我们所领受的……乃是从 神来的灵,叫我们能知道 神开恩赐给我们的事。(林前二12)

救赎本身是事实,而不是我对救恩的经历;不过若不是用我能体会的语言传递出来,救恩对我就毫无意义。重生之后,神的灵就立即把我从自己和自己的经历中领出来,使我与耶稣基督连合。若我仍留在自己的经历中,那些经历必然不是从救恩而来。那经历若是由救恩产生的,最好的明证是我脱离自己,不再以自己的经历作为事实的基础,而只专注于带来这些经历的实体。我的经历若不叫我对准源头--主耶稣,就一文不值。

你若堵住圣灵,要为自己制造一些主观的经历,你会发觉他会爆溢而出,把你带回历史的基督面前。经历若不植根于神,也不叫你对神产生信心,就不当培育。否则,不管你所见的异象是什么,你的经历与基督是敌对的。主耶稣是你经历中的主?还是你要经历作他的主?有没有经历是比主更宝贵的?他要作你的主,你不应该注意对那些不以他为主的经历。你会来到一个地步,神叫你对自己的经历不耐烦--“不管我的经历是什么,我只求持定神。”

你若有很多机会谈及自己的经历,就得对自己无情一点。只确信本身的信心,不是信心;对神有把握的信心,才是唯一的信心。

祈祷◆噢,主啊,求你除去这思想上的枷锁,为我带来平安、纯洁和能力。愿今天你以温柔、怜悯和恩典来充满我。

December 21: Experience Or Revelation

“We have received . . . the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:12

Reality is Redemption, not my experience of Redemption; but Redemption has no meaning for me until it speaks the language of my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me right out of myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left with my experiences, my experiences have not been produced by Redemption. The proof that they are produced by Redemption is that I am led out of myself all the time, I no longer pay any attention to my experiences as the ground of Reality, but only to the Reality which produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source, Jesus Christ.

If you try to dam up the Holy Spirit in you to produce subjective experiences, you will find that He will burst all bounds and take you back again to the historic Christ. Never nourish an experience which has not God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you try to lord it over Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? He must be Lord over you, and you must not pay attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. There comes a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience – I do not care what I experience; I am sure of Him.

Be ruthless with yourself if you are given to talking about the experiences you have had. Faith that is sure of itself is not faith; faith that is sure of God is the only faith there is.