0806 祷告中的十字架
到那日，你们要奉我的名祈求…《约翰福音 16:26》
我们太常认为基督的十字架是我们必须经历之事，但我们经历的目的是为了进入它。十字架对我们来说只代表一件事：与主耶稣基督完全、整个、绝对的认同。对我们来说，再没有什么比在祷告中更真实实现这种认同了。
「…你们所需用的，你们的父早已知道了。」（马太福音 6:8）。那我们为什么还要祈求呢？祷告的要点不是要从神那里得到答案，而是要与祂有完全和彻底的合一。如果我们只是因为想要得到答案才祷告，我们就会对神感到烦躁不耐烦和愤怒。每次我们的祷告都会得到答案，但它并不总是以我们期望的方式出现，我们灵里的烦躁表明我们拒绝在祷告中真正与我们的主认同。我们这在里不是为了证明神回答了祷告，而是要成为神恩典的活生生战利品。
「…我并不对你们说，我要为你们求父。父自己爱你们…」（约翰福音 16:26-27）。你与神是否已达到如此亲密的程度，以至于唯一可以解释你的祷告生活的理由，是它已经与耶稣基督的祷告生活合而为一？我们的主是否用祂的生命交换了你的生命？如果是，那么「到那日」你将与耶稣紧密地认同，以至于不再有任何区别。
当祷告似乎没有得到回应时，小心不要试图将责任归咎于别人。这总是是撒旦的陷阱。当你似乎没有得到答案时，总是有原因的——神利用这些时候来给你深刻的个人指导，而且这不是为了任何人，只单单为你。
来自章伯斯的智慧
随着年龄的增长，我是否变得更高尚、更好、更有帮助、更谦卑呢？我是否展现出让人认识到与耶稣同在的生命？或者我是否变得更加自我主张，更加有意地坚持自己的方式？对自己说真话是一件很伟大的事情。《帮助之地》
0806 The Cross in Prayer
In that day you will ask in My name… —John 16:26
We too often think of the Cross of Christ as something we have to get through, yet we get through for the purpose of getting into it. The Cross represents only one thing for us— complete, entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ— and there is nothing in which this identification is more real to us than in prayer.
“Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why should we ask? The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we will become irritated and angry with God. We receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves truly with our Lord in prayer. We are not here to prove that God answers prayer, but to be living trophies of God’s grace.
“…I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you…” (John 16:26-27). Have you reached such a level of intimacy with God that the only thing that can account for your prayer life is that it has become one with the prayer life of Jesus Christ? Has our Lord exchanged your life with His vital life? If so, then “in that day” you will be so closely identified with Jesus that there will be no distinction.
When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to place the blame on someone else. That is always a trap of Satan. When you seem to have no answer, there is always a reason— God uses these times to give you deep personal instruction, and it is not for anyone else but you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth. The Place of Help, 1005 R