|
經文：「耶穌設一個比喻，是要人常常禱告，不可灰心。」（路18:1） 禱告生活中最常出現的失敗，就是缺少恆心。當我們開始為某件事祈求：經過一日、一週、一月，如果並無所得，我們就開始灰心與失去盼望；然後在禱告中也就不再提及。 這是極大的錯誤；人若有始無終，無論在任何事上都很難會有結果。一旦有了有始無終的習慣就注定了失敗，半途而廢的禱告也是如此；灰心生失望，失望生不信，不信生失敗；這些都是禱告的致命傷。 有人問：「我們禱告，應該到甚麼時候為止呢？難道不能把事情交在神手中而停止禱告麼？」。答覆只有一種：禱告一直到得著所求的，或者到心裡確實相信神必定會成就的把握；只有這二種理由我們可以暫停繼續祈求。 因為禱告不只是呼求神，同時也是抵擋惡者。神常使用我們的禱告來幫助我們制服惡者，所以唯有神而非我們，能決定停下禱告。因此甚願我們不敢隨意停止禱告，除非答應已經來到，或者已經有了把握。前者，是因為我們已經看見，而後者，是因為信心的眼睛也已經看見。--譯自祈禱訓練 The Practice of Prayer 在我們的禱告生活經過了長期的經驗後，我們就能認識這是神所賜的「把握」；知道什麽時候可以停止，又什麽時候應當繼續，直到獲得回應。所以，請停留在神的應許上，直到你在那裏遇見了神。--選 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會 |
◇◇◇ Scripture: "He spoke a parable unto them…that men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). No temptation in the life of intercession is more common than this of failure to persevere. We begin to pray for a certain thing; we put up our petitions for a day, a week, a month; and then, receiving as yet no definite answer, straightway we faint, and cease altogether from prayer concerning it. This is a deadly fault. It is simply the snare of many beginnings with no completions. It is ruinous in all spheres of life. The man who forms the habit of beginning without finishing has simply formed the habit of failure. The man who begins to pray about a thing and does not pray it through to a successful issue of answer has formed the same habit in prayer. To faint is to fail; then defeat begets disheartenment, and unfaith in the reality of prayer, which is fatal to all success. But someone says, "How long shall we pray? Do we not come to a place where we may cease from our petitions and rest the matter in God's hands?" There is but one answer. Pray until the thing you pray for has actually been granted, or until you have the assurance in your heart that it will be. Only at one of these two places dare we stay our importunity, for prayer is not only a calling upon God, but also a conflict with Satan. And inasmuch as God is using our intercession as a mighty factor of victory in that conflict, He alone, and not we, must decide when we dare cease from our petitioning. So we dare not stay our prayer until the answer itself has come, or until we receive the assurance that it will come. In the first case we stop because we see. In the other, we stop because we believe, and the faith of our heart is just as sure as the sight of our eyes; for it is faith from, yes, the faith of God, within us. More and more, as we live the prayer life, shall we come to experience and recognize this God-given assurance, and know when to rest quietly in it, or when to continue our petitioning until we receive it. --The Practice of Prayer Tarry at the promise till God meets you there. He always returns by way of His promises. --Selected ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman |