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經文:「你們要…儆醒禱告。」（彼前4:7） 親愛的讀者，如果你今天還沒有禱告，請不要冒險和世界接觸。夜晚當你跪下禱告的時候，睡意前來壓在你的眼皮上；一天工作的辛勞成為你的藉口，於是你就縮短禱告時間，從神的跟前退去休息了。 早晨醒來，因為起床時間已晚，一天的工作已經堆在你的面前，所以向神通融，就倉促地把與主相交這晨間最寶貴的時光敷衍了事。這樣完全不是儆醒禱告！一旦疏於儆醒；這樣的忽略能不能補救？不能！ 不儆醒禱告是一件非常嚴重的事！ 試探在面前，你無法對付，仇敵在引誘，你無法站住；四圍的壓迫，你無法忍耐；和神的相交，你無法維持；和肢體之間產生了隔閡；在未信者面前失了見證；屬靈的能力消失；愛主的心冷淡；做事憑己的喜好，卻不靠神的旨意，漸漸你就會覺得和神之間的距離非常遙遠。不禱告一天，就等於墮落一天。--勞生 Frederick W. Robertson 所以讀者們，千萬不要嘗試無謂的冒險；把儆醒禱告這件事給忽略了。神的獨生愛子耶穌基督尚且需要天未亮，就起身禱告；把祂思念的事向神傾心吐意，更何況我們呢？ 請記得，沒有禱告的生命，是無能力的生命。--選 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "Watch unto prayer" (1 Peter 4:7). Go not, my friend, into the dangerous world without prayer. You kneel down at night to pray, drowsiness weighs down your eyelids; a hard day's work is a kind of excuse, and you shorten your prayer, and resign yourself softly to repose. The morning breaks; and it may be you rise late, and so your early devotions are not done, or are done with irregular haste. No watching unto prayer! Wakefulness once more omitted; and now is that reparable? We solemnly believe not. There has been that done which cannot be undone. You have given up your prayer, and you will suffer for it. Temptation is before you, and you are not ready to meet it. There is a guilty feeling on the soul, and you linger at a distance from God. It is no marvel if that day in which you suffer drowsiness to interfere with prayer be a day in which you shrink from duty. Moments of prayer intruded on by sloth cannot be made up. We may get experience, but we cannot get back the rich freshness and strength which were wrapped up in those moments. --Frederick W. Robertson. If Jesus, the strong Son of God, felt it necessary to rise before the breaking of the day to pour out His heart to God in prayer, how much more ought you to pray unto Him who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift, and who has promised all things necessary for our good. What Jesus gathered into His life from His prayers we can never know; but this we do know, that the prayerless life is a powerless life. A prayerless life may be a noisy life, and fuss around a great deal; but such a life is far removed from Him who, by day and night, prayed to God. --Selected ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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