0828 祷告的目的
…有个门徒对他说：「求主教导我们祷告…」《路加福音 11:1》
祷告并不是天然人生活中正常的一部分。我们听见有人说，如果一个人不祈祷，他的生命就会受苦，但我对此说存疑。受苦的是他里面神儿子的生命，这生命不是靠食物，而是靠祷告来滋养的。当一个人是从上面重生时，神儿子的生命就在他里面诞生了，他要么就挨饿，要么就滋养这个生命。祷告是我们里面神的生命得到滋养的方式。关于祷告的一般看法，是无法在新约中找到。我们视祷告只是为自己得到一些事物的方法，但圣经中祷告的目的是我们能够认识神自己。
「…你们求就必得着…」（约翰福音 16:24）。我们在神面前发怨言，有时向神道歉或无动于衷，实际上我们向神求的东西非常少。然而，一个孩子却表现出极大的勇气去求！我们的主说：「…你们若不回转，变成小孩子的样式…」（马太福音 18:3）。祈求，神就会做；给耶稣基督工作的机会和空间。问题是：没有人会这么做，除非他感到束手无策。当一个人束手无策时，祷告似乎不再是懦弱的事；事实上，这是他唯一能触及真理和神本身真实的方式。在神面前做你自己，向祂提出你的问题——那些让你束手无策的事。但只要你认为你是自给自足的，你就不需要向神求任何东西了。
说「祷告改变事情」，并不像说「祷告改变我，然后我改变事情」那样更接近事实。神已设置事物，就是借着基于救赎的祷告，改变一个人看事物的方式。祷告不是改变外在事物的问题，而是在人内在的本性中创造奇迹的事。
来自章伯斯的智慧
我们可以通过其他方式了解神的属性，但我们只能在基督的十字架中了解天父的心。《至善—祢伟大的救赎》
0828 The Purpose of Prayer
…one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…” —Luke 11:1
Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.
“Ask, and you will receive…” (John 16:24). We complain before God, and sometimes we are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we actually ask Him for very few things. Yet a child exhibits a magnificent boldness to ask! Our Lord said, “…unless you…become as little children…” (Matthew 18:3). Ask and God will do. Give Jesus Christ the opportunity and the room to work. The problem is that no one will ever do this until he is at his wits’ end. When a person is at his wits’ end, it no longer seems to be a cowardly thing to pray; in fact, it is the only way he can get in touch with the truth and the reality of God Himself. Be yourself before God and present Him with your problems— the very things that have brought you to your wits’ end. But as long as you think you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything.
To say that “prayer changes things” is not as close to the truth as saying, “Prayer changes me and then I change things.” God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L