1003 职事之地
耶稣说：「非用祷告（有古卷加：禁食二字），这一类的鬼总不能出来。」 《马可福音 9:29》
门徒私下问祂说：「我们为什么不能赶出牠去呢？」(马可福音 9:28），答案在于与耶稣基督的个人关系。「非用祷告，这一类的鬼总不能出来。」专注于祂，然后加倍、再加倍地专注于祂。我们试图做神的工却不专注于祂的能力，反而只是随从我们自己本性的想法，我们就依然永远无能为力，像门徒们在那个情况下一样。我们急切地服事神而不认识祂，实际上是诽谤和羞辱神。
当你面对困难情况，外在无事发生，你仍然可以知道自由和释放将被赐下，因你持续专注于耶稣基督。你在服事和事工中的职责是确保在你和耶稣之间没有任何隔阂。现在有什么在你和耶稣之间呢？如果有，你必须克服它，不是当作烦恼而忽视它，也非借着往上而越过它，而是面对它，并走过它，进到耶稣基督的面前。然后，那个问题本身，以及你所经历与之相关的一切，都会荣耀耶稣基督，以一种你永远不会知道的方式，直到你面对面见到祂。
我们必须能够「如鹰展翅上腾」（以赛亚书40:31），但我们也必须知道如何下来。圣徒的力量在于下来以及在山谷中的生活。保罗说：「我靠着那加给我力量的，凡事都能做。」（腓立比书 4:13），他所提及的大多是卑辱之事。然而，我们有能力拒绝被羞辱，并说：「不啦，谢谢，我更喜欢与神同在山上。」我能否在耶稣基督真实之光中面对事物真实面貌，还是这些事物真实面目摧毁我对祂的信心，使我陷入恐慌呢？
来自章伯斯的智慧
信心永远不知道它被引导到哪里，但它热爱并认识那位引领者。《竭诚为主》，3月19日
1003 The Place of Ministry
He said to them, “This kind [of unclean spirit] can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” —Mark 9:29
“His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ ” (Mark 9:28). The answer lies in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “This kind can come out by nothing but” concentrating on Him, and then doubling and redoubling that concentration on Him. We can remain powerless forever, as the disciples were in this situation, by trying to do God’s work without concentrating on His power, and by following instead the ideas that we draw from our own nature. We actually slander and dishonor God by our very eagerness to serve Him without knowing Him.
When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there anything between you and Jesus even now? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it as an irritation, or by going up and over it, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.
We must be able to “mount up with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and in the living that is done in the valley. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things. And yet it is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say, “No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountaintop with God.” Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they really are destroy my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L