何况你们在天上的父,岂不更把好东西给求他的人吗?(太七11)
耶稣为那些有他的灵在心中的人,设下一些行为的法则。他藉这几句简单的辩论,要我们满心相信神是控制一切事情的。意思就是:门徒必须完全信靠,同时渴望去祈求和寻找。
你的心思要牢扣“神在就这里”的意念。这样,困难一旦临到,你就像呼吸一样,记得:“嗨,我的父完全知道!”你不必费力,这个意念是在困惑压逼之中自然出来的。以往你会去找这个人那个人帮忙,如今你既对神至高的掌管如此坚信,你就去找神。耶稣在此为有他灵的人奠定行为的法则,原则就是——神是我的父,他爱我,没有忘记我的每一件事,那么我何必忧虑呢?
耶稣说神有时候不把黑幕挪开,你仍要信靠他。神似乎像个狠心的朋友,他其实不是。他似乎像个不合理的父亲,他实在不是。他似乎像不公正的审判官,他绝非如此。要记住,神是在一切事的背后。这观念要加强且不住的增长。除非神的旨意在背后,否则没有任何事可以发生,因此你大可以完全信靠安息。祈祷不光是祈求,更是一种生发自然祈求气氛的心态。“你们祈求,就给你们。”
祈祷◆噢,主啊,以你充沛的能力、恩慈和美善,来激励我的生命;让它有机会显露你的面容。这似乎便是我全部的祷告。
July 16: The Notion Of Divine Control
“How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” Matthew 7:11
Jesus is laying down rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit. By the simple argument of these verses He urges us to keep our minds filled with the notion of God’s control behind everything, which means that the disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Notion your mind with the idea that God is there. If once the mind is notioned along that line, then when you are in difficulties it is as easy as breathing to remember – Why, my Father knows all about it! It is not an effort, it comes naturally when perplexities press. Before, you used to go to this person and that, but now the notion of the Divine control is forming so powerfully in you that you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit, and it works on this principle – God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, why should I worry?
There are times, says Jesus, when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but trust Him. God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural Father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the notion of the mind of God behind all things strong and growing. Nothing happens in any particular unless God’s will is behind it, therefore you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but an attitude of mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. “Ask, and it shall be given you.”