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經文：「義人因信而活。」（來10:38） 我們的信心常常會被眼見和感覺替代。快樂的情感和順遂的經歷，都只是基督徒生活中的部分而非全部；前途中埋伏著的試煉、逼迫、戰爭，都是必須的訓練而非不幸，。 我們身在種種患難的經歷中，不論自我感覺如何，都必須認定主活在我們的裡面。有些人之所以跌倒，就是因為依靠感覺不依靠信心的結果。 有位姊妹曾說：她有一回覺得神好似遠離。祂的恩典、憐憫似乎完全消失。她在這種情形之下有六星期之久，直到有一天神對她說：「女兒，妳一直在外在的感覺中尋找我，所以找不着。這六星期中，我始終在妳裡面等待，妳應當回到心靈的內室尋求，因為我就在那裡。」 想想看，我們若能分辨情感和事實，這將是何等喜樂的事：當感覺孤單或淒苦的時候，我們的信心仍能宣告：「神呀，我雖然看不見也感覺不到祢，但是祢始終都在，所以我才能一直是我。哦，主，祢一直都在，荊棘雖然沒有燒燬，但是的確被火燒着。我要脫下腳上的鞋，因為我正站在聖地。」--基督報 London Christian 我們應該相信神的話語和能力，過於相信自己的感覺和經歷。因為有基督做我們的磐石；磐石並不漲落，漲落的只有我們魂中的海潮。--羅斯福特 Ruther Ford 我們的眼目，應當凝視基督已經成就的工作。應當仰望祂，揚起船帆勇敢地與風浪相搏。不要戀棧在不信的港口，不要躺臥在黑暗的死寂，不要任憑感覺上下顛簸，要像安穩碇泊的船。屬靈的生活，不是蹲伏在情感上，也不是留戀在淺水裡。撐開船，撐到狂風大浪之中！信靠主，因為祂是掌管一切！ 飛鳥行得越高越是安全，如果飛得愈低愈近地面，就容易陷入捕鳥人的網羅。照樣，如果我們一直倚靠感覺，就像匍匐低地。也許就要被懷疑、失望、誘惑、不信等千萬種網羅所纏累。這就是「好像飛鳥網羅，設在眼前仍不躲避」（箴10:17）。--馬克特夫 Dr. Macduff 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "The just shall live by faith." (Heb. 10:38). Seemings and feelings are often substituted for faith. Pleasurable emotions and deep satisfying experiences are part of the Christian life, but they are not all of it. Trials, conflicts, battles and testings lie along the way, and are not to be counted as misfortunes, but rather as part of our necessary discipline. In all these varying experiences we are to reckon on Christ as dwelling in the heart, regardless of our feelings if we are walking obediently before Him. Here is where many get into trouble; they try to walk by feeling rather than faith. One of the saints tells us that it seemed as though God had withdrawn Himself from her. His mercy seemed clean gone. For six weeks her desolation lasted, and then the Heavenly Lover seemed to say: "Catherine, thou hast looked for Me without in the world of sense, but all the while I have been within waiting for thee; meet Me in the inner chamber of thy spirit, for I am there." Distinguish between the fact of God's presence, and the emotion of the fact. It is a happy thing when the soul seems desolate and deserted, if our faith can say, "I see Thee not. I feel Thee not, but Thou art certainly and graciously here, where I am as I am." Say it again and again: "Thou art here: though the bush does not seem to burn with fire, it does burn. I will take the shoes from off my feet, for the place on which I stand is holy ground." --London Christian Believe God's word and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your Rock is Christ, and it is not the Rock which ebbs and flows, but your sea. --Samuel Rutherford Keep your eye steadily fixed on the infinite grandeur of Christ's finished work and righteousness. Look to Jesus and believe, look to Jesus and live! Nay, more; as you look to him, hoist your sails and buffet manfully the sea of life. Do not remain in the haven of distrust, or sleeping on your shadows in inactive repose, or suffering your frames and feelings to pitch and toss on one another like vessels idly moored in a harbor. The religious life is not a brooding over emotions, grazing the keel of faith in the shallows, or dragging the anchor of hope through the oozy tide mud as if afraid of encountering the healthy breeze. Away! With your canvas spread to the gale, trusting in Him, who rules the raging of the waters. The safety of the tinted bird is to be on the wing. If its haunt be near the ground--if it fly low--it exposes itself to the fowler's net or snare. If we remain grovelling on the low ground of feeling and emotion, we shall find ourselves entangled in a thousand meshes of doubt and despondency, temptation and unbelief. "But surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of THAT WHICH HATH A WING" (marginal reading Prov. 1:17). Hope thou in God. --J. R. Macduff ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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