照着我所切慕、所盼望的，没有一事叫我羞愧。只要凡事放胆，无论是生是死，总叫基督在我身上照常显大。（腓一20） 

竭尽己心以成全主至高的旨意。“照着我所切慕、所盼望的，没有一事叫我羞愧。”耶稣要求我们凡事顺服，若我们不肯顺服，就必然会大大羞愧。保罗说：“我决志要竭尽所能，成全神至高的旨意。”要达到这个目标，是意志的问题。这不是讨价还价、理长论短，乃是意志的降服，是绝对的、不反悔的、对正要害的降服。但我们往往思前想后、诸多疑虑、自作主张、无法定意顺服，而且还口称是为了顾及别人的需要。我们揣摩测度，心想若顺服了耶稣的呼召，会怎样影响那些人，于是就告诉神说：“袮知道我顺服之后会有怎样的后果？”只要持定目标，神是知道的。把所有顾虑都放下，单单来到神面前，存一个心志－－“竭尽所能，完成神至高的旨意。”

为祂的圣洁荣耀而不折不挠。“无论是生，是死，我全不介怀！”（参21节）保罗立志，不让任何事物阻拦他去成就神的旨意，是不折不扣地惟命是从。我们选择遵行神旨意之前，总会有危机出现，因为神好好跟我们说话的时候，我们多半不理睬。于是祂带领我们到一处地方，叫我们竭诚为祂，那时我们就开始挣扎（原文作争辩）；然后，祂令一个危机局面出现，要我们决定顺从还是逆命。从这里开始，决定性的分界线就出现了。若神生命的改变临到你，你要毫不反悔地顺服。

祈祷◆主啊，我何等渴望藉着祢能力的驱策，祢恩典的抚摸，和祢圣灵的感动，带领我与祢面对面。为着我的迟缓，要那么久才对某些事情有所醒悟，我祈求祢的宽恕。

January 1 Let Us Keep to the Point

“. . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death” —Philippians 1:20

My Utmost for His Highest. “. . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . .” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It's as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn't know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.

My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God's will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God's gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.

出去的时候，还不知往哪里去。（来十一8）

你曾否这样出去？若有，那么当有人问你在干什么时，你简直没有合逻辑的话可以回答。作神的工其中一个难题就是－－“你期望做些什么？”你根本不知道该做什么，你唯一知道的，是神知道他在做什么。要经常审查自己对神的态度，看看是否竭尽所能、完全信靠神。这种态度使你不住地稀奇，因你不知道神下一步会怎样做。每天清晨醒来，就是新的“出去”，建立对神的靠赖。“不要为生活谋算……也不要为身体担忧。”你“出去”之前，这些东西都不要再理会了。你是否不住地追问神，他将做些什么，神决不会告诉你。神不会告诉你他怎样行事，他只会向你显明他是谁。你相信神是行神迹的神吗？你肯不肯顺命出去，对他所作的一切，一点也不诧异？

假若神真是你亲近他时所认识的神，忧虑是何等不当哩！让我们的生命不断地靠着神“出去”，那么生命会奇妙得难以形容，且叫耶稣心满意足。你一定要好好学习从信念、教条、经验中出来，直至你与神之间，已全无隔膜。

祈祷◆主啊，我对祢渴慕的心是何等热切地加增，这种心情并非以任何狭隘的方式来表达，乃是藉着荣耀的方式表现出来－－更完全的实现祢的圣洁。

January 2 Will You Go Out Without Knowing?

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

Have you been “out” in this way? If so, there is no logical statement possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question – “What do you expect to do?” You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder – you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning you wake it is to be a “going out,” building in confidence on God. “Take no thought for your life, . . . nor yet for your body” – take no thought for the things for which you did take thought before you “went out.”

Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you go out in surrender to Him until you are not surprised an atom at anything He does?

Suppose God is the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him – what an impertinence worry is! Let the attitude of the life be a continual “going out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have an ineffable charm about it which is a satisfaction to Jesus. You have to learn to go out of convictions, out of creeds, out of experiences, until so far as your faith is concerned, there is nothing between yourself and God.

密云和幽暗，在他的四围。（诗九十七2）

一个未从神的灵而生的人会对你说，耶稣的教训简单得很。可是你一旦受了圣灵的洗，就会发现“密云和幽暗，在他的四围”。当我们认识耶稣基督的教训，就必恍然大悟。领悟耶稣教训的唯一途径，是神的灵在里面光照。若我们从未把习以为常的宗教鞋，从我们习以为常的宗教脚上脱下；也从未把我们亲近神那种鲁莽随便的态度一概革除，那么我们到底曾否真正站在神的面前，那也是疑问。那些轻率、浮躁的人，根本从未认识耶稣基督。因为在我们明白了耶稣基督所作所行、满怀稀奇兴奋、自由释放之后，就会经历到一种因认识他是谁而无法看透的幽暗。

耶稣说：“我对你们说的话就是灵，就是生命。”一向以来，圣经对我们不过是一大堆的话语——密云和幽暗为何忽然之间变成了灵和生命？因为耶稣在某种特殊情况下，向我们再说了一遍。神就是这样对我们说话，不是藉着异梦，乃是通过话语。人来到神面前，就是凭着最简单的方法——他的话语。

祈祷◆“密云和幽暗在他的四围；公义和公平是他宝座的根基。”与我亲近，噢，主啊，让我可以知道我在你里面是光明的。

January 3 Clouds and Darkness

Clouds and darkness surround Him . . . —Psalm 97:2

A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him . . . .” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet — getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God — it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable “darkness” of realizing who He is.

Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us —“clouds and darkness”— then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way — words.

彼得说：主啊，我为什么现在不能跟你去？（约十三37）

你有时真不明白，为什么不可以照心里所希望的去做。当神给你一张空白的纸，不要擅自涂上什么。只要等候。这白纸可能是要教你明白成圣的意义；也可能是要你体会成圣之后事奉的意义。切勿走在神的引导之前。若有丝毫的疑虑，就不是他的带领了。什么时候有疑惑，就不要动！

起初，你会很清楚看见神的旨意——与某某朋友断交，与某某人断绝商业上的关系。你这样做，很清楚是神的旨意；但是，千万不要单凭那种感觉而贸然行事。否则，所造成的许多错误，可能要费多年的时间才能矫正。只要等候，神会完成他的工作，这不会使我们伤心或失望。既然是神的旨意，就等神去动工吧！

彼得并没有等候神，他只凭己意揣测试炼会什么时候来，谁知试炼就在他意想不到的时候临到。“我愿意为你舍命。”彼得的宣告虽是诚实，却是无知的。“耶稣说……鸡叫以先，你要三次不认我。”耶稣说这话，表明他认识彼得，比彼得认识自己更深。彼得没有跟耶稣去，因为他不认识自己，也不知道自己的有限。人的热诚固然可以引导我们就近耶稣，使我们感受他的奇妙，可是却永不能叫我们成为门徒。人天然的热诚总会有一日否认主，不是此时，就是那时。

祈祷◆我何等渴望被你——炽热、光辉和荣耀的你——完全充满，以致除了你那恩典的光辉外，再不能容下别的东西。

January 4 Why Cannot I Follow Thee Now?

"Peter said unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now?" John 13:37

There are times when you cannot understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings the blank space, see that you do not fill it in, but wait. The blank space may come in order to teach you what sanctification means, or it may come after sanctification to teach you what service means. Never run before God's guidance. If there is the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt – don't.

In the beginning you may see clearly what God's will is – the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, something you feel distinctly before God is His will for you to do, never do it on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will end in making difficulties that will take years of time to put right. Wait for God's time to bring it round and He will do it without any heartbreak or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.

Peter did not wait on God, he forecast in his mind where the test would come, and the test came where he did not expect it. "I will lay down my life for Thy sake." Peter's declaration was honest but ignorant. "Jesus answered him …The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice." This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself, of what he was capable. Natural devotion may be all very well to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His fascination, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will always deny Jesus somewhere or other.

我所去的地方，你现在不能跟我去，后来却要跟我去。（约十三36）

“说了这话，就对他说，你跟从我吧。”三年前，耶稣曾说：“来跟从我”，那时彼得很轻易就跟从了他。彼得是被耶稣所吸引而自动跟随，并不需要圣灵来帮助。然而后来，他却落到否认耶稣的地步，心碎欲绝。不过，他受了圣灵，耶稣又再一次对他说：“来跟从我。”这时除了主耶稣基督以外，再没有别人了。第一次的“跟从”并没有什么可引起惊奇的，那只是外表上的跟从；如今却是殉道者的跟从（约二十一18）在这期间，彼得曾发咒起誓否认耶稣。此时，他已来到自己的尽头，所有的自满自恃不足倚仗。就在这绝境中，他符合了接受复活主赐与的条件。“他向他们吹一口气说：『你们受圣灵』” 因此，无论神在你身上做了什么改变，都切勿倚仗这些改变，只要建立在主耶稣身上和他所赐的圣灵。

我们纵有誓言与决心，到头来还是否认主，因为我们没有能力实行出来。惟有当我们真正来到自己的尽头，这才能领受圣灵不是幻想出来的。“你们受圣灵”意思是受圣灵的征服。如今在你生命中只有一颗北斗星（意即引导方向者），就是主耶稣基督。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，以你伟大的能力来坚立我，印着耶稣的救赎，我相信自己有权利这样祈求。令我的身体尽献己力，以致你的光辉可以在我身上彰显。

January 5 The Life of Power to Follow

Jesus answered him, 'Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward' —John 13:36

"And when He had spoken this, He said to him, 'Follow Me' " (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, "Follow Me" (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, "Follow Me" (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first "Follow Me" was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).

Between these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. ". . . He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'" (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.

All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to "receive the Holy Spirit." "Receive the Holy Spirit"— the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.

从那里他又迁到伯特利东边的山，支搭帐棚，西边是伯特利，东边是艾。他在那里又为耶和华筑了一座坛。（创十二8）

敬拜就是把神给你最好的献给他。凡是你最好的东西，当小心处理。你从神得了祝福，就要把它献回给神，作为爱的礼物。在神面前花时间好好地默想，以敬拜的虔诚行动，把那祝福献上给神，假若你把那东西留归自己，它必会变成属灵枯朽之物，正如储藏起来的吗哪一样。神绝不会容许你把属灵的事物留归己用，它必须归还给神，让神将之化为别人的祝福。

伯特利是与神相交的象徵，而艾是世界的意思，亚伯拉罕却搭营在两者之间。我们在外面为神作工有多少价值，是以我们私下与神相交程度的深浅来衡量的。匆忙仓卒当然是不对的，因为敬拜神的时间多的是；但平静无事的日子，也许会成为陷阱。我们支搭帐棚的所在，应该随时可与神有安静的相交，姑勿论我们与世界的接触有多频繁。属灵的生活中这三者总是一致的，他在忙碌中并不一定分为三个阶段——敬拜、等候、作工。有些人像属灵青蛙一般，跳跃而行，从敬拜跳到等候，又从等候跳到工作。神的心意是要三者同时并进。在主的生活中并不急躁。这是一种操练，我们不能一蹴而就。

祈祷◆主啊，我何其清楚工作和活动所引发的危险，是与安静和退隐危险等同，而祢是我唯一安稳的避难所。让我的一切都全然被祢占据。

January 6 Worship

“And he pitched his tent having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east: and there he builded an altar.” Genesis 12:8

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself, it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.

Bethel is the symbol of communion with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abraham pitched his tent between the two. The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him. Rush is wrong every time, there is always plenty of time to worship God. Quiet days with God may be a snare. We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three stages in spiritual life – worship, waiting and work. Some of us go in jumps like spiritual frogs, we jump from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God's idea is that the three should go together. They were always together in the life of Our Lord. He was unhasting and unresting. It is a discipline, we cannot get into it all at once.

我与你们同在这样长久，你还不认识我吗？（约十四9）

这些并不是责备的话，也不是诧异之言，耶稣是领导腓力向前。在我们的密友之中，最末一个是耶稣。五旬节之前，门徒所认识的耶稣，是给他们权柄胜过鬼魔，而且带来复兴的那一位（路十18-20）。这固然是一种密切的关系，但更密切的关系还在未来——“我称你们为朋友”。友谊是珍贵的，它是人思想与心灵的契合。其实我们整个人生的操练，就是要与耶稣基督进入一个最亲密的关系里去。我们得过他的祝福，明了他的话，可是，我们认识他吗？

耶稣说：“我去是与你们有益的。”这是为了增进那关系，引导门徒向前。当一个门徒肯下功夫追求主更亲密，他的心就喜乐了。圣经里说的结果子，总是指由于与耶稣基督合一的必然表现（约十五1-4）。

我们一旦与耶稣建立深交，就永不再孤单，也永不再要人同情。我们可以不住的向主倾诉，而不至于自怜自怨。与耶稣亲密的圣徒，从不给人留下他自己的形象。他只将主耶稣的形象毫无阻隔地彰显出来，因为他天性里所有的罅隙，已被主填满了。这种生命给人唯一的印象，就是主赐给与他亲密的人那种强烈的平静与稳妥。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，将你自己那亲切、和善的形象赐给我，让我今天可以讨你的喜悦，使我的生命变得完美，成为周围的人真正的祝福。

January 7 Intimate With Jesus

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

These words are not spoken as a rebuke, nor even with surprise; Jesus is leading Philip on. The last One with whom we get intimate is Jesus. Before Pentecost the disciples knew Jesus as the One Who gave them power to conquer demons and to bring about a revival (see Luke 10:18-20). It was a wonderful intimacy, but there was a much closer intimacy to come – “I have called you friends.” Friendship is rare on earth. It means identity in thought and heart and spirit. The whole discipline of life is to enable us to enter into this closest relationship with Jesus Christ. We receive His blessings and know His word, but do we know Him?

Jesus said, “It is expedient for you that I go away” – in that relationship, so that He might lead them on. It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to step more intimately with Him. Fruit bearing is always mentioned as the manifestation of an intimate union with Jesus Christ (John 15:1-4).

When once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely, we never need sympathy, we can pour out all the time without being pathetic. The saint who is intimate with Jesus will never leave impressions of himself, but only the impression that Jesus is having unhindered way, because the last abyss of his nature has been satisfied by Jesus. The only impression left by such a life is that of the strong calm sanity that Our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him.

亚伯拉罕在那里筑坛……捆绑他的儿子以撒。（创二十二9）

这件事正反映出我们所犯的错误，以为神对我们最终的要求是死的祭。神所要的祭，是经过死，使我们能行像耶稣所行的：把生命献上。不是“我愿意与你同死”，而是“我愿意把自己投入你的死里，使我可以把生命献给神”。我们似乎认为神总是要求我们丢弃万事的！神纠正了亚伯拉罕这个错误。这门功课我们一生都得学习，因为死发生在我们身上。神从来没有叫我们为牺牲而牺牲。他叫我们有所舍弃，是为了叫我们得着所得着的，就是与他共享的生命。所以，问题是要解开捆锁生命的绳索。一旦藉着与基督同死而解开那绑绳，我们就得以与神相交，把生命献上，作为牺牲。

你若为了要死而把生命献给神，对神是毫无价值的。他要你做“活祭”献上因信耶稣得救成圣而得的一切才智力量，这才是神所悦纳的。

祈祷◆主啊，为着今天那蒙你接纳的事奉良机，我赞美你。为着你所启示的真理，让我每天随时得蒙你的吩咐，我称颂你。

January 8 Does My Sacrifice Live?

“And Abraham built an altar . . and bound Isaac his son.” Genesis 22:9

This incident is a picture of the blunder we make in thinking that the final thing God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, viz., sacrifice our lives. Not – I am willing to go to death with Thee, but – I am willing to be identified with Thy death so that I may sacrifice my life to God. We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this blunder, and the same discipline goes on in our lives. God nowhere tells us to give up things for the sake of giving them up. He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having – viz., life with Himself. It is a question of loosening the bands that hinder the life, and immediately those bands are loosened by identification with the death of Jesus, we enter into a relationship with God whereby we can sacrifice our lives to Him.

It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a “living sacrifice,” to let Him have all your powers that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus. This is the thing that is acceptable to God.

愿你们的灵，与魂，与身子，得蒙保守，在我主耶稣基督降临的时候，完全无可指摘。（帖前五23）

“你们的灵（整个灵）……”圣灵最奥妙的工作是隐藏在我们里面，这个隐密处，连我们自己也无法探究。试读诗篇一三九篇。诗人说：你是清早的神，你是深夜的神，你是山峰的神，你是海洋的神。可是，我的神啊，我的灵魂里有比清晨更广远的天际，比黑夜（世间的）更深沉的黝黑，高过任何崇山峻岭，深过任何大海深渊；但你是这一切的神，求你做我的神。我攀不上那颠峰；也达不到那深渊；有许多动机，我追溯不了；有许多梦想，我无法实现。我的神啊，找我出来吧。

你信否神的保守远非我们所能想像？“基督耶稣的血洗净我们一切的罪”这句话若只是感知上的经验，愿神怜悯我们。那在罪中麻木的人，他可以说并不感觉到罪。其实罪得洁净，是靠我们里面的灵。当我们活在光明中，如同神在光明中，那充满耶稣基督生命的圣灵，也必把生命的灵灌注在我们里面。

惟有当神以圣灵的大能，防卫着我们，我们的灵与魂与身子，才得蒙保守，毫无瑕疵，而且在神眼中无可指摘，直到主来。我们往往未懂得把心思放在神这些重要的真理上。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，今天亲临在我们当中，又牵引我们进入你里面；请先由我开始。洁净我，噢，主啊，除去我的一切瑕疵；纵使我对它们仍浑然不知，你却早已一目了然。

January 9 Intercessory Introspection

“And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.” 1 Thess 5:23

“Your whole spirit. . .” The great mystical work of the Holy Spirit is in the dim regions of our personality which we cannot get at. Read the 139th Psalm; the Psalmist implies – “Thou art the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea; but, my God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature – Thou Who art the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at – my God, search me out.”

Do we believe that God can garrison the imagination far beyond where we can go? “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin” – if that means in conscious experience only, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been made obtuse by sin will say he is not conscious of sin. Cleansing from sin is to the very heights and depths of our spirit if we will keep in the light as God is in the light, and the very Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirits. It is only when we are garrisoned by God with the stupendous sanctity of the Holy Spirit, that spirit, soul and body are preserved in unspotted integrity, undeserving of censure in God's sight, until Jesus comes.

We do not allow our minds to dwell as they should on these great massive truths of God.

要叫他们的眼睛得开……得蒙赦罪……同得基业。（徒二十六18）

神施恩最完全的首要工作，已包括在这一句里：“得蒙赦罪。”人若经历不到信耶稣的个人体验，几乎都是因为他从未蒙受什么恩典。一个人得救的唯一标志，是他从耶稣基督那里有所领受。作为神的工人，我们的本分就是要开人的眼睛，使他们弃暗投明。可是那并不是得着拯救，那只是一种转变——一个被唤醒的人的改变。我说大多数挂名信徒都属这一类，并不算太过分。

他们眼是开了，却没有接受恩典。转变并不等于重生。今日我们所传的资讯中，就忽略了这个因素。一个人重生，是因为从全能的神那里所领受的一份礼物，而非他自己的抉择。人就是立上许多誓言，而且签署许愿，勇往直前，义无回顾，这一切都不代表“得救”。得拯救是我们被带到一个地步，凭耶稣基督得特权，从神有所领受——就是“得蒙赦罪”。

接踵而来的，就是恩典的第二步工作——“和一切成圣的人同得基业”。人得了重生，便藉着成圣的功夫，甘心情愿地把自己的主权交给主耶稣，并且把自己全然投在神赐福别人的心意上。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，求你赐我更亲切和更美善的品性；赐给我属灵的恩赐，和对别人全然忍耐的生命。你的美善将这一切彰显了，噢，主啊，只要我被你充满，我的祈求便成为真实。

January 10 The Opened Sight

“To open their eyes . . . that they may receive . . .” Acts 26:18

This verse is the grandest condensation of the propaganda of a disciple of Jesus Christ in the whole of the New Testament.

The first sovereign work of grace is summed up in the word – “that they may receive remission of sins.” When a man fails in personal Christian experience, it is nearly always because he has never received anything. The only sign that a man is saved is that he has received something from Jesus Christ. Our part as workers for God is to open men's eyes that they may turn themselves from darkness to light; but that is not salvation, that is conversion – the effort of a roused human being. I do not think it is too sweeping to say that the majority of nominal Christians are of this order; their eyes are opened, but they have received nothing. Conversion is not regeneration. This is one of the neglected factors in our preaching today. When a man is born again, he knows that it is because he has received something as a gift from Almighty God and not because of his own decision. People register their vows, and sign their pledges, and determine to go through, but none of this is salvation. Salvation means that we are brought to the place where we are able to receive something from God on the authority of Jesus Christ, viz., remission of sins.

Then there follows the second mighty work of grace – “an inheritance among them which are sanctified.” In sanctification the regenerated soul deliberately gives up his right to himself to Jesus Christ, and identifies himself entirely with God's interest in other men.

他们就抓住他（古利奈人西门），把十字架搁在他身上。 (路二十三26)

我们若顺服神，别人所损失的会比我们所损失的还多，这就是那为难的地方了。我们若爱主，顺服他并不觉得付上什么代价，这原是可喜的；但那些不爱他的人，所受的损失就更大了。我们要是顺服神，自然就会打岔其他人的计划，他们就会冷嘲地说：“这就叫做基督教？”我们固然可以不使别人受损，但若要顺服神就万不可如此；要付出的代价，就让它付出去吧！

再次，人性的自尊就出来辩护了，我们说：“我决不从任何人接受任何东西！”我们不接受，就是悖逆神了。主在世上与人的关系如何，我们也得如何，我们决无权指望另谋出路（参阅路八2-3）

我们若说要自己承担全部责任，那么灵命就会沉滞停顿，趑趄不前了。我们根本不可能如此。在神整个宇宙计划中，人就是这样座落其中，以致我们一顺服神，其他人必然受影响。我们愿否顺服神而放弃独立自主、甘心走上自卑的路？还是走另一条路，说：“我绝不叫别人无辜受苦”？我们可以选择不顺服神，使形势缓和，可是我们却叫主忧伤。另一方面，如果我们顺服神，他必会照顾那些因我们顺服而被逼受苦的人。我们只要一味顺服，一切后果就交给神吧。

但要当心这个意念：你顺服神，却指定神照你的意思行事。这要当心！

祈祷◆在一切事情上，噢，主啊，我都承认你。保守我们与你保持和谐，以致别人可以捕捉到属神的喜乐和愉快。

January 11 What My Obedience To GOD Costs Other People

“They laid hold upon one Simon . . . and on him they laid the cross.” Luke 23:26

If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the sting comes in. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs those who do not love Him a good deal. If we obey God it will mean that other people's plans are upset, and they will gibe us with it – “You call this Christianity?” We can prevent the suffering; but if we are going to obey God, we must not prevent it, we must let the cost be paid.

Our human pride entrenches itself on this point, and we say – I will never accept anything from anyone. We shall have to, or disobey God. We have no right to expect to be in any other relation than our Lord Himself was in (see Luke 8:2-3).

Stagnation in spiritual life comes when we say we will bear the whole thing ourselves. We cannot. We are so involved in the universal purposes of God that immediately we obey God, others are affected. Are we going to remain loyal in our obedience to God and go through the humiliation of refusing to be independent, or are we going to take the other line and say – I will not cost other people suffering? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but we shall be a grief to our Lord. Whereas if we obey God, He will look after those who have been pressed into the consequences of our obedience. We have simply to obey and to leave all consequences with Him.

Beware of the inclination to dictate to God as to what you will allow to happen if you obey Him.

没有人的时候，就把一切的道讲给门徒听。（可四34）

我们与神独处。耶稣不会时常把我们拉在一旁，独自把事情向我们讲解；他乃按着我们所能了解的，讲给我们听。别人的生命都不过是比喻，神所要的乃是我们对自己的反省。这是一项缓慢的工作，神要用无尽的时间才把一个人塑造成合他心意的。我们若要被神使用，就要让他带我们认识自己的不足与丑陋。我们对自己认识之少，简直令人惊奇。嫉妒、怠惰、骄傲，我们早已视若无睹。耶稣就是要把我们未蒙他恩典改造之前，所有蕴藏在肉体里的东西显明出来。有多少人肯鼓起勇气往内里一看？

要除掉自以为认识自己的骄傲，这是最难的。唯一明白我们的只有神。在属灵生命中，最大的咒诅就是自负。我们若有机会瞥见自己在神的眼中本来面目，就永不会说：“啊，我是多么不配。”因为我们实实在在不配，所以用不着说出来。一日我们还未完全认识自己真的不配，神就会追着我们，直至与我们碰头。因为只要有一些自负或骄傲存在，耶稣就无法向我们解明真理。他要领我们经过理智骄傲的创痛，或心灵的沮丧；他会披露不合宜的感情－－这些东西是我们从未想过神要用来对付我们的。在教室里，我们听了许多话，但未明白。惟有当神单独与我们相处，我们才真正明白。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，“群众”在今天将会来而又去。帮助我像我的主，留守在孤寂的地方祈祷。

January 12 Have You Ever Been Alone With GOD?

“When they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples.” Mark 4:34

Our Solitude with Him. Jesus does not take us alone and expound things to us all the time; He expounds things to us as we can understand them. Other lives are parables. God is making us spell out our own souls. It is slow work, so slow that it takes God all time and eternity to make a man and woman after His own purpose. The only way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us through the crooks and crannies of our own characters. It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! We do not know envy when we see it, or laziness, or pride. Jesus reveals to us all that this body has been harbouring before His grace began to work. How many of us have learned to look in with courage?

We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves, it is the last conceit to go. The only One Who understands us is God. The greatest curse in spiritual life is conceit. If we have ever had a glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we shall never say – “Oh, I am so unworthy,” because we shall know we are, beyond the possibility of stating it. As long as we are not quite sure that we are unworthy, God will keep narrowing us in until He gets us alone. Wherever there is any element of pride or of conceit, Jesus cannot expound a thing. He will take us through the disappointment of a wounded pride of intellect, through disappointment of heart. He will reveal inordinate affection – things over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. We listen to many things in classes, but they are not an exposition to us yet. They will be when God gets us alone over them.

无人的时候，……十二个门徒问……（可四10）

他与我们独处。神藉困苦、创伤、试诱、失望、疾病、爱情的挫折、友谊的破裂，或新友情的建立，把我们带到一个孤单的境况；我们哑口无言，一句话也问不出来。这时，他才开始向我们解说。试看看耶稣怎样训练十二门徒。当时困惑不解的是门徒，不是外面的群众。他们不住地发问，他也不住地讲解：可是要等到他们接受了圣灵，才真正了解（约十四26）。

你若与神同行，你唯一可以明了的事，也是神唯一要你明了的事，就是他要对付你的内心。弟兄的愁苦和疑难，你是一概不明白的。我们以为很明白别人的情况，直到神向我们的毛病给上一服药。其实每人心中都有一大片顽梗愚昧的区域，有待圣灵向我们显明。只有当耶稣抓住我们单独见面，才能作成。我们现在是否与主独处？还是浮游于无谓的思想里？忙乱于无关重要的事奉上？或是为身体作无谓的打算？除非我们停止头脑上杂七杂八的问题、单独面对耶稣，否则他无法向我们讲解真理。

祈祷◆主啊，今天特别是属你的日子；让我们唯独纪念你。那些遍布世界各地、能与你面对面的仆人和使女是有福的。宽恕我的迟缓，因为我需要那么长的时间，才醒觉某些事情。

January 13 Have You Ever Been Alone With GOD?

“When He was alone the twelve . . . asked of Him . . .” Mark 4:10

His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone by affliction, heartbreak, or temptation, by disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted affection, by a broken friendship, or by a new friendship – when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are dumbfounded, and cannot ask one question, then He begins to expound. Watch Jesus Christ's training of the twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were perplexed. They constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly expounded things to them; but they only understood after they had received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).

If you are going on with God, the only thing that is clear to you, and the only thing God intends to be clear, is the way He deals with your own soul. Your brother's sorrows and perplexities are an absolute confusion to you. We imagine we understand where the other person is, until God gives us a dose of the plague of our own hearts. There are whole tracts of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each one of us, and it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now, or are we taken up with little fussy notions, fussy comradeships in God's service, fussy ideas about our bodies? Jesus can expound nothing until we get through all the noisy questions of the head and are alone with Him.

我可以差遣谁呢？谁肯为我们去呢？我说，我在这里，请差遣我。（赛六8）

神并没有直接呼召以赛亚，是以赛亚听到神在说：“谁肯为我们去呢？”神的呼召不是单为特殊几个人而发，而是对每一个人的。听不听见神的呼召，要视乎我耳朵的状况；而到底听见什么，则视乎我的性情了。“被召的人多，选上的人少。”意思是：很少人有被选上的条件。被选上的人，是藉着耶稣基督与神建立关系，以致性情改变了，耳朵开通了，就听见那微小的声音不住地在问：“谁肯为我们去呢！？”神不是特别指着一个人说：“听着，你去吧！”神并没有强逼以赛亚；以赛亚只在神跟前，刚好听见他的呼召，觉得没有别的话可以回答，就甘心情愿地说：“我在这里，请差遣我。”

别以为神会催逼你，恳求你！（把这意念除去吧。）当日主呼召门徒，也没有从外面施予无法抗拒的压力。他只是平静而热切地要求“跟从我”，是对那些理智清醒能以自主的人发出的。我们若让圣灵带我们与神面对面，也会听见类似以赛亚所听见的——神微小的声音；也会自然而然地回答说：“我在这里，请差遣我。”

祈祷◆噢，主啊，我的灵在你面前敬拜，因着你赐给我的浩大恩典，我的眼睛能够看见、我的耳朵能够听闻、我的心灵能够明白，在一切境况的背后，皆有你的脚踪。

January 14 Called Of GOD

“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Isaiah 6:8

God did not address the call to Isaiah; Isaiah overheard God saying, “Who will go for us?” The call of God is not for the special few, it is for everyone. Whether or not I hear God's call depends upon the state of my ears; and what I hear depends upon my disposition. “Many are called but few are chosen,” that is, few prove themselves the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ whereby their disposition has been altered and their ears unstopped, and they hear the still small voice questioning all the time, “Who will go for us?” It is not a question of God singling out a man and saying, “Now, you go.” God did not lay a strong compulsion on Isaiah; Isaiah was in the presence of God and he overheard the call, and realized that there was nothing else for him but to say, in conscious freedom, “Here am I, send me.” Get out of your mind the idea of expecting God to come with compulsions and pleadings. When our Lord called His disciples there was no irresistible compulsion from outside. The quiet passionate insistence of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men with every power wide awake. If we let the Spirit of God bring us face to face with God, we too shall hear something akin to what Isaiah heard, the still small voice of God; and in perfect freedom will say, “Here am I; send me.”

和他一同埋葬……一举一动有新生的样式。（罗六4）

一个人要经历完全的成圣，不能不先经过“白色的葬礼”——旧生命的埋葬。若没有这死的转捩点，成圣只不过是幻影。必须有一次“白色的丧礼”，死才有复活——复活在耶稣基督的生命里头。什么都不能摇动这生命，这是与神合一的生命；而我们的目的只有一个，就是为他作见证。你真的来到生命的尽头了吗？在情绪上你固然时常会来到，但是否真真正正面对它？你不可能兴兴奋奋地死去。死的意思是你不复存在。你有没有答应神，让往日那竭力挣扎、热情充沛的信徒经历成为过去？我们往往巡视坟场的四周，始终不肯死去。我们并不是要竭力求死，乃是“受洗归入他的死”。

你行过你“白色的葬礼”没有？还是在与自己的灵魂愚弄嬉耍？你生命中有没有一个地方标明“末日”？有没有一个地方让你想起当日所受的管教，心中万分感激地说：“是了，就在那时，在那‘白色丧礼’中，我与神立了约”？神的旨意是叫我们成圣。当你一旦觉察到神的旨意是什么，就十分自然地进到成圣的地步。你愿意现在就行那“白色丧礼”吗？你能否向神首肯说，这一天是你在地上的最后一天？首肯的时刻是在你手上。

祈祷◆“非圣洁没有人能见主。”主啊，感谢你，赐下这句话。倘若你不是圣洁的，那会是何等可怕！有些时候，我们是多么容易坠入一个较松散、较卑贱的生活中了；感谢你藉着圣灵的叹息提醒我——我何其渴望它们能带领我与你面对面。宽恕我的迟缓，我需要那么久，才醒悟某些事情。

January 15 Do You Walk In White?

We were buried with Him . . . that just as Christ was raised from the dead . . . even so we also should walk in newness of life —Romans 6:4

No one experiences complete sanctification without going through a “white funeral”— the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crucial moment of change through death, sanctification will never be more than an elusive dream. There must be a “white funeral,” a death with only one resurrection— a resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ. Nothing can defeat a life like this. It has oneness with God for only one purpose— to be a witness for Him.

Have you really come to your last days? You have often come to them in your mind, but have you really experienced them? You cannot die or go to your funeral in a mood of excitement. Death means you stop being. You must agree with God and stop being the intensely striving kind of Christian you have been. We avoid the cemetery and continually refuse our own death. It will not happen by striving, but by yielding to death. It is dying— being “baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3).

Have you had your “white funeral,” or are you piously deceiving your own soul? Has there been a point in your life which you now mark as your last day? Is there a place in your life to which you go back in memory with humility and overwhelming gratitude, so that you can honestly proclaim, “Yes, it was then, at my 'white funeral', that I made an agreement with God.”

“This is the will of God, your sanctification . . .” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Once you truly realize this is God's will, you will enter into the process of sanctification as a natural response. Are you willing to experience that “white funeral” now? Will you agree with Him that this is your last day on earth? The moment of agreement depends on you.

我又听见主的声音，说，我可以差遣谁呢？（赛六8）

说到神的呼召，我们很容易忘记一件最重要的事：就是呼召者的本性。海有海的呼声，山有山的呼声，冰山有冰山的呼声；这些呼声只有少数人听见。呼声是事物本性的一种表现，必须有同样的性情才能接收那呼声。神的呼召是神本性的流露，而不是我们的。神的呼声中，有好些线路是预定给我们用的，所以我们才认得那声音。神的声音透过那线路来呼召我们，别人是呼不出来的。在某些特别的事上，与人磋商斟酌是无济于事，我们必须保持与神的密切关系。

神的呼召不是我们本性的反响；我的喜好倾向于个性，也渺不相涉。如果只一直注视自己的个性，想看自己到底适合做什么，那将永远听不见神的呼召。但当我与神深交，就落在以赛亚的情景里了。以赛亚的心灵因经历了重大的事件，与神密切贴近，他惊异的心灵就录下了神呼唤的声音。我们多半只用耳朵听自己，神所说的，一点也听不进去。我们若一旦进入神呼召的音城里，必然彻底改变。

祈祷◆“让我听见你的声音”——这是我的祈祷。我极其盼望去聆听你、去感觉你，被你的同在所震撼。

January 16 The Voice Of The Nature Of GOD

“I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?” Isaiah 6:8

When we speak of the call of God, we are apt to forget the most important feature, viz., the nature of the One Who calls. There is the call of the sea, the call of the mountains, the call of the great ice barriers, but these calls are only heard by the few. The call is the expression of the nature from which it comes, and we can only record the call if the same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God's nature, not of our nature. There are strands of the call of God providentially at work for us which we recognize and no one else does. It is the threading of God's voice to us in some particular matter, and it is no use consulting anyone else about it. We have to keep that profound relationship between our souls and God.

The call of God is not the echo of my nature; my affinities and personal temperament are not considered. As long as I consider my personal temperament and think about what I am fitted for, I shall never hear the call of God. But when I am brought into relationship with God, I am in the condition Isaiah was in. Isaiah's soul was so attuned to God by the tremendous crisis he had gone through that he recorded the call of God to his amazed soul. The majority of us have no ear for anything but ourselves, we cannot hear a thing God says. To be brought into the zone of the call of God is to be profoundly altered.

 神既然乐意将他的儿子启示在我心里……（加一15-16）

神的呼召并不是要我们去做某一种工作；我这样的解释也许是由于与神亲密的相交，使我自然领会该为他做什么。呼召是神本性的表达，而事奉则是适合我个性工作的结果。使徒保罗说：“神乐意将他儿子启示在我心里，叫我把他传在外邦人中。”（传就是神圣的表达）这说明了保罗在地上的职务是要传扬神的儿子。

事奉是内里无限热诚的涌流；可是，深入一点说，其实是没有事奉的呼召的；这乃是我对神的体认和回应，以微不足道的行动表现出来。事奉是属于我天然生命的一部分。神与我们建立关系，叫人认出他的呼声，然后就甘心情愿为爱他而有所行动。事奉神，是人听见了神的呼召而专诚献上爱的礼物。事奉是我的一种表达；而神的呼召是他的表达。因此，当我有了他的性情，又听见他的呼召时，两者就同时响应，互相配合。神的儿子启示在我心里，于是我以诚以爱在日常生活中事奉他。

祈祷◆主啊，你的话来的那么静悄悄，却是无处不在——“若有人服侍我，就当跟从我”，和“若有人服侍我，我父必尊重他”。在这种意义上，请接纳我成为你的仆人。

January 17 The Vocation Of The Natural Life

“But when it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me . . .” Galatians 1:15-16

The call of God is not a call to any particular service; my interpretation of it may be because contact with the nature of God has made me realize what I would like to do for Him. The call of God is essentially expressive of His nature; service is the outcome of what is fitted to my nature. The vocation of the natural life is stated by the apostle Paul – “When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him” (i.e., sacramentally express) “among the Gentiles.”

Service is the overflow of superabounding devotion; but, profoundly speaking, there is no call to that, it is my own little actual bit and is the echo of my identification with the nature of God. Service is the natural part of my life. God gets me into a relationship with Himself whereby I understand His call, then I do things out of sheer love for Him on my own account. To serve God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is expressive of that which is fitted to my nature: God's call is expressive of His nature; consequently when I receive His nature and hear His call, the voice of the Divine nature sounds in both and the two work together. The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and I serve Him in the ordinary ways of life out of devotion to Him.

多马说：“我的主，我的神！”（约二十28）

“请你给我水喝。”我们许多人只期望耶稣解我们的渴，没想到我们该叫他得着满足！今天，我们早该倒空一切，竭尽所有服侍基督，而不再是要求主来满足我们。“你们要作我的见证”，不玷污、不妥协、不打折扣的对主尽忠；不论主放我们在什么岗位，都叫主的心满足。

当心那些与我们忠于基督的心争竞的事物。忠于基督最大的敌人是事奉主的工作。因为事奉主，比全然将生命倾倒给主容易。神呼召我们的唯一目的，是叫他心满意足，而不是呼召人去为他做点什么。神不是差派我们去为他打仗，而是在他的战场上被他所用。我们献身于事奉的热诚，是否过于我们爱主的热诚呢？

祈祷◆为着你的话——“父亲怎样怜恤他的儿女，耶和华也怎样怜恤敬畏他的人”——我赞美你。我何其认清我所领受的，绝不是你的严苛，却全然是你的慈爱。噢，愿你向我所施的慈爱、温柔与忍耐，能够透过我向其他人表达出来。

January 18 It Is The LORD!

“Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God.” John 20:28

“Give Me to drink.” How many of us are set upon Jesus Christ slaking our thirst when we ought to be satisfying Him? We should be pouring out now, spending to the last limit, not drawing on Him to satisfy us. “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me” – that means a life of unsullied, uncompromising and unbribed devotion to the Lord Jesus, a satisfaction to Him wherever He places us.

Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him. It is easier to serve than to be drunk to the dregs. The one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God, not a call to do something for Him. We are not sent to battle for God, but to be used by God in His battlings. Are we being more devoted to service than to Jesus Christ?

忽然有惊人的大黑暗落在他身上。（创十五12）

神什么时候把异象给信徒，就什么时候把他放在他手的阴影底下。圣徒那时的责任，是要安静聆听。在极度强烈的光线下，会产生一种黑暗，那时就得洗耳恭听。创世记十五章就是个好例子。在黑暗中，人只会寻求人的指示，却不等候神的光照。每逢神赐下异象，黑暗却接踵而来的话，就要等候。只要等候神的时间，他会按照给你的异象成就。切勿自告奋勇地帮助神成就他的应许。亚伯拉罕有十三年在静默中度过，在那些年日里，一切自己的办法都行不通，故不能凭头脑理智去解决问题。那段寂静的日子是操练的日子，而不是愁苦的日子。不必故意制造喜乐和勇气，只要心坚依靠神。（赛五十10-11）

我对肉体还有所倚恃吗？还是我已经脱离了对自己、对神的儿女、对书本、对祷告、及兴奋感觉的信赖，甚至是他的祝福，而把信心完全放在神身上，“我是全能的神”——是作为父母的神。我们受操练的目的，是要认识神是真实的。一旦看见神是真实的，其他人就成为影子了。其他信徒无论说什么，做什么，再也无法影响一个建造在神里面的人。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，我在重重的黑暗中靠近你，求你为我驱散黑暗，并以你的脸光照我。

January 19 Vision And Darkness

“An horror of great darkness fell upon him.” Genesis 15:12

Whenever God gives a vision to a saint, He puts him, as it were, in the shadow of His hand, and the saint's duty is to be still and listen. There is a darkness which comes from excess of light, and then is the time to listen. Genesis 16 is an illustration of listening to good advice when it is dark instead of waiting for God to send the light. When God gives a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will make you in accordance with the vision He has given if you will wait His time. Never try and help God fulfil His word. Abraham went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all self-sufficiency was destroyed; there was no possibility left of relying on common-sense ways. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not of displeasure. Never pump up joy and confidence, but stay upon God (cf. Isaiah 50:10,11).

Have I any confidence in the flesh? Or have I got beyond all confidence in myself and in men and women of God; in books and prayers and ecstasies; and is my confidence placed now in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am the Almighty God” – El-Shaddai, the Father-Mother God. The one thing for which we are all being disciplined is to know that God is real. As soon as God becomes real, other people become shadows. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever perturb the one who is built on God.

人若不重生，就不能见 神的国。（约三3）

有时我们对祈祷会很感兴趣，但对洗脏靴子却一点兴趣也没有。

从圣灵重生，绝无疑问是神的工作，这如风的来去无踪，像神一样叫人惊讶莫测。我们不晓得它始于何方，却隐藏在我们生命的深处。从神而来的重生，是连绵不绝、永不衰息的永恆开端。这生命在任何时刻都是有生气的——在思想上、话语上、生活上，都是如此；是不住活在神测不透的奇妙中。陈旧腐朽的思想表示有些地方与神脱节了。“我一定要这样做，否则永远也办不成。”这是臣服的第一迹象。我们这一分钟是否活泼重生？还是呆滞不前，绞尽脑汁地去找事情来做？活泼的生命不是从顺服而来，乃是从圣灵而来的。顺服不过使我们活在光中，正如神活在光中一样。

紧紧维持你与神的关系。耶稣祷告说：“使他们合一，正如我们合一一样。”毫无阻隔地，让你生命全然地向他敞开，不要对他装模作样。除神之外，你还能从其他源头支取生命吗？若你不单靠他，还去靠赖别的东西，那么他什么时候走了，你也不觉察。

从圣灵而生的意思是何等深广，超乎我们一般所论的。它给我们新的异象，使我们对每事每物都感到新鲜有趣，这都因神源源不断的生命力。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，吹向我，直至我的意念、心思和气质，都能与你一致。我的依靠在乎你。我再一次透彻认识到，没有了你，我是何其失丧！

January 20 Are You Fresh For Everything?

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

Sometimes we are fresh for a prayer meeting but not fresh for cleaning boots!

Being born again of the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as mysterious as the wind, as surprising as God Himself. We do not know where it begins, it is hidden away in the depths of our personal life. Being born again from above is a perennial, perpetual and eternal beginning; a freshness all the time in thinking and in talking and in living, the continual surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an indication of something out of joint with God – “I must do this thing or it will never be done.” That is the first sign of staleness. Are we freshly born this minute or are we stale, raking in our minds for something to do? Freshness does not come from obedience but from the Holy Spirit; obedience keeps us in the light as God is in the light.

Guard jealously your relationship to God. Jesus prayed “that they may be one, even as we are one” – nothing between. Keep all the life perennially open to Jesus Christ, don't pretend with Him. Are you drawing your life from any other source than God Himself? If you are depending upon anything but Him, you will never know when He is gone.

Being born of the Spirit means much more than we generally take it to mean. It gives us a new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything by the perennial supply of the life of God.

你幼年的恩爱……我都记得。（耶二2）

我爱神是否像昔日一样甘心自发？还是只指望以仁慈对待我？我有没有许多微小的事可以讨他欢心？还是因路不顺遂而唉哼怨叹？你心若忘记了神所看为宝贵的，就不会喜乐。试想主耶稣需要我－－“请给我水喝”，这是多么美妙的事！过去的一个礼拜里，我怎样表示爱他呢？在我的生活中，有没有彰显他的名呢？

神对他子民说：“你现在不再爱我了，但我很记得你爱我的那段日子。”“我记得……你婚姻般的爱情。”当日我怎样撇开一切，表明诚心爱他；如今，我是否仍对他有这不断涌流的爱情？我除了他别无眷恋的日子，是否要在回忆中去追寻？我如今还在那境地，还是懂得怎样去爱他？我是否深深地爱他而不管前途如何？还是在注视自己该得的地位，估计着该摆上多少事奉？假若我想起神纪念我的日子，却发觉他在我心中已不复昔日重要的地位，就叫我羞愧自卑，因为羞愧会带来忧愁，叫我悔改。

祈祷◆主啊，我何等渴望你带领我与你面对面！我的灵渴想着你、你恩典的触动和你圣灵的气息。

January 21 Recall What GOD Remembers

“I remember . . . the kindness of thy youth.” Jeremiah 2:2

Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? Am I full of the little things that cheer His heart over me, or am I whimpering because things are going hardly with me? There is no joy in the soul that has forgotten what God prizes. It is a great thing to think that Jesus Christ has need of me – “Give Me to drink.” How much kindness have I shown Him this past week? Have I been kind to His reputation in my life?

God is saying to His people – You are not in love with Me now, but I remember the time when you were – “I remember . . . the love of thine espousals.” Am I as full of the extravagance of love to Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him? Does He find me recalling the time when I did not care for anything but Himself? Am I there now, or have I become wise over loving Him? Am I so in love with Him that I take no account of where I go? or am I watching for the respect due to me; weighing how much service I ought to give?

If, as I recall what God remembers about me, I find He is not what He used to be to me, let it produce shame and humiliation, because that shame will bring the godly sorrow that works repentance.

地极的人都当仰望我，就必得救。（赛四十五22）

我们是否指望神带着许多祝福来拯救我们？他说：“仰望我，就必得救。”属灵生命上最难做到的，就是专心一意仰望神，这可是出于他的祝福。因为困难使我们仰望神，祝福却使我们望到别处去。登山宝训的精意，其实是：把你所有的注意力收窄，直到你的心志、心灵与身体，完全集中在主耶稣身上——仰望他。

不少人对做基督徒存一固定模式，就是其他圣徒的榜样，成了我们集中在神身上的障碍。这样是不会得救的，那太复杂了。“仰望我”不是“将会得救”，而是“就必得救”。我们期盼的东西，只要集中在他身上，就必得着。但我们对神往往心不在焉，或向神怨叹愤懣，可是他却一直在对我们说：“仰望我就得救。”一切困难试炼，如这个暑假我有什么计划，明天又该作什么？这些萦绕在脑际的问题，一经仰望神，都会得着解决了。

醒来吧，仰望神。把盼望建筑在神身上，不论有多少件事情压着你，只管放下它们，一心一意望着他。“仰望我”，必得救，就在你望的一刹那。

祈祷◆主啊，我仰望你。我何其了解“在我里面没有良善”；然而，你的恩典是何等奇妙，我如今竟发现自己的内心，除了你的荣耀以外，再别无他求。

January 22 What Am I Looking At?

“Look unto Me, and be ye saved.” Isaiah 45:22

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says – Look unto Me, and be saved. The great difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and it is His blessings that make it difficult. Troubles nearly always make us look to God; His blessings are apt to make us look elsewhere. The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is, in effect – Narrow all your interests until the attitude of mind and heart and body is concentration on Jesus Christ. “Look unto Me.”

Many of us have a mental conception of what a Christian should be, and the lives of the saints become a hindrance to our concentration on God. There is no salvation in this way, it is not simple enough. “Look unto Me” and – not “you will be saved,” but “you are saved.” The very thing we look for, we shall find if we will concentrate on Him. We get preoccupied and sulky with God, while all the time He is saying – “Look up and be saved.” The difficulties and trials – the casting about in our minds as to what we shall do this summer, or to-morrow, all vanish when we look to God.

Rouse yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter if there are a hundred and one things that press, resolutely exclude them all and look to Him. “Look unto Me,” and salvation is, the moment you look.

我们众人既然敞着脸，得以看见主的荣光，好像从镜子里反照，就变成主的形状。（林后三18）

信徒最卓越的品德与特征，就是在神面前毫无掩饰，以致他的生命成为别人的一面镜子。我们被圣灵充满而改变，又因“定睛仰望”而成为镜子。一个人若有主的荣光，你必然会觉察出来，也会感到他正是主性情的反照。要提防那些叫这镜子模糊的东西；这些东西多半是好的，却不是最好的。

你我生活的准则，就是要专注地保持向神开放。其他一切如工作、服饰、食物，地上的东西就任它去吧。次要的东西不断涌来，很容易阻碍对神的专一。所以我们要常常瞻仰主的荣光，同时要保持生命完全属灵。旁的事随它去吧，旁的人任他批评吧，却绝不可让任何事务迷糊了与基督一同藏在神里面的生命。不要让忙乱破坏了你与他同住的关系，虽然这是很容易被摇动的。信徒生活上最严格的操练，就是学习不断“看见主的荣光，好像从镜子反照。”

祈祷◆噢，主啊，我完全仰赖你。离了你，我就毫无价值。求你今天将智慧、明辨和敏悟的心赐给我。

January 23 Transformed by Beholding

We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image . . . —2 Corinthians 3:18

The greatest characteristic a Christian can exhibit is this completely unveiled openness before God, which allows that person's life to become a mirror for others. When the Spirit fills us, we are transformed, and by beholding God we become mirrors. You can always tell when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord, because your inner spirit senses that he mirrors the Lord's own character. Beware of anything that would spot or tarnish that mirror in you. It is almost always something good that will stain it— something good, but not what is best.

The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside. The busyness of things obscures our concentration on God. We must maintain a position of beholding Him, keeping our lives completely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they will; let other people criticize us as they will; but never allow anything to obscure the life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it. The most difficult lesson of the Christian life is learning how to continue “beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord . . . .”

我特意向你显现。（徒二十六16）

保罗在大马色路上所见的异象，绝非霎时的冲动，而是十分清楚肯定是从神而来的指示，因此他说：“故此我没有违背那从天上来的异象。”主其实是对保罗说：“你的一生完全由我作主；除了我，你不能再有任何目标与计划。”“我拣选了他。”

我们重生了，必然都有异象。要是我们要灵命长进，便要行主要我们行的；而最要紧的就是学习不违背异象，不要说那是无法达致的（或作高不可及的）。

单单知道神救赎了世人，又知道圣灵叫耶稣所成就的一切并实现在我身上，这还是不够的；我必须与他有个人的关系，作为根基。保罗所得的不是一篇道理、一套教义，叫他去传扬；他乃是与耶稣基督有一个亲身的经历，让主完全占有了他。第16节最令人触目——“派你作执事作见证”。保罗是效忠于主，而不是一个使命。他是完完全全属于耶稣基督的；此外，便别无所见，也不再为别的事物而活。“我在你们中间不知道别的，只知道耶稣基督并他钉十字架。”

祈祷◆噢，主啊，求你以爱慕的枷锁将我与你结连；在你差派我时，以你的眷佑环绕我；加添我的能力，以致我愈来愈能够被你使用。

January 24 The Overmastering Direction

“I have appeared unto thee for this purpose.” Acts 26:16

The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was no passing emotion, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him, and he says, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Our Lord said, in effect, to Paul – Your whole life is to be overmastered by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine. “I have chosen him.”

When we are born again we all have visions, if we are spiritual at all, of what Jesus wants us to be, and the great thing is to learn not to be disobedient to the vision, not to say that it cannot be attained. It is not sufficient to know that God has redeemed the world, and to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did effectual in me; I must have the basis of a personal relationship to Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim, he was brought into a vivid, personal, overmastering relationship to Jesus Christ. Verse 16 is immensely commanding – “to make thee a minister and a witness.” There is nothing there apart from the personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ's, he saw nothing else, he lived for nothing else. “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

神既然乐意......（加一15-16）

作为神的工人，我们必须学习给神留下应有的地位，就是给他有自由活动的空间。我们会计算量度，说这个那个会这样那样，却忘记腾出空间，给神自由进出的余地。神若突然闯入我们的聚会中，或我们讲道时他来了，我们会诧异吗？不要指望神照你指定的方式来到，只要注目在他身上，这才是给他空间。要指望他来，但不要限制他只能用某种方式来。不论我们认识神有多少，最重要的是要知道：神任何一分钟都可以裂天而降。我们很容易忽视这个突如其来的可能性，其实神做工一向就是如此。神往往出其不意地临到人当中——“神乐意......”。

经常与神保持贴近，以致神奇异的大能随时地从他右手或左手发出。要常在期待当中，给神空间随他的意思降临。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，求你以爱慕的枷锁将我与你结连；在你差派我时，以你的眷佑环绕我；加添我的能力，以致我愈来愈能够被你使用。

January 25 Leave Room For GOD

“But when it pleased God. . .” Galatians 1:15

As workers for God we have to learn to make room for God – to give God “elbow room.” We calculate and estimate, and say that this and that will happen, and we forget to make room for God to come in as He chooses. Would we be surprised if God came into our meeting or into our preaching in a way we had never looked for Him to come? Do not look for God to come in any particular way, but look for Him. That is the way to make room for Him. Expect Him to come, but do not expect Him only in a certain way. However much we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that at any minute He may break in. We are apt to over look this element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way. All of a sudden God meets the life – “When it was the good pleasure of God. . .”

Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His surprising power may break out on the right hand and on the left. Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come in as He likes.

野地里的草……神还给它这样的妆饰，何况你们呢？（太六30）

这是耶稣一句很简单的话语，若果我们不单纯，就会大惑不解。我们怎样才能像耶稣那样单纯呢？接受他的灵，承认他，依靠他，顺服他所传递神的话语，这样，生命就会变得单纯了。耶稣说：“试想，天父怎样妆饰野地里的草，你若与他亲近，他岂不更加照样妆饰你？”每次我们灵性上后退，都是因为妄自尊大，以为自己比主耶稣懂得更多。我们让世界的忧虑进来，忘记了天父的“何况……”

“你们看那天上的飞鸟”——它们主要的任务就是服从那生命的律，神便看顾它们了。耶稣说如果你与他有好的关系，同时又顺服圣灵，神自然照顾你。“你想野地里的百合花”——它们被放置在哪里，就生长在那里。我们不少人不肯在所处的地方生长，因此无法扎根。耶稣说，如果我们顺服神，他便会料理其他的一切。耶稣基督撒了谎吗？我们若未经验到那“何况”，是因为我们尚未顺服神，自讨烦恼，落在诸般忧虑里。我们花多少时间向神发问，叫他担忧，而其实我们该毫无束缚地献身在他的工作上？献身就是为某特定的目标，不断地把自己投上。献身不是一次便解决的事。我是否每天不断地把自己分别出来、以神为念？

祈祷◆噢，主啊，为着你透过主耶稣的恩典，将你至高无上的父性向我显明，我赞美你。噢，我可以成为天父的孩子了！

January 26 Look Again And Consecrate

“If God so clothe the grass of the field . . . shall He not much more clothe you?” Matthew 6:30

A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us if we are not simple. How are we going to be simple with the simplicity of Jesus? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, obeying Him as He brings the word of God, and life will become amazingly simple. “Consider,” says Jesus, “how much more your Father Who clothes the grass of the field will clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him.” Every time we have gone back in spiritual communion it has been because we have impertinently known better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed the cares of the world to come in, and have forgotten the “much more” of our Heavenly Father.

“Behold the fowls of the air” – their main aim is to obey the principle of life that is in them and God looks after them. Jesus says that if you are rightly related to Him and obey His Spirit that is in you, God will look after your ‘feathers.’

“Consider the lilies of the field” – they grow where they are put. Many of us refuse to grow where we are put, consequently we take root nowhere. Jesus says that if we obey the life God has given us, He will look after all the other things. Has Jesus Christ told us a lie? If we are not experiencing the “much more,” it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us, we are taken up with confusing considerations. How much time have we taken up worrying God with questions when we should have been absolutely free to concentrate on His work? Consecration means the continual separating of myself to one particular thing. We cannot consecrate once and for all. Am I continually separating myself to consider God every day of my life?

不要为生命忧虑。

今世的忧虑，钱财的迷惑，及其他的私欲一点进入我们心中，就会把神所赐予的生命窒息，这是必须再三告诫的。属世的东西势如潮涌，连连进击，使我们无法摆脱。若不从衣食而来，就会从金钱或贫乏而来；不从朋友而来，就从孤独无友而来；甚至又会从困境而来。这些东西不住地、逐步地蚕食我们属灵的生命，除非我们让圣灵来抵抗，否则这些东西将如洪水泛滥，淹没我们。

“不要为生命忧虑。”主说：“只要关心一件事便够了，那就是你与我的关系。”我们会理性地大声疾呼，说：“真是无稽，我不能不为生计打算，打算吃什么喝什么啊!”耶稣却说不可。不要以为说这话的主根本不明白我们的境况。其实耶稣基督知道得比我们更清楚。他说，我们不应该把这些事当作生活中唯一需要关注的事。什么时候属世的事务与主相争，就要把你和神的关系摆在前头。

“一天的难处一天当就够了。”今日有多少难处在向你威吓？有什么顽童小鬼在窥探说：“看你下个月怎么办？暑期又如何？”耶稣说：“应当一无挂虑。”请你再三思想，慎加明辨！把你的心思放在天父的“何况你们”这一句话上吧。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，使我离开那些关乎感官和时间的事情，引导我进入与大君王同在之境地。保守我的心思意念全属于你。

January 27 Look Again And Think

“Take no thought for your life.” Matthew 6:25

A warning which needs to be reiterated is that the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in, will choke all that God puts in. We are never free from the recurring tides of this encroachment. If it does not come on the line of clothes and food, it will come on the line of money or lack of money; of friends or lack of friends; or on the line of difficult circumstances. It is one steady encroachment all the time, and unless we allow the Spirit of God to raise up the standard against it, these things will come in like a flood.

“Take no thought for your life.” “Be careful about one thing only,” says our Lord – “your relationship to Me.” Common sense shouts loud and says – “That is absurd, I must consider how I am going to live, I must consider what I am going to eat and drink.” Jesus says you must not. Beware of allowing the thought that this statement is made by One Who does not understand our particular circumstances. Jesus Christ knows our circumstances better than we do, and He says we must not think about these things so as to make them the one concern of our life. Whenever there is competition, be sure that you put your relationship to God first.

“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” How much evil has begun to threaten you to-day? What kind of mean little imps have been looking in and saying – Now what are you going to do next month – this summer? “Be anxious for nothing,” Jesus says. Look again and think. Keep your mind on the “much more” of your heavenly Father.

扫罗，扫罗，为什么逼迫我？

对神我是否自作主张？除非我们先经历了圣灵与火的洗，否则永远也不能脱离这个网罗。刚愎自用是会刺伤耶稣基督的，也许别人不会受损害，但主却受了伤。每当我们顽梗、自我、野心勃勃的去行事，我们就伤了耶稣的心。每当我们坚持自己的主张，坚持自己的意向，我们就是逼迫耶稣了。每当我们维护自己的尊严，就势必叫他的灵痛苦担忧。当我们恍悟自己一直再逼迫耶稣，这实在是最沉痛的光照。

我把神的话传给你的时候，这些话对我是否真的如此敏锐？还是我的生活与口所教导的两相违背？我可能教导人成圣，而同时却表现出撒旦的灵，就是逼迫耶稣基督。耶稣的灵只知道一件事，就是与父全然合一。他说：“我心里柔和谦卑，你们要学我的样式。”我所做的一切，应以与他完全合一为根基，而不是凭自己的意志去过敬虔生活。这样我可能被人欺压，被人排挤，被人忽视；但我若肯顺服，主就不用受逼迫了。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，正如你与父合而为一，我也盼望与你合而为一！为着你的荣耀，求你赐给我们这种合一，愿你的脸光照我们，赐给我们平安。

January 28 But It Is Hardly Credible That One Could So Persecute JESUS!

“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” Acts 26:14

Am I set on my own way for God? We are never free from this snare until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Obstinacy and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set upon our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Jesus. Whenever we stand on our dignity we systematically vex and grieve His Spirit; and when the knowledge comes home that it is Jesus Whom we have been persecuting all the time, it is the most crushing revelation there could be.

Is the word of God tremendously keen to me as I hand it on to you, or does my life give the lie to the things I profess to teach? I may teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the spirit that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of one thing only – a perfect oneness with the Father, and He says, “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” All I do ought to be founded on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly. This will mean that I can be easily put upon, easily over-reached, easily ignored; but if I submit to it for His sake, I prevent Jesus Christ being persecuted.

主啊，你是谁？（徒二十六15）

“耶和华以大能的手，指教我......”(赛八11) 我们的主一开口，我们再无可躲藏。他来的时候，总要抓住你。神的声音有没有直接临到你？若有，你对他的话里的亲切肯定，对他用你所熟悉的语句，必不至于认不出来。你不是用耳朵听，乃是透过环境际遇去辨认出来。

神必须先破坏我们执着自信的主见。“我晓得我该做什么。”突然，神的声音震撼我们，显出我们是何等的无知。我们如何用自己的方法来事奉主，正表现出自己的无知。我们事奉耶稣的心，与圣灵并不合一，因为没有属基督的灵。我们为他辩护，却伤害了他；我们推崇他的主权，却附从了魔鬼的邪灵。我们说的话没有什么不对，只是我们是敌基督的。“他责备她们说，你们的心如何，你们并不知道。”(路九55) 哥林多前书十三章所说的，才是真正为主发言，因为是出自他的灵。

我有没有以自己的方法，抱着满腔热诚，立志事奉主，然而却逼迫了他？我若自以为尽了一己的任务，却因此伤了主的心，那么，那决不是我应该做的，因为这工作没有使温柔谦卑的灵得以长进，反而带来自满自足。我们总以为凡是不讨好的工作，就是自己的任务！这像不像我们主的表现？“我的神啊，我乐意照你的旨意行。”

祈祷◆噢，主啊，我要称颂你声音的语调和能力，你的语调带着温柔和满有恩典的爱，也带有如自然界强风的能力。主啊，让人在这地方听闻你荣耀的声音，亦让我的灵得以听见.

January 29 How Could Someone Be So Ignorant!

Who are You, Lord? —Acts 26:15

“The Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand . . .” (Isaiah 8:11). There is no escape when our Lord speaks. He always comes using His authority and taking hold of our understanding. Has the voice of God come to you directly? If it has, you cannot mistake the intimate insistence with which it has spoken to you. God speaks in the language you know best— not through your ears, but through your circumstances.

God has to destroy our determined confidence in our own convictions. We say, “I know that this is what I should do”-and suddenly the voice of God speaks in a way that overwhelms us by revealing the depths of our ignorance. We show our ignorance of Him in the very way we decide to serve Him. We serve Jesus in a spirit that is not His, and hurt Him by our defense of Him. We push His claims in the spirit of the devil; our words sound all right, but the spirit is that of an enemy. “He . . . rebuked them, and said, ’You do not know what manner of spirit you are of’ ” (Luke 9:55). The spirit of our Lord in His followers is described in 1 Corinthians 13 .

Have I been persecuting Jesus by an eager determination to serve Him in my own way? If I feel I have done my duty, yet have hurt Him in the process, I can be sure that this was not my duty. My way will not be to foster a meek and quiet spirit, only the spirit of self-satisfaction. We presume that whatever is unpleasant is our duty! Is that anything like the spirit of our Lord— “I delight to do Your will, O my God . . .” (Psalm 40:8).

撒母耳……不敢将默示告诉以利。（撒上三15）

神从来不用惊天动地的方式对我们说话，他说话的方式，往往容易被我们误解。我们会说：“不知这到底是不是神的声音？”以赛亚说神的手在他身上沉重（对他说话），也就是说，神用环境的压力。任何发生在我们身上的事，都是神在说话。我们有没有辨认出他的手，还是只当作偶发的事件？

能养成“主啊，请说”的习惯，这样生命就变得多姿多彩。每一次说：“主啊，请说。”要拨出时间来静听！管教不单只为了操练，也是为了要把我带到一个地步，使我能说：“主啊，请说。”请你追忆一下神对你说过的话，你还记得他说过什么吗？是路加福音十一章13节，还是帖撒罗尼迦前书五章23节？我们多听，耳朵就开通，像耶稣随时都听见神的声音。

我应该把神给我的指示，告诉我的“以利”吗？这样就来到顺服的难关了。我们若以神明自居，说我必须保护“以利”，因他是我熟悉的人中最善良的。这样，我就是违背神了。神没有叫撒母耳去告诉以利，他要自作决定。神对你的呼召可能伤害你的“以利”；但是你若设法护卫另一个人，使其不受伤害，这样你心灵与神之间便有了阻隔。你不肯砍下右手，剜出眼睛，只会自取其咎，招来毁灭。

神要你在他面前决定的事，不要咨询别人的意见。你听取人的意见，就不期然的袒护撒旦了。“我没有与属血气的人商量。”这是保罗的态度。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，愿你成为怀中摇签的定夺者，以致我们为着你所成就的事充满欢笑。

January 30 The Dilemma Of Obedience

“And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.” 1 Samuel 3:15

God never speaks to us in startling ways, but in ways that are easy to misunderstand, and we say, “I wonder if that is God's voice?” Isaiah said that the Lord spake to him “with a strong hand,” that is, by the pressure of circumstances. Nothing touches our lives but it is God Himself speaking. Do we discern His hand or only mere occurrence?

Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life will become a romance. Every time circumstances press, say, “Speak, Lord”; make time to listen. Chastening is more than a means of discipline, it is meant to get me to the place of saying, “Speak, Lord.” Recall the time when God did speak to you. Have you forgotten what He said? Was it Luke 11:13, or was it 1 Thess. 5:23? As we listen, our ear gets acute, and, like Jesus, we shall hear God all the time.

Shall I tell my “Eli” what God has shown to me? That is where the dilemma of obedience comes in. We disobey God by becoming amateur providences – I must shield “Eli”, the best people we know. God did not tell Samuel to tell Eli; he had to decide that for himself. God's call to you may hurt your “Eli”; but if you try to prevent the suffering in another life, it will prove an obstruction between your soul and God. It is at your own peril that you prevent the cutting off of the right hand or the plucking out of the eye.

Never ask the advice of another about anything God makes you decide before Him. If you ask advice, you will nearly always side with Satan. “Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.”

特派传神的福音（特派有分别出来之意）。（罗一1）

基本上来说，神呼召我们并不是叫我们做圣洁的人，乃是要我们宣扬他的福音。因为其中最要紧的，就是神的福音是永存的事实。人的良善、圣洁，固然不是那事实，而天堂、地狱也都不是，只有救赎才是。今日基督的工人最要了解的，就是这个。作为工人，我们必须熟悉这个启示，就是救赎是唯一的永存事实。个人的圣洁只是救赎的果，不是因。如果我们把信心寄托于人的良善上，以救恩为果，试炼一来，我们就站立不住了。

保罗并没有说他分别自己，他乃说：“神既喜悦将我分别出来……。”保罗对自己的性情，并没有过分的注意。我们的眼睛一天放在自己的成圣上，一天就不能进入救赎的实际里去。许多工人一败涂地，就是因为他们的愿望只为自己的圣洁，而不是为神。“由于人性是堕落与污秽的，请不要叫我面对救赎崎岖的现实吧！我要的，是神为我做点什么，叫我更欣赏自己。”说这样的话，表明神福音的实际尚未摸着我，我还未完全献身，向神降服。保罗能够忘我，毫无顾虑地撇弃一切，被神分别出来，为的只是一个目标——传扬神的福音（参罗九3）

祈祷◆噢，主啊，对于你的救赎和全备的救恩，我的欣赏是何其吝啬。主啊，驱使我产生更丰富的感恩；让我永远深爱主耶稣基督。

January 31 Do You See Your Calling?

. . . separated to the gospel of God. . . —Romans 1:1

Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that the gospel of God should be recognized as the abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell— it is redemption. The need to perceive this is the most vital need of the Christian worker today. As workers, we have to get used to the revelation that redemption is the only reality. Personal holiness is an effect of redemption, not the cause of it. If we place our faith in human goodness we will go under when testing comes.

Paul did not say that he separated himself, but “when it pleased God, who separated me . . .” (Galatians 1:15). Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. “Don't ask me to be confronted with the strong reality of redemption on behalf of the filth of human life surrounding me today; what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes.” To talk that way is a sign that the reality of the gospel of God has not begun to touch me. There is no reckless abandon to God in that. God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose— to proclaim the gospel of God (see Romans 9:3).