0828 禱告的目的
…有個門徒對他說：「求主教導我們禱告…」《路加福音 11:1》
禱告並不是天然人生活中正常的一部分。我們聽見有人說，如果一個人不祈禱，他的生命就會受苦，但我對此說存疑。受苦的是他裡面神兒子的生命，這生命不是靠食物，而是靠禱告來滋養的。當一個人是從上面重生時，神兒子的生命就在他裡面誕生了，他要麼就挨餓，要麼就滋養這個生命。禱告是我們裡面神的生命得到滋養的方式。關於禱告的一般看法，是無法在新約中找到。我們視禱告只是為自己得到一些事物的方法，但聖經中禱告的目的是我們能夠認識神自己。
「…你們求就必得着…」（約翰福音 16:24）。我們在神面前發怨言，有時向神道歉或無動於衷，實際上我們向神求的東西非常少。然而，一個孩子卻表現出極大的勇氣去求！我們的主說：「…你們若不迴轉，變成小孩子的樣式…」（馬太福音 18:3）。祈求，神就會做；給耶穌基督工作的機會和空間。問題是：沒有人會這麼做，除非他感到束手無策。當一個人束手無策時，禱告似乎不再是懦弱的事；事實上，這是他唯一能觸及真理和神本身真實的方式。在神面前做你自己，向祂提出你的問題——那些讓你束手無策的事。但只要你認為你是自給自足的，你就不需要向神求任何東西了。
說「禱告改變事情」，並不像說「禱告改變我，然後我改變事情」那樣更接近事實。神已設置事物，就是藉着基於救贖的禱告，改變一個人看事物的方式。禱告不是改變外在事物的問題，而是在人內在的本性中創造奇蹟的事。
來自章伯斯的智慧
我們可以通過其他方式了解神的屬性，但我們只能在基督的十字架中了解天父的心。《至善—禰偉大的救贖》
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