“没有一个天堂有一个地狱的角落。”神一心要使你纯洁、正直、无暇，就一刻不容你离开圣灵的监察。他催逼你一知罪，便立刻接受审判。可是你不肯，于是后果就来了，你如今在监牢中，必须还清每一文钱，才可以出来。你会说：“这岂是慈悲仁爱的神吗？”从神那方面看来，这正是他荣耀的爱。神要叫你出来时圣洁无暇；同时他要你看透自己的本性－－就是要抓紧权利。一旦你肯让神改变你，他再造的大能就产生功效。一旦你明白神的用心，是要你与他有正确的关系，也与其他人有正确的关系，神就会用尽宇宙一切的权能，助你走上正途。
请你现在立志－－“我肯，主啊，今晚我必定写那封信”；“我现在就与那人和好”。
耶稣基督这信息是对你的意志与良心而讲的，而不是对你的理智而发出。你若拿登山宝训去强辩，就会把心中的呼召声冲淡了。
“我不明白为什么与神没有进展？”你有没有偿还神心目中的债？你一直拖延的事，现在就做吧。每一个道德呼声背后，都有一个“应该”。
祈祷◆噢，主啊，但愿我能看见你的面容，认识你的能力和那使人兴奋的恩典。愿你靠近我这个已完全复原的生命，并且求你宽恕我忽略了你如何使我复原。
July 1 The Inevitable Penalty
“Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the uttermost farthing.” Matthew 5:26
There is no heaven with a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure and holy and right; He will not allow you to escape for one moment from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit. He urged you to come to judgment right away when He convicted you, but you did not; the inevitable process began to work and now you are in prison, and you will only get out when you have paid the uttermost farthing. “Is this a God of mercy, and of love?” you say. Seen from God's side, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure and spotless and undefiled; but He wants you to recognize the disposition you were showing – the disposition of your right to yourself. The moment you are willing that God should alter your disposition, His recreating forces will begin to work. The moment you realize God's purpose, which is to get you rightly related to Himself and then to your fellow men, He will tax the last limit of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide it now – “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter to-night”; “I will be reconciled to that man now.”
These messages of Jesus Christ are for the will and the conscience, not for the head. If you dispute the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will blunt the appeal to your heart.
人到我这里来，若不爱我胜过……就不能作我的门徒。（路十四26、27、33）
耶稣基督说人生中最亲密的关系，若与他的要求相冲突的话，就必须立刻选择顺服他。作门徒的意思，就是把自己诚意地奉献给一位——我们的主耶稣基督。对一个有位格的主奉献，与对一个原则或运动献身，并不相同。我们的主从没有宣告一项运动，他宣告的乃是叫人对他个别的献身。作门徒就是做主忠诚的爱奴。我们这些自称基督徒的人，许多根本就不专心爱主。除非圣灵把爱浇灌给人，否则世上没有一个人懂得热诚爱主。我们也许会仰慕他、尊敬他，但却不会爱他。唯一爱耶稣的就是圣灵，是他把神的爱倾泻入我们心中。圣灵一见有荣耀耶穌耶稣的机会，就会占有你的心、你整个的人，使你在主耶稣的热爱中燃烧发光。
基督徒的生命，都盖上了“自然的道德创造力”的印记，所以门徒像主耶稣一样被人指责为：矛盾不一。其实，主耶稣时刻对神都是如一。信徒也该对神的儿子始终如一，而不是在死硬的教条上持守。人把自己倾进教条里去，神却要把人的偏见炸毁，叫他们懂得专心爱他。
祈祷◆我何等需要看见你那威严、大能和荣耀的作为！我们所有人都只需要你的触摸，使一切事物都变成崭新而奇妙，并且抗衡任何不属于你的影响和标准。愿你的同在使我们得以洁净和满有能力。
July 2 The Conditions Of Discipleship
“If any man come to Me, and hate not . . . he cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:26, also 27, 33
If the closest relationships of life clash with the claims of Jesus Christ, He says it must be instant obedience to Himself. Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person, Our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a difference between devotion to a Person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause; He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself. To be a disciple is to be a devoted love-slave of the Lord Jesus. Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not devoted to Jesus Christ. No man on earth has this passionate love to the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Ghost has imparted it to him. We may admire Him, we may respect Him and reverence Him, but we cannot love Him. The only Lover of the Lord Jesus is the Holy Ghost, and He sheds abroad the very love of God in our hearts. Whenever the Holy Ghost sees a chance of glorifying Jesus, He will take your heart, your nerves, your whole personality, and simply make you blaze and glow with devotion to Jesus Christ.
The Christian life is stamped by 'moral spontaneous originality', consequently the disciple is open to the same charge that Jesus Christ was, viz., that of inconsistency. But Jesus Christ was always consistent to God, and the Christian must be consistent to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to hard and fast creeds. Men pour them selves into creeds, and God has to blast them out of their prejudices before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.
祸哉，我灭亡了。因为我是嘴唇不洁的人。（赛六5）
我来到神面前，自觉是个罪人。那意识不会是模棱两可的，我必然是意识到我生命的某一方面有罪。人可以很容易地说：“是的，我是个罪人。”但当他一旦来到神面前，就不能凭这句话轻轻逃过去。那知罪的意念会集中在——“我这个不是，那个不对。”人来到神面前总有这个标记。罪的意识不会模糊不清，一定是集中在个人的某一些事上。神起初总是藉圣灵指控我们心中的某一件事，我们若在这件事上承认自己有罪，他便把我们引进下面最大的罪根性区。我们若是在神面前，他总是这样对付我们。
这个把罪恶集中的经历，不论在最伟大的圣徒或最渺小的罪人身上，都毫无分别。在这经历第一级阶梯上的人会说：“我不知过错何在，但神的灵必会指出我在哪一件事上犯了错。”以赛亚看见圣洁的神，他就察觉自己是嘴唇不洁的人。“将炭沾我的口说，看哪，这炭沾了你的嘴，你的罪孽便除掉，你的罪恶就赦免了。”洁净的火必要施于罪恶集中之处。
祈祷◆主啊，愿你的纯洁渗透我们的思想、身体和感情；让我们完全认知和迅速彰显你那活泼而使人充满生气的作为。愿你那丰富的能力，进入我们的生活中。
July 3 The Concentration Of Personal Sin
“Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips.” Isaiah 6:5
When I get into the presence of God, I do not realize that I am a sinner in an indefinite sense; I realize the concentration of sin in a particular feature of my life. A man will say easily – ‘Oh, yes, I know I am a sinner’; but when he gets into the presence of God he cannot get off with that statement. The conviction is concentrated on – I am this, or that, or the other. This is always the sign that a man or woman is in the presence of God. There is never any vague sense of sin, but the concentration of sin in some personal particular. God begins by convicting us of the one thing fixed on in the mind that is prompted by His Spirit; if we will yield to His conviction on that point, He will lead us down to the great disposition of sin underneath. That is the way God always deals with us when we are consciously in His presence.
This experience of the concentration of sin is true in the greatest and the least of saints as well as in the greatest and the least of sinners. When a man is on the first rung of the ladder of experience, he may say – I do not know where I have gone wrong; but the Spirit of God will point out some particular definite thing. The effect of the vision of the holiness of the Lord on Isaiah was to bring home to him that he was a man of unclean lips. “And he laid it upon my mouth, and said Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” The cleansing fire had to be applied where the sin had been concentrated.
不要心怀不平，以致作恶。（诗三十七8）
心怀不平就是思想上或灵性上的反抗状态。口头上说不要心怀不平，与内心真的没有不平是两回事。说“安息在主里”、“忍耐等候主”多么容易，但风浪一至，生活落在困逼苦恼中，真能安息在主里吗？若这个“不要”在此行不通，在其他方面就更无功效。这“不要”不但要在平安无事的日子行得通，也必须在烦恼的日子行得通，否则，这就完全没有意义。再者，若在你身上行不通，就别希冀在别人身上行得通了。安心靠主是完全不仗赖外在的环境，只在乎你与神的关系。
不安结果总变成罪。我们以为一点点的焦虑忧心是表示自己的聪明，其实这正显示我们的劣根性。不安不平是从偏行己路而来的。我们的主从不焦虑，从不忧心，因为他来到世上并非为了自己，乃是要实现神的旨意。你若是神的儿女，心怀不平是坏透了的。
你是否认为当前的处境连神也难倒了？这个思想是否支撑着你愚顽的心？把所有“假如”放在一旁，住在全能者的荫下。郑重的对神说你不再为那事心怀不平。一切的不平与挂虑，其实是离开神而自作打算。
祈祷◆主啊，我自觉深切地渴慕你和你的生命，我从诗篇九十一篇中找到保证——“他必救你”。主啊，我对它深信不疑，并且，为着你保护看顾我，我感谢你。
One Of God's Great Don'ts
“Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil doing.” Psalm 37:8 (R.V.)
Fretting means getting out at elbows mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say “Fret not,” but a very different thing to have such a disposition that you find yourself able not to fret. It sounds so easy to talk about “resting in the Lord” and “waiting patiently for Him” until the nest is upset – until we live, as so many are doing, in tumult and anguish, is it possible then to rest in the Lord? If this “don't” does not work there, it will work nowhere. This “don't” must work in days of perplexity as well as in days of peace, or it never will work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work in anyone else's case. Resting in the Lord does not depend on external circumstances at all, but on your relationship to God Himself.
Fussing always ends in sin. We imagine that a little anxiety and worry are an indication of how really wise we are; it is much more an indication of how really wicked we are. Fretting springs from a determination to get our own way. Our Lord never worried and He was never anxious, because He was not “out” to realize His own ideas; He was “out” to realize God's ideas. Fretting is wicked if you are a child of God.
Have you been bolstering up that stupid soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God? Put all “supposing” on one side and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about that thing. All our fret and worry is caused by calculating without God.
当将你的事交托耶和华，并倚靠他，他就必成全。（诗三十七5）
别在神以外筹算，我们很多时候为事情筹算，却没有把神放在里面；在这情况下，神往往用他奇妙的方法破坏我们的计划。我们闯进不是神所安排的环境里去，才猛然发觉自己在神以外行事，没有让神成为生活的主导。若要除去忧虑，唯一的办法是把神带到我们一切的筹算里，让他成为最大的动因。
在宗教上，我们晓得该把神放在首位，但在实际的日常生活里，却无法把他放在第一位。若我们必须披上星期日的精神状态才来亲近神，那么我们就永不会亲近神。我们必须按自己的本相来到神面前。
不要计算恶事，神真要我们不计算恶事吗？“爱……不计算人的恶。”爱并非不知恶的存在，而是不把恶计算。离开了神，我们便会计算恶；我们会从恶的立场去筹算、去推断。
别为未来的困境筹算，你若信靠主耶穌，就不会为未来筹谋。耶穌说：“你们心里不要忧愁。”神不会叫你的心没有忧愁，而是“不要……”，那是一项命令。因此一日之中，尽管是一百零一次，总要逼自己遵行，直至养成习惯，事事把神放在首位，一切的筹算有他在内。
祈祷◆“你们奉我的名无论求什么，我必成就。”噢，主啊，那是多么的奥妙，又是多么的简单——我祈求，同时相信你会藉着我的祷告，创造一些前所未有的东西，来答允我的祈求。
July 5 Don't Calculate Without God
“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:5
Don't calculate without God.
God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the things we have calculated on without taking Him into account. We get into circumstances which were not chosen by God, and suddenly we find we have been calculating without God; He has not entered in as a living factor. The one thing that keeps us from the possibility of worrying is bringing God in as the greatest factor in all our calculations.
In our religion it is customary to put God first, but we are apt to think it is an impertinence to put Him first in the practical issues of our lives. If we imagine we have to put on our Sunday moods before we come near to God, we will never come near Him. We must come as we are.
Don't calculate with the evil in view.
Does God really mean us to take no account of the evil? “Love . . . taketh no account of the evil.” Love is not ignorant of the existence of the evil, but it does not take it in as a calculating factor. Apart from God, we do reckon with evil; we calculate with it in view and work all our reasonings from that standpoint.
Don't calculate with the rainy day in view.
You cannot lay up for a rainy day if you are trusting Jesus Christ. Jesus said – “Let not your heart be troubled.” God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command – “Let not . . .” Haul yourself up a hundred and one times a day in order to do it, until you get into the habit of putting God first and calculating with Him in view.
发光的沙，要变为水池。（赛三十五7）
在一件事实现以前，我们往往有异象。当我们发现异象虽然真确，但在我们身上却未实现时，撒旦的试探就来了。我们很容易放弃，认为继续也无济于事。异象未能实现，并且来到自卑的山谷中。
“生命不是无人开采的矿藏，乃是地心暗处掘出来的铁块，经千锤百炼，为要模造成合用的器皿。”
神给我们异象，然后带我们到山谷去锤炼，捏成该异象的形状。不少人就是在山谷中仆倒放弃。只要忍耐，每一个异象都要实现。想想神无穷的闲暇！他从不匆忙，而我们却总是忙得喘不过气来。在异象的荣光中，我们一鼓作气去作工，可是，那异象还未在我们里面成为真实。所以，神必须带我们到山谷中，经过水火的模造，直至神可以叫异象确切地在我们身上实现。自从我们有了这异象，神就一直作工，要使我们成为理想的模样，只是我们一次又一次地从他手中逃脱，想模造成自己的形象。
异象不是空中楼阁，乃是神对你的心意。让他把你放在旋盘中，照他意思去转动陶造。这样，神是神，你是你，你就必然变成与异象一模一样的形状。在这过程中，不要灰心。只要真见过神的异象，无论你怎样设法满足于次一等的状况，神也不会放过你。
祈祷◆主啊，愿我们全然交在你的手中，帮助我们能够选择你的带领，“就是我们的神以我们配得所受的呼召”。
July 6 Vision And Reality
“And the parched ground shall become a pool.” Isaiah 35:7
We always have visions, before a thing is made real. When we realize that although the vision is real, it is not real in us, then is the time that Satan comes in with his temptations, and we are apt to say it is no use to go on. Instead of the vision becoming real, there has come the valley of humiliation.
“Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And batter'd by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.”
God gives us the vision, then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. Every vision will be made real if we will have patience. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. We are always in such a frantic hurry. In the light of the glory of the vision we go forth to do things, but the vision is not real in us yet; and God has to take us into the valley, and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the place where He can trust us with the veritable reality. Ever since we had the vision God has been at work, getting us into the shape of the ideal, and over and over again we escape from His hand and try to batter ourselves into our own shape.
The vision is not a castle in the air, but a vision of what God wants you to be. Let Him put you on His wheel and whirl you as He likes, and as sure as God is God and you are you, you will turn out exactly in accordance with the vision. Don't lose heart in the process. If you have ever had the vision of God, you may try as you like to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never let you.
“你们要进窄门。因为……引到永生，那门是窄的，路是小的，找着的人也少。”马太福音7：13－14
如果我们准备像耶稣的门徒那样去生活，我们就要记住所有崇高的事情都是艰难的事。基督徒的生活是极为艰难的，但是这艰难不是让我们软弱投降，而是要激起我们去战胜困难。我们是否深深感激耶稣基督那无比的救恩而竭尽全力为他而活呢？
神因着他至高无上的恩典，藉着耶稣的挽回祭拯救人；我们立志行事都是他在我们里面运行，为要讨他的喜悦；但我们必须在实际的生活里把这救恩行出来。一旦我们开始站在他救赎的根基上去遵行他的命令，我们会发现我们是可以做到的。如果我们失败了，这是因为我们还不够老练。危机会揭露出我们是否一直在实践他的命令。如果我们顺服神的灵，并在我们肉身里实行神藉着他的灵放在我们里面的命令，当危机来的时候，我们就会发现我们的本性和神的恩典都会支援我们过去。
感谢神给了我们困难的事情去做！他的拯救是令人高兴的，但同时也是伟大的、圣洁的。它测试我们是否配得。耶稣要把许多“儿子”带进荣耀里，神不会让我们逃避作为“儿子”的要求。神的恩典使人转变成为耶稣基督的样式，而不是成为一个懦夫。在实际的生活中活出耶稣门徒的生命需要许许多多的操练。成为高尚是需要付出努力的。
July 7 All Noble Things Are Difficult
“Enter ye in at the strait gate . . because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way. . .” Matthew 7:13-14
If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it rouses us up to overcome. Do we so appreciate the marvellous salvation of Jesus Christ that we are our utmost for His highest?
God saves men by His sovereign grace through the Atonement of Jesus; He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure; but we have to work out that salvation in practical living. If once we start on the basis of His Redemption to do what He commands, we find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not practised. The crisis will reveal whether we have been practising or not. If we obey the Spirit of God and practise in our physical life what God has put in us by His Spirit, then when the crisis comes, we shall find that our own nature as well as the grace of God will stand by us.
Thank God He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a glad thing, but it is also a heroic, holy thing. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is bringing many “sons” unto glory, and God will not shield us from the requirements of a son. God's grace turns out men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not milk sops. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the noble life of a disciple of Jesus in actual things. It is always necessary to make an effort to be noble.
“……今日就可以选择所要事奉的。” 约书亚记24：15
意志是全人的活动。我不能放弃我的意志，我必须要训练我的意志。我必须要立志顺服，立志接受上帝的灵。当上帝给了我们真理的异像时，他要做什么不是一个问题，问题是我们要做什么。主已经把一些大的任务摆在我们面前，最好要做的事是回想从前被上帝感动的时候你做了什么？就是在你得救的时候，或者第一次看到耶穌，或者认识到一些真理。那时候对上帝顺服忠心是容易的。当上帝的灵把一些新的任务带到你面前时，现在就回想从前的那些时候吧。
“今日就可以选择所要事奉的。”这是经过深思熟虑的计算，不是你可以容易进入的事情；其他一切都被暂时搁置，直到你做出决定。这任务是在你与上帝之间的，不要和属血气的商量这事。对于每一个新的任务，其他人会越来越远离它，这正是压力来的地方。上帝允许他的圣徒的意见影响到你，但你被带领到越来越远，别人无法确实理解你所走的路。你不用去发现上帝把你带到哪里，上帝唯一要向你解释的事就是他自己。
向他宣告：“我要忠心。”一旦你选择了向耶穌基督忠心，你就不再是你自己的见证。不要咨询别的基督徒，只要在他面前宣告——我要服侍你。立志忠心——并且也为别人的忠心而赞许他们。
July 8 The Will To Loyalty
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” Joshua 24:15
Will is the whole man active. I cannot give up my will, I must exercise it. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God's Spirit. When God gives a vision of truth it is never a question of what He will do, but of what we will do. The Lord has been putting before us all some big propositions, and the best thing to do is to remember what you did when you were touched by God before – the time when you were saved, or first saw Jesus, or realized some truth. It was easy then to yield allegiance to God; recall those moments now as the Spirit of God brings before you some new proposition.
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” It is a deliberate calculation, not something into which you drift easily; and everything else is in abeyance until you decide. The proposition is between you and God; do not confer with flesh and blood about it. With every new proposition other people get more and more “out of it,” that is where the strain comes. God allows the opinion of His saints to matter to you, and yet you are brought more and more out of the certainty that others understand the step you are taking. You have no business to find out where God is leading, the only thing God will explain to you is Himself.
Profess to Him – ‘I will be loyal.’ Immediately you choose to be loyal to Jesus Christ, you are a witness against yourself. Don't consult other Christians, but profess before Him – I will serve Thee. Will to be loyal – and give other people credit for being loyal too.
你们不能事奉耶和华。（书二十四19）
除了神以外，你对别的东西有没有丝毫的靠赖？对天然的德行，对环境等因素，是否仍有残余的倚恃？在这项新旨意中，你还有哪方面是靠赖自己的？这就是彻底清查的意思。是的，你可以说：“我无法过圣洁的生活。”这是真的；但你可以决志让耶稣基督使你圣洁。“你们不能事奉耶和华。”但你可以让神的大能透过你作工。你与神的关系是否美好和谐，以致他能在你身上彰显他奇妙的生命？
“我们定要事奉耶和华。”这不是一时的冲动，而是一个立定心意的交付。你会说：“神绝不会呼召我作这个，我太不配了，这不会是指着我说的。”实在是你，你愈软弱无能，便愈合适。一个仍有所倚恃的人不会说：“我定要事奉耶和华。”
我们常说：“若我真能信多好！”但问题却是“若我真肯信多好”。难怪耶稣基督这样强调不信的罪。若真相信神所言属实，我们会变成怎么样的人呢？我是否真正肯让神在我身上成为一位说什么就成就什么的神？
祈祷◆主啊，你的面容、你的感动、你的赐福，是我今天所寻求的。感动我，主啊，直至我的每一部分，都被你满有恩慈而带有能力的平安所震撼和振奋。
July 9 The Great Probing
“Ye cannot serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:19
Have you the slightest reliance on anything other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural virtue, any set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any particular in this new proposition which God has put before you? That is what the probing means. It is quite true to say – “I cannot live a holy life,” but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. “Ye cannot serve the Lord God”; but you can put yourself in the place where God's almighty power will come through you. Are you sufficiently right with God to expect Him to manifest His wonderful life in you?
“Nay, but we will serve the Lord.” It is not an impulse, but a deliberate commitment. You say – But God can never have called me to this, I am too unworthy, it can't mean me. It does mean you, and the weaker and feebler you are, the better. The one who has something to trust in is the last one to come anywhere near saying – “I will serve the Lord.”
We say – “If I really could believe!” The point is – If I really will believe. No wonder Jesus Christ lays such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. “And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” If we really believed that God meant what He said – what should we be like! Dare I really let God be to me all that He says He will be?
又要彼此相顾，激发爱心，勉励行善。你们不可停止聚会。（来十24-25）
我们都有属灵的惰性，就是不想面对生命的颠簸与艰难，只望安之乐之过退休的生活。希伯来书第十章的要点是我们彼此激励，齐集聚会——二者都需要积极自发。这是实现基督的自发，而非实现自我的自发。若离群独处，过着退隐的生活，这与主耶穌的属灵教导根本相违。
当我们遇见不义、诡诈、忘恩、扰乱时，灵性便受到考验。这些事很容易使我们陷入属灵的怠惰中。我们以读经祷告作为退隐的工具，利用神来取得平安喜乐。换言之，我们并不是要活出基督，而只想去享受他，这就是方向错误的第一步。其实这一切只是果效，我们却把它们变作目标。
彼得说：“我自以为应当……提醒你们，激发你们。”神用充满属灵活力的使者击打我们，是最不好受的。活跃的工作与属灵活力是两回事，但前者可以假冒后者。属灵惰性的危机在于不想被激发，只想过属灵退隐的生活。主耶穌从不鼓励退隐的思想，他说：“去告诉我的弟兄……”
祈祷◆噢，主啊，愿你的恩福今天在此地临到我们：使我们脱离怠惰和灵性上的懒散，让你所保证的全然成就。
July 10 The Spiritual Sluggard
“Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” Hebrews 10:24-25
We are all capable of being spiritual sluggards; we do not want to mix with the rough and tumble of life as it is, our one object is to secure retirement. The note struck in Hebrews 10 is that of provoking one another and of keeping together – both of which require initiative, the initiative of Christ-realization, not of self-realization. To live a remote, retired, secluded life is the antipodes of spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.
The test of our spirituality comes when we come up against injustice and meanness and ingratitude and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritual sluggards. We want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of retirement. We utilize God for the sake of getting peace and joy, that is, we do not want to realize Jesus Christ, but only our enjoyment of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things are effects and we try to make them causes.
“I think it meet,” said Peter, “. . . to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.” It is a most disturbing thing to be smitten in the ribs by some provoker of God, by someone who is full of spiritual activity. Active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work may be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The danger of spiritual sluggishness is that we do not wish to be stirred up, all we want to hear about is spiritual retirement. Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement – “Go tell My brethren . .”
“使人认识基督。”（腓三10）
圣徒的积极性并非朝着自我实现的方向，而是朝着认识基督进发。属灵的信徒绝不相信际遇出于偶然，也不会认为他的人生又属世又属神，他会视一切环境和际遇，领他更认识基督；也会不顾一切的弃绝。圣灵定意要使我们生命的每一方面都彰显基督。他曾一次又一次地把我们带到同一点，直至我们在那一点上彰显基督。自我实现叫人高举工作；圣徒却在工作上高举基督。或吃或喝或洗门徒的脚，不论是作什么，总要积极地在其中彰显基督。我们生命的每一阶段，都可在主耶稣的生命中找出互相对照之处。主就是在最低贱的工作上，也彰显与父神的关系。“耶稣知道自己是从神出来，又要归到神那里去，就……拿一条毛巾……洗门徒的脚。”
属灵圣徒的目标是要“认识基督”。我在今天的环境中认识基督吗？若不，就是叫他失望了。我不是要自我实现，乃是要认识基督。在属灵的工作中，原动力往往出于看见事工的需要，于是就去做。属灵的信徒却永不抱这种态度，他的目标是要在一切所处的环境中活出基督。
祈祷◆噢，主啊，凭着我单纯信靠那居住在我里面、又使我与你的属灵连结起来的圣灵，我仰望你；帮助我完全属你。
July 11 The Spiritual Saint
“That I may know Him.” Philippians 3:10
The initiative of the saint is not towards self-realization, but towards knowing Jesus Christ. The spiritual saint never believes circumstances to be haphazard, or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he sees everything he is dumped down in as the means of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is a reckless abandonment about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we shall realize Jesus Christ in every domain of life, and He will bring us back to the same point again and again until we do. Self-realization leads to the enthronement of work; whereas the saint enthrones Jesus Christ in his work. Whether it be eating or drinking or washing disciples feet, whatever it is, we have to take the initiative of realizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our actual life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial work. “Jesus knowing . . . that He was come from God, and went to God . . . took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples' feet.”
The aim of the spiritual saint is “that I may know Him.” Do I know Him where I am to-day? If not, I am failing Him. I am here not to realize myself, but to know Jesus. In Christian work the initiative is too often the realization that something has to be done and I must do it. That is never the attitude of the spiritual saint, his aim is to secure the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances he is in.
直等到我们众人……长大成人，满有基督长成的身量。（弗四13）
整个人类要重新恢复与神的关系，这正是主耶稣的救赎所成就的。教会什么时候只顾发展本身的组织，就不再是一个属灵的团体了。主耶稣使人类恢复原位的计划，是要人不单个别地，也要在整体上彰显基督。主耶稣差遣使徒和教师，就是为此目的——叫神在教会整体中彰显。我们不是为发展自己属灵的生命，也不是为享受属灵的安静；我们乃是要活出基督，好叫基督的身体得以建立。我是在建立基督的身体吗？还是只求个人的发展？最重要的是我个人与耶稣的关系——“使我认识基督”。要完成神的计划就要完全把自己交付他。每当我要为自己求什么，与神的关系就有所偏差。我们若发现自己并不在乎彰显基督，而只追求彰显他为我所做的事，会为此感动极大羞愧。“我的目标是神自己，而不是喜乐，不是平安，也不是祝福。单是神自己，我的神。”我是否以此衡量自己的生命？还是以次一等的标准来衡量？
祈祷◆噢，主啊，我赞美你。因为当我想到你那奥妙的身体中的肢体，脑海中浮现那伟大的思想。我何等渴望迅速地更多认识到它的奥秘。
July 12 The Spiritual Society
“Till we all come . . unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13
Rehabilitation means the putting back of the whole human race into the relationship God designed it to be in, and this is what Jesus Christ did in Redemption. The Church ceases to be a spiritual society when it is on the look-out for the development of its own organization. The rehabilitation of the human race on Jesus Christ's plan means the realization of Jesus Christ in corporate life as well as in individual life. Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this purpose – that the corporate Personality might be realized. We are not here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy spiritual retirement; we are here so to realize Jesus Christ that the Body of Christ may be built up.
Am I building up the Body of Christ, or am I looking for my own personal development only? The essential thing is my personal relationship to Jesus Christ – “That I may know Him.” To fulfil God's design means entire abandonment to Him. Whenever I want things for myself, the relationship is distorted. It will be a big humiliation to realize that I have not been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ, but only about realizing what He has done for me.
“My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace,
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.”
Am I measuring my life by this standard or by anything less?
当乌西雅王崩的那年，我见主坐在高高的宝座上。（赛六1）
我们心灵与神的历程，往往是英雄人物式逝去的历程。神一次又一次地把我们的朋友挪开，使他自己可以代替他们的地位，我们却因此失败灰心。就个人经验来说：那年那个替代了神位置的人死了——我是否万念俱灰？病了？颓丧灰心？还是看见了主？
我对神的异象，有赖于我品性的状况。品性决定启示。我若要说“我看见了主”，就必先在品性上有了与神相呼应的成分。在我重生得见神的国以前，所看见的都随我的偏见而定；我需要接受手术，切除外在的事物，也需要内里的洁净。第一是神，第二、第三也是神，直到生命单单面对神，其他人都无关重要。“世上除你还有谁？我的神，只有你。”不断付代价，让神知道你甘愿达成异象。
祈祷◆主啊，我感谢你，因为我发现自己在盼望你再来时深感热切的喜乐！噢，由此我可以在你眼前蒙恩，并且，要让自己的行事为人，与你的伟大救恩更为相称！
July 13 The Price Of Vision
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord.” Isaiah 6:1
Our soul's history with God is frequently the history of the “passing of the hero.” Over and over again God has to remove our friends in order to bring Himself in their place, and that is where we faint and fail and get discouraged. Take it personally: In the year that the one who stood to me for all that God was, died – I gave up everything? I became ill? I got disheartened? or – I saw the Lord?
My vision of God depends upon the state of my character. Character determines revelation. Before I can say “I saw also the Lord,” there must be something corresponding to God in my character. Until I am born again and begin to see the Kingdom of God, I see along the line of my prejudices only; I need the surgical operation of external events and an internal purification.
It must be God first, God second, and God third, until the life is faced steadily with God and no one else is of any account whatever. “In all the world there is none but thee, my God, there is none but thee.” Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision.
只是我告诉你们，不要与恶人作对。有人打你的右脸，连左脸也转过来由他打。（太五39）
这经文说出作基督徒的谦卑。依常情来说，不还手是懦夫；但在属灵上，不还手表明有神的儿子在他里头。你被侮辱时，不但不要动怒，更要藉这机会表彰神的儿子。你无法模仿耶稣的性情，有就有，没有就没有。对一个圣徒来说，个人受辱是表彰主耶稣美妙的机会，这真令人难以置信。
登山宝训不是——做你当做的，而是——做非你分内的。你本不必走第二里路，不必转左脸，但耶稣说若我们是他的门徒，就必须这样行。我们不该存这样的心：“唉，我受这样的冤屈误会，再也无能为力了。”每次我坚持自己的权益，就伤害了神的儿子；我若接受那一击，就叫耶稣免受伤害。这正是补满基督患难缺欠的意思。主的门徒只知道主的荣耀，而非他自己的声誉，这是系于一生的目标。切勿从他人身上要求正义，自己也不可不去行义。我们往往寻找公义；但登山宝训却说不要找公义，要时常施行公义。
祈祷◆主啊，当我想起你的一切美善、奇妙和恩典，赞美和忧虑的心便在我里面此起彼落。噢，主啊，我所祈求的是：你在我里面最想寻见的一切，正是我必须在现实生活中实践出来的东西。
July 14 The Account With Persecution
“But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Matthew 5:39, etc
These verses reveal the humiliation of being a Christian. Naturally, if a man does not hit back, it is because he is a coward; but spiritually if a man does not hit back, it is a manifestation of the Son of God in him. When you are insulted, you must not only not resent it, but make it an occasion to exhibit the Son of God. You cannot imitate the disposition of Jesus; it is either there or it is not. To the saint personal insult becomes the occasion of revealing the incredible sweetness of the Lord Jesus.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not – Do your duty, but – Do what is not your duty. It is not your duty to go the second mile, to turn the other cheek, but Jesus says if we are His disciples we shall always do these things. There will be no spirit of – “Oh, well, I cannot do any more, I have been so misrepresented and misunderstood.” Every time I insist upon my rights, I hurt the Son of God; whereas I can prevent Jesus from being hurt if I take the blow myself. That is the meaning of filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ. The disciple realizes that it is his Lord's honour that is at stake in his life, not his own honour.
Never look for right in the other man, but never cease to be right yourself. We are always looking for justice; the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is – Never look for justice, but never cease to give it.
无论是希腊人，化外人……我都欠他们的债。（罗一14）
保罗深觉自己欠了耶稣基督的债，他被这个感觉完全淹没，以致要把自己耗尽来偿还。保罗的生命给每一个尚未蒙拯救的人，有没有一种欠了基督的感觉？作为一个圣徒，我生命的属灵尊荣在于偿还我欠基督的债。我生命中每一点一滴有价值之处，全因主耶稣的救赎大工；我有没有作任何事，使他的大工在别人身上得以实际彰显？只有当圣灵在我里面，使我有这欠债的感觉时，我才能作这工。我在人类中并非超凡的人，乃是主耶稣的奴仆。“你们不是自己的人。”保罗把自己卖了给耶稣基督。他说：“我因着耶稣的福音，欠了全世界人的债；我唯一的自由，就是做一个十足的奴仆。”人一旦体验了这份属灵的尊荣，生命就有这个特质。不要再为自己祈祷，而要作耶稣基督的奴仆，为别人把自己燃烧。作擘开的饼、倒出来的酒，实际上就是这个意思。
祈祷◆主啊，愿你再次感动我的灵、魂、体。倘若我的饮食妨碍了你在我里面的工作，或阻碍了你透过我所行的事，请向我显示，并保守我属于你，以致无论我或吃或喝，或做任何的事情，都可以荣耀你。
July 15 The Point Of Spiritual Honour
“I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians.” Romans 1:14
Paul was overwhelmed with the sense of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ, and he spent himself to express it. The great inspiration in Paul's life was his view of Jesus Christ as his spiritual creditor. Do I feel that sense of indebtedness to Christ in regard to every unsaved soul? The spiritual honour of my life as a saint is to fulfil my debt to Christ in relation to them. Every bit of my life that is of value I owe to the Redemption of Jesus Christ; am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His Redemption into actual manifestation in other lives? I can only do it as the Spirit of God works in me this sense of indebtedness.
I am not to be a superior person amongst men, but a bondslave of the Lord Jesus. “Ye are not your own.” Paul sold himself to Jesus Christ. He says – I am a debtor to everyone on the face of the earth because of the Gospel of Jesus; I am free to be an absolute slave only. That is the characteristic of the life when once this point of spiritual honour is realized. Quit praying about yourself and be spent for others as the bondslave of Jesus. That is the meaning of being made broken bread and poured out wine in reality.
何况你们在天上的父，岂不更把好东西给求他的人吗？（太七11）
耶稣为那些有他的灵在心中的人，设下一些行为的法则。他藉这几句简单的辩论，要我们满心相信神是控制一切事情的。意思就是：门徒必须完全信靠，同时渴切寻找祈求。
你的心思要牢扣神在这里的意念，这样，困难一旦临到，你就像呼吸一样，记得：“嗨，我的父完全知道！”你不必费力，这个意念是在困惑压逼之中自然出来的。以往你会去找这个人那个人帮忙，如今你既对神至高的掌管如此坚信，你就去找神。耶稣在此为有他灵的人奠下行为的法则，原则就是——神是我的父，他爱我，没有忘记我的每一件事，那么我何必忧虑呢？
耶稣说神有时候不把黑幕挪开，你仍要信靠他。神似乎像个狠心的朋友，他其实不是。他似乎像个不合理的父亲，他实在不是。他似乎像不公正的审判官，他绝非如此。要记住，神实在一切事的背后。这观念要加强且不住的增长。除非神的旨意在背后，否则没有任何事可以发生，因此你大可以完全信靠安息。祈祷不光是祈求，更是一种生发自然祈求气氛的心态。“你们祈求，就给你们。”
祈祷◆噢，主啊，以你充沛的能力、恩慈和美善，来激励我的生命；让它有机会显露你的面容。这似乎便是我全部的祷告。
July 16 The Notion Of Divine Control
“How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” Matthew 7:11
Jesus is laying down rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit. By the simple argument of these verses He urges us to keep our minds filled with the notion of God's control behind everything, which means that the disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Notion your mind with the idea that God is there. If once the mind is notioned along that line, then when you are in difficulties it is as easy as breathing to remember – Why, my Father knows all about it! It is not an effort, it comes naturally when perplexities press. Before, you used to go to this person and that, but now the notion of the Divine control is forming so powerfully in you that you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit, and it works on this principle – God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, why should I worry?
There are times, says Jesus, when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but trust Him. God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural Father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the notion of the mind of God behind all things strong and growing. Nothing happens in any particular unless God's will is behind it, therefore you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but an attitude of mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. “Ask, and it shall be given you.”
但那等候耶和华的……行走却不疲乏。（赛四十31）
行路并无甚刺激，但却是一切坚定品质的考验。“行走却不疲乏”，是能力最高的境地。圣经中用“行走”来描画人的品质——“约翰见耶稣行走，就说，看哪，这是神的羔羊！”圣经的话从不抽象，总是生动而真实。神没有说：“你要属灵。”他是说：“行在我里面。”我们的身体或情绪上处于不健康的状态，就会寻求刺激，寻求凌空飞翔的经历，就会招来属灵破产的结局。
神同在的真实，不在乎地方，只在乎我们决心把主常摆在面前。许多的问题，都出自不肯信赖他同在的事实。诗人说：“虽然……我们也不害怕。”若我们倚靠他，也能有同样的经历；不是倚靠神同在的感觉，而是抓紧神同在的真实。——“噢，他原来一直都在这里！”。当然，在紧急关头时可以求主指引，但却不需要一天到晚说：“主啊，带领我这个，带领我那个。”他必会带领的。我们按常理作的决定，若不合神的心，他自会插手阻拦；这时，我们就得安静，等候他的引导。
祈祷◆噢，主啊，你的道路何等奇妙！当我回想你带领和陪同我走过的道路，我便在惊叹、爱意和赞美中浑然忘我。
July 20 Dependent On God's Presence
“They that wait upon the Lord . . . shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31
There is no thrill in walking; it is the test of all the stable qualities. To “walk and not faint” is the highest reach possible for strength. The word “walk” is used in the Bible to express the character – “John looking on Jesus as He walked, said, Behold the Lamb of God!” There is never any thing abstract in the Bible, it is always vivid and real. God does not say – Be spiritual, but – “Walk before Me.”
When we are in an unhealthy state physically or emotionally, we always want thrills. In the physical domain this will lead to counterfeiting the Holy Ghost; in the emotional life it leads to inordinate affection and the destruction of morality; and in the spiritual domain if we insist on getting thrills, on mounting up with wings, it will end in the destruction of spirituality.
The reality of God's presence is not dependent on any place, but only dependent upon the determination to set the Lord always before us. Our problems come when we refuse to bank on the reality of His presence. The experience the Psalmist speaks of – “Therefore will we not fear, though . . .” will be ours when once we are based on Reality, not the consciousness of God's presence but the reality of it – Why, He has been here all the time!
At critical moments it is necessary to ask guidance, but it ought to be unnecessary to be saying always – “O Lord, direct me here, and there.” Of course He will! If our common-sense decisions are not His order, He will press through them and check; then we must be quiet and wait for the direction of His presence.
虚心的人有福了。（太五3）
当心不要把主教师的身分放在第一位。耶稣基督若光是一位教师，他所作的无非是设立了一些我无法达到的标准来戏弄我。若根本是无法达到的理想，介绍给我有何用？我不知道反更妙。要我清心，要我连非份内的事也作，要我完全归向神，可是我却无力达到，告诉我这些有何益处？若要基督的教训对我真有意义，而不是引至绝望的空理想，我就必须以耶稣基督为救主。我在神的灵里重生后，就晓得耶稣基督来不是单为教导；他更要使我成为他所教导的。救恩是主耶稣能够把他的性情放进任何人里面。而神所给的一切标准，都是根据主耶稣的性情而定。
对一个未有新生命的人，登山宝训只会带来绝望，这正是主耶稣的用意。因为我们若仍然自以为义，自高自傲，以为自己可以实践主的教训，神就会任由我们，让难处揭露我们的无知，叫我们像叫化子一般来亲就他，接受他的施予。“心灵贫乏的人有福了。”这是天国的第一原则。主耶稣国度的基石是贫穷，不是产业；不是决志接受耶稣基督，而是完全无能为力的：“我不知从何着手。”那时耶稣说：“你有福了。”这就是门，我们往往要花好长时间才相信自己真的贫穷！若知道自己贫穷，就是已经来到耶稣基督作工的道德前线。
July 21 The Gateway To The Kingdom
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Matthew 5:3
Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I can not attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be – to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man – the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. “Blessed are the paupers in spirit,” that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility – I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says – Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.
神的旨意就是要你们成为圣洁。（帖前四3）
死的一面。在成圣的工夫上，神不但在生方面对付我们，也要在死方面对付我们。很多人在死里停留太久，以致死气沉沉。成圣之前，必有一场生死战，必有某些东西拖着我们，叫我们厌恶主。当神的灵向我们启示成圣的意思，争战就开始了。“人到我这里来……若不恨（原文）自己的性命，就不能作我的门徒。”
在成圣的过程中，神的灵把我的外衣脱掉，只剩下我“自己”，就是到了死地。我甘愿单做自己吗？再没有别的了——没有朋友、没有父亲、没有弟兄、没有自我的筹算，单单准备去死，这就是成圣的条件。怪不得主耶稣说：“我来不是叫地上太平，乃是叫地上动刀兵。”这就是战争所在，许多人就在此扑倒：我们不肯在这点上与主耶稣的死联合。我们会说：“这个太严厉了，他不能冀求我这样做。”我们的主的确是严厉的，他的确要求我们如此行。
我愿不愿意单单做“自己”，脱去一切人对我的看法，以及我自己对自己的看法，然后把这赤裸的“己”交给神？我若这样行，神就使我全然成圣。从此，在我生命中，除了神以外，一切都变得不重要了。我若求神：“主啊，指示我成圣之道。”他就指示我。成圣就是与耶稣合而为一，他不是把一些东西放进我里面；乃是他自己在我里面。
July 22 Sanctification
“This is the will of God, even your sanctification.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3
The Death Side. In sanctification God has to deal with us on the death side as well as on the life side. Many of us spend so much time in the place of death that we get sepulchral. There is always a battle royal before sanctification, always something that tugs with resentment against the demands of Jesus Christ. Immediately the Spirit of God begins to show us what sanctification means, the struggle begins. “If any man come to Me and hate not . . his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”
The Spirit of God in the process of sanctification will strip me until I am nothing but “myself,” that is the place of death. Am I willing to be “myself,” and nothing more – no friends, no father, no brother, no self-interest – simply ready for death? That is the condition of sanctification. No wonder Jesus said: “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” This is where the battle comes, and where so many of us faint. We refuse to be identified with the death of Jesus on this point. “But it is so stern,” we say; “He cannot wish me to do that.” Our Lord is stern; and He does wish us to do that.
Am I willing to reduce myself simply to “me,” determinedly to strip myself of all my friends think of me, of all I think of myself, and to hand that simple naked self over to God? Immediately I am, He will sanctify me wholly, and my life will be free from earnestness in connection with every thing but God.
When I pray – “Lord, show me what sanctification means for me,” He will show me. It means being made one with Jesus. Sanctification is not something Jesus Christ puts into me: it is Himself in me. (1 Cor. 1:30.)
你们得在基督耶稣里，是本乎神，神又使他成为我们的……圣洁。（林前一30）
生的一面。成圣的奥秘就是耶稣基督把自己完全赐给我，这不是渐进的，而是当我凭信体认耶稣基督成为我的圣洁那一刻，就即时得着。耶稣的圣洁成为我的圣洁，而且从我身上彰显出来；这正是成圣的意思。
圣洁生活的秘诀，不在仿效耶稣，而是让他的完美在我身上彰显。成圣是：“基督在我里面。”我因信领受他那奇妙的生命——神无上恩惠的礼物。我愿意让神使成圣在我里面成为真实，就像他自己的话语一样真实吗？成圣就是耶稣基督圣洁的品质传了给我。每一个分别为圣的人，彰显的都是他的忍耐、他的爱心、他的信实、他的无暇、他的敬虔。成圣不是向耶稣支取圣洁的能力，而是支取他本身的圣洁；是他使圣洁在我身上彰显出来。成圣是赐予，不是模仿。模仿是另一回事。在耶稣基督里，一切皆完全；而成圣的奥秘，就在于我可以取用他一切的完美。于是慢慢地，但肯定地，我便开始过有条不紊、健康、圣洁的生活，是“蒙神能力保守的”。
祈祷◆主啊，真的，我不需要更多的证据，证明你话语中有关人内心的真理；即使那是你的心意，我还是不想在这方面再知道更多。我想更多认识的，是关乎你伟大和满有恩典的救赎。
July 23 Sanctification
“Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us . . . sanctification.” 1 Corinthians 1:30
The Life Side. The mystery of sanctification is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me, not gradually, but instantly when by faith I enter into the realization that Jesus Christ is made unto me sanctification. Sanctification does not mean anything less than the holiness of Jesus being made mine manifestly.
The one marvellous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh. Sanctification is “Christ in you.” It is His wonderful life that is imparted to me in sanctification, and imparted by faith as a sovereign gift of God's grace. Am I willing for God to make sanctification as real in me as it is in His word?
Sanctification means the impartation of the Holy qualities of Jesus Christ. It is His patience, His love, His holiness, His faith, His purity, His godliness, that is manifested in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy; it is drawing from Jesus the holiness that was manifested in Him, and He manifests it in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation. Imitation is on a different line. In Jesus Christ is the perfection of everything, and the mystery of sanctification is that all the perfections of Jesus are at my disposal, and slowly and surely I begin to live a life of ineffable order and sanity and holiness: “Kept by the power of God.”
你们的义，若不胜于文士和法利赛人的义，断不能进天国。（太五20）
门徒的特征不是行善，而是出于善的动机，因为他在神超然的恩中成了善。唯一超越善行的，就是成善。耶稣来，是要把胜过文士和法利赛人的义的新遗传，放进愿意的人里头。耶稣说：“你若做我的门徒，不单行为要正，连动机、梦想、心灵的隐秘处也要正。动机要纯正得连全能的神也无可指摘。”谁能站在神永恒的光中无可指摘呢？只有神的儿子。而耶稣基督宣称藉着救恩，就能使任何人在他的性情上有份，使他纯洁如小孩子一样。神所要求的纯正，是人无法达到的，除非我里面能重新再造，而耶稣的救恩正成就这事。
人无法凭守律法得洁净，主耶稣给我们的也不是规则法条；他的教训是真理，只有他放进我们里面的性情，才可领会主救恩的奇妙，这就是他改变人的罪性。他不是改变人性，乃是改变人的本源。
祈祷◆噢，主啊，发出你的光辉，让它运行在这地上，正如你曾在渊面上运行一样。在你属灵的领域中大大作工，帮助我竖立祷告的山岭，并借助云彩，将祝福沛然降下。
July 24 Disposition And Deeds
“Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20
The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in motive because he has been made good by the super-natural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to put into any man who would let Him a new heredity which would exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus says – If you are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in your motives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure. Who can stand in the Eternal Light of God and have nothing for God to censure? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that by His Redemption He can put into any man His own disposition, and make him as unsullied and as simple as a child. The purity which God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is what Jesus has undertaken to do by His Redemption.
No man can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations; His teachings are truths that can only be interpreted by the disposition He puts in. The great marvel of Jesus Christ's salvation is that He alters heredity. He does not alter human nature; He alters its mainspring.
……有福了。（太五3-10）
初读主耶稣的话时，但觉平平无奇，于是不自觉地拋诸脑后。例如八福就似乎只是一套温和优美的观念。是为那些超世闲逸的人而设的，对于这个冷酷、平凡的世界，并无实际用场。可是，不久我们就会发现，八福其实有圣灵的炸药，当碰到生活环境的引发线，就会爆炸。圣灵会提醒人八福中的某一项，我们就会说：“多令人震惊的一句话呀！”我们就得决定，是否愿意接受属灵上的重大的改变。我们若肯顺服，在所处的环境中就必产生得救的人，也可以依字面应用登山宝训。按字面意义来解释登山宝训是小孩的玩意；但照神的灵把主的话应用在我们的际遇上，却是圣徒一项严肃的功课。
耶稣的教训与我们看事的常理大不相同，开始的时候会令人浑身不舒服。当圣灵把主的话应用在我们实际环境中，我们便要慢慢学习，依从主耶稣的观念来做事及说话。登山宝训不是一套规条，而是生活的写照，就是当我们顺服圣灵时所活出的生命。
祈祷◆主啊，最近我感到晦暗而不明朗，好像你正在带领我进入一个真理的范畴，是我前所未到过的。主啊，高举我，直至我看见你；支持我，直至我完成你的计划。
July 25 Am I Blessed Like This?
“Blessed are . . .” Matthew 5:3-10
When we first read the statements of Jesus they seem wonderfully simple and unstartling, and they sink unobserved into our unconscious minds. For instance, the Beatitudes seem merely mild and beautiful precepts for all unworldly and useless people, but of very little practical use in the stern workaday world in which we live. We soon find, however, that the Beatitudes contain the dynamite of the Holy Ghost. They explode, as it were, when the circumstances of our lives cause them to do so. When the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance one of these Beatitudes we say – ‘What a startling statement that is!’ and we have to decide whether we will accept the tremendous spiritual upheaval that will be produced in our circumstances if we obey His words. That is the way the Spirit of God works. We do not need to be born again to apply the Sermon on the Mount literally. The literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is child's play; the interpretation by the Spirit of God as He applies Our Lord's statements to our circumstances is the stern work of a saint.
The teaching of Jesus is out of all proportion to our natural way of looking at things and it comes with astonishing discomfort to begin with. We have slowly to form our walk and conversation on the line of the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations: it is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting His way with us.
从心里发出来的……（太十五18-20）
我们起初都信任自己的无知，称之为无罪；又信任自己的无罪，称之为清洁。于是当我们听见主这番严厉的话，就会怯生生地说：“我从不觉得自己心中有这些可怖的脏东西呀！”我们厌恶主所揭示的。若耶稣基督不是人心里至高的权威，他就根本不值一顾。我是否愿意信任他的明察，还是信任自己的天真无知？只要我试验一下自己的清白，就势必栗然醒觉主话的真实，也必震惊于自己偏向邪恶的性情。我之所以未沦为恶匪，无非是胆子不够大，及文明社会的保障罢了。若在神面前赤露敞开，就必知道他的诊断无误。
耶稣基督的救恩是唯一的保障。我若把自己交给他，就不必经历内心那些可怕的性情。清洁太深邃了，凭天性我无法达至，但当圣灵来到就把那在主耶稣生命中彰显的灵，带进我生命中，我就变成毫无玷污的纯洁。
祈祷◆噢，我的神，我在你的火焰中被焚烧和炼净——今天我所发现的渣滓似乎太多，在我处理别人的错失上，却太少流露你那甜蜜而亲切的恩典。主啊，赦免我。
July 26 The Account With Purity
“Out of the heart proceed . . .” Matthew 15:18-20
We begin by trusting our ignorance and calling it innocence, by trusting our innocence and calling it purity; and when we hear these rugged statements of Our Lord's, we shrink and say – But I never felt any of those awful things in my heart. We resent what Jesus Christ reveals. Either Jesus Christ is the supreme Authority on the human heart, or He is not worth paying any attention to. Am I prepared to trust His penetration, or do I prefer to trust my innocent ignorance? If I make conscious innocence the test, I am likely to come to a place where I find with a shuddering awakening that what Jesus Christ said is true, and I shall be appalled at the possibility of evil and wrong in me. As long as I remain under the refuge of innocence I am living in a fool's paradise. If I have never been a blackguard, the reason is a mixture of cowardice and the protection of civilized life; but when I am undressed before God, I find that Jesus Christ is right in His diagnosis.
The only thing that safeguards is the Redemption of Jesus Christ. If I will hand myself over to Him, I need never experience the terrible possibilities that are in my heart. Purity is too deep down for me to get to naturally: but when the Holy Spirit comes in, He brings into the centre of my personal life the very Spirit that was manifested in the life of Jesus Christ, viz., Holy Spirit, which is unsullied purity.
人若立志遵着他的旨意行，就必晓得这教训……（约七17）
属灵悟性的金科玉律，不是智力，而是顺服。人若想得着科学知识，可循智力好奇去求；但人若要洞悉主耶稣的教训，只有靠顺服。事情对我来说是隐晦难明的，可以肯定必然有什么我是不肯去做的。智力上的暗晦从无知而来；属灵的黑暗却由不肯顺服而来。人领受了神的话语后，总即时落在考验之中。我们不肯顺服，却又稀奇自己何以在灵性上不见长进。耶稣说：“你在祭坛献礼物的时候，若想起弟兄向你怀怨……先去同弟兄和好。”耶稣的教训正命中我们生活的要害，在他面前我们一秒钟也不能装假。他的教导是彻底的。神的灵把自我维护的墙凿开，又使我们对从未想过的事敏感起来。
主耶稣若指出什么，不要规避。你若规避，就成了宗教骗徒。留意那些你耸肩不顾的事，就会明白为什么灵性停滞不前。去吧，即使冒着被人称为宗教狂热者的危险，也必须顺服神的吩咐。
祈祷◆“当他隐藏他的面，谁能看见他呢？”在这些等候的日子中，你与我们同在的记号是何其渺小。我不求任何外在成功的记号，只求能感应你的赐福和认可。
July 27 The Way To Know
“If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine . . .” John 7:17
The golden rule for understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience. If a man wants scientific knowledge, intellectual curiosity is his guide; but if he wants insight into what Jesus Christ teaches, he can only get it by obedience. If things are dark to me, then I may be sure there is something I will not do. Intellectual darkness comes through ignorance; spiritual darkness comes because of something I do not intend to obey.
No man ever receives a word from God without instantly being put to the test over it. We disobey and then wonder why we don’t go on spiritually. ‘If when you come to the altar,’ said Jesus, ‘there you remember your brother hath ought against you . . . don't say another word to Me, but first go and put that thing right.’ The teaching of Jesus hits us where we live. We cannot stand as humbugs before Him for one second. He educates us down to the scruple. The Spirit of God unearths the spirit of self-vindication; He makes us sensitive to things we never thought of before.
When Jesus brings a thing home by His word, don't shirk it. If you do, you will become a religious humbug. Watch the things you shrug your shoulders over, and you will know why you do not go on spiritually. First go – at the risk of being thought fanatical you must obey what God tells you.
耶稣随即催门徒上船，先渡到那边……（可六45-52）
我们很容易这样想：主若催逼我们，我们若顺服他，他就必叫我们大大的成功。千万别把成功的梦想，当作神对我们的计划；神的计划可能恰好相反。我们以为神要领我们到某一特定的目的——一个理想的目标；其实并不是。到达某一目的，只是附带的事。我们所称为过程的，神却称为目标。
我对神的计划有何梦想？他的计划就是要我现在倚靠他和他的能力。在动荡不安之中，我若能保持平静不疑惑，这就是神计划的目标。神作工不是为某一个特别的终点；他的目标就在过程之中——要我看见他正行在波浪上；虽然不见边岸，没有目的地，但有一个肯定的确信，深知必然平安无事，因为我看见他正在海面上行走。这是过程，不是目标，使神得着荣耀。神的训练是即时的，不是等一会儿的。他的计划是这一分钟，不是将来某件事。我们不必顾及顺服之后会怎样；若牵挂以后会怎样，就走错了路。人所谓的训练与预备，神却称为目的。
神的目的是要我如今就知道，他能在我生命的混乱动荡中行走。若我们在前方另有目标，就不会充分关注当前；若我们意识到顺服就是目的，那么临到我们的每一刻都变得如珍如宝了。
祈祷◆噢，主啊，倘若那需要是出于你，我便欢喜！为着你教训我们“有火炼的试验临到你们，不要以为奇怪，倒要欢喜”，我赞美你。
July 28 After Obedience – What?
“And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side. . . .” Mark 6:45-52
We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end.
What is my dream of God's purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working towards a particular finish; His end is the process – that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.
God's training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterwards. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.
God's end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious.
看哪，他驾云降临。（启一7）
在圣经里，云总与神有关。云就是我们个人生命中里里外外的悲哀痛苦，这些似乎与神的本质相违，但神的灵却正用这些云教我们在信心中行走。若没有云，就无法有信心。“云不过是我父脚下的尘。”云是他在这里的表征，当我们明白愁苦是与神一起来的云，那是何等的启示啊！没有云，神就无法就近，他不会万丈光芒地来。
不要说神要在试炼中教导我们什么，其实他要用每一朵云，去掉我们学的一些东西。神用云的目的，是要简化我们的信心，直到我们与他的关系像一个小孩子一样——只有神和我，别人不过是影儿。别人若不成为影儿，云和黑暗就必不断临到。我与神的关系，是否日益单纯？似乎难以明白神的旨意，与我们对他的认识有一定的关系；我们必须学习在认识神的光中，明白生命中的奥秘。除非我们能面对最黑暗的人生，而对神的性情仍无所歪曲，否则我们仍未认识神。
“他们进入云里，就甚惧怕……”在你的云里“除耶稣以外”，还有谁？若有，那云就会愈变愈黑。你一定要“不见一人，只见耶稣”。
祈祷◆噢，我的父神，云彩只是你足下的尘土！当恐惧过后，让我在神的眷佑、或神的属性、或神的恩典的每朵云彩中，不见别人，只见耶稣，直至恐惧不再存在。
July 29 What Do You See In Your Clouds?
“Behold, He cometh with clouds.” Revelation 1:7
In the Bible clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or providences, within or without our personal lives, which seem to dispute the rule of God. It is by those very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were no clouds, we should have no faith. “The clouds are but the dust of our Father's feet.” The clouds are a sign that He is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow and bereavement and suffering are the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near without clouds, He does not come in clear shining.
It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials: through every cloud He brings, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in the cloud is to simplify our belief until our relationship to Him is exactly that of a child – God and my own soul, other people are shadows. Until other people become shadows, clouds and darkness will be mine every now and again. Is the relationship between myself and God getting simpler than ever it has been?
There is a connection between the strange providences of God and what we know of Him, and we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God. Unless we can look the darkest, blackest fact full in the face without damaging God's character, we do not yet know Him.
“They feared as they entered the cloud . . .” – Is there anyone “save Jesus only” in your cloud? If so, it will get darker; you must get to the place where there is “no one any more save Jesus only.”
耶稣却不将自己交托他们……因他知道人心里所存的。（约二24-25）
觉醒就是在生命中再没有错误的判断。受错觉的蒙骗，会使我们对人的批评变得苛刻，好冷嘲热讽。但从神而来的觉醒，却使我们认清人的本相，而又不愤世嫉俗，也没有尖酸苦毒的说话。人生许多的痛苦，都是由于我们受错觉的蒙蔽。对别人的观感，我们只凭自己的想法，而非忠于事实。对我们来说，每一事物若非好便是坏。不愿从错觉中醒悟，是导致人生种种痛苦的因由。情形就是这样：我们若爱一个人，却不爱神，便会要求他完全正直无暇。一旦得不到，就变得残酷，要报复；我们要求的，是一个人无法做到的。只有主耶稣才能满足人心中最深的渴求。主耶稣对每种人际关系的看法，是相当严厉的；因为他知道任何一种不忠于主为基础的关系，到头来必定悲剧收场。主虽然不把自己交托给人，但他从不多疑，也不尖刻苦毒。他对神的信赖，以及对他恩典全能的信赖，使他对任何人都不绝望。我们的信赖若在人身上，结果必是对人失望。
祈祷◆主啊，对于你道路的细节，我虽然一无所知，但我期盼你奇妙的作为尽快显明。我是何其全然安息，得见你的道路时，又是何其释然。
July 30 The Discipline Of Disillusionment
“Jesus did not commit Himself unto them for He knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25
Disillusionment means that there are no more false judgments in life. To be undeceived by disillusionment may leave us cynical and unkindly severe in our judgment of others, but the disillusionment which comes from God brings us to the place where we see men and women as they really are, and yet there is no cynicism, we have no stinging, bitter things to say. Many of the cruel things in life spring from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts; we are true only to our ideas of one another. Everything is either delightful and fine, or mean and dastardly, according to our idea.
The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way – if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why Our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone.
但忍耐也当成功，使你们成全完备，毫无缺欠。（雅一4）
大部分人在生活上大体没有问题，可是在某些事上却很马虎。这不是罪的问题，而是属肉体的生命，叫我们马虎。得过且过是对圣灵的一种侮辱。我们不应在任何事上懒散马虎，不管是饮食，或是敬拜神。
我们与神不仅要有良好的关系，而这关系的外在表现也要正确。神不会容许任何事逃过他，每一细节他都鉴察。他会用无数的方法，把我们一次又一次地带到同一问题上。他会不厌其烦地重复又重复地，直到我们学好了那功课，因为他是要成全完备的产品。也许是冲动，也许是心不在焉，又或许是惟我独尊的个人主义，他会一而再、再而三、恒切忍耐地带我们回到同一的功课上。神总要我们觉醒，知道这件事不妥当。
对神救赎的启示，我们有美好的学习，对他我们是全心全意的；他在我们身上作成的奇妙大工，叫我们知道在大体上与他的关系是正常的；但如今圣灵却藉雅各说：“忍耐也当成功（让你们的忍耐成为一件制成品——英译）”当心苟且马虎的态度——“不管它，暂且算了吧。”不论是什么，神一定会坚持地指出，直至我们完全。
祈祷◆噢，主啊，愿你的脸光临到我们，让你伟大而荣耀的声音和同在，覆遍这地。
July 31 Till You Are Entirely His
“Let your endurance be a finished product, so that you may be finished and complete, with never a defect.” James 1:4 (MOFFATT)
Many of us are all right in the main, but there are some domains in which we are slovenly. It is not a question of sin, but of the remnants of the carnal life which are apt to make us slovenly. Slovenliness is an insult to the Holy Ghost. There should be nothing slovenly, whether it be in the way we eat and drink, or in the way we worship God.
Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the external expression of that relationship must be right. Ultimately God will let nothing escape, every detail is under His scrutiny. In numberless ways God will bring us back to the same point over and over again. He never tires of bringing us to the one point until we learn the lesson, because He is producing the finished product. It may be a question of impulse, and again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to the one particular point; or it may be mental wool-gathering, or independent individuality. God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right.
We have been having a wonderful time this Session over the revelation of God's Redemption, our hearts are perfect towards Him; His wonderful work in us makes us know that in the main we are right with Him. “Now,” says the Spirit, through St. James, “let your endurance be a finished product.” Watch the slipshod bits – “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it is, God will point it out with persistence until we are entirely His.