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(轉簡)
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May
11
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五月十一日
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“We went through fire and
through water: but thou broughtest us out into a
wealthy place.” (Psalm 66:12)
Paradoxical though it be, only that man
is at rest who attains it through conflict. This peace, born of conflict, is
not like the deadly hush preceding the tempest, but the serene and pure-aired
quiet that follows it.
It is not
generally the prosperous one, who has never sorrowed, who is strong and at
rest. His quality has never been tried, and he knows not how he can stand
even a gentle shock. He is not the safest sailor who never saw a tempest; he
will do for fair-weather service, but when the storm is rising, place at the
important post the man who has fought out a gale, who has tested the ship,
who knows her hulk sound, her rigging strong, and her anchor-flukes able to
grasp and hold by the ribs of the world.
When first
affliction comes upon us, how everything gives way! Our clinging, tendril
hopes are snapped, and our heart lies prostrate like a vine that the storm
has torn from its trellis; but when the first shock is past, and we are able
to look up, and say, "It is the Lord," faith lifts the shattered
hopes once more, and binds them fast to the feet of God. Thus the end is
confidence, safety, and peace. ━Selected.
The adverse
winds blew against my life;
My little ship
with grief was tossed;
My plans were
gone━heart full of strife,
And all my hope
seemed to be lost━
"Then He
arose"━one word of peace.
"There was
a calm"━a sweet release.
A tempest great
of doubt and fear
Possessed my
mind; no light was there
To guide, or
make my vision clear.
Dark night!
'twas more than I could bear━
"Then He
arose," I saw His face—
"There was
a calm" filled with His grace.
My heart was
sinking 'neath the wave
Of deepening
test and raging grief;
All seemed as
lost, and none could save,
And nothing
could bring me relief━
"Then He
arose"━and spoke one word,
"There was
a calm!" IT IS THE LORD.
━L. S. P.
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“我們經過水火；祢卻使我們到豐富之地。”（詩六六；12）
只有那曾經歷患難和痛苦的人纔能得到安息。這種安息━從患難中產生的安息━不是勉強的鎮靜，也不是死寂，乃是頂自然地從裏面湧出來的安息。
平常我們以為順利的人，從來不知道憂愁的人，是最有安息的人。可是錯了。這種人從來沒有受過試驗，從來沒有受過苦楚，所以或許輕輕的一震也受不住。凡沒有看見過風浪的水手，不是最可靠的水手；所以船上新來的水手總是派在不重要的地位上工作的；風浪澎湃的時候，站在重要職位上的，總是那些曾遇見過許多患難危險而能死裏逃生的水手，他們能推測波浪的力量，他們能知道桅桿的堅度，他們能預料風雨的久暫，他們能斷定輪索的韌性。
當患難初臨的時候，似乎一切都經不起它的打擊，無能為力地躺了下來；可是等到風暴的最初一陣子的襲擊過去之後，我們又能抬起頭來說：“這是出於耶和華”，（撒上三：18）信心把殘破的希望，重又收拾了起來，緊緊繫住在神的腳上，其結果為信，可靠與安全。━選
一葉扁舟在驚濤駭浪中，
逆風打擊着我的生命，
計劃歸於虛無，希望渺茫，
悲歎着命運的蹉跎。
聖經說：耶穌醒了，風浪靜了，
這是平安的福音，安慰的叮嚀。
心頭意念被侵襲，
疑慮和恐懼的風暴，
模糊黑暗，它遮蔽了一切，
沒有光明作我的嚮導。
聖經說：耶穌醒了，風浪靜了，
我看見了祂溫柔的笑貌。
我的心似沉入巨波，
深深地捲入，無力抗拒，
似乎一切都已喪失，無人挽救，
甚麼也不能解除我的痛楚，
聖經說：耶穌醒了，風浪靜了，
無窮的能力來自我主。
━L.S.P.
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May 12
“All things are possible
to him that believeth.” (Mark 9:23)
The "all things" do not always come simply for the asking,
for the reason that God is ever seeking to teach us the way of faith, and in
our training in the faith life there must be room for the trial of faith, the
discipline of faith, the patience of faith, the courage of faith, and often
many stages are passed before we really realize what is the end of faith,
namely, the victory of faith.
Real moral fibre is developed through discipline of faith. You have
made your request of God, but the answer does not come. What are you to do?
Keep on believing God's
Word; never be moved away from it by what you see or feel, and thus as you
stand steady, enlarged power and experience is being developed. The fact of
looking at the apparent contradiction as to God's Word and being unmoved from
your position of faith make you stronger on every other line.Often
God delays purposely, and the delay is just as much an answer to your prayer
as is the fulfillment when it comes.
In the lives of
all the great Bible characters, God worked thus. Abraham, Moses and Elijah
were not great in the beginning, but were made great through the discipline
of their faith, and only thus were they fitted for the positions to which God
had called them. For example, in
the case of Joseph whom the Lord was training for the throne of Egypt, we read in the
Psalms: "The word of
the Lord tried him." It was not the prison life with its hard beds or
poor food that tried him, but it was the word God had spoken into his heart
in the early years concerning elevation and honor which were greater than his
brethren were to receive; it was this which was ever before him, when every
step in his career made it seem more and more impossible of fulfillment,
until he was there imprisoned, and all in innocency,
while others who were perhaps justly incarcerated, were released, and he was
left to languish alone.
These were hours
that tried his soul, but hours of spiritual growth and development, that,
"when his word came" (the word of release), found him fitted for
the delicate task of dealing with his wayward brethren, with a love and
patience only surpassed by God Himself.
No amount of
persecution tries like such experiences as these. When God has spoken of His
purpose to do, and yet the days go on and He does not do it, that is truly
hard; but it is a discipline of faith that will bring us into a knowledge of
God which would otherwise be impossible.
“That the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”(1 Pt.1:7)
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五月十二日
“在信的人，凡事都能。”
（可九：23）
許多合理的祈求，有時被神故意延擱，原因是為了神要教導我們信心的功課。在信心大學中有許多必修課：信心的試驗，信心的實習，信心的忍耐，信心的毅力，信心的得勝，等等。這些都是要花許多時間去學習的。
人的堅韌性，是從信心訓練中發展出來的。如果你向神祈求了，可是答應並不來臨。你怎樣呢？
繼續相信神的話；不要因眼見或感覺搖動；在你這樣站牢的時候，你的能力和經驗都會增長的。卽使你看到了對神的應許似乎發生了矛盾，你仍要絲毫不移動你的信心與立場，那是可以增加你的堅強。神往往故意遲延，這遲延就是對你的禱告的答覆的一種，到你的所求實現的時候，其功效則並無二樣。
聖經中的偉人━亞伯拉罕，摩西，以利亞等━並非開始就是偉人，都是受過信心的訓練以後，纔能勝任神所為他們安排的地位的。姑以約瑟為例。詩篇一百零五篇十九節說：“耶和華的話試煉他”。試煉他的，並不是囚犯生活的苦楚，乃是早年神在夢中應許他的話━他將比他的哥哥們更高貴；這句話常在他面前；按照他一生的經歷，這個應許的實現似乎是不可能了━現在他孤孤單單地被囚在牢獄裏，受着冤枉；別人應該下獄的，倒得了釋放。他在監中不知祈求過多少次：求神使他恢復自由，可是神故意把他的祈求延擱，好使他在絕望中多學習信心的功課。
等到他的靈性長進了，“他所說的應驗了”（詩一〇五：19），神看他有愛心和忍耐對付他的哥哥們了，神就把他放在首相的地位上。
這樣的經歷是非常難受的。當神宣佈了祂的心意以後，過了好久，仍不實現，這實在是非常難忍的事情；但是這就是信心的訓練，這訓練能使我們更認識神。
“叫你們的信心既被試驗，就比那被火試驗仍然能壞的金子更顯寶貴，可以在耶穌基督顯現的時候得着稱讚、榮耀、尊貴。”（彼前一：7）。
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May 13
“...We know not what we should pray for
as we ought....”
(Rom. 8:26)
Much that perplexes us in our Christian experience is but the
answer to our prayers. We pray for patience, and our Father sends those who
tax us to the utmost; for "tribulation worketh
patience."(Rom.5:3)
We pray for
submission, and God sends sufferings; for "we learn obedience by the
things we suffer."(Heb.5:8)
We pray for
unselfishness, and God gives us opportunities to sacrifice ourselves by
thinking on the things of others, and by laying down our lives for the
brethren.
We pray for
strength and humility, and some messenger of Satan torments us until we lie
in the dust crying for its removal.
We pray,
"Lord, increase our faith,"(Lk.17:5) and money takes wings; or the children are alarmingly ill; or a
servant comes who is careless, extravagant, untidy or slow, or some hitherto
unknown trial calls for an increase of faith along a line where we have not
needed to exercise much faith before.
We pray for the
Lamb-life, and are given a portion of lowly service, or we are injured and
must seek no redress; for "he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and … opened not his mouth."(Is.53:7)
We pray for
gentleness, and there comes a perfect storm of temptation to harshness and
irritability. We pray for quietness, and every nerve is strung to the utmost
tension, so that looking to Him we may learn that when He giveth
quietness, no one can make trouble.
We pray for love,
and God sends peculiar suffering and puts us with apparently unlovely people,
and lets them say things which rasp the nerves and lacerate the heart; for
love suffereth long and is kind, love is not
impolite, love is not provoked. LOVE BEARETH ALL THINGS, believeth, hopeth and endureth, love never
faileth. We pray for likeness to Jesus, and the
answer is, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."
"Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong?" "Are ye able?"
The way to peace
and victory is to accept every circumstance, every trial, straight from the
hand of a loving Father; and to live up in the heavenly places, above the
clouds, in the very presence of the Throne, and to look down from the Glory
upon our environment as lovingly and divinely appointed. –Selected.
I prayed for
strength, and then I lost awhile
All sense of
nearness, human and divine;
The love I
leaned on failed and pierced my heart,
The hands I clung
to loosed themselves from mine;
But while I
swayed, weak, trembling, and alone,
The everlasting
arms upheld my own.
I prayed for
light; the sun went down in clouds,
The moon was
darkened by a misty doubt,
The stars of
heaven were dimmed by earthly fears,
And all my
little candle flames burned out;
But while I sat
in shadow, wrapped in night,
The face of
Christ made all the darkness bright.
I prayed for
peace, and dreamed of restful ease,
A slumber
drugged from pain, a hushed repose;
Above my head
the skies were black with storm,
And fiercer
grew the onslaught of my foes;
But while the
battle raged, and wild winds blew,
I heard His
voice and perfect peace I knew.
I thank Thee,
Lord, Thou wert too wise to heed
My feeble
prayers, and answer as I sought,
Since these
rich gifts Thy bounty has bestowed
Have brought me
more than all I asked or thought;
Giver of good,
so answer each request
With Thine own giving, better than my best.
━Annie Johnson Flint
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五月十三日
“...我們本不曉得當怎樣禱告...。”
（羅八：26）
神給我們的禱告的答應，常出我們意外。我們求忍耐，神卻給我們患難；因為“患難生忍耐”（羅五：3）。
我們求順服，神卻給我們苦難，好使我們“因所受的苦難學了順從”（來五：8）。
我們求不利己，神卻給我們犧牲自己的機會，想念別人，為弟兄捨命。
我們求能力和謙卑，神卻給我們撒但的苦害。直到我們躺在塵土裏求告祂。
我們“求主加增我們的信心”（路十七：5），神卻使我們傷財，害病，失業，遭難，逼我們比以前更運用信心。
我們求羔羊的生命，神卻給我們最低微的職業，使我們受逼迫，因為“祂像羊羔被牽到宰殺之地…不開口“（賽五十三：7）。
我們求溫柔，神卻給我們許多惹厭和激怒的東西。我們求安靜，神卻使我們每一根神經都緊張起來了，好叫我們到祂那裏去尋求安息。
我們求愛心，神卻放我們在最不可愛的人中，讓他們刺激我們的神經，刺傷我們的赤心；因為愛是恒久忍耐，又有恩慈，愛是不求自己的益處，愛是不輕易發怒。愛是凡事包容，凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐。愛是永不止息。
得勝和得安息的方法，就是直接從愛父的手中接受祂所給你的每一個環境，每一個試煉；而享受其中互相效力的益處。━選
我祈求的力量卻喪失了一段時間，
就是與神之間親密的聯繫，
我所倚靠的愛，使我失望，傷透了心，
我所攀住的手好像鬆開，把我拋棄，
可是當我搖幌軟弱顫抖孤獨的時候，
神立刻援手，把我挽住，免我顛蹶。
我祈求的光明，但太陽沒入了雲層，
懷疑的霧，遮掩了月亮的光明，
塵世的憂慮，矇蔽了天上的星星，
我微弱的燭焰將告熄滅；
正當被黑暗所包圍的時候，
基督聖榮的光輝，消散一切幽冥。
我祈求和平，也夢想恬靜，
如疼痛後的沉睡甜息安寧；
忽然狂風暴雨從天邊襲來，
敵人的攻擊，更見可怕猙獰；
正當戰爭激烈，狂風怒號之時，
我聽見祂的聲音，就知美滿和平。
我卑微的禱告，渺小的祈求，
在全智的主，原可不值得垂聽，
可是我感謝祢所賜的豐盛，
超過了我的想像與希望，
賜恩的主，祢對於每一個祈求，
必以恩典來答覆我們的翹首。
━富林德
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May 14
“In the selfsame day, as God
had said unto him.”
(Gen. 17:23)
Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed
obedience is disobedience. Every time God calls us to any duty, He is
offering to make a covenant with us; doing the duty is our part, and He will do
His part in special blessing.
The only way we
can obey is to obey "in the selfsame day," as Abraham did. To be
sure, we often postpone a duty and then later on do it as fully as we can. It
is better to do this than not to do it at all. But it is then, at the best,
only a crippled, disfigured, half-way sort of duty-doing; and a postponed
duty never can bring the full blessing that God intended, and that it would
have brought if done at the earliest possible moment.
It is a pity to
rob ourselves, along with robbing God and others, by procrastination.
"In the selfsame day" is the Genesis way of saying, "Do it
now." ━Messages for the Morning Watch.
Luther says that
"a true believer will crucify the question, 'Why?' He will obey without
questioning." I will not be one of those who, except they see signs and
wonders, will in no wise believe. I will obey without questioning.
"Ours not
to make reply,
Ours not to
reason why,
Ours but to do
and die."
Obedience is the
fruit of faith; patience, the bloom on the fruit. ━Christina Rossetti.
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五月十四日
“正當那日…遵着神的命。” （創十七：23）
立刻的順服是唯一的順服；延宕的順服是不順服。每次神給我們一個命令，祂同時給我們一個應許；順服祂的命令是我們的事，成就祂的應許是祂的事。
不順服則已，要順服就當在“正當那日”，像亞伯拉罕一樣。可是我們常先要看神的命令是否容易，是否合乎自己的喜好，是否合乎群眾的心理…考慮再三，然後再順服。我們以為這樣比不順服總好。但是，你要知道，延宕的順服決不能叫你得到神所預備給你的完全的祝福。若要不折不扣得到祂所應許的福祉，除非立刻順服。
延宕是剝奪了自己從神那裏賜下的機會，經文說：“正當那日”，換一句話說，就是立刻去做。━晨更信息
馬丁路得說：一個真肯順服的信徒已經把他的“為甚麼“釘死了。他的順服是無疑問的順服。看見了跡象才信的人不是最智慧的人，我要不問原由而服從。
我們不問原由，
也不作答案的尋求，
立刻去執行，至死不休。
順服是信心的果子，忍耐是果子的彩色。━羅賽弟
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May 15
“Men see not the bright
light which is in the clouds.”
(Job
37:21)
The world owes much of its beauty to cloudland. The unchanging blue
of the Italian sky hardly compensates for the changefulness and glory of the
clouds. Earth would become a wilderness apart from their ministry. There are
clouds in human life, shadowing, refreshing, and sometimes draping it in
blackness of night; but there is never a cloud without its bright light.
"I do set my bow in the cloud!"
If we could see
the clouds from the other side where they lie in billowy glory, bathed in the
light they intercept, like heaped ranges of Alps, we should be
amazed at their splendid magnificence.
We look at their
under side; but who shall describe the bright light that bathes their summits
and searches their valleys and is reflected from every pinnacle of their
expanse? Is not every drop drinking in health-giving qualities, which it will
carry to the earth?
O child of God! If
you could see your sorrows and troubles from the other side; if instead of
looking up at them from earth, you would look down on them from the heavenly
places where you sit with Christ; if you knew how they are reflecting in
prismatic beauty before the gaze of Heaven, the bright light of Christ's
face, you would be content that they should cast their deep shadows over the
mountain slopes of existence. Only remember that clouds are always moving and
passing before God's cleansing wind. ━Selected.
"I cannot
know why suddenly the storm
Should rage so
fiercely round me in its wrath;
But this I know━God watches all my path,
And I can
trust.
"I may not
draw aside the mystic veil
That hides the unknown
future from my sight,
Nor know if for
me waits the dark or light;
But I can
trust.
"I have no
power to look across the tide,
To see while
here the land beyond the river;
But this I know━I shall be God’s forever;
So I can trust."
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五月十五日
“現在有雲遮蔽，人不得見穹蒼的光亮。”
（伯卅七：21）
雲彩點綴了世界的美麗，天上如果永遠蔚藍一片，缺少了變幻多端的雲彩的美景。地球也會失去常態，變成一片單調。人生也時有雲彩罩上來，有時陰暗，有時燦爛宜人，有時漆黑如夜；但任何一種雲，都有它的光明面，所謂“我把虹放在雲彩中。”（創9：13）
如果我們能從另一方向去觀察，這些雲彩靜伏如波濤，高聳如阿爾卑斯山的峯巒，浴於它們所遮斷的光明中，我們將驚嘆它們的燦爛與美麗。
我們在地上抬頭看見的是它向下的一面，誰能從整個的空間，居於雲端之上，給我們描述那照耀着雲峯，雲谷的光明呢？次之，每一滴使生命滋長的水份，亦不是雲給我們帶來的嗎？
神的孩子阿，使你痛心的遭遇，使你流淚的難處，都是你靈程中的烏雲。你若從地上望上去，果然是又黑又暗；可是你若從與基督同坐的天上望下來，如果你因此知道了它們在天堂的美景與基督滿面春風的笑貌之前，如何反映出五光十色，彩虹一般的美麗，那麼它們雖在你人生的旅程中投下陰影，你也會欣然領會，不再沮喪了。你祇要知道，在神的清風之前，雲彩永遠是在來來去去的。
我不知為甚麼大風暴，
突然圍着我狂吼怒嘯,
但我知，神一路照顧我,
因此我能信靠。
我也許沒有辦法除掉,
遮掩未來的神秘幕罩,
不知道前面是黑暗或光明,
但是我能信靠。
我的視力不能透過浪潮,
看不見彼岸的鄉郊,
但我知我永遠屬於神，
我的信絕不動搖。
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May 16
“Fear
not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine
heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before
thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of
the kingdom of Persia withstood
me one and twenty days.” (Dan. 10:12, 13)
We have wonderful teaching here on prayer, and we are shown the
direct hindrance from Satan.
Daniel had fasted
and prayed twenty-one days, and had a very hard time in prayer. As far as we
read the narrative, it was not because Daniel was not a good man, nor because
his prayer was not right; but it was because of a special attack of Satan.
The Lord started a
messenger to tell Daniel that his prayer was answered the moment Daniel began
to pray; but an evil angel met the good angel and wrestled with him, hindering
him. There was a conflict in the heavens; and Daniel seemed to go through an
agony on earth the same as that which was going on in the heavens.
"We wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers…against wicked spirits in high places" (Eph. 6:12, margin).
Satan delayed the
answer three full weeks. Daniel nearly succumbed,(Dn.10:2) and Satan would
have been glad to kill him; but God will not suffer anything to come above
that we "are able to bear."
Many a Christian's
prayer is hindered by Satan; but you need not fear when your prayers and
faith pile up; for after a while they will be like a flood, and will not only
sweep the answer through, but will also bring some new accompanying blessing.
━Sermon.
Hell does its worst
with the saints. The rarest souls have been tested with high pressures and
temperatures, but Heaven will not desert them. ━W. L. Watkinson.
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五月十六日
“但以理阿，不要懼怕，因為從你第一日專心求明白將來的事，又在你神面前刻苦己心，你的言語已蒙應允，我是因你的言語而來。但波斯國的魔君，攔阻我二十一日。”
（但十：12-13）
這幾節聖經給我們看見禱告方面一件非常的事情，就是撒但直接的攔阻。
但以理禁食禱告了二十一天在禱告上花了極大的苦工；可是沒有得到答應。從歷史上我們看見這並非是因為但以理有罪的阻隔，也並非是因為他的禱告不正當；乃是因為撒但特別的攻擊。
神的使者告訴但以理：當但以理一起始禱告，神就差遣使者去答應他；但是波斯國的魔君中途攔阻神的使者，和他摔跤。以至但以理在地上受苦。
“我們並不是與屬血氣的摔跤，乃是與那些執政的，掌權的…天空屬靈氣的惡魔摔跤”（弗六：12）。
撒但延遲了神的答應有三星期之久。但以理差不多要悲傷死了（但十：2），撒但的目的原想使他悲傷至死的；但是神不讓祂的兒女背負過於他們所能背負的軛。
許多基督徒的禱告都同樣被撒但攔阻；但是你用不着怕你的禱告和信心會堆積得太多；因為不久它們要像洪水一般驟然沖來，不但帶着答應，也帶着新的祝福。━冗長的講道
最屬靈的信徒，常會受到最厲害的試探。但是神必不遺棄他們。━華金生
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May 17
“And when forty years were
expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness…an angel of the Lord…saying…now come, I will send thee into Egypt.” (Acts 7:30-34)
Often the Lord calls us aside from our work for a season, and bids
us be still and learn ere we go forth again to minister. There is no time
lost in such waiting hours.
Fleeing from his
enemies, the ancient knight found that his horse needed to be re-shod.
Prudence seemed to urge him on without delay, but higher wisdom taught him to
halt a few minutes at the blacksmith's forge by the way, to have the shoe
replaced; and although he heard the feet of his pursuers galloping hard
behind, yet he waited those minutes until his charger was refitted for his
flight. And then, leaping into his saddle just as they appeared a hundred
yards away, he dashed away from them with the fleetness of the wind, and knew
that his halting had hastened his escape.
So often God bids
us tarry ere we go, and fully recover ourselves for the next stage of the
journey and work. ━Days of Heaven upon Earth.
Waiting! Yes,
patiently waiting!
Till next steps
made plain shall be;
To hear, with
the inner hearing,
The Voice that
will call for me.
Waiting! Yes,
hopefully waiting!
With hope that
need not grow dim;
The Master is
pledged to guide me,
And my eyes are
unto Him.
Waiting!
Expectantly waiting!
Perhaps it may
be today
The Master will
quickly open
The gate to my
future way.
Waiting! Yes,
waiting! still waiting!
The Master will
not be late:
He knoweth that I am waiting
For Him to
unlatch the gate.
━J. Danson Smith.
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五月十七日
“過了四十年，在…曠野，有一位天使…顯現…說…你來，我要差你往埃及去。”
（徒七：30-34）
神常從我們工作中召我們出來，叫我們休息一時，趁此靜心學習功課，然後重新出發到祂所指定的工場中去工作。這段等候的時期，絕非耗廢。
從前有一位戰士，從他仇敵手中逃出來，半途發覺他的馬有換馬蹄鐵的必要。焦急催他從速逃生，勿稍耽延，但是智慧教他停在路上一家鐵匠門口，花數分鐘重換馬鐵；雖然他聽見追蹤者的腳步由遠而近，他仍耐性等着馬鐵裝好。當仇敵和他只有一百碼距離的時候，他一躍馬鞍，似風馳去，頃刻間脫離了危險。他的暫停並不失算，反加快他的速率。
神也常如此：在我們工作之前叫我們有片刻的暫停，好恢復我們的體力和靈力來走前面的路程。━譯自地上的天上生活
等待，等待要有耐心，
直到下一個命令來臨，
用心靈之耳聆聽，
神呼召的聲音。
等待，以樂觀之心等待，
有了希望，就不會沮喪；
主保證給我引路，
我祇要依照祂的方向。
等待，以希望之心等待，
也許就在此一刻，
主會突然開啟了，
祂的遲延決無差謬。
等待，等待，繼續等待，
主不會久久不來；
祂知道我在等候，
等待祂把門閂拔開。
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May 18
“I was crushed...so much
so that I despaired even of life, but that was to make me rely not on myself,
but on the God who raises the dead.” (2 Cor. 1:8, 9)
"Pressed
out of measure and pressed to all length;
Pressed so
intensely it seems, beyond strength;
Pressed in the
body and pressed in the soul,
Pressed in the
mind till the dark surges roll.
Pressure by foes, and a pressure from friends.
Pressure on
pressure, till life nearly ends.
"Pressed
into knowing no helper but God;
Pressed into
loving the staff and the rod.
Pressed into
liberty where nothing clings;
Pressed into
faith for impossible things.
Pressed into
living a life in the Lord,
Pressed into
living a Christ-life outpoured."
The pressure of
hard places makes us value life. Every time our life is given back to us from
such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we learn better how much it is
worth, and make more of it for God and man. The pressure helps us to
understand the trials of others, and fits us to help and sympathize with
them.
There is a
shallow, superficial nature, that gets hold of a theory or a promise lightly,
and talks very glibly about the distrust of those who shrink from every
trial; but the man or woman who has suffered much never does this, but is
very tender and gentle, and knows what suffering really means. This is what
Paul meant when he said, "Death worketh in
you."(2
Cor.4:12)
Trials and hard
places are needed to press us forward, even as the furnace fires in the hold
of that mighty ship give force that moves the piston, drives the engine, and
propels that great vessel across the sea in the face of the winds and waves. ━A. B. Simpson.
"Out of
the presses of pain,
Cometh the
soul's best wine;
And the eyes
that have shed no rain,
Can shed but
little shine."
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五月十八日
“我們……遭遇苦難，被壓太重……甚至連活命的指望都絕了。自己心裏也斷定是必死的，叫我們不靠自己，只靠叫死人復活的神。”
（林後一：8-9）
壓力之重，似乎無法估計，
壓迫得非力之所能抗禦，
壓在身上，壓在心頭，
如在浪中顛覆，神昏目眩。
敵人的壓力，也有友人的壓力，
壓上加壓，壓得你喘不出氣。
從壓力中，認識了唯有主可救你，
從壓力中，知道愛祂的竿和杖，
壓力使你無靠中得自由，
不可能之時有了依仗，
壓力使你與主融成一片，
生命在祂恩典裏滋長。
遭遇苦難，常使我們重視生命。每一次死裏逃生之後，我們覺得這真是一個新的開始，該怎樣多侍神侍人。遭遇苦難，也使我們能諒解、同情別人的苦難。
人們總常喜歡批評別人沒有信心，逃避試煉；但是曾經苦難的人決不如此，他知道，懂得，別人所遭遇的苦是甚麼。保羅說：“死在我們心中發動，生卻在你們心中發動”（林後四：12）
苦難是催逼我們前進的必需品，正如船中的爐火是使船駛行的必需品一般。━宣信
從苦痛的壓迫中，
榨取出靈魂的佳釀，
沒有淚珠的眼睛，
如何反映出晶光明亮？
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May 19
“And it came to pass,
before he had done speaking...and he said, Blessed be Jehovah…who hath not forsaken his lovingkindness
and his truth.” (Gen. 24:15, 27)
Every right prayer is answered before the prayer itself is
finished━before we have "done speaking." This is because God has
pledged His Word to us that whatsoever we ask in Christ's name (that is, in
oneness with Christ and His will) and in faith, shall be done.
As God's Word
cannot fail, whenever we meet those simple conditions in prayer, the answer
to our prayer has been granted and completed in Heaven as we pray, even
though its showing forth on earth may not occur until long afterward.
So it is well to
close every prayer with praise to God for the answer that He has already
granted; He who never forsakes His loving-kindness and His truth. (See Daniel
9:20-27 and 10:12.) ━Messages for the
Morning Watch.
When we believe
for a blessing, we must take the attitude of faith, and begin to act and pray
as if we had the blessing. We must treat God as if He had given us our
request. We must lean our weight over upon Him for the thing that we have
claimed, and just take it for granted that He gives it, and is going to
continue to give it. This is the attitude of trust.
When the wife is
married, she at once falls into a new attitude, and acts in accordance with
the fact; and so when we take Christ as our Savior, as our Sanctifier, as our
Healer, or as our Deliverer, He expects us to fall into the attitude of
recognizing Him in the capacity that we have claimed, and expect Him to be to
us all that we have trusted Him for. ━Selected.
"The thing
I ask when God doth bid me pray,
Begins in that
same act to come my way."
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五月十九日
“話還沒有說完……說，耶和華……是應當稱頌的，因祂不斷的以慈愛誠實待我……。”
（創二十四：15，27）
每一個正當的禱告，都是“話還沒有說完”，神就答應的。這是因為神已經給了我們祂的應許━凡奉主的名（就是與主並祂的旨意合一）無論求甚麼，只要信，就必得着。
神不能抵賴祂所應許的，當我們履行了這些簡單的禱告的條件，祂不能不答應我們所求的。我們禱告的“話還沒有說完”，在天上寶座前就已經成全了；雖然在地上不一定就能看見。
所以禱告之後，最好用讚美來作結束━讚美神已經聽了我們的禱告，讚美神不斷的以慈愛誠實待我們。（參讀但以理書第九章二十至二十七節，又第十章十二節）。━譯自晨更信息
當我們相信一件事的時候，我們就應該有相信的行為━我們的動作，我們的禱告，都當和我們的信心相符。我們應該算神已經給了我們所求的，這纔是信心的態度。━選
一個婦人結婚之後，她當進入一種的生活態度，一切行動都要以這個結婚的事實為依據。我們旣尊基督是我們的救主，我們成聖稱義的引導，診治我們疾病的醫生，拯救我們的恩主，祂就希望我們亦採取一種新的態度，一切以承認祂是我們的救主，導師，醫生，恩人的事實為依歸，並且盼望祂的確是我們所希望的一樣完全來成全我們。
“遵照神的命令禱告，我所祈求的，
在開始的時候，已在向我降臨了”。
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May 20
“Shall I refuse to drink
the cup of sorrow which the Father has given me to drink?” (John 18:11.) (Weymouth)
God takes a thousand times more pains with us than the artist
with his picture, by many touches of sorrow, and by many colors of
circumstance, to bring us into the form which is the highest and noblest in
His sight, if only we receive His gifts of myrrh in the right spirit.
But when the cup
is put away, and these feelings are stifled or unheeded, a greater injury is
done to the soul that can ever be amended. For no heart can conceive in what
surpassing love God giveth us this myrrh; yet this
which we ought to receive to our souls' good we suffer to pass by us in our
sleepy indifference, and nothing comes of it.
Then we come and
complain: "Alas, Lord! I am so dry, and it is so dark within me!" I
tell thee, dear child, open thy heart to the pain, and it will do thee more good than if thou wert full of feeling and devoutness. ━Tauler.
"The cry
of man's anguish went up to God,
'Lord take away
pain:
The shadow that
darkens the world Thou hast made,
The
close-coiling chain
That strangles
the heart, the burden that weighs
On the wings
that would soar,
Lord, take away
pain from the world Thou hast made,
That it love Thee the more.'
"Then
answered the Lord to the cry of His world:
'Shall I take
away pain,
And with it the
power of the soul to endure,
Made strong by
the strain?
Shall I take
away pity, that knits heart to heart
And sacrifice
high?
Will ye lose
all your heroes that lift from the fire
White brows to
the sky?
Shall I take
away love that redeems with a price
And smiles at
its loss?
Can ye spare
from your lives that would climb unto Me
The Christ on His cross?"
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五月二十日
“耶穌就對彼得說，收刀入鞘罷，我父給我的那杯，我豈可不喝呢。” （約十八：11）
神塑造我們，比藝術家作畫要辛苦千倍，要經過許多充滿悲痛的筆法，加以各種色調的背景，纔把我們造成祂心目中最高貴的形式。而在我們方面，只要以正當的精神接受祂所賜的“沒藥”。
但若把那杯推開，抹煞或漠視這些充滿悲痛的感情，對於靈魂就會造成比以往所能修補者更大的傷害。沒有人能想像神以何等超越的愛，把“沒藥”賜給我們，我們應該接受這對靈魂有益的恩賜。然而我們卻讓它在不注意的疏忽中過去，於是從它那兒得不到甚麼。
口中卻抱怨起來，說道：“主阿，我是如何地飢渴，心中是如何地黑暗！“親愛的孩子，我告訴你，你要打開心扉接受神所賜的苦藥，這比僅有情感和虔誠，對你更為有益。━陶勒
世人向神發出悲慘的呼籲：
“求主把我們的苦痛除去，
還有祢所製造的陰影，
請代之以永遠的陽光和煦，
去掉桎梏我們心靈的鎖鏈，
壓住我們翅膀的重負，
求祢去除祢所給的一切痛苦，
使世人對祢更為愛慕“。
神答覆世人的呼籲道：
“你們的見識，何其渺小，
要我除去苦痛嗎？
苦痛增加你的耐力，
使你的靈魂堅如城堡，
你要我除去憐憫之心，
它卻結成心心相印的同情，
也發展了人間高度的犧牲。
他們曾從烈火中鍛煉出堅貞。
你要我除去愛與笑嗎？
這些都從苦痛的磨煉中產生。
你們的生命要追隨我，
難道能免除基督到十架的旅程”？
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