因我们行事为人，是凭着信心，不是凭着眼见。（林后五7）

有些时候，我们感觉到神的关顾；之后，他就开始使用我们。不久，我们便装出一副可怜兮兮的样子，整天说什么试炼困难；其实，神一直训练我们在隐藏中尽自己的本分。属灵方面来说，除非是不得已，没有一个人愿意隐藏自己。神若关上天门，我们能尽什么本分？有些人整天想着头上有发光的金圈，做荣光四射的圣徒，充满了感动启示，并有圣徒经常造就。徒有外表（原文作镀金边）的圣徒是无用的，是不正常的。他无法过平凡的生活，而且根本不像神。我们活在地上，不是做行将长成的天使。我们在世作工，是因为我们已从上面而生，有极大无比的能力，得以在磨难中站立。

要是我们想把罕有的启示经历重演一遍，就表示我们要的不是神。我们只是宝贵与神说话的时刻，并且坚持要他再来一次。其实神是要我们行在信心中。我们多少人曾袖手旁观地说：“神若不向我显现，我是无能为力的。”他不会显现。这样，就是没有启示，没有神出奇不意的触摸，我们也得着手去做。那知，“原来他一直在这里，我竟然不知！”不要为那罕有的时刻而活，这只是惊喜的礼物。当神看我们没有走歪，就会将启示显明出来。千万别把启示的一刻作为标准，我们的标准乃是尽自己的本分。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，为着你的释放和鼓励，我感谢你。那近乎璀璨的喜乐已涌流在我心内。愿你那宁静的平安在此刻充满我。

May 1 Insight Not Emotion

"I have to lead my life in faith, without seeing Him." 2 Corinthians 5:7

For a time we are conscious of God's attentions, then, when God begins to use us in His enterprises, we take on a pathetic look and talk of the trials and the difficulties, and all the time God is trying to make us do our duty as obscure people. None of us would be obscure spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our duty when God has shut up heaven? Some of us always want to be illuminated saints with golden haloes and the flush of inspiration, and to have the saints of God dealing with us all the time. A gilt-edged saint is no good, he is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and altogether unlike God. We are here as men and women, not as half-fledged angels, to do the work of the world, and to do it with an infinitely greater power to stand the turmoil because we have been born from above.

If we try to re-introduce the rare moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are making a fetish of the moments when God did come and speak, and insisting that He must do it again; whereas what God wants us to do is to "walk by faith." How many of us have laid ourselves by, as it were, and said – "I cannot do any more until God appears to me." He never will, and without any inspiration, without any sudden touch of God, we will have to get up. Then comes the surprise – "Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!" Never live for the rare moments, they are surprises. God will give us touches of inspiration when He sees we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never make our moments of inspiration our standard; our standard is our duty.

虽然迟延，还要等候。（哈二3）

忍耐不是置之不理；忍耐是一座极其坚强的磐石，受得起一切的打击。忍耐的根源，是看见了神的异象；因为看见神，就带来品德上的启示。摩西之所以能坚忍，不是因为他对正义与责任的理想，而是因为看见了神。他恒心忍耐，“如同看见那不能看见的主。”一个有神异象的人，不是投身于一件工作或某一项任务，而是献身于神自己。异象是否出于神，是看得出来的，只要看所带来的启示便可知；生命会变得广大和滋润，因为一切由神发动。神若在属灵上给你一段旷野试探的时期，像他儿子所经历的，完全没他的话语，你就要忍耐；恒心忍耐，是因为你看见神。

“虽然迟延，还要等候。”要证明我们的确看见了异象，是要伸手去抓住那超乎我们所能抓住的（意即竭力追求）。属灵的自满是不好的。诗人说：“我拿什么报答耶和华？”“我要举起救恩的杯。”我们很容易自满自足－－“现在我得着了；现在我完全圣洁了；现在我能够忍受了。”这样我们马上就会跌倒。我们的目标必须超越实际的。“我不是以为自己已经得着了，已经完全了。”我们有的若只是经历，就一无所有了；但我们若有神异象的启示，那所有的就远超过所经历的了。要当心属灵懈怠的危险。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，在我自觉的生活中，但愿能流露更多的爱、怜悯、敬虔和对你的热爱。求你使我对周围的人能有善意的表现，并以忍耐和温柔去待他们。

May 2 The Passion Of Patience

Patience is not indifference; patience conveys the idea of an immensely strong rock withstanding all onslaughts. The vision of God is the source of patience, because it imparts a moral inspiration. Moses endured, not because he had an ideal of right and duty, but because he had a vision of God. He “endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible.” A man with the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue; he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it; things come with largeness and tonic to the life because everything is energized by God. If God gives you a time spiritually, as He gave His Son actually, of temptation in the wilderness, with no word from Himself at all, endure, and the power to endure is there because you see God.

“Though it tarry, wait for it.” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. “What shall I render unto the Lord?” said the Psalmist. “I will take the cup of salvation.” We are apt to look for satisfaction in ourselves – “Now I have got the thing; now I am entirely sanctified; now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.” If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing; if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of relaxation spiritually.

靠着圣灵，随时多方祷告祈求。（弗六18）

我们代求的时候，会发觉对神的顺服，与别人的得失有极大的关系，这是我们想不到的。但有一个危机，就是那些神听了祷告而逐渐被提升到另一个不同领域里的人，我们用人的同情心去代求。一旦我们从与神同心去关怀别人，退到用同情心去代祷，那与神息息相关的联系就失去了。我们把同情心掺入代祷中，便是故意顶撞神。

除非我们完全认识神，否则无法作有效的代求。我们与神的关系最大的分化力，就是个人的同情与偏见。认同是代求的钥匙，一旦停止与神同心，就是同情心而不是罪在作祟，不一定是罪阻碍我们与神的关系，同情心也会。对自己的同情，对别人的同情，令我们说：“我不要让这样的事发生。”这样，与神密切的关系就立时中断。

代求根本没有时间，也没有倾向于为自己的愁肠祷告。你不用排除自己的忧愁，因为根本不应该有自己的成分在里面。你这时是与神同心，完完全全地关怀别人。神呼召我们代求，是要明辨，不是要吹毛求疵、

祈祷◆主啊，当我们开始在晨祷中“为我们的国家代求”，恳求你的灵指引我们。

May 3 Vital Intercession

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spiritt." Ephesians 6:18

As we go on in intercession we may find that our obedience to God is going to cost other people more than we thought. The danger then is to begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting to a totally different sphere in answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from identification with God's interest in others into sympathy with them, the vital connection with God has gone, we have put our sympathy, our consideration for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.

It is impossible to intercede vitally unless we are perfectly sure of God, and the greatest dissipator of our relationship to God is personal sympathy and personal prejudice. Identification is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with God, it is by sympathy, not by sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our relationship to God, but sympathy will, sympathy with ourselves or with others which makes us say – “I will not allow that thing to happen.” Instantly we are out of vital connection with God.

Intercession leaves you neither time nor inclination to pray for your own “sad sweet self.” The thought of yourself is not kept out, because it is not there to keep out; you are completely and entirely identified with God's interests in other lives.

Discernment is God's call to intercession, never to fault finding.

弟兄们，我们既因耶稣的血，得以坦然进入至圣所。（来十19）

当心别以为代求是把自己的同情心带到神面前，然后要求他照我们所求的成就。我们能亲近神，完全是由于主耶稣作成这赎罪的工作。我们是“因耶稣的血，坦然进入至圣所”。

属灵的固执是代求中最大的障碍。因为同情心的根据，是我们里面和别人里面那些自以为不必用血来救赎的部分。我们以为还有些好处与德行，是不必用血来救赎的。这观念所产生的障碍，叫我们无法代求。我们没有与神爱人的心合一，我们生神的气；我们总有自己的主意，代求就成为天然同情心的自我吹擂。耶稣自己成为罪，就把人所有的同情心彻底地改变了。替代式的代求，就是立志把我们对人的天然同情心，换上神对人爱顾的心。

我是固执的还是被神的心替代了？与神的关系是失调还是和谐？在闹意气还是属灵？偏行己路还是与神同心？

祈祷◆主啊，你最明白在展开未来之前那种奇异的感觉。此刻极之需要提升我的情绪、思想和心态。求你确证我的思想。

May 4 Vicarious Intercession

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” Hebrews 10:19

Beware of imagining that intercession means bringing our personal sympathies into the presence of God and demanding that He does what we ask. Our approach to God is due entirely to the vicarious identification of our Lord with sin. We have “boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.”

Spiritual stubbornness is the most effectual hindrance to intercession, because it is based on sympathy with that in ourselves and in others that we do not think needs atoning for. We have the notion that there are certain right and virtuous things in us which do not need to be based on the Atonement, and just in the domain of “stodge” that is produced by this idea we cannot intercede. We do not identify ourselves with God's interests in others, we get petulant with God; we are always ready with our own ideas, and intercession becomes the glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means the radical alteration of all our sympathies. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God's interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.

Am I stubborn or substituted? Petted or perfect in my relationship to God? Sulky or spiritual? Determined to have my own way or determined to be identified with Him?

因为时候到了，审判要从神的家起首。(彼前四17)

作主的工人必须记住，救恩是从神来的，不是人自己可以得到；因此，这是一道测不透的深渊。救恩是神一个极高超伟大的意念，而不是一个经历。经历只不过是一道门，让救恩进入我们的生命里。千万别传扬经历，乃要传扬经历背后神伟大的意念。我们传道，并不是宣布人怎样可以得救，脱离地狱，变成有道德、圣洁的人；我们乃是传达神的好消息。

在耶稣基督的教训中总夹着审判，这是神爱的表征。若有人觉得接近神是件难事，我们不必表示同情，因为这不是神的错。我们也不必设法解释困难的缘故，只要把神真理讲出来，圣灵就会指出毛病所在。传道最大的考验，就是要把各人带进审判里去。神的灵会个别对付每一个人。

耶稣若给我们一条命令，而不给我们力量去实行的话，他就是个说谎者。若我们让自己的无力实行成为顺服的拦阻，那就是在对神说，他有些事考虑不周详。任何的自倚自恃，都必须被神粉碎。完全的软弱与信赖，往往是圣灵彰显他能力的时候。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，愿你的赐福今天临到我们，那么多人正需要你。求你拯救的大能在我们当中运行，掌管和振奋我们。

May 5 Judgment On The Abyss Of Love

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” 1 Peter 4:17

The Christian worker must never forget that salvation is God's thought, not man's; therefore it is an unfathomable abyss. Salvation is the great thought of God, not an experience. Experience is only a gateway by which salvation comes into our conscious life. Never preach the experience; preach the great thought of God behind. When we preach we are not proclaiming how man can be saved from hell and be made moral and pure; we are conveying good news about God.

In the teachings of Jesus Christ the element of judgment is always brought out, it is the sign of God's love. Never sympathize with a soul who finds it difficult to get to God, God is not to blame. It is not for us to find out the reason why it is difficult, but so to present the truth of God that the Spirit of God will show what is wrong. The great sterling test in preaching is that it brings everyone to judgment. The Spirit of God locates each one to himself.

If Jesus ever gave us a command He could not enable us to fulfil, He would be a liar; and if we make our inability a barrier to obedience, it means we are telling God there is something He has not taken into account. Every element of self-reliance must be slain by the power of God. Complete weakness and dependence will always be the occasion for the Spirit of God to manifest His power.

基督释放了我们，叫我们得以自由。（加五1）

一个有属灵深度的人，绝不会要求你说：“你要信这个信那个。”他只会要求你的生活能够符合耶稣的标准。神没有叫我们相信圣经，乃是叫我们相信圣经所显示的那一位主（比较约五39－40）。我们蒙召是传扬良心得释放，而不是见解上得自由。我们若在基督的自由里得释放，那么别人也会被带进同样的自由里－－那自由就是认识耶稣基督统驭万有的权柄。

总要照耶稣的标准去量度你的生活。你的颈项只可以套上主的轭，绝不负别的轭；同时，要当心别替人家套上那不是出于耶稣基督的轭。我们常以为人人都要与我们有同一样的观点，否则就是错的。神从不这样看，因此他要花许多时间去纠正我们的错误。自由只有一种，就是耶稣在我们的心里作工，使我们能够做合宜的事。

不要烦躁不安、失去耐性，要记住神怎样对待你－－用忍耐与温柔；但却不要减弱神的真理。让主的道自由作工，不必为它歉疚。耶稣说：“去，使万民作我的门徒”，而不是使人信服你的见解。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，你是何等奇妙、伟大和有力量，我要投向你。除了你以外，使我拒绝任何的统治。

May 6 Liberty On The Abyss Of The Gospel

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” Galatians 5:1

A spiritually minded man will never come to you with the demand – “Believe this and that;” but with the demand that you square your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One Whom the Bible reveals (cf. John 5:39-40). We are called to present liberty of conscience, not liberty of view. If we are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty – the liberty of realizing the dominance of Jesus Christ.

Always keep your life measured by the standards of Jesus. Bow your neck to His yoke alone, and to no other yoke whatever; and be careful to see that you never bind a yoke on others that is not placed by Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us out of the way of thinking that unless everyone sees as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one liberty, the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.

Don’t get impatient, remember how God dealt with you – with patience and with gentleness; but never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples,” not “make converts to your opinions.”

你们哪一个要盖一座楼，不先坐下算计花费，能盖成不能呢？（路十四28）

主所指的代价，不是要我们去计算，他已经计算好了。就是三十年在拿撒勒，三年被人拥戴、毁谤和憎恨，客西马尼园无底的痛苦，加略山上被宰杀－－成为整个时间与永恒转动的枢轴。

耶稣基督已计算了代价。所以世人最终也无法指着他说：“这人动了工，却不能完工。”在26、27及33节中，主陈明作门徒的条件；在他建造大工所用的人，是他已经为他们付上一切代价的人。“人到我这里来，若不恨……就不能作我的门徒。”主的意思是在他建造大工上用得着的人，是那些热切地、忠心地爱他超过地上任何最亲密者的人。条件非常严格，但却是荣耀的。

我们一切所建造的都要经神检验。神察验的火，是否发觉在主的根基上竟建立了我们自己的事业？现在正是建立事业的大好机会，是我们努力为神工作的日子，可是其中却密布着网罗。其实认真地说，我们根本不能为神作工。耶稣把我们放在他的工程上，完全放在他建造的大计中，我们是没有权选择要被放在什么地方。

祈祷◆主啊，引导我们的心思进入你的计划中。许多人已步向你那荣耀却带有危险的开放境地。主啊，请倾注你那浩大的能力，来纠正我们的生命，使它成为焕发着健康的丰盛生命。

May 7 Building For Eternity

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” Luke 14:28

Our Lord refers not to a cost we have to count, but to a cost which He has counted. The cost was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal and hatred, the deep unfathomable agony in Gethsemane, and the onslaught at Calvary – the pivot upon which the whole of Time and Eternity turns. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. Men are not going to laugh at Him at last and say – “This man began to build, and was not able to finish.”

The conditions of discipleship laid down by Our Lord in vv. 26, 27 and 33 mean that the men and women He is going to use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If any man come to Me, and hate not . . . he cannot be My disciple.” Our Lord implies that the only men and women He will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately and devotedly beyond any of the closest ties on earth. The conditions are stern, but they are glorious.

All that we build is going to be inspected by God. Is God going to detect in His searching fire that we have built on the foundation of Jesus some enterprise of our own? These are days of tremendous enterprises, days when we are trying to work for God, and therein is the snare. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus takes us over for His enterprises, His building schemes entirely, and no soul has any right to claim where he shall be put.

你既遵守我忍耐的道。（启三10）

忍耐不单是忍受。圣徒的生命在神手中，有如弓箭在射箭者的手上。神正瞄准一些我们看不见的东西，在用力拉开弓；圣徒却说：“我再也受不了。”神不加理会，反而继续拉紧，直至目标在望，才松手让箭射出。放心把自己放在神手中。你现在正要忍耐什么呢？只要用忍耐的信心，保持你与耶稣基督的关系。“他虽然杀我，我仍要等候他。”

信心不是悲观的情绪，乃是强而有力的信任，是建造在神圣洁的爱上。你如今看不见他，也不明白他在做什么，但你是认识他的。我们心灵的平稳，在乎我们是否建立在神至圣的爱这永恒的真理上；否则，信心必如船触礁而覆没。信心是你人生中最英勇的奋斗，是不顾一切的把自己交托神，一心投靠他。

神在耶稣基督里已赴汤蹈火、不顾一切地救了我们；如今他要我们不惜牺牲一切，全心信靠他。我们里面还有许多地方是信心尚未耕耘过的，就是神的生命尚未触摸到的。在耶稣基督的生命里，却没有这样的光景，我们也不该有。“认识你……这就是永生。”永生的真正意义，就是一种面对任何事情而不动摇的生命。我们若有这种看见，人生就成为一页罗曼史，能够每时每刻经历到奇妙的事。神一直在操练我们，好使我们进入这能力的中心里去。

祈祷◆主啊，我理应成为何等样的人！我那充满恩典的生命在你的掌管下是那么奇妙；然而，我仍发觉自己是那么气量狭小。主啊，我还可以说什么呢！

May 8 The Patience Of Faith

“Because thou hast kept the word of My patience.” Revelation 3:10

Patience is more than endurance. A saint's life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says – “I cannot stand any more.” God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. Trust yourself in God's hands. For what have you need of patience just now? Maintain your relationship to Jesus Christ by the patience of faith. “Though He slay me, yet will I wait for Him.”

Faith is not a pathetic sentiment, but robust vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. You cannot see Him just now, you cannot understand what He is doing, but you know Him. Shipwreck occurs where there is not that mental poise which comes from being established on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the heroic effort of your life, you fling yourself in reckless confidence on God.

God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us, now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him. There are spots where that faith has not worked in us as yet, places untouched by the life of God. There were none of those spots in Jesus Christ's life, and there are to be none in ours. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee.” The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we take this view, life becomes one great romance, a glorious opportunity for seeing marvelous things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.

没有异象，民就放肆。（箴二十九18）

理想与异象是不同的。理想没有道德性的启示；异象则有。沉湎在理想中的人，甚少有所作为。一个人可以用对神的看法，作为逃避责任的藉口。约拿曾自辩说，神既然是公义怜悯的，因此一切都必妥当。我也许对神有十分正确的观念，但这可能成为我不尽本分的理由。若有异象，生命必然公义正直，因为异象带来道德的催逼。

理想可以缓顿以至消灭，试审察一下你的属灵状况，看看是只有理想，还是真有异象。“啊，人所达致的，该超过他所把握的，否则，天堂何价？”“没有异象……”一旦看不见神，我们就会放肆，不受约束，不作祷告，在小事上把神撇在一边，依照自己的意思行事。我们若一手包办，自作主张，不期望神介入，我们就在走下坡，失去了异象。我们今日的态度，是否从神的异象而来的呢？我们期望神行大事，胜于往日吗？我们属灵的展望是否活泼有力？

祈祷◆噢，主啊，某些情绪似乎很容易令人悄悄地从你的身边和你的计划中溜走。可是，主啊，我不相信这是现在的情况；我所相信的，是人可能像一头野兽那样进入你的计划中，没有判断能力，也缺乏异象。主啊，我深愿成为你的儿子。

May 9 Grasp Without Reach

“Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.” Proverbs 29:18 (R.V.)

There is a difference between an ideal and a vision. An ideal has no moral inspiration; a vision has. The people who give themselves over to ideals rarely do anything. A man's conception of Deity may be used to justify his deliberate neglect of his duty. Jonah argued that because God was a God of justice and of mercy, therefore everything would be all right. I may have a right conception of God, and that may be the very reason why I do not do my duty. But wherever there is vision, there is also a life of rectitude because the vision imparts moral incentive.

Ideals may lull to ruin. Take stock of yourself spiritually and see whether you have ideals only or if you have vision.

“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?”

“Where there is no vision. . . .” When once we lose sight of God, we begin to be reckless, we cast off certain restraints, we cast off praying, we cast off the vision of God in little things, and begin to act on our own initiative. If we are eating what we have out of our own hand, doing things on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on the downward path, we have lost the vision. Is our attitude today an attitude that springs from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done? Is there a freshness and vigour in our spiritual out look?

“…有了信心，又要加上德行…” (彼后1:5)

“加上”的意思是要有所行动。我们常有一个危险，就是忘记我们不能作上帝作的事，上帝也不会作我们能作的。我们不能救自己，也不能叫自己成圣–那是上帝作的事。上帝既不会给我们好的习惯或者性格，也不会强迫我们行在他的旨意里。我们自己必须作这些事。神在我们里面作工，但我们自己必须“作成”我们“得救的功夫”（腓2:12）。“加上”意味着我们必须养成作事情的习惯，而这在一开始总是很困难。采取主动要有一个开头–把自己带到必走之路上。

要警醒本来清楚知道神的旨意却要反复询问的倾向。采取主动–停止犹豫–迈开第一步。当上帝告诉你他的心意时，靠信心马上就付诸行动，永远都不要再考虑或者改变最初的决定。如果当神要你去做一件事，你却犹犹豫豫，那你就在不经意间摒弃了神的恩典。自己要采取主动，现在就做出决定，不要让自己那么容易就回头。破釜沉舟之时，告诉自己，“我要写那封信”，或者“我要把那笔债还掉”；然后就去作吧！不要轻易改变！

我们必须养成在一切事情上仔细聆听神声音的习惯，明白他的心意并听从他的命令。如果当灾难到来时，我们能条件反射般地转向神，我们就知道自己已经养成了这种习惯了。采取主动必须从目前所站的岗位上开始，而不是那些我们还没有经历过的。

May 10 Take The Initiative

“Add to your faith virtue. . .” (“Furnish your faith with resolution.”) (MOFFATT.) 2 Peter 1:5

“Add” means there is something we have to do. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save ourselves nor sanctify ourselves, God does that; but God will not give us good habits, He will not give us character, He will not make us walk aright. We have to do all that ourselves, we have to work out the salvation God has worked in. “Add” means to get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages it is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning, to instruct yourself in the way you have to go.

Beware of the tendency of asking the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative, stop hesitating, and take the first step. Be resolute when God speaks, act in faith immediately on what He says, and never revise your decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do a thing, you endanger your standing in grace. Take the initiative, take it yourself, take the step with your will now, make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you – “I will write that letter”; “I will pay that debt.” Make the thing inevitable.

We have to get into the habit of hearkening to God about everything, to form the habit of finding out what God says. If when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we know that the habit has been formed. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we are not.

有了爱弟兄的心，又要加上爱众人的心。（彼后一7）

对大多数人来说，爱的意义是模糊的；人谈论爱，却不知爱是什么。爱是一个人对另一个人超出一切的欣赏。属灵方面，耶稣要求我们拣选他超过一切（路十四26）。当圣灵将神的爱浇灌在我们心里，耶稣基督就很自然的居首位了。从此，我们就能活出彼得在此所列举的种种德行了。

首先，神要把我的伪装、外表的敬虔，一概拆除。圣灵显明神爱我，不是因为我可爱，而是因为他爱的本性。他对我说：“好了，如今你要用同样的爱去爱别人。”“我怎样爱你们，你们也要怎样相爱。”“我会把好些你看不在眼内的人，摆在你周围，你必须用我的爱去爱他们，像我爱你们一样。”爱是不能矫揉造作的。不少人试着这样作，但不久就厌倦了。

“主长久忍耐……”让我看看自己，又看看他怎样待我。神爱我到一个地步，以致我一切的罪恶、卑鄙、自私、恶行，他都不追究；因此我就能活在世上，以神的爱去爱人。神对我的爱既是用之不竭，我对别人的爱也必须如此。若我一动怒，在恩典中的长进就会停止。我所以发怒，是因为要与一个怪癖的人共处。但试想，从前我与神相处，叫他多么难堪！我们是否愿意与主耶稣合而为一，让他的生命与温馨每时每刻流露出来？不论人性的爱，或神圣的爱，都需要加以培育，才能存留。爱虽然是自然流露的，却要操练去持守。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，以你活泼的能力、恩赐和美善，影响我们生活的每一方面，使它能反映出你脸上的荣光。这似乎是我全部的祷告。

May 11 You Won't Reach It On Tiptoe

“Add to your brotherliness . . . love.” 2 Peter 1:7

Love is indefinite to most of us, we do not know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the sovereign preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that that preference be for Himself (cf. Luke 14:26). When the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ is easily first; then we must practise the working out of these things mentioned by Peter.

The first thing God does is to knock pretence and the pious pose right out of me. The Holy Spirit reveals that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now, He says to me, show the same love to others – “Love as I have loved you.” “I will bring any number of people about you whom you cannot respect, and you must exhibit My love to them as I have exhibited it to you.” You won't reach it on tiptoe. Some of us have tried to, but we were soon tired.

“The Lord suffereth long. . . .” Let me look within and see His dealings with me. The knowledge that God has loved me to the uttermost, to the end of all my sin and meanness and selfishness and wrong, will send me forth into the world to love in the same way. God's love to me is inexhaustible, and I must love others from the bedrock of God's love to me. Growth in grace stops the moment I get huffed. I get huffed because I have a peculiar person to live with. Just think how disagreeable I have been to God! Am I prepared to be so identified with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness are being poured out all the time? Neither natural love nor Divine love will remain unless it is cultivated. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained by discipline.

你们若充充足足的有这几样，就必使你们在认识我们的主耶稣基督上，不至于闲懒不结果子了。（彼后一8）

习惯开始形成时，我们是知道的。好些时候，我们自觉在德行、忍耐、虔诚上有了长进，但这不过是生命的初阶。但若老是停留在这地步，在灵性上必定趾高气扬，夜郎自大。而正确的做法是把习惯溶在主的生命里，直至每一种习惯，都不再是自觉的表现。属灵的生命需要经常自省，因为还有好些品质未加上去。到了最终，与主的关系就极为单纯了。

神可能只是你的一套信徒习惯，在指定的时间内祈祷读经。假若你崇拜的是这些习惯，而不是习惯所象征的意义－－“我现在没空，我正在祷告，这是我亲近神的时间。”天父可能会把那些时间颠倒。这只是你习惯的时间，你身上仍缺少一些品质。要找出缺点，然后在需要加上去的品质上多多操练。

爱不是习惯，是到了忘掉习惯的地步，达到不自觉的境地。你若自觉圣洁，那么必然有些事你认为是干不来的，在某些关系上你也未够单纯；那就是说你还要加上的品质。只有耶稣所过的生活，才是超人的生活，他随时随地都与神同在，没有丝毫隔膜。你有没有什么地方与神有隙，不能与他契合无间？让神在特别的环境下施以压力，知道你得着他。那时，你的生命就如婴孩一般单纯。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，求你向我们解明真理，让我们明白，并使我们在你里面得以刚强。

May 12 Make A Habit Of Having No Habits

“For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful.” 2 Peter 1:8 (R.V.)

When we begin to form a habit we are conscious of it. There are times when we are conscious of becoming virtuous and patient and godly, but it is only a stage; if we stop there we shall get the strut of the spiritual prig. The right thing to do with habits is to lose them in the life of the Lord, until every habit is so practised that there is no conscious habit at all. Our spiritual life continually resolves into introspection because there are some qualities we have not added as yet. Ultimately the relationship is to be a completely simple one.

Your god may be your little Christian habit, the habit of prayer at stated times, or the habit of Bible reading. Watch how your Father will upset those times if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes – I can't do that just now, I am praying; it is my hour with God. No, it is your hour with your habit. There is a quality that is lacking in you. Recognize the defect and then look for the opportunity of exercising yourself along the line of the quality to be added.

Love means that there is no habit visible, you have come to the place where the habit is lost, and by practice you do the thing unconsciously. If you are consciously holy, there are certain things you imagine you cannot do, certain relationships in which you are far from simple; that means there is something to be added. The only supernatural life is the life the Lord Jesus lived, and He was at home with God anywhere. Is there anywhere where you are not at home with God? Let God press through in that particular circumstance until you gain Him, and life becomes the simple life of a child.

对神、对人，常存无亏的良心。（徒二十四16）

神的命令，是向他儿子而发的，也就是向我们这些有他儿子在里面的人而发的。他的命令固然难行，但若一旦听从，就有从天上来的能力，便变得容易。良心使我依附最高的标准，并且告诉我什么是最高的要求，教我应该怎样去行。它是心灵的眼睛，可以举目向神，又或举目向他所定的最高的标准，因此良心的标准因人而异。我若经常仰望神，我的良心必然向着神完全的律法，指示我所当行的。问题是我肯不肯顺从？我必须保持良心的敏锐，使我行事不至于冲撞神。我与神儿子应该同心同德，就是不论在任何境况下，心意都得以更新，叫我知道“何为神的善良、纯全可喜悦的旨意”。

神对我们的管教是极其彻底的。我的耳朵是否敏锐地听得见圣灵最微小的声音而知道当作的是什么？“不要叫神的灵担忧”，他的声音并不如雷霆；他的声音是极其微小，很容易就被疏略过去。要使良心对神敏感，就要养成经常向神敞开的习惯。一有迟疑，须即停止。“我为什么不可以这样？”那你已在歧路上了。良心一说话，就再没有迟疑的余地。你若让一件事拦阻了你与神在隐密处的交通，那太冒险了。不管是什么，放下它吧！要常保持内心视野清晰。

祈祷◆主啊，求祢抚摸我，让我生命的堤岸沐浴祢爱所赐的平安中，我便充满了赞美。

May 13 The Habit Of A Good Conscience

“A conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.” Acts 24:16

God's commands are given to the life of His Son in us, consequently to the human nature in which His Son has been formed, His commands are difficult, but immediately we obey they become divinely easy.

Conscience is that faculty in me which attaches itself to the highest that I know, and tells me what the highest I know demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either towards God or towards what it regards as the highest, and therefore conscience records differently in different people. If I am in the habit of steadily facing myself with God, my conscience will always introduce God's perfect law and indicate what I should do. The point is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I walk without offence. I should be living in such perfect sympathy with God's Son, that in every circumstance the spirit of my mind is renewed, and I “make out” at once “what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

God always educates us down to the scruple. Is my ear so keen to hear the tiniest whisper of the Spirit that I know what I should do? “Grieve not the Holy Spirit.” He does not come with a voice like thunder; His voice is so gentle that it is easy to ignore it. The one thing that keeps the conscience sensitive to Him is the continual habit of being open to God on the inside. When there is any debate, quit. “Why shouldn't I do this?” You are on the wrong track. There is no debate possible when conscience speaks. At your peril, you allow one thing to obscure your inner communion with God. Drop it, whatever it is, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.

使耶稣的生，也显明在我们身上。（林后四10）

要养成述说神在我们身上所成就的恩典的习惯。这不是从地狱里得拯救的问题，而是我们得救之后，在肉身上如何彰显神儿子的生命问题。在不愉快的事上，正显示我们有没有彰显神的生命。我是流露神儿子的温良，还是表现离开神后自我的怒气？唯一令我欣然接受不愉快的事情的，就是神儿子的生命在我身上彰显的热切期望。不管事情多么不如意，只要说：“主，我乐意在这事上遵从你。”神儿子即时就会出现，在我的生命中彰显祂的荣耀。

千万不可迟疑，一旦你顺服那光，神的儿子就从那里透射出来。要是你心里争辩，就必叫圣灵担忧。你必须保持内在情况良好，让神儿子的生命彰显出来。若给自怜留地步，你就不健康了。我们生活的环境，是表彰神儿子何等完全、何等圣洁的机会。什么事情叫你心慌意乱，就是表彰神又一新的机会。自己选择不愉快的事与因神的安排而有不愉快的事，是截然不同的。若神放在你那里，祂是绰有裕余地供应你。

保持心灵健壮，好彰显神儿子的生命。不可沉湎在记忆里，让神的话活泼有力地活在你里面吧！

祈祷◆噢，主啊，求祢今天向我们彰显祢的生命。让这里的每一个人，开始呼吸到自由的空气，并归向祢，在敬虔和恩典中得以坚固。

May 14 The Habit Of Enjoying The Disagreeable

“That life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” 2 Corinthians 4:10

We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of “myself” apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy the disagreeable is the keen enthusiasm of letting the life of the Son of God manifest itself in me. No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say – “Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this matter,” and instantly the Son of God will press to the front, and there will be manifested in my human life that which glorifies Jesus.

There must be no debate. The moment you obey the light, the Son of God presses through you in that particular; but if you debate you grieve the Spirit of God. You must keep yourself fit to let the life of the Son of God be manifested, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the Son of God. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable, and another thing to go into the disagreeable by God's engineering. If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.

Keep your soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on memories; let the word of God be always living and active in you.

使你们知道他的恩召有何等指望。（弗一18）

要记得你蒙拯救的目的是什么－－是叫神儿子的生命在你必朽的肉身上彰显出来。要殚精竭虑，去体会成为神儿女的恩召；要每次正面面对所遭遇的。

你虽然没有办法救自己，却必须有所事事，以表彰所得的救恩。你要把神做在你身上的表扬出来。你有没有用舌头、脑筋、精神去努力表扬？你若仍然是昔日可怜的老样子，孤行己意，那么你说神已拯救你，并叫你成圣，这不过是谎话。

神是大工程师，他容许困难临到你身上，要看你能否越过－－“我靠着神跳过墙垣”。神不会放松对他儿女的要求。彼得说：“有火炼的试验临到你们，不要以为奇怪。”把握机会，面对现实，付诸行动！不管痛苦多大，只要神有机会藉着你彰显他自己就好了。

但愿神不再看见我们里面的怨叹，却看见我们充满属灵的果敢与奋勇，准备面对任何从神而来的事物。我们必须操练自己，叫神儿子可以在我们必朽的肉身上彰显出来。生命唯一的目标，就是彰显神的儿子，并且不再向神发号施令。我们的主从来没有指挥他的父，我们在此也不得指挥神；我们在世上是要顺服他的旨意，使他能在我们身上成就他所要成就的。我们若明白这点，神就会使我们成为擘开的饼、倾出来的酒，去喂养与滋润别人。

祈祷◆主啊，你已经启示了很多真理，还有不少事情要告诉我们，可是，我感到自己的生活太少按着你所指示的去行。主啊，加力给我，让我彰显你的荣耀。

May 15 The Habit Of Rising To The Occasion

“That ye may know what is the hope of His calling...” Ephesians 1:18

Remember what you are saved for – that the Son of God might be manifested in your mortal flesh. Bend the whole energy of your powers to realize your election as a child of God; rise to the occasion every time.

You cannot do anything for your salvation, but you must do something to manifest it, you must work out what God has worked in. Are you working it out with your tongue, and your brain and your nerves? If you are still the same miserable crosspatch, set on your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.

God is the Master Engineer, He allows the difficulties to come in order to see if you can vault over them properly – “By my God have I leaped over a wall.” God will never shield you from any of the requirements of a son or daughter of His. Peter says – “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you.” Rise to the occasion; do the thing. It does not matter how it hurts as long as it gives God the chance to manifest Him self in your mortal flesh.

May God not find the whine in us any more, but may He find us full of spiritual pluck and athleticism, ready to face anything He brings. We have to exercise ourselves in order that the Son of God may be manifested in our mortal flesh. God never has museums. The only aim of the life is that the Son of God may be manifested, and all dictation to God vanishes. Our Lord never dictated to His Father, and we are not here to dictate to God; we are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. When we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured out wine to feed and nourish others.

与神的性情有份。（彼后一4）

我们既是凭应许与神的性情有份，就必须习惯地把神的性情“运用”在我们的人性里。这样，首先要养成的习惯，就是明白神的供给。我们说：“呀！我没有这能力，买不起哩！”这句话藏着最大的谎话。在大自然里谈金钱，颇令人觉得不是味道；在属灵上也是如此。在我们说话里，似乎说神对我们非常的吝啬！我们以为在一天结束时说“好了，这天刚好够用，总算挣扎过去”，这样才是真的谦逊，其实在主耶稣里，全能的神的一切都是我们的。我们若顺服神，他可以吩咐最后一粒沙、最远的一颗星来祝福我们。环境困苦又有何妨？难道环境不可以困难吗？我们若纵容自己自怜自悯，享受自怨自艾的凄凉，就是弃绝神给我们的丰盛，也拦阻别人得着他的供应。没有罪比自怜的罪更大，因为它遮掩了神，把自我放在宝座上。它叫我们口吐怨言，使我们的生命成为不知足的属灵海绵，一点也不美，也不大方。

当神开始对我们满意，他就会把一切虚浮的财富挪开，直至我们认识一切泉源都在他里面。神的恩惠、权能，若不能在我们身上彰显（我们不自觉的），神就要追究我们。“神能将各样的恩惠，多多的加给你们。”所以要学习把神的恩惠施予别人。身上常带着神的印记，这样，神的祝福必常藉你流露。

祈祷◆主啊，让你能力的甜美和完全，在今天临到我。让我得着伟大、丰富、充满恩慈和喜乐的属神生命。

May 16 The Habit Of Wealth

“Partakers of the divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:4

We are made partakers of the Divine nature through the promises; then we have to “manipulate” the Divine nature in our human nature by habits, and the first habit to form is the habit of realizing the provision God has made. “Oh, I can't afford it,” we say – one of the worst lies is tucked up in that phrase. It is ungovernably bad taste to talk about money in the natural domain, and so it is spiritually, and yet we talk as if our Heavenly Father had cut us off with a shilling! We think it a sign of real modesty to say at the end of a day – “Oh, well, I have just got through, but it has been a severe tussle.” And all the Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus! And He will tax the last grain of sand and the remotest star to bless us if we will obey Him. What does it matter if external circumstances are hard? Why should they not be! If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we banish God's riches from our own lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. No sin is worse than the sin of self-pity, because it obliterates God and puts self-interest upon the throne. It opens our mouths to spit out murmurings and our lives become craving spiritual sponges, there is nothing lovely or generous about them.

When God is beginning to be satisfied with us He will impoverish everything in the nature of fictitious wealth, until we learn that all our fresh springs are in Him. If the majesty and grace and power of God are not being manifested in us (not to our consciousness), God holds us responsible. “God is able to make all grace abound,” then learn to lavish the grace of God on others. Be stamped with God's nature, and His blessing will come through you all the time.

正祝福的时候，他就离开他们，被带到天上去了。（路二十四51）

主登山变像之后的经历，是我们没法体验的。从那时起，主的生命完全是为了代赎。登山之前，他过的是正常人的生活；登山之后，经过客西马尼、十字架，以至复活，都不是我们所熟悉的。他的十字架，是人类进入神生命的门；他的复活，使他有赐人永生的权柄；他的升天，使天门为人敞开。

在升天的山上，登山变像的意义就明显了。耶稣若在登山变像时升了天，他就是独自而去，对我们只是一个荣耀的形像而已。可是，他纡尊降贵，从山上下来，与堕落的人类等量齐观。

升天是登山变像的实现，我们的主这时回到他原有的荣耀里去；可是他不单是以神儿子的身份回去，也以人子的身份回到神那里去。因为人子升天，人就有自由的通道直接去到神宝座前。

作为人子，耶稣故意限制了他的权能、全知，以及无所不在的自由；升天后却全部在他掌管之中了。耶稣基督为人子，有着神宝座的一切权能，从他升天之日起直到今天，他是万王之王，万主之主。

祈祷◆主啊，我的每一方面，都彻底、完全和绝对需要你。我是一个等待你注满的庞大潭穴，以你的荣耀和美善注满我，直至涌流不息。

May 17 His Ascension And Our Union

“And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” Luke 24:51

We have no corresponding experience to the events in Our Lord's life after the Transfiguration. From then onwards Our Lord's life was altogether vicarious. Up to the time of the Transfiguration He had exhibited the normal perfect life of a man; from the Transfiguration onwards – Gethsemane, the Cross, the Resurrection – everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His Resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to any man, and by His Ascension Our Lord enters heaven and keeps the door open for humanity.

On the Mount of Ascension the Transfiguration is completed. If Jesus had gone to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone; He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the Mount to identify Himself with fallen humanity.

The Ascension is the consummation of the Transfiguration. Our Lord does now go back into His primal glory; but He does not go back simply as Son of God; He goes back to God as Son of Man as well as Son of God. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God by the Ascension of the Son of Man. As Son of Man Jesus Christ deliberately limited omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience in Himself. Now they are His in absolute full power. As Son of Man Jesus Christ has all power at the throne of God. He is King of kings and Lord of lords from the day of His Ascension until now.

你们看那天上的飞鸟，……你想野地里的百合花……。（太六26-28）

试想想野地的百合花怎样长起来，它们无非是顺应自然而生！又试想想大海、空气、太阳、星星、月亮－－这一切就是这样存在，然而，它们所达成的是何等的任务！许多时候，我们凭着自己的努力，去作一个言行一致、有用的人，反而将神原要我们对别人的影响破坏了。耶稣说，属灵的生长只有一个途径，就是在神自己。“不要顾虑自己对被人是否有帮助，相信我吧！”

注目在至高的源头上，你就有生命的活水流出来。我们若用人的常识本能，是无法得着生命的泉源；所以耶稣教导我们不是靠自己的守望，乃是专注在天父身上。天父知道我们所处的景况，只要我们专心仰望他，就可像百合花一般生长。

对我们影响最大的人，不是那些整天唠唠叨叨教训我们的人，而是那些生活如星辰、如野地百合花般单纯真诚的人。这样的生命才足以模造我们。你要是想合神使用，就要与耶稣基督建立正常的关系，这样，他便会叫你一生在不知不觉中时刻为他所使用。

祈祷◆今早我怀着崇敬的心靠近你，感到你是我的天父，并且完全知悉你忍耐着我不真实的一面。但是，主啊，我现在似乎不关心自己是否真实，因为你本身就是最伟大的实体。

May 18 Careful Unreasonableness

“Behold the fowls of the air.” . . . “Consider the lilies of the field.” Matthew 6:26, 28

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars and the moon – all these are, and what a ministration they exert. So often we mar God's designed influence through us by our self-conscious effort to be consistent and useful. Jesus says that there is only one way to develop spiritually, and that is by concentration on God. “Do not bother about being of use to others; believe on Me” – pay attention to the Source, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. We cannot get at the springs of our natural life by common sense, and Jesus is teaching that growth in spiritual life does not depend on our watching it, but on concentration on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows the circumstances we are in, and if we keep concentrated on Him we will grow spiritually as the lilies.

The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars in heaven and the lilies in the field, perfectly simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mould us.

If you want to be of use to God, get rightly related to Jesus Christ and He will make you of use unconsciously every minute you live.

谁能使我们与基督的爱隔绝呢？（罗八35）

神并不叫人与患难绝缘；他说：“在患难中，我要与他同在。”人生不管遭受怎样重大苦难的打击，一概都不能叫人与神的关系隔绝。我们“在这一切事上已经得胜有余了”，保罗在此并不是说些虚幻的事，而是指一些极其真实的事；他说我们在这些事上所以是优胜者，不是靠一己的机智，一己的勇气，也不是靠任何其他事物，乃是根据一件事实；我们与神在基督耶稣里的关系，而这关系不是任何事物可以影响的。不管对也好错也好，我们的景况就是这样，环境际遇就是这样。那些环境一帆风顺的基督徒，我为他们感到可惜。

“难道是患难吗……？”患难绝不是什么赏心乐事；它所包罗的范围极大，举凡困倦、屈辱、劳累等都接踵而至，但都不能叫我们与神的爱隔绝。千万别让忧虑和患难阻碍你认识神爱你这事实。

“是困苦吗……？”当事事不如意，人说神的爱只是谎言，而正义也不存在，神的爱仍然靠得住吗？“是饥饿吗……？”我们饿着肚子的时候，是否仍然相信神的爱，而且得胜有余呢？除非耶稣基督是个骗子，把保罗蒙在鼓里；否则，必定有极不寻常发生在这个人身上，叫他在万事不如意之中，仍然抓紧神的爱。在这一切事情上，逻辑已经失去它的功用。只有一件事可作解释－－就是神在耶稣基督里的爱。让我重整旗鼓，再接再厉吧！

祈祷◆主啊，为着我身处的地方，我赞美你；可是在我里面正开始猜想－－这是否你为我预备的地方？求你牢牢地拖带我实行你的旨意。我可能只是烦躁不安，求你使我安静和得力，以致我不会因疑惑而得罪你。

May 19 “Out Of The Wreck I Rise”

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Romans 8:35

God does not keep a man immune from trouble; He says – “I will be with him in trouble.” It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of a man's life, not one of them can separate him from his relationship to God. We are “more than conquerors in all these things.” Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. Rightly or wrongly, we are where we are, exactly in the condition we are in. I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.

“Shall tribulation . . . ?” Tribulation is never a noble thing; but let tribulation be what it may – exhausting, galling, fatiguing, it is not able to separate us from the love of God. Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you.

“Shall anguish . . . ?” – can God's love hold when everything says that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

“Shall famine . . . ?” – can we not only believe in the love of God but be more than conquerors, even while we are being starved?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it – the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Out of the wreck I rise” every time.

你们常存忍耐，就必保存灵魂。（路二十一19）

人重生了，他的思想和理智有一段时候就没有往日那样明达。我们要把新生命表现出来，要培养基督的心。“要用忍耐保存灵魂。”我们大多数人宁可站在信徒生活的门槛上，而不根据神所赋予里头的新生命来建立自己的灵命。我们失败，是因为不明白自己的本相，在许多事上，只一意抵赖魔鬼，而不归咎在自己那不受约束的本性上。试想想我们受激动时那副样子便可知了。

有些事是我们不可祈求的：例如情绪。情绪不是祷告可以驱散的，是要一脚把它踢开。人的情绪，多半是根据肉体的情况而定，与德性无关。要经常竭力拒绝听从因肉体情况而生发的情绪，一秒钟也不可容让。我们要揪着自己的领口，振作起来，就会发觉能够做自己以为不能做的事。我们不肯做，就成了自己的咒诅。信徒的生命，是属灵勇气在肉身的一种表现。

祈祷◆主啊，为着你的说话－－“你们常存忍耐，就必保存灵魂"－－我赞美你。当我正按着你的心意，努力要得着灵魂时，为着你那将要临到的恩典，我赞美你。

May 20 The Realm Of The Real

“In your patience possess ye your souls.” Luke 21:19

When a man is born again, there is not the same robustness in his thinking or reasoning for a time as formerly. We have to make an expression of the new life, to form the mind of Christ. “Acquire your soul with patience.” Many of us prefer to stay at the threshold of the Christian life instead of going on to construct a soul in accordance with the new life God has put within. We fail because we are ignorant of the way we are made, we put things down to the devil instead of our own undisciplined natures. Think what we can be when we are roused!

There are certain things we must not pray about – moods, for instance. Moods never go by praying, moods go by kicking. A mood nearly always has its seat in the physical condition, not in the moral. It is a continual effort not to listen to the moods which arise from a physical condition, never submit to them for a second. We have to take ourselves by the scruff of the neck and shake ourselves, and we will find that we can do what we said we could not. The curse with most of us is that we won't. The Christian life is one of incarnate spiritual pluck.

你们要先求他的国和他的义，这些东西都要加给你们了。（太六33）

我们一听到耶稣这句话，会觉得是极度革命性的，是前所未闻的论调。耶稣说要“先求神的国”，我们的理论则刚好相反；就是最体贴圣灵的人也会说：“我要生活呀，我一定要赚这么多的钱；一定要有衣有食才行。”可见我们一生最关注的，不是神的国，而是怎样谋生过活。耶稣却把次序倒转过来；你当先与神建立良好的关系，当作人生当务之急，而千万别把注意力转移到其他事物之上。“不要为生命忧虑……”主指出我们为生活而挂虑，是完全没有理由的。他不是说什么都不思想的人是有福的，因这样的人是愚不可及。耶稣是教导门徒要把与神的关系视作生命的重心，而其他事则视作等闲。耶稣这里的意思是：别把吃什么喝什么作为你生命的决定因素，只要专注在神身上。有些人由于不注意饮食，而招致损害；有些人则不注意衣着，而不修边幅；他们都忽略地上的事，神却要他们自己承担。耶稣的意思是要把与神的关系，放在人生的首位，其他一切都属次要。

让圣灵把耶稣这番话的教训溶在我们里面，这是信徒生命中最严格的训练。

祈祷◆主啊，今天早上，求你使我与那些奇异的景象和声音隔绝；将我从那些联系着现今和最近的东西中解脱出来，以你的灵完完全全地充满这天。

May 21 Divine Reasonings Of Faith

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

Immediately we look at these words of Jesus, we find them the most revolutionary statement human ears ever listened to. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” We argue in exactly the opposite way, even the most spiritually-minded of us – “But I must live; I must make so much money; I must be clothed; I must be fed.” The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God, but how we are to fit ourselves to live. Jesus reverses the order: Get rightly related to God first, maintain that as the great care of your life, and never put the concern of your care on the other things.

“Take no thought for your life. . . .” Our Lord points out the utter unreasonableness from His standpoint of being so anxious over the means of living. Jesus is not saying that the man who takes thought for nothing is blessed – that man is a fool. Jesus taught that a disciple has to make his relationship to God the dominating concentration of his life, and to be carefully careless about everything else in comparison to that. Jesus is saying – “Don't make the ruling factor of your life what you shall eat and what you shall drink, but be concentrated absolutely on God.” Some people are careless over what they eat and drink, and they suffer for it; they are careless about what they wear, and they look as they have no business to look; they are careless about their earthly affairs, and God holds them responsible. Jesus is saying that the great care of the life is to put the relationship to God first, and everything else second.

It is one of the severest disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses.

使他们都合而为一，正如你父在我里面，我在你里面，使他们也在我们里面。（约十七21）

你的道路若是孤单，请读约翰福音第十七章。你可以在这里得到正确的解释－－耶稣正求父叫你与父合一，如同他与父合一一样。你是尽力使这祷告得到答允？还是你的人生另有目标？

你既成为门徒，就不能像昔日一般独立自主了。神的目的不是要应允我们的祈求，而是藉我们的祷告，叫我们能分辨他的心意，这在约翰福音第十七章已显示出来。有一个祷告是神必然应允的，就是主耶稣的祷告－－“叫他们合而为一，如同我们合而为一”。我们与主耶稣是这样亲密吗？

神关注的并不是我们的计划。他不曾说：“你愿意经历这痛苦的困扰吗？”他容让这些事发生，自有他的目的。我们所经历的事，要不是叫我们变得更温柔、更完美、更高贵，就会叫我们更吹毛求疵、更挑剔、更坚持己意。经历可以叫我们成为妖魔，也可以叫我们变作圣徒，关键完全在乎我们与神的关系。我们若说：“愿你的旨意成就。”就能得着约翰福音第十七章的安慰，就知道天父以智慧行万事。当我们知道神的用心，就不会卑鄙无耻。耶稣所祷告的，是要我们完全与他合一，正如他与父合一一样。有些人仍离得很远，但神不会任凭我们，必使我们真正与他合一，因为耶稣已为我们祷告，盼望我们可以达到这境界。

祈祷◆对于在世上为你结果子，我是那么无助，我是那么胸襟狭小，多么的不像你。求你赦免我，并且愿我因着住在耶稣里面，可以多结果子，荣耀天父。

May 22 Now This Explains It

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” John 17:21

If you are going through a solitary way, read John 17, it will explain exactly why you are where you are – Jesus has prayed that you may be one with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or have you some other end for your life? Since you became a disciple you cannot be as independent as you used to be.

The purpose of God is not to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God, and this is revealed in John 17. There is one prayer God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus – “that they may be one, even as We are One.” Are we as close to Jesus Christ as that?

God is not concerned about our plans; He does not say – Do you want to go through this bereavement, this upset? He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, nobler men and women; or they are making us more captious and fault-finding, more insistent upon our own way. The things that happen either make us fiends, or they make us saints; it depends entirely upon the relationship we are in to God. If we say – “Thy will be done,” we get the consolation of John 17, the consolation of knowing that our Father is working according to His own wisdom. When we understand what God is after we will not get mean and cynical. Jesus has prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself as He was one with the Father. Some of us are far off it, and yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him, because Jesus has prayed that we may be.

不要为生命忧虑吃什么、喝什么，为身体忧虑穿什么。（太六25）

耶稣把信徒合乎理智的忧虑，当作不信。我们若受了圣灵，他一定会追问我们说：“在朋友当中，这一天安排妥当的假期，这些新书中，神的位置在哪里？”他总要追问我们，直到我们以神为首。什么时候我们把别的东西摆在首位，就会产生混乱。

“不要忧虑。”不要把未来临的事压在自己肩上。忧虑不但是错，而且是不信；因为忧虑就是不信神能解决我们生活上实际的细节问题，而我们的忧虑往往是这些问题。你有没有留意主耶稣说什么会挤住神的道？魔鬼吗？不是！乃是今生的思虑，这些总是琐琐碎碎的忧虑。我看不见，就信不过，这就是不信的起头。唯一能救治不信的，乃是顺服圣灵。耶稣对门徒所说的一句重要的话，就是撇下。

祈祷◆无所不能的主神，我的灵是何等欣喜地知道，你看顾麻雀，亦数算我们的头发！主啊，向我吹气，直至我的身体和思想都敬拜你。

May 23 Careful Infidelity

“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on.” Matthew 6:25

Jesus sums up common-sense carefulness in a disciple as infidelity. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will press through and say – Now where does God come in in this relationship, in this mapped out holiday, in these new books? He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.

“Take no thought . . .” don't take the pressure of forethought upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is infidelity, because worrying means that we do not think that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never any thing else that worries us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the word He puts in? The devil? No, the cares of this world. It is the little worries always. I will not trust where I cannot see, that is where infidelity begins. The only cure for infidelity is obedience to the Spirit.

The great word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.

我一看见，就仆倒在他脚前，像死了一样。（启一17）

也许你像约翰一样，与主耶稣相知甚深。但当他突然以完全陌生的面貌出现，你只能仆倒他脚前像死去一样。有时神不能以别的办法显示他自己，就只好以他的威严显现。那异象中的威荣，叫你在绝望中心怀兴奋。那时，你要再起来，就必须捉着神的手了。

“他用右手按着我说。”在惊恐中，有人触摸你，你便晓得那是耶稣基督的右手。不是阻止、纠正或管教的右手，而是永在的父的右手。无论他的手什么时候放在你身上，总有难以形容的平安与安慰，因为知道有永远的膀臂在扶持，就得着供应、安慰与力量。神的抚摸一来，就再没有什么能叫你恐惧的了。主耶稣带着天上的荣耀，对一个微不足道的门徒说：“不要惧怕。”他的仁慈是那样的温柔，我对他有这样的认识吗？

留心那些令人绝望的事物。有一种绝望是没有喜乐、没有展望、没有曙光。可是只要我知道“在我里头，就是在我肉体之中，没有良善”，那时绝望中的喜乐就来了。在神荣耀的彰显之中，我必须谦恭俯伏。若要起来，神必亲手搀扶。除非我到了一切的尽头，否则神不能为我作什么。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，在属灵和各方面，愿你加倍地保守这圣灵的殿。赐给我们你所喜悦的光辉和明亮。

May 24 The Delight Of Despair

“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.” Revelation 1:17

It may be that like the apostle John you know Jesus Christ intimately, when suddenly He appears with no familiar characteristic at all, and the only thing you can do is to fall at His feet as dead. There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awfulness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair; if you are ever to be raised up, it must be by the hand of God.

“He laid His right hand upon me.” In the midst of the awfulness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. The right hand not of restraint nor of correction nor of chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it is ineffable peace and comfort, the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms,” full of sustaining and comfort and strength. When once His touch comes, nothing at all can cast you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, and to say – “Fear not.” His tenderness is ineffably sweet. Do I know Him like that?

Watch some of the things that strike despair. There is despair in which there is no delight, no horizon, no hope of anything brighter; but the delight of despair comes when I know that “in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.” I delight to know that there is that in me which must fall prostrate before God when He manifests Himself, and if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I get to the limit of the possible.

你向左，我就向右；你向右，我就向左。（创十三9）

你一开始过信靠神的生活，就会有许多满有吸引和有利的机会出现在你面前，而这些都是你理所应得的。可是你若凭信心生活，就会主动放弃这些权益，让神替你选择。神有时让你置身于试验之中，若你不是凭信而活，图谋切身的福利并不算错。但你既然信靠神，就当快快乐乐地放下自己的权利，让神替你去选择。这个操练，是藉着对神话语的顺服，使人天然的本质改造成属灵的样式。

人生若以权利来做指南，就会把属灵的生命窒息了。在信靠神的生活中，最大的敌人并不是罪，而是不及标准的善良。善良永远是至善的仇敌。亚伯拉罕易地而居，本是世间最明智之举，因他有主权。但他不作选择，以致周遭的人都视他为愚妄。我们许多人灵性不长进，是因为要自己选择自以为好的，不信靠神去替我们选择。我们要学习注目在神的标准上生活。“你当在我面前。”

祈祷◆主啊，你的道路就像你那般完美；而我的道路就像我自己那样不完全。感动我，让我今天能有效地认同你的感觉和你的道路。

May 25 The Test Of Self-Interest

“If thou will take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.” Genesis 13:9

As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and luxurious prospects will open up before you, and these things are yours by right; but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God choose for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the right and proper thing to consider if you were not living a life of faith; but if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and leave God to choose for you. This is the discipline by means of which the natural is transformed into the spiritual by obedience to the voice of God.

Whenever right is made the guidance in the life, it will blunt the spiritual insight. The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. It would seem the wisest thing in the world for Abraham to choose, it was his right, and the people around would consider him a fool for not choosing. Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is right instead of relying on God to choose for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eye on God. “Walk before Me.”

不住的祷告。（帖前五17）

我们对祷告的观念，会影响我们对祷告态度的正误。我们若视祷告如胸中的呼吸，如心中的血液，这就对了。血不停地流，呼吸也不间断；我们虽不自觉，它却一直在运行着。耶稣使我们与神联合，我们未必时常感觉得到。若我们顺服他，就知道他实在是时常如此。祷告不是一项活动，乃是生命。当心那些阻碍随时祷告的东西。“不住祷告”，保持赤子般的习惯，随时在心中向神祷告。

耶稣从未提及落空的祷告。他确实知道祷告必蒙应允。我们有没有靠着圣灵，有主耶稣对祷告那种不可言状的信心？还是觉得神有时不听人祷告？“祈求就得着。”我们说：“但……但……”。

神用最奇妙的办法应允祷告，不是有时听有时不听，乃是时时都听。不过祷告得应允，未必是照我们所要的。我们指望神答允祷告吗？我们的危险就是把耶稣所说的简化，使之符合人的常理；其实若只是常理，就不值得说出了。耶稣所讲的祷告，是超然的启示。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，有太多的事需要祈求，有太多的人需要拯救。我何等渴望地仰望你。

May 26 Think As Jesus Taught

“Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

We think rightly or wrongly about prayer according to the conception we have in our minds of prayer. If we think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood flows ceaselessly, and breathing continues ceaselessly; we are not conscious of it, but it is always going on. We are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect joint with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life. Beware of anything that stops ejaculatory prayer. “Pray without ceasing,” keep the childlike habit of ejaculatory prayer in your heart to God all the time.

Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer, He had the boundless certainty that prayer is always answered. Have we by the Spirit the unspeakable certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when God does not seem to have answered prayer? “Every one that asketh receiveth.” We say – “But . . . , but . . .” God answers prayer in the best way, not sometimes, but every time, although the immediate manifestation of the answer in the domain in which we want it may not always follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?

The danger with us is that we want to water down the things that Jesus says and make them mean something in accordance with common sense; if it were only common sense, it was not worth while for Him to say it. The things Jesus says about prayer are supernatural revelations.

你们要在城里等候，直到你们领受从上头来的能力。（路二十四49）

门徒要等候五旬节的来临，不单是为了准备自己，更是要等主得荣耀，成为一件历史事实。他得荣耀就怎样了？“他既被神的右手高举，又从父受了所应许的圣灵，就把你们所看见所听见的，浇灌下来”。约翰福音七章39节所作的注解－－“那时还没有赐下圣灵来，因为耶稣尚未得着荣耀。”并不适用在我们身上，因为圣灵已经赐下来了，主也得了荣耀。我们所等候的，不是神旨，而是自己有没有预备好。

五旬节前，圣灵的感动与能力已在作工，但他并不在那里。主一升天得荣耀，圣灵就降临世间，而且一直在这里了。我们必须领受这个启示，知道他在这里。接受圣灵，是信徒必须一直持守的。我们接受了圣灵，就从升天的主接受了生气蓬勃的生命。

叫人改变的并不是圣灵的洗，乃是升天的基督藉圣灵进入人生命中。我们往往把新约中不可分割的事分割开来。圣灵的洗不是一种在耶稣基督之外的经历，而是基督升了天的明证。

圣灵的洗不会叫你想到时间和永恒，却令你想到宝贵的现今。“认识你……这就是永生。”现在就开始认识他，直到永远。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，我感谢你的话语－－“不是倚靠势力，不是倚靠才能，乃是倚靠我的灵方能成事。”今天，我祈求你的灵给予我这种帮助，让我可以使你满意。

May 27 The Life That Lives

“Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49

The disciples had to tarry until the day of Pentecost not for their own preparation only; they had to wait until the Lord was glorified historically. As soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” The parenthesis in John 7:39 (“For the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified”) does not apply to us; the Holy Ghost has been given, the Lord is glorified; the waiting depends not on God's providence, but on our fitness.

The Holy Spirit's influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Immediately Our Lord was glorified in Ascension, the Holy Spirit came into this world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revelation that He is here. The reception of the Holy Spirit is the maintained attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive quickening life from the ascended Lord.

It is not the baptism of the Holy Ghost which changes men, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into men's lives by the Holy Ghost that changes them. We too often divorce what the New Testament never divorces. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ: it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost does not make you think of Time or Eternity, it is one amazing glorious NOW. “This is life eternal that they might know Thee.” Begin to know Him now, and finish never.

到那日，你们什么也就不问我了。（约十六23）

那日是指什么时候呢？就是当升天的主使你与父神合一之日。那日你与父合一，正如耶稣与父合一。耶稣说：“到那日你什么都不用问我了。”耶稣复活的生命尚未在你身上彰显时，你总要问这个问那个；然而过了不久，什么问题都没有了，因为再也没有什么要问的。你已经达到全心倚靠复活主的地步，神的旨意与你完全契合。你现今是过着这样的生活吗？若不是的话，为什么呢？

也许还有无数令你难以了解的事，可是这些并不能成为你与神之间的阻隔。“到那日，你们什么也就不问我了。”－－你不用问，因为你确实知道神必使他的旨意成就。约翰福音四十章1节成为你心灵的状况的话，便再没有什么要问的了。若有任何险奥难明的事介入你与神之间，切勿用自己的智慧求答案，要在性情中去找，因症结就在那里。当你肯降服主耶稣，理智就会清醒了。那时你就经历到父子之间无差距的关系，因为主使你与父合一了。“到那日，你什么也就不问我了。”

祈祷◆噢，主啊，我内心极之渴望得到一个标记，表明你注视我。愿你赐予我一个记号，让我知道我在你的计划中被你所使用。

May 28 Unquestioned Revelation

“And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing.” John 16:23

When is “that day”? When the Ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. In that day you will be one with the Father as Jesus is, and “in that day,” Jesus says, “ye shall ask Me nothing.” Until the resurrection life of Jesus is manifested in you, you want to ask this and that; then after a while you find all questions gone, you do not seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the place of entire reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus which brings you into perfect contact with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why shouldn't you?

There may be any number of things dark to your understanding, but they do not come in between your heart and God. “And in that day ye shall ask Me no question” – you do not need to, you are so certain that God will bring things out in accordance with His will. John 14:1 has become the real state of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and it is coming in between you and God, never look for the explanation in your intellect, look for it in your disposition, it is that which is wrong. When once your disposition is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, the understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will get to the place where there is no distance between the Father and His child because the Lord has made you one, and “in that day ye shall ask Me no question.”

到那日，你们要奉我的名祈求……父自己爱你们。（约十六26-27）

“到那日，你们要奉我的名祈求”，就是依神的本性祈求，并不是“用我的名作为符咒”，乃是“你既与我如此亲密，就必与我合而为一”了。“那日”不是将来的某一日，而是指此时此地。“父自己爱你们”－－那合一是如此的完整与绝对！主并非说，人生从此就没有逆境；而是他深知父神的心意，便藉着圣灵的洗，把我们提升到天上，在那里将神的旨意显明给我们。

“你们若向父求什么……”“那日”，是神与圣徒的关系不受拦阻的日子。耶稣如何站在父神面前，洁白无暇，我们也藉着圣灵的洗所产生的大能功效，同样被提升到那关系里去－－“使他们合而为一，像我们一样。”

“……他就必因我的名，赐给你们。”耶稣说，父神知道我们的祷告。何等大的挑战！因着耶稣复活升天的大能，并神所差下来的圣灵，我们得以进到与父神至高的旨意联合。在耶稣基督放我们在这高贵的地位上，我们得以奉他的名，以他的性情祷告；这性情也就是圣灵赐给我们的。

耶稣说：“你们奉我的名，无论向父求什么，他就赐给你们。”耶稣基督至尊的品德，是经得起他自己话语的考验的。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，今天是大施恩福的日子。为着你伟大的计划，我感谢你；噢，主啊，以你的能力和恩典来推行你的计划。

May 29 Undisturbed Relationship

“At that day ye shall ask in My name . . .” “The Father Himself loveth you.” John 16:26, 27

“At that day ye shall ask in My name,” i.e., in My nature. Not – “You shall use My name as a magic word,” but – “You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” “That day” is not a day hereafter, but a day meant for here and now. “The Father Himself loveth you” – the union is so complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that life will be free from external perplexities, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, so by the baptism of the Holy Ghost He can lift us into the heavenly places where He can reveal the counsels of God to us.

“Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name. . . .” “That day” is a day of undisturbed relationship between God and the saint. Just as Jesus stood unsullied in the presence of His Father, so by the mighty efficacy of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we can be lifted into that relationship – “that they may be one, even as We are One.”

“He will give it you.” Jesus says that God will recognize our prayers. What a challenge! By the Resurrection and Ascension power of Jesus, by the sent-down Holy Ghost, we can be lifted into such a relationship with the Father that we are at one with the perfect sovereign will of God by our free choice even as Jesus was. In that wonderful position, placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in His name, in His nature, which is gifted to us by the Holy Ghost, and Jesus says – “What soever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you.” – The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested by His own statements.

主，我要跟从你，但……（路九61）

假如神叫你做一件与常理大相径庭的事，你会怎样呢？退缩？在肉身上养成的习惯，须以坚定的决心去改变，否则就会一直做下去。在属灵上，也是如此。你屡次遵主的话起来，但到了某一关头，就会裹足不前，甚至毅然放弃。“好的，但－－假定我在这事上顺服神，……又怎样？”“好了，我心顺服神，只要他让我用自己的智慧，不踏足在黑暗中。”耶稣基督要求倚靠他的人，有天然的那种冒险精神。若有人要做一件有价值的事，他有时必须孤注一掷。属灵的领域里，主也要求你用理智所坚持的一切撇下，投入他的话语里去。你这样做，就会发现他所说的合符理智。在常理下，耶稣基督的话似乎是疯狂的；可是，在信心跟前，你就会惊讶地发现这正是神的话。要全心信靠神，当他领你去探险，要立刻接受。我们在危机之中，往往表现得像不信的人。所以千万人中也许只有一个，肯将信心寄放在神身上。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，靠着你的恩典，我的思想能够明白那么多，所说的话也能那么多－－求你使我的心灵和行为不单与思想踏着同一步伐，更能够超越它。

May 30 “Yes – But . . . !”

“Lord, I will follow Thee; but . . .” Luke 9:61

Supposing God tells you to do something which is an enormous test to your common sense, what are you going to do? Hang back? If you get into the habit of doing a thing in the physical domain, you will do it every time until you break the habit determinedly; and the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will get up to what Jesus Christ wants, and every time you will turn back when it comes to the point, until you abandon resolutely. “Yes, but – supposing I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?” “Yes, I will obey God if He will let me use my common sense, but don't ask me to take a step in the dark.” Jesus Christ demands of the man who trusts Him the same reckless sporting spirit that the natural man exhibits. If a man is going to do anything worth while, there are times when he has to risk everything on his leap, and in the spiritual domain Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense and leap into what He says, and immediately you do, you find that what He says fits on as solidly as common sense. At the bar of common sense Jesus Christ's statements may seem mad; but bring them to the bar of faith, and you begin to find with awestruck spirit that they are the words of God. Trust entirely in God, and when He brings you to the venture, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis, only one out of a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God.

以信靠神为首。“耶稣却不将自己交托他们，因为他知道万人。”（约二24-25）

我们的主不信赖人，可是他对任何人都从来不存疑心、不怀苦毒、不失盼望，因为他先依靠神。他完全信得过神为每一个人行事那颗恩慈的心。我若把信心先放在人身上，结果就会失望。我会变得苦毒，因为硬要人做到十全十美，而这却是没有人能达致的。所以，除了神的恩典之外，无论对自己、对人，都不可信赖。

以神的需要为首。“我来了为要照你的旨意行。”（来十9）

人的顺服，往往是看见某一种需要才有所摆上。但主的顺服，乃是遵行他父的旨意。今日的呼声是“要去工作。外邦人因没有神而走向死亡，我们要把耶稣传给他们。”可是在作工之先，我们必须先让神在我们身上得到满足。“你们在此等候，直到……”等候的目的，就是要我们好好的连接在神的需要上。当神对我们的需求达到了，他就会开路，使我们知道在别处的需要。

以神所托付的为首。“凡为我的名，接待一个像这小孩子的，就是接待我。”（太十八5）

神把自己当作一个婴孩托付了我，期望我的生命像“伯利恒”。我天然的生命有没有藉着神儿子内住的生命而变化更新？神终极的目的，是要在我这必死的身上，彰显他儿子的荣耀。

祈祷◆主啊，我知道你有丰盛的恩典，也一直满有平安；求你将恩典与平安赐给我。你最清楚知道，我们的属灵生命是如何倚赖着肉身所感受到的平安。

May 31 God First

Put God First in Trust. “Jesus did not commit Himself unto them . . . for He knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25

Our Lord trusted no man; yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, never in despair about any man, because He put God first in trust; He trusted absolutely in what God's grace could do for any man. If I put my trust in human beings first, I will end in despairing of everyone; I will become bitter, because I have insisted on man being what no man ever can be – absolutely right. Never trust anything but the grace of God in yourself or in anyone else.

Put God's Needs First. “Lo, I come to do Thy will, 0 God.” Hebrews 10:9

A man's obedience is to what he sees to be a need; Our Lord's obedience was to the will of His Father. The cry to-day is – “We must get some work to do; the heathen are dying without God; we must go and tell them of Him.” We have to see first of all that God's needs in us personally are being met. “Tarry ye until. . . .” The purpose of this College is to get us rightly related to the needs of God. When God's needs in us have been met, then He will open the way for us to realize His needs elsewhere.

Put God's Trust First. “And whoso receiveth one such little child in my name receiveth Me.” Matthew 18:5

God's trust is that He gives me Himself as a babe. God expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transfigured by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God's ultimate purpose is that His Son might be manifested in my mortal flesh.