0320 與神的友誼
我所要做的事豈可瞞着亞伯拉罕呢？《創世記 18:17》
祂友誼之樂。與在禱告中僅僅偶爾感受到神的同在相比，創世記第 18 章顯露出與神真正友誼的喜樂。這種友誼意味着與神如此親密的接觸，以至於你甚至不需要請求祂向你顯明祂的旨意。那是親密程度的證據，確認你正接近信仰生活紀律訓練的最後階段。當你與神有了正確的關係時，你就會擁有自由、解脫和喜樂的生命；你就是神的旨意。你所有的常識決定實際上都是祂對你的旨意，除非你靈里檢查帶來了限制感。在與神完全和愉快的友誼光中，你可以自由地做決定，知道如果你的決定錯了，祂會慈愛地產生那種限制感；一旦祂這樣做了，你必須立即停止。
祂友誼之難。亞伯拉罕為什麼停止禱告？他停下來是因為他與神的關係仍然缺乏親密的程度，那種親密程度將使他能夠大膽地繼續向主祈禱，直到他的願望得到實現。每當我們在禱告中停止，沒有獲得真正的願望時，會說：「嗯，我不知道，也許這不是神的旨意」，那麼我們還有另一個層次要走。它表明我們與神的親密熟悉程度不如耶穌，也不如耶穌希望我們那樣——「使他們合而為一，像我們合而為一。」（約翰福音17:22）。想想你禱告的最後一件事——你是傾注於自己的願望還是神？你的決心是要為自己獲得一些屬靈的恩賜，還是要得到神？「因為你們沒有祈求以先，你們所需用的，你們的父早已知道了。」（馬太福音 6:8）。祈求的原因是為了讓你可以更好地認識神。「又要以耶和華為樂，祂就將你心裡所求的賜給你。」（詩篇 37:4）。我們應該繼續禱告，來完全理解神自己。
來自章伯斯的智慧
對神的理智認識可能會在糟糕邪惡的性格中找到。對神的認識和視覺完全取決於一顆純潔的心。品格決定了神對個人的顯現。清心的人得以見神。《聖經倫理學》
0320 Friendship with God
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…? —Genesis 18:17
The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.
The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, “Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will,” then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed about— were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
An intellectual conception of God may be found in a bad vicious character. The knowledge and vision of God is dependent entirely on a pure heart. Character determines the revelation of God to the individual. The pure in heart see God. –Biblical Ethics, 125 R