0125 为神留出空间
神乐意…的时候。《加拉太书1:15-16》
作为神的仆人，我们必须学会为神腾出空间——给神「肘部活动的空间」。我们计划、估量和预测这个或那个会发生，但我们忘记要为神留出空间，让祂以祂选择的方式临到。如果神以我们从未预料到的方式来到我们的聚会或讲道中，我们会感到惊讶吗？不要期待神以特定方式临到，但确实要期待祂来。我们为祂留出空间的方法是期待祂的来临，但不是以特定的方式。无论我们多么认识神，要学习的伟大功课就是祂可能在任何时刻闯入。我们往往会忽略这种突如其来的因素，然而神从不以其他方式行事。突然间 —— 「在神悦纳的时候…」神与我们的生命相遇。
要保持你的生活持续与神紧密相交，以便祂惊人的能力在任何时刻都可以突破。活在持续期待的状态中，并留出空间让神决定何时进入。
来自章伯斯的智慧
我们容易认为发生在我们身上的一切，都要转化为有益的教训；它是要成为比教训更好的东西，即转化为品格。我们会发现，神带我们进入的领域并不是要教导我们什么，而是要陶塑我们。《神的爱——不被注意的事工》
0125 Leave Room for God
When it pleased God… —Galatians 1:15
As servants of God, we must learn to make room for Him— to give God “elbow room.” We plan and figure and predict that this or that will happen, but we forget to make room for God to come in as He chooses. Would we be surprised if God came into our meeting or into our preaching in a way we had never expected Him to come? Do not look for God to come in a particular way, but do look for Him. The way to make room for Him is to expect Him to come, but not in a certain way. No matter how well we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that He may break in at any minute. We tend to overlook this element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way. Suddenly—God meets our life “…when it pleased God….”
Keep your life so constantly in touch with God that His surprising power can break through at any point. Live in a constant state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come in as He decides.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something. –The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L