NIV
靈修
新聞
貼圖
為教會
What a light these words cast upon the life of prayer in the hearts of the saints! We know not what we should pray for as we ought. How often this hinders our prayer or hinders the faith that is essential to its success. But here we are told for our encouragement, that the Holy Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered: "He maketh intercession for the saints according to the Will of God."What a prospect is here opened up to us! Where and how does the Spirit make intercession for the saints ? In no other way than that, in the heart which knows not what to pray. He secretly and effectually prays what is according to the Will of God. This of course implies that we trust Him to do His work in us, and that we tarry before God even when we know what to pray, in the assurance that the Holy Spirit is praying in us. This implies fur¬ther that we take time to tarry in Gods presence, that we exercise an unbounded dependence upon the Holy Spirit who has been given us to cry "Abba Father" within us, even when we have nothing to offer but groanings and sighs that cannot be uttered.
What a difference it would make in the life of many of Gods saints if they realized this! They have not only Jesus the Son of God, the great High Priest, ever living to intercede for them, they have not only the liberty of asking in faith, what they desire, and the promise that it shall be given them, but they have actually and in very deed the Holy Spirit, "the Spirit of grace and supplica¬tion," to carry on, in the depths of their being, His work of interceding for them according to the Will of God.
What a call to separate ourselves from the world, to yield ourselves wholeheartedly to the leading and praying of the Spirit within us, deeper than all our thoughts or expectations !
What a call to surrender ourselves in stillness of soul, resting in the Lord and waiting patiently for Him, as the Holy Spirit prays within us not only for ourselves, but specially for all saints according to the Will of God.
Why count heads? One man with God is a majority though there be a thousand on the other side. Sometimes our helpers may be too many for God to work with them, as was the case with Gideon, who could do nothing till he had increased his forces by thinning out their numbers. But the LORDs hosts are never too few. When God would found a nation, He called Abram alone and blessed him. When He would vanquish proud Pharaoh, He used no armies, but only Moses and Aaron. The "one-man ministry," as certain wise men call it, has been far more used of the LORD than trained bands with their officers. Did all the Israelites together slay so many as Samson alone? Saul and his hosts slew their thousands but David his ten thousands.
In looking back upon the character of our prayers, if we do it honestly, we shall be filled with wonder that God has ever answered them. There may be some who think their prayers worthy of acceptance—as the Pharisee did; but the true Christian, in a more enlightened retrospect, weeps over his prayers, and if he could retrace his steps he would desire to pray more earnestly. Remember, Christian, how cold thy prayers have been. When in thy closet thou shouldst have wrestled as Jacob did; but instead thereof, thy petitions have been faint and few—far removed from that humble, believing, persevering faith, which cries, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” Yet, wonderful to say, God has heard these cold prayers of thine, and not only heard, but answered them. Reflect also, how infrequent have been thy prayers, unless thou hast been in trouble, andthen thou hast gone often to the mercy-seat: but when deliverance has come, where has been thy constant supplication? Yet, notwithstanding thou hast ceased to pray as once thou didst, God has not ceased to bless. When thou hast neglected the mercy-seat, God has not deserted it, but the bright light of the Shekinah has always been visible between the wings of the cherubim. Oh! it is marvellous that the Lord should regard those intermittent spasms of importunity which come and go with our necessities. What a God is he thus to hear the prayers of those who come to him when they have pressing wants, but neglect him when they have received a mercy; who approach him when they are forced to come, but who almost forget to address him when mercies are plentiful and sorrows are few. Let his gracious kindness in hearing such prayers touch our hearts, so that we may henceforth be found “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”
The word “conversation” does not merely mean our talk and converse with one another, but the whole course of our life and behaviour in the world. The Greek word signifies the actions and the privileges of citizenship: and thus we are commanded to let our actions, as citizens of the New Jerusalem, be such as becometh the gospel of Christ. What sort of conversation is this? In the first place, the gospel is very simple. So Christians should be simple and plain in their habits. There should be about our manner, our speech, our dress, our whole behaviour, that simplicity which is the very soul of beauty. The gospel is pre-eminently true, it is gold without dross; and the Christians life will be lustreless and valueless without the jewel of truth. The gospel is a very fearless gospel, it boldly proclaims the truth, whether men like it or not: we must be equally faithful and unflinching. But the gospel is also very gentle. Mark this spirit in its Founder: “a bruised reed he will not break.” Some professors are sharper than a thorn-hedge; such men are not like Jesus. Let us seek to win others by the gentleness of our words and acts. The gospel is very loving. It is the message of the God of love to a lost and fallen race. Christs last command to his disciples was, “Love one another.” O for more real, hearty union and love to all the saints; for more tender compassion towards the souls of the worst and vilest of men! We must not forget that the gospel of Christ is holy. It never excuses sin: it pardons it, but only through an atonement. If our life is to resemble the gospel, we must shun, not merely the grosser vices, but everything that would hinder our perfect conformity to Christ. For his sake, for our own sakes, and for the sakes of others, we must strive day by day to let our conversation be more in accordance with his gospel.
The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11). But we must be prepared to wait Gods time. God has His set times. It is not for us to know them; indeed, we cannot know them; we must wait for them.
As the Hebrew people wandered in the wilderness, many became discouraged and murmured against Moses and God. At one time the Lord sent fiery serpents to discipline the rebellious mob. After many died, the people repented and pleaded with God to remove the serpents. Moses prayed and was instructed to make a bronze serpent and to place it on a pole. Those who had been bitten would live if they looked upon the serpent. However, it was not enough to have the bronze serpent in their midst. They had to look at it!
Speaking of the cross, Jesus made reference to this incident when He said that He would be lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness. If He were lifted up from the earth, He would draw all men to Himself. Whoever looked upon Him and believed would not die but have eternal life. Faith came into the hearts of men and women when Christ was nailed to the cross and lifted up. They received the capacity to see and believe.
Paul declared, ‘But now faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor’. The tutor was the law, and it was given for the purpose of leading all men to the cross. However, God’s people were blind and hard of heart from centuries of meaningless compliance to law and ritual. Jesus referred to the Pharisees as blind leaders of the blind. When He visited a synagogue on the Sabbath, Jesus read from the book of Isaiah. He declared that He would fulfil the Scripture by restoring sight to the blind. The first effect of the blood of Christ in our lives is the recovery of our sight. We can look upon Him because His blood has brought us near to look and live.
We are to be a people for the Lord’s own possession, zealous for good works. We are His treasured possession. Did you know that He had such regard for Israel that He set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the sons of Israel? That’s because the Lord’s portion is in His people. Peter described us as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. Peter was quoting from the book of Exodus when the Lord brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt. He said to them, ‘If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples … you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’. The thought of being the Lord’s possession is most comforting. However, the word is much stronger than that. We are His ‘special treasure’. We are like jewels in His crown.
In both the Old and New Testaments, the word can also be translated as a ‘peculiar’ people to the Lord. Perhaps we are ‘peculiar’ because we do not live the way the world does. We make it our goal to be open-faced, respectful, always abounding in the love of God toward one another. In this way, the Lord makes us increase. Another way of saying this is that we are a special people above all others on the face of the earth. In the same way, Solomon gathered silver and gold and peculiar treasure from all the kings and provinces. We don’t like to think of ourselves as odd people but we are most certainly different. And so we should be. We are to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood, separated from the world.
We cannot bring forth fruit of ourselves. If we abide in the vine and in the fellowship of one communion, then we will bring forth the fruit of offering. Christ is the vine and we are the branches of that vine. When we abide in the vine, we prove to be His disciples. Then the Father is glorified because we bear much fruit and prove to be disciples. The vine itself brings forth the harvest of the Feast of Tabernacles in the end of the age. It is in this context that Jesus said, ‘You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit’. He has laid it down to us so that we might grow and bear fruit and our fruit may remain. The Father is glorified by this fruit. Indeed, it is the fruit of our sonship. This fruit is truly manifest to all as we lay down our lives in offering for our friends. The apostle Paul sent Timothy and Titus as true sons in the faith to teach and establish the brethren. Timothy and Titus were to teach faithful men and women. They were to establish firstfruits leaders in every place. Having enquired who is worthy, men like Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus were set forth as firstfruits leaders in the church at Corinth. The church grew from these houses. And Paul accounted for a wide network of connections like this in Romans 16 and 1 Corinthians 16. We are to heed and obey ‘a true Timothy’, who has been chosen and sent for this purpose. And having begun in a fellowship of obedience to the word of the messenger, we must continue in first love. This is the meaning of abiding in the vine.
We are either a vessel of wrath or a vessel of mercy. And it is our obedience to the word which the Father brings to us in His mercy, which determines which kind of vessel we will be. When we are referring to obedience, in the first case, we are not talking about a hierarchy of command. The Scripture uses the phrase ‘vessels of mercy’ with respect to the intrinsic and fundamental predestination that God the Father has named, ordained and given to His sons. As a consequence, the disobedient are rebellious against this fundamental call which God has given to them. This can be subtle. Where our mode is not one of a slave, then we establish a righteousness of our own by re-interpreting our predestination into an altogether different set of parameters. You can be a vessel of mercy if you obey the word of the Father. The way of the potter with the clay is ‘the unfathomable wisdom of God’. ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct Him?’ Of Israel, the chosen vessel, the apostle Paul said that the branches were broken off because of disobedience. And because they were broken off, you and I could be grafted in. Giving thought to predestination, God did not foreordain their fall, but they were broken off because of disobedience. The Jews were given a spirit of slumber or stupor and Israel was scattered as seed among the nations. These were the Lord’s people, chosen to be a holy nation, a special treasure above all the nations of the earth. When we consider these things, we should not be conceited, as the apostle Paul said, but fear. It is not a question of belief only. Even the devils believe. It is an issue of obedience.
