0330 对神圣洁还是刚硬？
祂…见无人代求，甚为惊讶。《以赛亚书 59:16》
我们许多人停止祷告并对神变得冷淡，原因是我们对祷告只有情感上的兴趣。说我们祷告，那听起来不错，我们读关于祷告的书，这些书告诉我们祷告是有益的——当我们祷告时，我们的心思会安静下来，我们的灵魂被提升起来。但以赛亚在这节经文中暗示，神对这种关于祷告的想法感到惊讶。
敬拜和代祷必须结合在一起，缺一不可。代祷意味着提升我们自己，以获得基督对我们代求的那人的心思（见腓立比书 2:5）。我们不是在敬拜神，反而是向神背诵关于祷告应该如何工作的演讲。当我们说「但是，神啊，我就是不明白你要怎么做这事」时，我们是在敬拜神，还是在与祂争论呢？这是我们没有敬拜的明确标志。当我们失去对神的视野时，我们变得冷酷和教条主义。我们把我们的祈求抛在祂的宝座前，指定神做我们要祂做的。我们不敬拜神，也不寻求将我们的心思符合基督的心思。如果我们对神冷酷，我们也会对其他人变得冷酷。
我们是否以一种会将我们提升到我们能抓住祂的方式敬拜神，与祂有如此亲密的连接，以至于我们知道祂对我们所代求的人们的心思呢？我们是活在与神圣洁的关系中？还是变得冷酷和教条主义呢？
你是否发现自己认为无人适当地代求？那么你自己就成为那个人吧，成为一个敬拜神并活在与神有圣洁关系的人。参与真正的代祷工作，记住这确实是一项工作——需要你所有的精力的工作，但没有隐藏陷阱的工作。传讲福音有其陷阱，但代求却完全没有。
来自章伯斯的智慧
我们不是要宣扬行善。善行不是被宣讲的，而是要被实践的。《故我差遣你》
0330 Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
He…wondered that there was no intercessor… —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work— work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. –So Send I You