d
Can be through hours of gloom fulfill’d.”

《竭诚为主》3月23日 是体贴肉体吗？

你们中间有嫉妒、纷争，这岂不是属乎肉体？（林前三3）

未重生的人根本不知何为肉体。人重生之后，肉体与圣灵相争，圣灵与肉体相争，结果就产生了"肉欲"的问题。保罗说：“在圣灵里行事，就不放纵肉体的情欲。” 如此，肉欲就消失了。

你是否好争论？易被琐事烦恼？“不，信徒不会如此！”保罗却说会。他把这些事与肉体连在一起。在圣经真理中，有哪一项容易引起你的怒气？这便证明你仍然属肉体。若成圣的工夫作成了，这种状态就不复存在。

圣灵若发现你里面有任何错处，并不叫你去纠正；乃是要你接受那光照，然后他才去纠正。光明的子女会立即认罪，赤露敞开地站在神面前。黑暗之子却说：“噢，我可以自圆其说开脱出去的。”所以，一旦光照来了，就要做光明之子，真知道有错，要向神认罪，神自会对付那罪；你若为自己辩护，就仍是黑暗之子。

怎样证明肉欲已经消失了？不要自欺，肉欲一旦克服了，是最真实不过的事。神会让你有无数的机会，去证实他在你身上的奇恩。实际的考验是唯一的证据。你会说：“奇怪得很，若在从前，这件事必叫我怀恨在心！”神在你里面所作的改变，会令你毕生惊讶，没齿难忘。

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March 23 Am I Carnally Minded?

“Whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal?” 1 Corinthians 3:3

No natural man knows anything about carnality. The flesh lusting against the Spirit that came in at regeneration, and the Spirit lusting against the flesh, produces carnality. “Walk in the Spirit,” says Paul, “and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh”; and carnality will disappear.

Are you contentious, easily troubled about trifles? “Oh, but no one who is a Christian ever is!” Paul says they are, he connects these things with carnality. Is there a truth in the Bible that instantly awakens petulance in you? That is a proof that you are yet carnal. If sanctification is being worked out, there is no trace of that spirit left.

If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He does not ask you to put it right; He asks you to accept the light, and He will put it right. A child of the light confesses instantly and stands bared before God; a child of the darkness says – “Oh, I can explain that away.” When once the light breaks and the conviction of wrong comes, be a child of the light, and confess, and God will deal with what is wrong; if you vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of the darkness.

What is the proof that carnality has gone? Never deceive yourself; when carnality is gone it is the most real thing imaginable. God will see that you have any number of opportunities to prove to yourself the marvel of His grace. The practical test is the only proof. “Why,” you say, “if this had happened before, there would have been the spirit of resentment!” You will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.

《竭诚为主》3月24日 为道日损，合乎主旨

他必兴旺，我必衰微。（约三30）


你若成为别人心中重要的人，你就偏离了神。作为主的工人，最大的职分是做新郎的朋友。当你发现有人靠近主耶稣，被主得着，就知道你在他身上所产生的影响是对的。你不必伸手去阻止他的痛苦，反而要求神使那痛苦加增十倍，以致世界或地球的任何势力，都不足以叫他与耶稣基督分离。我们若一而再、再而三地滥竽充数，以神明自居，打岔神说：“这个那个不该发生。”我们不但不是新郎忠实的朋友，反而把个人的同情心拿出来。结果，有一天那人会说：“他是个贼，偷去我对耶稣的爱情，如今我连他的形象也看不见了。”


当心，不要错用你与人同乐的心，要在正当的事上与他同乐。“新郎的朋友站着听见新郎的声音就甚喜乐……他必兴旺，我必衰微。”这话是欢喜快乐地说的，不是愁苦地说的，因别人终于看见新郎了！约翰说这就是他的喜乐。主的工人功成身退，不再被人思念。


你要为人尽所有的去警醒守望，直到你在那人身上听见新郎的声音。不管生活如何颠沛困苦，健康如何破败损伤，只要听见他的声音，就当喜从天降，满怀高兴。你可以经常看见耶稣基督先拆毁一个人，然后再建立。（太十34）



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March 24 Decreasing Into His Purpose


“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30


If you become a necessity to a soul, you are out of God’s order. As a worker, your great responsibility is to be a friend of the Bridegroom. When once you see a soul in sight of the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been in the right direction, and instead of putting out a hand to prevent the throes, pray that they grow ten times stronger until there is no power on earth or in hell that can hold that soul away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we become amateur providences, we come in and prevent God; and say – “This and that must not be.” Instead of proving friends of the Bridegroom, we put our sympathy in the way, and the soul will one day say – “That one was a thief, he stole my affections from Jesus, and I lost my vision of Him.”


Beware of rejoicing with a soul in the wrong thing, but see that you do rejoice in the right thing. “The friend of the Bridegroom . . . rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” This is spoken with joy and not with sadness – at last they are to see the Bridegroom! And John says this is his joy. It is the absolute effacement of the worker, he is never thought of again.


Watch for all you are worth until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another. Never mind what havoc it brings, what upsets, what crumblings of health, rejoice with divine hilarity when once His voice is heard. You may often see Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it. (Cf. Matt. 10:34.)

《竭诚为主》3月25日 世上最微妙的使命

新郎的朋友。（约三29）

人的良善与纯洁，不该拿来吸引人归向自己，只该用作引人归主的磁石。若我圣洁的目的不是归向神，就不是真正的圣洁；这只会掀起越轨的热情，使人偏离正路。一个卓越的圣徒，若不表彰耶稣基督，而只夸耀基督为他所做的事，他就会成为别人的绊脚石。他给人的印象是——“那人品德多么好！”这不是新郎的真朋友；因 “我”不断的在兴旺，而他却不然。

为要保持对新郎的友谊和忠诚，就要留心我们和他在道德上、生命上的关系。这些比一切都重要，甚至是顺服。有时没有什么要顺服的，只要保持与耶稣基督在生命上的关系，不让任何事物从中破坏。当然亦有需要顺服的事；如有危机来到，我们便要知道神的旨意如何。可是我们大部分的生活，并非有意识的顺服，而是保持与神的关系——作新郎的朋友。基督徒所做的工作，可能会转移别人专一向主的心，使之外鹜！我们非但不是新郎的朋友，反而往往代天行道，用神的武器，作违背他的工作。

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March 25 The Most Delicate Mission On Earth

“The friend of the Bridegroom.” John 3:29

Goodness and purity ought never to attract attention to themselves, they ought simply to be magnets to draw to Jesus Christ. If my holiness is not drawing towards Him, it is not holiness of the right order, but an influence that will awaken inordinate affection and lead souls away into side-eddies. A beautiful saint may be a hindrance if he does not present Jesus Christ but only what Christ has done for him. He will leave the impression – “What a fine character that man is!” That is not being a true friend of the Bridegroom; I am increasing all the time, He is not.

In order to maintain this friendship and loyalty to the Bridegroom, we have to be more careful of our moral and vital relationship to Him than of any other thing, even of obedience. Sometimes there is nothing to obey, the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that. Only occasionally do we have to obey. When a crisis arises we have to find out what God’s will is, but the greater part of the life is not conscious obedience but the maintenance of this relationship – the friend of the Bridegroom. Christian work may be a means of evading the soul’s concentration on Jesus Christ. Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, we may become amateur providences, and may work against Him whilst we use His weapons.

《竭诚为主》3月26日 藉着个人清洁而得之异象

清心的人有福了，因为他们必得见神。（太五8）

清心不单是无暇无庛，它的含意比这个更广。清心是与神在灵里持久同心所产生的结果，所以我们需要在清心上不断的长进。我们与神的关系可能正确，里面的心也没有玷污；但是外面生命的花朵，却可能受到玷污。神并没有排除这样的可能性，为要叫我们知道要保持异象，就必须持守个人的清洁。我们在神面前生命的花朵，若有丝毫的玷污损伤，就必须放下一切，把它弄好。要记住异象是依傍着品格的——清心的人必得见神。

神用至高无上的恩典叫我们圣洁，但我们也要谨慎持守。我们这个身体会接触别人或其他思想，故很容易沾染污秽。不但里面的圣所要与神有正常的关系，就是外院，也必须与神赐给我们的圣洁，完全一致。外院一玷污，属灵的悟性就随即模糊了。要与主耶稣保持交通，就是说有一些事物不要去做，不要去想，更有些合法的事不要去摸。与人的关系上要不损个人的圣洁，有一个可行的方法，就是对自己说：那男人、那女人，在耶稣基督里是完全的！那个朋友，那个亲戚，在耶稣基督里是安全的。

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March 26 Vision By Personal Purity

“Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

Purity is not innocence, it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual sympathy with God. We have to grow in purity. The life with God may be right and the inner purity remain unsullied, and yet every now and again the bloom on the outside may be sullied. God does not shield us from this possibility, because in this way we realize the necessity of maintaining the vision by personal purity. If the spiritual bloom of our life with God is getting impaired in the tiniest degree, we must leave off everything and get it put right. Remember that vision depends on character – the pure in heart see God.

God makes us pure by His sovereign grace, but we have something to look after, this bodily life by which we come in contact with other people and with other points of view, it is these that are apt to sully. Not only must the inner sanctuary be kept right with God, but the outer courts as well are to be brought into perfect accord with the purity God gives us by His grace. The spiritual understanding is blurred immediately the outer court is sullied. If we are going to retain personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean there are some things we must scorn to do or to think, some legitimate things we must scorn to touch.

A practical way of keeping personal purity unsullied in relation to other people is to say to yourself – That man, that woman, perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend, that relative, perfect in Christ Jesus!

《竭诚为主》3月27日 藉着个人品格而得的异象

你上到这里来，我要……指示你。（启四1）


一个人的品格要习于居高，不趋于卑下，才会产生崇高的情操。要是你外在的生活，真与你最崇高的标准相称，神就会对你说：“朋友，再高攀一点吧。”试探的金律是：“攀高一点。”当你升高了，就会碰见其他的试探，这在性质上与从前的不同。撒旦懂得用向上走的策略来试探人，神也是如此，不过效果却有不同。当魔鬼把你放在高位，是叫你对圣洁观念的标准，固定在人血肉之躯无法忍受的地位上。这就变成属灵的杂技表演，你只得立稳，却不敢移动。但当神用恩典把你提升到属天的境地，他不是找一个顶峰给你攀住，而是让你有更广阔的高原，可以任意驱驰。


试以这个礼拜的灵程与去年同一个礼拜作个比较，看看神怎样领你往高处行。我们都站过高处了望，但千万别让神给你一种你不能立即活出来的真理。得了真理，总要努力去实现，而且保持在神的光中。在恩典中的长进，不是拿你有没有后退来衡量，而是对自己现今的属灵光景有一认知——即站在哪里。你听见神对你说：“上来吧，登高一点！”这不是对你个人说，叫你得到更高的位置，乃是对你的品德说的，叫你在悟性上大大有长进。


“我要做的事岂可瞒着亚伯拉罕吗？”神往往要把他所做的向我们隐瞒，直到我们在性情品德上达到一个地步，然后他才向我们显明。



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March 27 Vision By Personal Character


“Come up hither, and I will shew thee things.” Revelation 4:1


An elevated mood can only come out of an elevated habit of personal character. If in the externals of your life you live up to the highest you know, God will continually say – “Friend, go up higher.” The golden rule in temptation is – Go higher. When you get higher up, you face other temptations and characteristics. Satan uses the strategy of elevation in temptation, and God does the same, but the effect is different. When the devil puts you into an elevated place, he makes you screw your idea of holiness beyond what flesh and blood could ever hear, it is a spiritual acrobatic performance, you are just poised and dare not move; but when God elevates you by His grace into the heavenly places, instead of finding a pinnacle to cling to, you find a great table-land where it is easy to move.


Compare this week in your spiritual history with the same week last year and see how God has called you up higher. We have all been brought to see from a higher standpoint. Never let God give you one point of truth which you do not instantly live up to. Always work it out, keep in the light of it.


Growth in grace is measured not by the fact that you have not gone back, but that you have an insight into where you are spiritually; you have heard God say “Come up higher,” not to you personally, but to the insight of your character.


“Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” God has to hide from us what He does until by personal character we get to the place where He can reveal it.

《竭诚为主》3月28日 岂无误解？

我们再往犹太去吧。门徒说……你还往那里去吗？（约十一7-8）


我可能不明白主耶稣的话，但若如此说他的话有错，就很危险了。若以为顺服神的一句话会羞辱耶稣，这是绝对错误的想法，唯一羞辱主的是不顺服他。我用自己的观点来维护他的荣耀，代替了听从他明确的命令，必然是错的；即使动机的确是想避免叫主受辱。从神来的意思，可从那安静而持续的感动认出来。但当我要反复思考、权衡得失时，随之而来是疑虑争辩，我就是把不属于神的东西带了进来。于是便知道，这意思是不对的。我们多半忠于自己对耶稣的概念，甚少忠于他自己。（试问我们中间有多少人是忠于他的？）忠于耶稣就是听命开步，不凭眼见（太十四29），忠于我自己对耶稣的概念，就是在理智上铺了路。信心不是理智的了悟，信心是在未见之先，立志委身于他。


你是否反复自辩，要靠耶稣走信心之路呢？还是你自己应付？用欢喜快乐的心，无所顾忌地顺服他吧。当他这样对你说，而你却心里反复思量，这是因为你对他的荣誉有所顾虑，而其实你所认为的荣誉，并非主的荣誉。你到底是忠于耶稣？还是忠于你对神的概念？你是忠于他所说的话？还是拿那不出于他的观点来折衷妥协？ “他告诉你们什么，你们就作什么。”


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March 28 Isn’t There Some Misunderstanding?


“Let us go into Judea. His disciples say unto Him . . . Goest Thou thither again?” John 11:7-8


I may not understand what Jesus Christ says, but it is dangerous to say that therefore He was mistaken in what He said. It is never right to think that my obedience to a word of God will bring dishonour to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonour is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honour in place of what He is plainly impelling me to do is never right, although it may arise from a real desire to prevent Him being put to open shame. I know when the proposition comes from God because of its quiet persistence: When I have to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate come in, I am bringing in an element that is not of God, and I come to the conclusion that the suggestion was not a right one. Many of us are loyal to our notions of Jesus Christ, but how many of us are loyal to Him? Loyalty to Jesus means I have to step out where I do not see anything (cf. Matt. 14:29); loyalty to my notions means that I clear the ground first by my intelligence. Faith is not intelligent understanding, faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way.


Are you debating whether to take a step in faith in Jesus or to wait until you can see how to do the thing yourself? Obey Him with glad reckless joy. When He says something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a conception of His honour which is not His honour. Are you loyal to Jesus or loyal to your notion of Him? Are you loyal to what He says, or are you trying to compromise with conceptions which never came from Him? “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.”

《竭诚为主》3月29日 主突然到访


        你们也要预备。（路十二40）

        主的工人最需要做的，是随时随地预备面对主，这个并不容易，不管我们的经历怎样。这争战不是对付罪恶、环境，或是艰难，而是对付自己。我们要避免过分专心工作，以致未能随时预备见主。这个逼切的需要不是怎样面对信仰、教义，或个人的价值，乃是怎样面对主。

        耶稣很少在我们期望他的时候来到，相反地，他会在我们最意想不到的时候，就出现了，而且往往是在最不合理的情况下哩！主的工人唯一保持忠于神的方法，就是对主的突访随时作准备。

        事奉工作不是顶重要的，最重要的是有好的灵性，时刻准备耶稣基督来到。这会令我们的人生，有孩子般惊喜的样式，这也正是他所要求于我们的。我们若要准备好见耶稣基督，就不要披上宗教的外衣（把宗教当作一种高等的文化），而要有属灵的实际。

        你若单仰望耶稣，不理会现世宗教的呼喊，只把心思专注在他的事上，与他有共同的思想，人家会说你不切实际，只会梦想。但当主在繁重喧嚣的生活中出现，唯独你准备好见他。不要倚仗别人，也不要倚仗世上最优秀的圣徒；要是他阻拦你，使你看不见耶稣基督，就别管他好了。

        原文：

        March 29 Our Lord’s Surprise Visits

        “Be ye therefore ready also.” Luke 12:40

        The great need for the Christian worker is to be ready to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience is. The battle is not against sin or difficulties or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in work that we are not ready to face Jesus Christ at every turn. That is the one great need, not the facing our belief, or our creed, the question whether we are of any use, but to face Him.

        Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical connections. The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. It is not service that matters, but intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This will give our life the attitude of child-wonder which He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious (that is, using religion as a higher kind of culture) and be spiritually real.

        If you are “looking off unto Jesus,” avoiding the call of the religious age you live in, and setting your heart on what He wants, on thinking on His line – you will be called unpractical and dreamy; but when He appears in the burden and the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. Trust no one, not even the finest saint who ever walked this earth, ignore him, if he hinders your sight of Jesus Christ.

《竭诚为主》3月30日 对神柔顺还是刚硬？

他见无人拯救、无人代求，甚为诧异。（赛五十九16）

不少人祷告半途而废，对神硬心，是由于对祷告只有一种情感上的兴趣。“我们有祷告呀！”听起来很不错。读点关于祷告的书，知道祷告很有益——使思想安静、灵性高升。可是，以赛亚却暗示说，神对这种祷告的观念大感惊奇。

敬拜与代求必须同时进行，两者是缺一不可的。代求是我们催逼自己去体会主耶稣对所代求的人迫切的心情。但多少时候，我们不是敬拜神，而是在堆砌祷词。我们到底在敬拜，还是与神争论？——“我看不出你（神）有什么办法。”这明明就不是敬拜。一旦看不见神，我们就变得硬心主观。我们把所求的事，仍在神宝座之前，并指明要他怎样做。我们不是在敬拜，也没有寻求主基督的心意。向神硬心，对人也必然没有怜悯。

我们向神敬拜，是否提升到有主的心，使我们能为别人代求？我们是否与神活在圣洁的关系上？还是刚硬武断？“无人真正好好地代求。”那么，你就做那代求的人吧！敬拜神，活在圣洁的关系里；投入真正的代求工作里。要记住：代求是一种工作，是需要一切能力的工作。然而，传讲福音会遇到许多意想不到的困难和陷阱，代祷却不会。

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March 30 Holiness V. Hardness Towards God

“And He . . . wondered that there was no intercessor.” Isaiah 59:16

The reason many of us leave off praying and become hard towards God is because we have only a sentimental interest in prayer. It sounds right to say that we pray; we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial, that our minds are quieted and our souls uplifted when we pray; but Isaiah implies that God is amazed at such thoughts of prayer.

Worship and intercession must go together, the one is impossible without the other. Intercession means that we rouse ourselves up to get the mind of Christ about the one for whom we pray. Too often instead of worshipping God, we construct statements as to how prayer works. Are we worshipping or are we in dispute with God – “I don’t see how You are going to do it.” This is a sure sign that we are not worshipping. When we lose sight of God we become hard and dogmatic. We hurl our own petitions at God’s throne and dictate to Him as to what we wish Him to do. We do not worship God, nor do we seek to form the mind of Christ. If we are hard towards God, we will become hard towards other people.

Are we so worshipping God that we rouse ourselves up to lay hold on Him so that we may be brought into contact with His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship to God, or are we hard and dogmatic?

“But there is no one interceding properly” – then be that one yourself, be the one who worships God and who lives in holy relationship to Him. Get into the real work of intercession, and remember it is a work, a work that taxes every power; but a work which has no snare. Preaching the gospel has a snare; intercessory prayer has none.

《竭诚为主》3月31日 你是专一还是假冒？

人若看见弟兄犯了不至于死的罪，就当为他祈求，神必将生命赐给他。（约壹五16）

我们若不留意神的灵如何在我们里面工作，就会变成属灵的伪君子。我们看见别人的失败，就把它当作笑柄，肆意批评，并不为他们代求。我们所看见的，原不是出于自己机敏的脑筋，乃是神的灵直接启示我们。因此，我们若不留意那启示的来源，就会变成评论专家，忘记了神所说的——“不至于死的罪，就当为他祈求，神必将生命赐给他”。当心不要扮演伪君子；自己未敬拜神，就花尽时间去纠正别人。

神将一个最奇妙的担子放在圣徒身上，就是为他人守望。神向我们启示一些事情，为叫我们把这些人的担子带到他面前。然后，我们有了基督怜悯的心肠，就为他们代求。我们若这样行，神说会“将生命赐给他”。我们并不是叫神迁就我们，按自己的心意去事奉，乃是激励自己，直至神把他对我们所代求的人的心意传递给我们。

主耶稣在我们身上能否看见他劳苦的功效，就在乎我们是否与他合一，使自己有神的看法，以同样的眼光看代求的人。这样，主才能心满意足。愿我们学习全心全意的代求，以致主对我们这些代求者，能心满意足。

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March 31 Heedfulness V. Hypocrisy In Ourselves

“If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him Life for them that sin not unto death.” 1 John 5:16

If we are not heedful of the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other folks are failing, and we turn our discernment into the gibe of criticism instead of into intercession on their behalf. The revelation is made to us not through the acuteness of our minds, but by the direct penetration of the Spirit of God, and if we are not heedful of the source of the revelation, we will become criticizing centres and forget that God says – “. . . he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.” Take care lest you play the hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right before you worship God yourself.

One of the subtlest burdens God ever puts on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning other souls. He reveals things in order that we may take the burden of these souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them, and as we intercede on His line, God says He will give us “life for them that sin not unto death.” It is not that we bring God into touch with our minds, but that we rouse ourselves until God is able to convey His mind to us about the one for whom we intercede.

Is Jesus Christ seeing of the travail of His soul in us? He cannot unless we are so identified with Himself that we are roused up to get His view about the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so whole-heartedly that Jesus Christ will be abundantly satisfied with us as intercessors.

《竭诚为主》4月1日 对别人衷诚还是冷漠？

有基督耶稣……也替我们祈求……圣灵……替圣徒祈求。（罗八 34、27）


我们还需要什么理论去支援自己做代求者的工作呢？基督活着为我们代求，圣灵又为圣徒祈求。我们与人的关系，有没有这种休戚相关的样式，以致我们真像受圣灵教导的儿女，忠于代求的事奉？当从日常的环境中开始——家庭、工作、国家，以及人人共受的境遇——这些事是否重压着我们？是否使我们离开神的面，没有时间敬拜？这样，让我们停住脚步，恢复与神活泼的关系；叫我们与人的关系也恢复代求的位置，使神行奇事。


当心不要因渴望遵行神的旨意而超越了神。我们在许多的事上都走在神的前头，结果被人事和困难的担子压倒，不再敬拜神，也不再代求。每逢重担与压力来到，而我们又没有一种敬拜的态度，这不但会造成对神硬心，更会给自己带来沮丧。神不断的把与我们毫不相干的人给我们，这时，除非我们有敬拜神的心，否则我们最自然的反应，就是冷漠无情地对待他们。给他们一段扎心的经文，或代表神作一番责备的劝导后，就一走了之。这样一个无情的信徒，实在令主痛心。


我们是否与主并圣灵站在同一阵线上，作代求的工作？

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April 1 Heartiness V. Heartlessness Towards Others


“It is Christ . . . who also maketh intercession for us.” “The Spirit . . . maketh intercession for the saints.” Romans 8:34, 27


Do we need any more argument than this to become intercessors – that Christ “ever liveth to make intercession;” that the Holy Spirit “maketh intercession for the saints”? Are we living in such a vital relationship to our fellow men that we do the work of intercession as the Spirit-taught children of God? Begin with the circumstances we are in – our homes, our business, our country, the present crisis as it touches us and others – are these things crushing us? Are they badgering us out of the presence of God and leaving us no time for worship? Then let us call a halt, and get into such living relationship with God that our relationship to others may be maintained on the line of intercession whereby God works His marvels.


Beware of outstripping God by your very longing to do His will. We run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, consequently we get so burdened with persons and with difficulties that we do not worship God, we do not intercede. If once the burden and the pressure come upon us and we are not in the worshipping attitude, it will produce not only hardness toward God but despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us to people for whom we have no affinity, and unless we are worshipping God, the most natural thing to do is to treat them heartlessly, to give them a text like the jab of a spear, or leave them with a rapped-out counsel of God and go. A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to Our Lord.


Are we in the direct line of the intercession of our Lord and of the Holy Spirit?

《竭诚为主》4月2日 无比的荣耀
“

耶稣打发我来，叫你能看见。（徒九17）


保罗恢复视力后，他属灵的眼睛就注目在耶稣基督身上，他此后的生活和传道，就只以耶稣基督为中心——“我在你们中间，不知道别的，只知道耶稣基督，并他钉十字架。” 除了耶稣基督的荣面，保罗的心思意念绝不诱于任何事物，受其操纵。


我们藉着耶稣基督所启示的亮光，学习在主里保持毫无玷污。


一个属灵人不变的特征，就是把主耶稣基督的人格，转化为自己的人格，然后将神的旨意传达与别人。他人生中所专注爱恋的，就是耶稣基督。每当你碰到一个人有这样的素质，你就知道他是合神心意的。


不要让任何事物转移你对耶稣基督的注意力，这是属灵的考验。所谓不属灵，就是其他事物对你的吸引与日俱增。


“自我定睛注视耶稣，尘世一切，视若无睹，我灵注视不移， 定睛被钉的主。”


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April 2 The Glory That Excels


“The Lord . . . hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight.” Acts 9:17


When Paul received his sight, he received spiritually an insight into the Person of Jesus Christ, and the whole of his subsequent life and preaching was nothing but Jesus Christ – “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” No attraction was ever allowed to hold the mind and soul of Paul save the face of Jesus Christ.


We have to learn to maintain an unimpaired state of character up to the last notch revealed in the vision of Jesus Christ.


The abiding characteristic of a spiritual man is the interpretation of the Lord Jesus Christ to himself, and the interpretation to others of the purposes of God. The one concentrated passion of the life is Jesus Christ. Whenever you meet this note in a man, you feel he is a man after God’s own heart.


Never allow anything to deflect you from insight into Jesus Christ. It is the test of whether you are spiritual or not. To be unspiritual means that other things have a growing fascination for you.


“Since mine eyes have looked on Jesus,I’ve lost sight of all beside,So enchained my spirit’s vision,Gazing on the Crucified.”

《竭诚为主》4月3日 巴不得你知道



经文：巴不得你在这日子知道关系你平安的事。无奈这事现在是隐藏的，叫你的眼看不出来。（路十九42）


耶稣威武地进入耶路撒冷，合城都震动了；可是，有一个怪异的神袛在那里，就是骄傲的法利赛主义；表面是敬虔公正，却是“粉饰的坟墓”。在我的年日里，令我瞎了眼的究竟是什么呢？我有了一个外邦的神袛？我所指的并不是丑恶的怪物，乃是辖制我的性情。神曾经三番四次使我面对这个外邦的神袛；我知道要降服神，把它弃掉，却始终没有付诸实行。我咬紧牙龈要冲过难关，却仍然受制于这古怪的神明。我看不见使我平安的事。我们可以一方面让圣灵毫无拦阻地得着，而另一方面却在神面前不断责备自己，这实在是一件可怕的事。


“巴不得你知道”——神在耶稣的眼泪里，直接摸着人的心。这话表示罪有应得；我们看不清的事，神要我们承担责任。“这事现在是隐藏的，叫你的眼看不出来” ——是因为我们未曾降服。那“早该如此！”是多么悲惨绝伦呀！神关了的门，就永不再开。但他开了其他的门，并提醒我们有些门是我们关的，有些门则不需要关。我们的想像力千万不要迟钝才好。当神把旧事重提，我们不必惧怕，让回忆过去吧！它是神的用人，要责备、管教和追悔。神会把那“早该如此”，变成未来的优良教育。


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April 3 If Thou Hadst Known!


“If thou hadst known . . . in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” Luke 19:42



Jesus had entered into Jerusalem in triumph, the city was stirred to its foundations; but a strange god was there, the pride of Pharisaism; it was religious and upright, but a “whited sepulchre.”



What is it that blinds me in this “my day”? Have I a strange god – not a disgusting monster, but a disposition that rules me? More than once God has brought me face to face with the strange god and I thought I should have to yield, but I did not do it. I got through the crisis by the skin of my teeth and I find myself in the possession of the strange god still; I am blind to the things which belong to my peace. It is an appalling thing that we can be in the place where the Spirit of God should be getting at us unhinderedly, and yet increase our condemnation in God’s sight.



“If thou hadst known” – God goes direct to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind. These words imply culpable responsibility; God holds us responsible for what we do not see. “Now they are hid from thine eyes” – because the disposition has never been yielded. The unfathomable sadness of the “might have been!” God never opens doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut, doors which need never have been shut, imaginations which need never have been sullied. Never be afraid when God brings back the past. Let memory have its way. It is a minister of God with its rebuke and chastisement and sorrow. God will turn the “might have been” into a wonderful culture for the future.

《竭诚为主》4月4日 不信的边缘


经文：看哪，时候将到，……你们要分散。（约十六32）


耶稣不是在责备门徒，他们的信心是真实的，只不过受到困扰；以致在实际的事情临到时，信心没有发生果效。他们分散，各顾各的事，而这些事不是属基督的。我们与神有了分别为圣的关系后，就必须在实际行动上活出信心来。我们被解散，不是到工厂上去，而是到个人内心的绝境里，叫我们体会什么叫做向神的赐福死去。我们准备好吗？这不是我们所拣选的，乃是神所安排的环境，带我们进入这经历里去。


除非我们有了这样的经历，否则，我们的信心不过是建立在感觉与福气之上，为二者所支撑而已。一旦我们到了这个地步，不论神放我们在哪里，也不论落到怎样的绝境，我们仍然可以赞美神，知道一切都尽善尽美，这才是信心真实地发挥出来。


“……留下我独自一人。”我们有没有因着追逐个人的嗜欲，偏离神旨，留下耶稣独自一人？这是因为我们在所遇的环境里看不见神吗？黑暗来临，也是出于神的全能。我们预备让神照他的心意对待我们吗？就是甘愿抛弃我们能察觉的福气吗？除非等到耶稣基督作我们的主，否则我们总会去争取自己的目标；我们的信心是真实的，却仍未坚固。神从来不草率行事；只要我们等候，神必要指明。但我们所专注的不是神，而是他的赐福。只意识到神的赐福，乃是灵程的初阶。“你们可以放心，我已经胜了世界。”我们需要属灵的刚毅。


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April 4 Those Borders Of Distrust


“Behold, the hour cometh . . . that ye shall be scattered.” John 16:32


Jesus is not rebuking the disciples, their faith was real, but it was disturbed; it was not at work in actual things. The disciples were scattered to their own interests, alive to interests that never were in Jesus Christ. After we have been perfectly related to God in sanctification, our faith has to be worked out in actualities. We shall be scattered, not into work, but into inner desolations and made to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is not that we choose it, but that God engineers our circumstances so that we are brought there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is bolstered up by feelings and by blessings. When once we get there, no matter where God places us or what the inner desolations are, we can praise God that all is well. That is faith being worked out in actualities.


“. . . and shall leave Me alone.” Have we left Jesus alone by the scattering of His providence? Because we do not see God in our circumstances? Darkness comes by the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do as He likes with us – prepared to be separated from conscious blessings? Until Jesus Christ is Lord, we all have ends of our own to serve; our faith is real, but it is not permanent yet. God is never in a hurry; if we wait, we shall see that God is pointing out that we have not been interested in Himself but only in His blessings. The sense of God’s blessing is elemental.


“Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Spiritual grit is what we need.

《竭诚为主》4月5日 他的痛苦与我们的相交


        耶稣同门徒来到一个地方，名叫客西马尼，就对他们说……你们在这里等候，和我一同儆醒。（太二十六36、38）

        纵然我们无法体会主在客西马尼的痛苦，但我们也不要误解。这是神人一体面对罪恶的痛苦。因此就我们个人的经历，是无法体会的。客西马尼与各各他，是耶稣所专有的，叫我们得生命的门。

        耶稣在客西马尼，并不是因十架的死亡而恐惧；他曾强调说，他是为死而来的。他所恐惧的是不能以“人子”的身分过这一关。作为神子，耶稣绝对可以过关，撒但不能碰他分毫；但撒但要毁灭的，是他以一个孤独的个体过这一关；就是说，使他不能成为救主。试以主受试探的情景去读客西马尼痛苦的祷告：“魔鬼暂时离开耶稣。”在客西马尼，撒但最后向主以人子身份所施的袭击，是在客西马尼。

        客西马尼的痛苦，是神子为要完成他作世人救主的使命所忍受的痛苦。幔子裂开，显示他付出何等的代价，为叫我们可以成为神的儿子。我们如此容易得救，是基于他的痛苦。基督的十字架，是人子的胜利。这不但表明我们的主已经得胜，而且带来人类的拯救。如今人人可以来到神面前，完全因为“人子”所经历的痛苦。

        原文：

        April 5 His Agony And Our Fellowship

        “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, tarry ye here, and watch with Me.” Matthew 26:36, 38

        We can never fathom the agony in Gethsemane, but at least we need not misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and Man in one, face to face with sin. We know nothing about Gethsemane in personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary stand for something unique; they are the gateway into Life for us.

        It was not the death on the cross that Jesus feared in Gethsemane; He stated most emphatically that He came on purpose to die. In Gethsemane He feared lest He might not get through as Son of Man. He would get through as Son of God – Satan could not touch Him there; but Satan’s onslaught was that He would get through as an isolated Figure only; and that would mean that He could be no Saviour. Read the record of the agony in the light of the temptation: “Then the devil leaveth Him for a season.” In Gethsemane Satan came back and was again overthrown. Satan’s final onslaught against our Lord as Son of Man is in Gethsemane.

     The agony in Gethsemane is the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Saviour of the world. The veil is drawn aside to reveal all it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony is the basis of the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ is a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that Our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Every human being can get through into the presence of God now because of what the Son of Man went through.

《竭诚为主》4月6日 神与罪的冲突


他被挂在木头上亲身担当了我们的罪。（彼前二24）


耶稣的十字架，说明神对罪恶的审判。但千万别以为耶稣的十字架是一种殉道精神；十字架是至高无上的胜利，连地狱的根基也震动了。不论今生或是来世，再没有比耶稣基督在十字架上所成就的更加确实。他挽回了全人类，使他们与神恢复正常的关系。他使救赎成为人类生命的根基，也就是说，他为人开了一道通往神的途径。


十字架并非偶然临到耶稣的，他是为此目的而来。他是“那创世以先被杀的羔羊”。道成肉身的整个意义，就是十字架。当心别把神在肉身显现，与人子成为罪分开来看。道成肉身的目的，正是为了显露自己。十字架是今生与永世的中心，是两者的谜底。


十字架不是人的十字架，是神的十字架，神的十字架永远不能以人的经历去体验。十字架是神本性的显露，是任何人得以达致与神合一的通道。我们是来到十字架面前，不是越过去；我们住在十字架所带进来的生命里。


救恩的中心，就是耶稣的十字架；救恩所以如此易得，是因为神付出了重大的代价。十字架是神与罪人碰头的地方，这猛然的撞击，开拓了生命的路；可是，这撞击是发生在神心里的。


原文：


April 6 The Collision Of God And Sin


“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” 1 Peter 2:24


The Cross of Jesus is the revelation of God’s judgment on sin. Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross was a superb triumph in which the foundations of hell were shaken. There is nothing more certain in Time or Eternity than what Jesus Christ did on the Cross: He switched the whole of the human race back into a right relationship with God. He made Redemption the basis of human life, that is, He made a way for every son of man to get into communion with God.


The Cross did not happen to Jesus: He came on purpose for it. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The whole meaning of the Incarnation is the Cross. Beware of separating God manifest in the flesh from the Son becoming sin. The Incarnation was for the purpose of Redemption. God became incarnate for the purpose of putting away sin; not for the purpose of Self-realization. The Cross is the centre of Time and of Eternity, the answer to the enigmas of both.


The Cross is not the cross of a man but the Cross of God, and the Cross of God can never be realized in human experience. The Cross is the exhibition of the nature of God, the gateway whereby any individual of the human race can enter into union with God. When we get to the Cross, we do not go through it; we abide in the life to which the Cross is the gateway.

《竭诚为主》4月7日  为什么不明明告诉我们？


耶稣嘱咐他们说，人子还没有从死里复活，你们不要将所看见的告诉人。（可九9）


人子还未在你面前复活，什么都不要说——直到基督复活的生命完全掌管你，使你真正明白基督的教训。当你里面有真正的改变，耶稣所说的话就很清楚明白，以致你稀奇何以从前看不出来。你从前不明白，因为你的性情没有地方容纳他的话语。


主并没有隐藏这些事，只是我们属灵的生命未到一个合适的地步，所以承担不起这些事。“我还有好些事要告诉你们，但你们现在担当不了。”我们必须与主复活的生命有了连接，才能接受他的话。耶稣复活的生命如何流注，我们有所知闻吗？证明我们知道的证据就是：我们能够明白他的话。我们若没有神的灵，神是无法向我们启示什么的。刚硬的态度，足以阻碍神向我们显明真理。我们若对某一项教义坚持己见，神的亮光就不再照明，我们便无法得见。可是一旦他复活的生命支配我们，这愚顽不灵的光景，就会立即终止！


“不要告诉人……”但许多人都把山上变像的事实告诉人，他们见了异象，就大作见证；可是，灵命却未成熟，因人子还未在他们心里复活。他什么时候才成形在你我身上呢？


原文：


April 7 Why Are We Not Told Plainly?


“He charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.” Mark 9:9


Say nothing until the Son of man is risen in you – until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you understand what the historic Christ taught. When you get to the right state on the inside, the word which Jesus has spoken is so plain that you are amazed you did not see it before. You could not understand it before, you were not in the place in disposition where it could be borne.


Our Lord does not hide these things; they are unbearable until we get into a fit condition of spiritual life. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” There must be communion with His risen life before a particular word can be borne by us. Do we know anything about the impartation of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His word is becoming interpretable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we have not His Spirit. An obstinate outlook will effectually hinder God from revealing anything to us. If we have made up our minds about a doctrine, the light of God will come no more to us on that line, we cannot get it. This obtuse stage will end immediately “when” His resurrection life has its way with us.


“Tell no man . . ” – so many do tell what they saw on the mount of transfiguration. They have had the vision and they testify to it, but the life does not tally with it, the Son of man is not yet risen in them. I wonder when He is going to be formed in you and in me?

《竭诚为主》4月8日 他复活的目的

基督这样受害，又进入他的荣耀，岂不是应当的吗？（路二十四 26）


主的十字架是进入生命的门：他的复活，表示他有能力把他的生命传递给我。我重生之后，就从复活的主接受他的生命。主复活的目的，为要领“许多儿子进入荣耀里”。他达成任务后，就有权柄叫我们成为神的儿女。我们从未有过神子与神的这种关系；但却因着神子，获得了儿子的位分。主从死里复活，进入了一种崭新的生命，这生命是他成肉身以前未曾有过的。他复活的生命是前所未有的；因此他的复活对我们来说，叫我们也有像他一样复活的生命，而不是我们旧有的生命。有一天，我们将有一个像他荣耀的身体。如今，我们也可享受他复活的效应，行事为人有新生的样式，使我认识他复活的大能。


“正如你曾赐给他权柄，管理凡有血气的，叫他将永生赐给你所赐给他的人。”（约十七2）在工作效果来说，“圣灵”一词是指此时此地在人心中作工的永恒生命。圣灵就是那赐予能力的神，把救赎实现在我们的经历里。感谢神，只要我们顺服圣灵，他就能在我们里面陶铸耶稣的性情，这是荣耀而严肃的确切事实。


原文：


April 8 His Resurrection Destiny


“Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?” Luke 24:26


Our Lord’s Cross is the gateway into His life: His Resurrection means that He has power now to convey His life to me. When I am born again from above, I receive from the Risen Lord His very life.


Our Lord’s Resurrection destiny is to bring “many sons unto glory.” The fulfilling of His destiny gives Him the right to make us sons and daughters of God. We are never in the relationship to God that the Son of God is in; but we are brought by the Son into the relation of sonship. When Our Lord rose from the dead, He rose to an absolutely new life, to a life He did not live before He was incarnate. He rose to a life that had never been before; and His resurrection means for us that we are raised to His risen life, not to our old life. One day we shall have a body like unto His glorious body, but we can know now the efficacy of His resurrection and walk in newness of life. “I would know Him in the power of His resurrection.”


“As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.” “Holy Spirit” is the experimental name for Eternal Life working in human beings here and now. The Holy Spirit is the Deity in proceeding power Who applies the Atonement to our experience. Thank God it is gloriously and majestically true that the Holy Ghost can work in us the very nature of Jesus if we will obey Him.

《竭诚为主》4月9日 我见过他吗？

这事以后，门徒中间有两个人……耶稣变了形像向他们显现。（可十六12）


得救与看见耶稣，是两回事。许多人在神的恩上有分，却从未见过耶稣。但若见了耶稣，你就完全改观了，其他事物再不像往日那样吸引你。要时常分辨清楚，你看见的是耶稣本身，还是他为你成就的事。如果你只知道他为你做的事，那么你的神还未够伟大；要是你真看见耶稣本身，那么，纵使经历千变万化，你仍能坚定不移，“如同看见那不能看见的主”。那生来瞎眼的人，并不认识耶稣是谁，直等到主出现，又向他启示自己，他才恍然大悟。耶稣为谁行事，就为谁显现；只是我们不能规定他什么时候显现。他任何时刻都可能蓦然出现；“如今我看见他！”


耶稣不但向你显现，也向你的朋友显现：别人不能藉着你的眼睛看见耶稣。一个人看见主，另一个没看见，隔膜就从此形成，除非神领你的朋友到他面前来。你见过耶稣吗？要是见过，你一定盼望别人也看见他。“他们就去告诉其余的门徒，其余的门徒也是不信。”即使他们不信，你仍要去传。


“啊，但愿我能告诉你，你一定会相信的！
啊，但愿我能说出我所见的！
我怎样说才好？你怎样才接纳？
怎么样？除非他带你去尝受我所经历的。”


原文：


April 9 Have I Seen Him?


“After that He appeared in another form unto two of them.” Mark 16:12


Being saved and seeing Jesus are not the same thing. Many are partakers of God’s grace who have never seen Jesus. When once you have seen Jesus, you can never be the same, other things do not appeal as they used to do.


Always distinguish between what you see Jesus to be, and what He has done for you. If you only know what He has done for you, you have not a big enough God; but if you have had a vision of Jesus as He is, experiences can come and go, you will endure “as seeing Him Who is invisible.” The man blind from his birth did not know Who Jesus was until He appeared and revealed Himself to him. Jesus appears to those for whom He has done something; but we cannot dictate when He will come. Suddenly at any turn He may come. “Now I see Him!”


Jesus must appear to your friend as well as to you, no one can see Jesus with your eyes. Severance takes place where one and not the other has seen Jesus. You cannot bring your friend unless God brings him. Have you seen Jesus? Then you will want others to see Him too. “And they went and told it unto the residue, neither believed they them.” You must tell, although they do not believe.


“O could I tell, ye surely would believe it!
O could I only say what I have seen!
How should I tell or how can ye receive it,
How, till He bringeth you where I have been?”

《竭诚为主》4月10日 对罪的道德判断


因为知道我们的旧人和他同钉十字架，使罪身灭绝，叫我们不再作罪的奴仆。（罗六6）


同钉十字架。我对罪所作的道德判决，是要花很长时间的。可是，这却是我生命的转捩点。我看准了，耶稣基督既为世人的罪而死，照样地，罪也必须在我里面死去。不是要把罪约束、压抑或是抵挡，乃是要把它钉死在十字架上。没有人可以使别人下这决心；我们也许会在宗教意识里同意，但我们必须照保罗在此所强调的，作出决定。


要鼓起勇气，振作起来，花时间与神单独相对，作一个道德上的抉择，对主说：“主啊，让你的死成为我的死，直至我知道罪已在我里面死去。”要斩钉截铁，下定决心，把罪治死。


对保罗来说，这不是一种属灵的期望，而是一个非常基本而肯定的经验。我肯不肯让神的灵鉴察我，直到我真知道罪的本相——就是在我里面与神的灵相争的事物？若肯的话，我接受神对罪的判断——就是与耶稣同死吗？我必须解决这个基本的意志问题，在神面前寻求清楚，否则不能算己“向罪死了”。


我有没有进入与基督同钉的最高福祉里，直到我血肉之躯，除了基督的生命以外，再无别的？“我已经与基督同钉十字架，现在活着的，不再是我，乃是基督在我里面活着。”


原文：


April 10 Moral Decision About Sin



“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Romans 6:6



Co-Crucifixion. Have I made this decision about sin – that it must be killed right out in me? It takes a long time to come to a moral decision about sin, but it is the great moment in my life when I do decide that just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world, so sin must die out in me, not be curbed or suppressed or counteracted, but crucified. No one can bring anyone else to this decision. We may be earnestly convinced, and religiously convinced, but what we need to do is to come to the decision which Paul forces here.



Haul yourself up, take a time alone with God, make the moral decision and say – “Lord, identify me with Thy death until I know that sin is dead in me.” Make the moral decision that sin in you must be put to death.



It was not a divine anticipation on the part of Paul, but a very radical and definite experience. Am I prepared to let the Spirit of God search me until I know what the disposition of sin is – the thing that lusts against the Spirit of God in me? Then if so, will I agree with God’s verdict on that disposition of sin – that it should be identified with the death of Jesus? I cannot reckon myself “dead indeed unto sin” unless I have been through this radical issue of will before God.



Have I entered into the glorious privilege of being crucified with Christ until all that is left is the life of Christ in my flesh and blood? “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

《竭诚为主》4月11日 道德上的神性


我们若在他死的形状上与他联合，也要在他复活的形状上与他联合。（罗六5）


一同复活。要证明我的确已与耶稣同钉十字架，就是我明显有像他的地方。耶稣的灵进入我里面，重整了我向神的生命。耶稣的复活，使他有权柄把神的圣灵充满我；而我这生命，是必须建造在他生命的根基上。我现在有耶稣复活的生命，在圣洁上可表明出来。


在使徒保罗的书信中，有个一贯的思想，就是决志——作这道德上的抉择，承认与耶稣同死后，耶稣复活的生命就充满我每一部分。人在肉身活出神儿子的生命，必须有超人的能力才行。


圣灵绝不处于客人的地位，他是无孔不入的。我一旦决志让旧人（罪的遗传）与耶稣同死，圣灵就开始进袭我。他要管理一切，要我行在光中，要使我顺服。我既对罪作了道德的判决，就很容易向罪死，因为耶稣的生命已经住在我里面。


人性若只有一个印记，圣洁同样也只有一个，就是耶稣的圣洁，而这圣洁正是他赐给我的。神把他儿子的圣洁放在我里面，我就属于一个新的属灵族类。



原文：


April 11 Moral Divinity


“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” Romans 6:5


Co-Resurrection. The proof that I have been through crucifixion with Jesus is that I have a decided likeness to Him. The incoming of the Spirit of Jesus into me readjusts my personal life to God. The resurrection of Jesus has given Him authority to impart the life of God to me, and my experimental life must be constructed on the basis of His life. I can have the resurrection life of Jesus now, and it will show itself in holiness.


The idea all through the apostle Paul’s writings is that after the moral decision to be identified with Jesus in His death has been made, the resurrection life of Jesus invades every bit of my human nature. It takes omnipotence to live the life of the Son of God in mortal flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot be located as a Guest in a house, He invades everything. When once I decide that my “old man” (i.e., the heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, then the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything, my part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals. When I have made the moral decision about sin, it is easy to reckon actually that I am dead unto sin, because I find the life of Jesus there all the time. Just as there is only one stamp of humanity, so there is only one stamp of holiness, the holiness of Jesus, and it is His holiness that is gifted to me. God puts the holiness of His Son into me, and I belong to a new order spiritually.

《竭诚为主》4月12日 道德上的主权


死也不再作他的主了……他活是向 神活着。这样，你们向罪也当看自己是死的，向神在基督耶稣里，却当看自己是活的。（罗六9-11）


同享永生，永生是耶稣基督以人的身份所表现的生命。若我们从神而生，在这必朽的肉身所彰显的生命，正是这种生命，而非它的副本。永生不是从神而来的恩赐，乃是神把自己赐给我们。耶稣所彰显出来的能力与权柄，在我们对罪作道德判决时，因着神的恩典，在我们身上彰显出来。


“圣灵降临在你们身上，你们就必得着能力。”——这能力并不是从圣灵而来的恩赐，乃是圣灵本身。换言之，这并不是圣灵所赐的什么东西。我们一旦与他的死认同后，就藉着十字架得着耶稣的生命。若觉得与神和好是件难事，那就一定是我们对罪未肯作确定的判决。只要一作决定，神丰盛的生命就立即进来。耶稣来了，是要供应永恒的生命：“叫神一切所充满的，充满了你们。”


永生与时间原不相关，永生是耶稣在地上时的生命。生命唯一的源头就是主耶稣基督。只要肯“放手”，最软弱的信徒也能经历神儿子的能力。我们旧我的能力，若有任何残余存在，都会叫耶稣的生命受阻。我们要慢慢地放手，让神生命的洪流涌进我们每一部分，以致人就认出我们是耶稣的门徒。


原文：


April 12 Moral Dominion


“Death hath no more dominion over Him . . . in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God.” Romans 6:9-11


Co-Eternal Life. Eternal life was the life which Jesus Christ exhibited on the human plane, and it is the same life, not a copy of it, which is manifested in our mortal flesh when we are born of God. Eternal life is not a gift from God, eternal life is the gift of God. The energy and the power which was manifested in Jesus will be manifested in us by the sheer sovereign grace of God when once we have made the moral decision about sin.


“Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost” – not power as a gift from the Holy Ghost; the power is the Holy Ghost, not something which He imparts. The life that was in Jesus is made ours by means of His Cross when once we make the decision to be identified with Him. If it is difficult to get right with God, it is because we will not decide definitely about sin. Immediately we do decide, the full life of God comes in. Jesus came to give us endless supplies of life: “that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Eternal Life has nothing to do with Time, it is the life which Jesus lived when He was down here. The only source of Life is the Lord Jesus Christ.


The weakest saint can experience the power of the Deity of the Son of God if once he is willing to “let go.” Any strand of our own energy will blur the life of Jesus. We have to keep letting go, and slowly and surely the great full life of God will invade us in every part, and men will take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus.

《竭诚为主》4月13日 担子沉重，如何是好？


你要把你的重担卸给耶和华。（诗五十五22）


我们必须分辨什么是我们所当负的担子，又什么是我们不当背负的。我们千万不要背负罪与疑惑的担子，但有些担子却是神放在我们身上的。神之所以不把担子挪开，是要我们把这些担子卸给他。“把他放在你身上的卸给他。”如果我们为神承担一份工作，却与他失去联络，那责任感会压得你透不过气来；但我们若懂得把神放在我们身上的，转回给他，有他的同在，那责任感的担子就得以卸下。


不少工人凭着一腔热血，鼓起勇气出去，却与耶稣基督没有亲密的相交，所以不消多久，就受压难当。他们不知如何应付重担，结果便产生了厌倦。人们会说：“好一个开头，落得何等凄凉的收场！”


“把重担卸给神”——你一向自负重担，现在要把担子的一端放在神的肩头上。“政权必担在他肩头上。”把神给你的委付与神；不是把它丢掉，而是把它连自己一起交给他，与神同工，担子便变得轻省了。切勿让自己与担子分开。


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April 13 What To Do Under The Conditions


“Cast thy burden upon the Lord.” Psalm 55:22


We must distinguish between the burden-bearing that is right and the burden-bearing that is wrong. We ought never to bear the burden of sin or of doubt, but there are burdens placed on us by God which He does not intend to lift off, He wants us to roll them back on Him. “Cast that He hath given thee upon the Lord.” (R.V. marg.) If we undertake work for God and get out of touch with Him, the sense of responsibility will be overwhelmingly crushing; but if we roll back on God that which He has put upon us, He takes away the sense of responsibility by bringing in the realization of Himself.


Many workers have gone out with high courage and fine impulses, but with no intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ, and before long they are crushed. They do not know what to do with the burden, it produces weariness, and people say – “What an embittered end to such a beginning!”


“Roll thy burden upon the Lord” – you have been bearing it all; deliberately put one end on the shoulders of God. “The government shall be upon His shoulder.” Commit to God “that He hath given thee”; not fling it off, but put it over on to Him and yourself with it, and the burden is lightened by the sense of companionship. Never disassociate yourself from the burden.

《竭诚为主》4月15日 在专诚上散漫

只是邱坛还没有从以色列中废去，然而亚撒的心一生诚实。（代下十五17）


亚撒外在的顺服并不完全——他大体上是对的，但并不完全。若说“不大要紧”的事，要特别当心。对你不大要紧的，对神可能十分要紧。对神的儿女来说，没有一件事是小的。我们阻止神来教导我们到底要多久呢？但神不会失去耐性。你说：“我知道自己对得起神。”可是邱坛犹在，你仍有未顺服的事。你是否一面坚称自己对得起神，一面在生活上仍有些东西令你犹豫不决？一有犹豫，要立即放手，不管这是什么。没有什么事是无关重要的。


在你身体上、思想上，有没有任何东西，叫你不能专心的？你大致上没有问题了，但却很随便马虎；那就是在专心的事上出了岔子。你的心脏不能“告假”、停止跳动，同样的，你属灵的专一也不能“告假”，稍有松懈。你德行的操练若放假一天，你的道德就堕落了；你的灵若放假一天，你就不再属灵。神要你完全属他，这就是说，你要警醒自守，保持最佳状态。这实在需要很长的时间，但有些人却以为两三分钟就可以一飞冲天！


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April 15 The Relapse Of Concentration


“But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.” 2 Chronicles 15:17


Asa was incomplete in his external obedience, he was right in the main but not entirely right. Beware of the thing of which you say – “Oh, that does not matter much.” The fact that it does not matter much to you may mean that it matters a very great deal to God. Nothing is a light matter with a child of God. How much longer are some of us going to keep God trying to teach us one thing? He never loses patience. You say – “I know I am right with God”; but still the “high places” remain, there is something over which you have not obeyed. Are you protesting that your heart is right with God, and yet is there something in your life about which He has caused you to doubt? Whenever there is doubt, quit immediately, no matter what it is. Nothing is a mere detail.


Are there some things in connection with your bodily life, your intellectual life, upon which you are not concentrating at all? You are all right in the main but you are slipshod; there is a relapse on the line of concentration. You no more need a holiday from spiritual concentration than your heart needs a holiday from beating. You cannot have a moral holiday and remain moral, nor can you have a spiritual holiday and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely His, and this means that you have to watch to keep yourself fit. It takes a tremendous amount of time. Some of us expect to “clear the numberless ascensions” in about two minutes.

《竭诚为主》4月14日 誓不屈挠


你们当负我的轭，学我的样式。（太十一29）


“主所爱的他必管教。”我们为何常发怨言！主带我们到一个地步，叫我们与他相交，我们却唏嘘悲叹的说：“主啊，让我像别人一样吧！”耶稣要我们担着轭的一头——“我的轭是容易的，来我这边，我们一起挑吧。”你对主耶稣是否认同？若然，你会为他所加给你的压力而感激神。


“软弱的，他加力量。”神一来，就把我们从感情的枷锁中释放出来，使我们的怨声化为颂赞。而唯一能认识神能力的，就是负主的轭，学他的样式。


“因靠耶和华而得的喜乐是他们的力量。”圣徒的喜乐从何而来？我们若不认识某些圣徒，我们会以为：“哈，他（她）什么重担也没有。”若把面纱揭开，神的平安、喜乐赫然在他身上，就足以证明担子也在那里。


神所加给的担子，会把葡萄压榨成酒；但人多半只看见所榨出来的酒。天上地下没有任何权势，足以征服住在人心灵里的圣灵。因那是内心的得胜者。你里面若有怨叹，要不留情地把它踢走。在神的能力上软弱，简直是一种罪行。


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April 14 Inspired Invincibility


“Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.” Matthew 11:29


“Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth.” How petty our complaining is! Our Lord begins to bring us into the place where we can have communion with Him, and we groan and say – “O Lord, let me be like other people!” Jesus is asking us to take one end of the yoke – “My yoke is easy, get alongside Me and we will pull together.” Are you identified with the Lord Jesus like that? If so, you will thank God for the pressure of His hand.


“To them that have no might He increaseth strength.” God comes and takes us out of our sentimentality, and our complaining turns into a p?an of praise. The only way to know the strength of God is to take the yoke of Jesus upon us and learn of Him.


“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Where do the saints get their joy from? If we did not know some saints, we would say – “Oh, he, or she, has nothing to bear.” Lift the veil. The fact that the peace and the light and the joy of God are there is proof that the burden is there too. The burden God places squeezes the grapes and out comes the wine; most of us see the wine only. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God in a human spirit, it is an inner unconquerableness.


If you have the whine in you, kick it out ruthlessly. It is a positive crime to be weak in God’s strength.

《竭诚为主》4月16日 信从这光


你们当趁着有光，信从这光。（约十二36）


我们都有踌躇满志的时刻，那时便会说：“我觉得万事都能胜任，巴不得经常如此。”神的旨意并不要我们如此。那些时刻，是深入体验的时候，藉着这种体验，要在平淡的日子里把真理活出来。若没有那高超的时刻，许多人就在日常生活的轮子上，颓废无用。我们应该把日常生活提升到灵程高处所体验的水平。


切勿让在高处所获的感受如烟云消散，也不要安于自逸的说：“如此的心境多么美妙啊！”要立即行动，进入事奉。你若不甘心地做，就更该去做。若在祷告中会见神，他叫你做什么，要立即去做。别说：“我会去做。”振作起来，把你与生俱来的惰性甩掉。懒惰的人总渴想得意的时刻，总爱谈怎样攀上高峰。但是，我们要学习照着山上所见的，行在灰暗的生活中。


你一次迷惑，不必气馁，重头再来吧。要烧绝栈道，义不回顾，心甘情愿地站在神面前，而且决不朝秦暮楚。你要认清所决志的，是根据在高山上所见的亮光。


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April 16 Can You Come Down?


“While ye have light, believe in the light.” John 12:36


We all have moments when we feel better than our best, and we say – “I feel fit for anything; if only I could be like this always!” We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for this workaday world when there is no high hour. We must bring our commonplace life up to the standard revealed in the high hour.


Never allow a feeling which was stirred in you in the high hour to evaporate. Don’t put your mental feet on the mantelpiece and say – “What a marvellous state of mind to be in!” Act immediately, do something, if only because you would rather not do it. If in a prayer meeting God has shown you something to do, don’t say – “I’ll do it”; do it! Take yourself by the scruff of the neck and shake off your incarnate laziness. Laziness is always seen in cravings for the high hour; we talk about working up to a time on the mount. We have to learn to live in the grey day according to what we saw on the mount.


Don’t cave in because you have been baffled once, get at it again. Burn your bridges behind you, and stand committed to God by your own act. Never revise your decisions, but see that you make your decisions in the light of the high hour.

《竭诚为主》4月17日 不顾一切


那时西门彼得赤着身子，一听见是主，就束上一件外衣，跳在海里。（约二十一7）


曾否有一次经历叫你立意不顾一切撇下所有呢？这是意志的一关。你可能在外面碰过许多事，但对你没有丝毫改变。要真正撇下一切的，是在里面的改变，而不是外面的。表面上的撇弃，可能正表示你里面仍受捆绑。


你曾否破釜沉舟地顺服耶稣基督？这是一项意志的抉择，而非感情用事；感情只是整个抉择的附属品。你若把感情放在首位，就永远办不成这项交易。不要问神这交易的后果到底是怎样，只要就眼前可见的事来作个决定，不管这是简单还是困难的事。


你若在波涛汹涌中听见主的呼声，只管乘风破浪，凭着信念出去！只要保持你与主的关系，就不用怕一切的冲击！


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April 17 Neck Or Nothing


“Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him . . . and did cast himself into the sea.” John 21:7


Have you ever had a crisis in which you deliberately and emphatically and recklessly abandoned everything? It is a crisis of will. You may come up to it many times externally, but it amounts to nothing. The real deep crisis of abandonment is reached internally, not externally. The giving up of external things may be an indication of being in total bondage.


Have you deliberately committed your will to Jesus Christ? It is a transaction of will, not of emotion; the emotion is simply the gilt-edge of the transaction. If you allow emotion first, you will never make the transaction. Do not ask God what the transaction is to be, but make it in regard to the thing you do see, either in the shallow or the profound place.


If you have heard Jesus Christ’s voice on the billows, let your convictions go to the winds, let your consistency go to the winds, but maintain your relationship to Him.

《竭诚为主》4月18日 常作准备


      神……呼叫说……他说，我在这里。（出三4）

      神说话的时候，我们却像在五里雾中，毫无反应。摩西的回答，表示他站在某一岗位上。常作准备的意思，就是与神有正常的关系，又知道自己目前所站的岗位。我们往往很急切地告诉神，我们想到哪里去。但那对神工作常作准备的人，呼召一临到，他们就夺得奖赏。我们总是等待特别的时机、特别的激情，当这临到，我们就会迅速回答：“我在这里。”耶稣基督被高举上升，我们就愿意与他一同上升；但对不为人所知的任务，我们往往不准备承担。

      为神常作准备的意思，就是事无大小，我们都乐意去做。我们行事没有选择的余地；不论神的计划怎样，我们都乐于遵循。无论什么任务临到，我们听见神的声音，如同我们的主听见他父的声音一样。我们当存着活泼的爱，作好充分准备，随时待命而发。父怎样对待耶稣基督，他也盼望父照样对待我们。他可以任意差遣我们，叫我们承担愉快的任务，或卑微的任务；因为我们与主合一，正如父与主合一一样。“叫他们合而为一，像我们一样。”

      要随时准备神突然来访。一个常作准备的人是不必再作准备的了。试想想神呼召我们后，我们花多少时间去作准备！那火烧的荆棘，正象征一个常作准备的心灵四周的景象，有神的同在，火烧得更熊。

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        April 18 Readiness

      “God called unto him and he said, Here am I” Exodus 3:4

      When God speaks, many of us are like men in a fog, we give no answer. Moses’ reply revealed that he was somewhere. Readiness means a right relationship to God and a knowledge of where we are at present. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. The man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who carries off the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea of some great opportunity, something sensational, and when it comes we are quick to cry – “Here am I.” Whenever Jesus Christ is in the ascendant, we are there, but we are not ready for an obscure duty.

      Readiness for God means that we are ready to do the tiniest little thing or the great big thing, it makes no difference. We have no choice in what we want to do, whatever God’s programme may be we are there, ready. When any duty presents itself we hear God’s voice as Our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with all the alertness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us as His Father did with Him. He can put us where He likes, in pleasant duties or in mean duties, because the union is that of the Father and Himself. “That they may be one, even as We are one.”

      Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready when God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the ready soul, it is ablaze with the presence of God.

《竭诚为主》4月19日 绝不可能吗？


      约押虽然没有归从押沙龙，却归从了亚多尼雅。（王上二28）

      
约押在大考验中站得住，始终对大卫绝对效忠，没有随从那野心勃勃、欺世惑众的押沙龙。但到了晚年，却跟随了贪鄙的亚多尼雅。所以要常常提高警觉；有一个人可以这样倒退，众人都有这倒退的可能（林前十13）。你过了大难关吗？现在就要在最小的事上留心。那最不为人注意的小事，要懂得留心。

      
我们会很随意的说：“既然经过这样大的考验，就不会再回到世俗中去，留恋世事了。”不要自以为知道试探的来源；最不可能发生的事，往往是最致命的。在一次重大的属灵转变过后，那隐而不露的试探就开始出现了；这不会很昭彰明显，却潜藏在那里，若不警觉，就必把你绊倒。你在烈火的考验下曾经持守纯正，向神忠贞，如今却要当心暗潮。但不必无病呻吟，内省自疚，对前途恐惧不前，只要保持警觉，在神面前有一种清晰能力。没有防卫看守，力量就会变弱，那暗潮便会涌入，叫防守崩陷。圣经人物很多都在优点上失败，而不是在弱点上。

      “蒙神能力保守”——这是唯一安全之方。

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      April 19 Is It Not In The Least Likely?

       “For Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after
Absalom.” 1 Kings 2:28

      Joab stood the big test, he remained absolutely loyal and true to
David and did not turn after the fascinating and ambitious Absalom, but yet
towards the end of his life he turned after the craven Adonijah. Always remain
alert to the fact that where one man has gone back is exactly where any one may
go back (see 1 Cor. 10:13). You have gone through the big crisis, now be alert
over the least things; take into calculation the “retired sphere of the
leasts.”

      We are apt to say – “It is not in the least likely that having been
through the supreme crisis, I shall turn now to the things of the world.” Do not
forecast where the temptation will come, it is the least likely thing that is
the peril. In the aftermath of a great spiritual transaction the “retired sphere
of the leasts” begins to tell; it is not dominant, but remember it is there, and
if you are not warned, it will trip you up. You have remained true to God under
great and intense trials, now beware of the undercurrent. Do not be morbidly
introspective, looking forward with dread, but keep alert; keep your memory
bright before God. Unguarded strength is double weakness because that is where
the “retired sphere of the leasts” saps. The Bible characters fell on their
strong points, never on their weak ones.

      “Kept by the power of God” – that is the only safety.

《竭诚为主》4月20日  圣徒也谗谤神？

神的应许，不论有多少，在基督里都是是的，所以藉着他也都是实在的。（林后一20）



耶稣在马太福音二十五章所说的比喻，是一个警告，指出我们对自己的能力也会判断错误。这比喻所论到的与天然的禀赋毫不相涉，乃是指圣灵所赐给人的恩赐所言。属灵的才干决不是以学识或才智去衡量，而是以神的应许去衡量。我们所得的若少于神所要我们得的，过不多时，我们就会埋怨神，好像那仆人埋怨主人一样： “你对我要求这么高，却没有给我足够的能力，你太苛求了；你放我在这岗位上，我根本无法向你效忠。”这涉及神的全能的问题，切勿说“我不能”。千万别让天然的才干限制了你。我们若接受了圣灵，神就希望圣灵的工作在我们身上彰显出来。



但仆人事事自以为是，反倒处处怪责主人：“你的要求，与你所赋予我的才干，根本不成比例。”神说：“先求我的国和我的义，这些东西都要加给你们了。”你竟忧愁挂虑，对神大肆谤渎？忧虑意味着这仆人在想：“我知道你会在我遇危难时，丢下我不顾。”一个天生怠惰的人，总是吹毛求疵说：“我根本没有机会。”一个在属灵上怠惰的人，同样向神吹毛求疵。懒惰的人总爱我行我素，有他独创的主意。



不要忘记，在属灵上的才干，是以神的应许来量度的。神能成就他的应许吗？答案就视乎我们有没有接受圣灵。



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April 20 Can A Saint Slander God?



“For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen.” 2 Corinthians 1:20



Jesus told the parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25 as a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacity. This parable has not to do with natural gifts, but with the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Ghost. We must not measure our spiritual capacity by education or by intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured by the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, before long we will slander Him as the servant slandered his master: “You expect more than You give me power to do; You demand too much of me, I cannot stand true to You where I am placed.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say “I can’t.” Never let the limitation of natural ability come in. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be manifested in us.



The servant justified himself in everything he did and condemned his lord on every point – “Your demand is out of all proportion to what you give.” Have we been slandering God by daring to worry when He has said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”? Worrying means exactly what this servant implied – “I know You mean to leave me in the lurch.” The person who is lazy naturally is always captious – “I haven’t had a decent chance,” and the one who is lazy spiritually is captious with God. Lazy people always strike out on an independent line.



Never forget that our capacity in spiritual matters is measured by the promises of God. Is God able to fulfil His promises? Our answer depends on whether we have received the Holy Spirit.

《竭诚为主》4月21日  不要伤主的心！

腓力，我与你们同在这样长久，你还不认识我吗？（约十四9）



我们的主必定时常感到惊愕，稀奇我们为何不够单纯。人的主见，常显明自己的愚昧；我们若单纯一点，就不会愚昧，就能时时懂得分辨了。腓力期望获得神秘莫测的启示，却不从他所认识的主身上去找。神的奥秘并不在于将成的事，乃在现今；虽然我们预期那奥秘会在将来一些震撼、历史性的事件中揭示出来。我们顺服耶稣并不迟疑；但我们所发的问题，可能伤透他的心：“求主将父显给我们看。”他立刻回答说：“他就在这里，一直在这里，不在别处。”我们期望神向他儿女显现，但是，神却只在他儿女里面彰显他自己。当别人看见他，神的儿女却看不见。我们想要感觉到神在我们里面作工；但我们不能一面敏感于自己的意识，一面又保持清晰的头脑。我们若求神给我们经历，或追求感觉，就会伤主的心。我们所发的问题伤了主的心，因为那原不是儿女应问的问题。



“你们心里不要忧愁。”——我是否任由我的心忧虑、伤主的心？我若真正相信主，我的生活是否与信心相称？我有没有让什么烦扰我？有什么可怕的问题进来？我必须与主心心相印，以致我能接受一切临到我的事，都是从他而来的。神的引导从不延迟，他总是现在就引导。只要明白主是此时此地的主，就必即时大得释放。



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April 21 Now Don’t Hurt The Lord!



“Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?” John 14:9



Our Lord must be repeatedly astounded at us – astounded at how un-simple we are. It is opinions of our own which make us stupid, when we are simple we are never stupid, we discern all the time. Philip expected the revelation of a tremendous mystery, but not in the One Whom he knew. The mystery of God is not in what is going to be, it is now; we look for it presently, in some cataclysmic event. We have no reluctance in obeying Jesus, but it is probable that we are hurting Him by the questions we ask. “Lord, show us the Father.” His answer comes straight back – “There He is, always here or nowhere.” We look for God to manifest Himself to His children: God only manifests Himself in His children. Other people see the manifestation, the child of God does not. We want to be conscious of God; we cannot be conscious of our consciousness and remain sane. If we are asking God to give us experiences, or if conscious experience is in the road, we hurt the Lord. The very questions we ask hurt Jesus because they are not the questions of a child.



“Let not your heart be troubled” – then am I hurting Jesus by allowing my heart to be troubled? If I believe the character of Jesus, am I living up to my belief? Am I allowing anything to perturb my heart, any morbid questions to come in? I have to get to the implicit relationship that takes everything as it comes from Him. God never guides presently, but always now. Realize that the Lord is here now, and the emancipation is immediate.