5月26日 照耶稣所说的去思想

不住的祷告。（帖前五17）

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

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

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

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

May 26 Think As Jesus Taught

“Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

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

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

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