1017 更大之事的關鍵
我實實在在地告訴你們…信我的人…要做比這更大的事，因為我往父那裡去。《約翰福音 14:12》
禱告並未裝備我們去做更大的事——禱告才是更大的事。然而，我們認為禱告是我們更高力量的常識性練習，就是預備我們做神的工。在耶穌基督的教導中，禱告是救贖的神跡在我身上工作，然後在別人身上經由神的權能而產生救贖的神跡。果子繼續結實之道是通過禱告，但請記住：是基於基督救贖中受苦的禱告，而非基於我自己的痛苦。我們必須以神的孩子身份來到神面前，因為只有孩子的禱告才蒙應允。 「聰明」的人反倒得不着（見馬太福音11:25）。
禱告就是打仗，你在哪裡都沒有差別。無論神如何策劃你的處境，你的職責就是禱告。永遠不可允許自己這種想法：「我在這裡毫無用處」，因為你尚未在被安置之地，你當然是毫無用處。無論神把你安置在何處，無論你的處境如何，你都應該禱告，繼續向祂獻上禱告。祂應許說：「你們奉我的名無論求什麼，我必成就…」（約翰福音 14:13）。然而我們拒絕禱告，除非那激動我們或令我們感到興奮，這是靈性自私最強烈的形式。我們必須學會按照神的指示作工，而祂說要禱告：「當求莊稼的主打發工人出去收祂的莊稼。」（馬太福音 9:38）
工人的工作並沒有什麼令人興奮，但正是勞動者使天才的想法成為可能；正是勞動的聖徒使他主人的想法成為可能。當你在禱告中勞苦努力時，從神的角度來看，總是有結果的。一旦帕子最終被揭開，所有被你收割了的靈魂，就是因為你一直習慣於聽從耶穌基督的命令，那將是何等驚喜啊！
來自章伯斯的智慧
基督徒對聖經的重要關係不是他崇拜字句，而是聖靈使聖經的字句成為他的靈和生命。《救贖心理學》
1017 The Key of the Greater Work
…I say to you, he who believes in Me…greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. —John 14:12
Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, prayer is the working of the miracle of redemption in me, which produces the miracle of redemption in others, through the power of God. The way fruit remains firm is through prayer, but remember that it is prayer based on the agony of Christ in redemption, not on my own agony. We must go to God as His child, because only a child gets his prayers answered; a “wise” man does not (see Matthew 11:25).
Prayer is the battle, and it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray. Never allow yourself this thought, “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him. And He promises, “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do…” (John 14:13). Yet we refuse to pray unless it thrills or excites us, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. We must learn to work according to God’s direction, and He says to pray. “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).
There is nothing thrilling about a laboring person’s work, but it is the laboring person who makes the ideas of the genius possible. And it is the laboring saint who makes the ideas of his Master possible. When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him. The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L