1126 靈力的焦點
…只誇我們主耶穌基督的十字架…《加拉太書 6:14》
如果你想認識在你肉身中神的大能（即耶穌的復活生命），你就必須思想神的悲劇。拋開你對自己靈命狀況的個人擔憂，以完全敞開的靈來思想神的悲劇，神的能力立刻就會在你裡面。 「仰望我」（以賽亞書 45:22），注意外在的源泉，內在的力量就會在那裡；我們失去力量是因為我們並未專註於正確之事。十字架的功效是救恩、成聖、醫治等等，但我們不應該傳講這些；我們是要傳講「耶穌基督並他釘十字架」（哥林多前書 2:2），宣揚耶穌自會發揮其作用。在你講道中專註於神的焦點，即使你的聽眾似乎並未注意到，他們也將不再一樣。如果我分享我自己的話，它們對我來說並不比你對我講的話更重要。但如果我們彼此分享神的真理，我們就會一次又一次地遇到它。我們必須關注屬靈力量的偉大點——十字架。如果我們與那個力量核心保持接觸，它的能量就會在我們的生活中釋放出來。在聖潔運動和屬靈經歷聚會中，焦點容易不放在基督的十字架上，而是放在十字架的果效上。
今日教會被批評為軟弱，這種批評是有道理的。軟弱的原因之一是沒有把注意力集中在靈里力量的真正核心上。我們沒有思想夠加略山的悲劇或救贖的意義。
來自章伯斯的智慧
對那些沒有經歷過痛苦的人，耶穌說：「我沒有什麼可以給你的；站穩自己的腳，挺起自己的肩膀（挺身而立）。我是為這樣的人而來：知道自己所面對的遠超出他能應付的，知道有他無法觸碰的勢力；若他放手讓我來，我必為他做一切的事。只要讓一個人承認他有需要，我必出手幫助他。」《痛苦的陰影》
1126 The Focal Point of Spiritual Power
…except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
If you want to know the power of God (that is, the resurrection life of Jesus) in your human flesh, you must dwell on the tragedy of God. Break away from your personal concern over your own spiritual condition, and with a completely open spirit consider the tragedy of God. Instantly the power of God will be in you. “Look to Me…” (Isaiah 45:22). Pay attention to the external Source and the internal power will be there. We lose power because we don’t focus on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these. We are to preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s focal point in your preaching, and even if your listeners seem to pay it no attention, they will never be the same again. If I share my own words, they are of no more importance than your words are to me. But if we share the truth of God with one another, we will encounter it again and again. We have to focus on the great point of spiritual power— the Cross. If we stay in contact with that center of power, its energy is released in our lives. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings, the focus tends to be put not on the Cross of Christ but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” –The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R