1221 經驗或神啟示的真理？
我們所領受的，並不是世上的靈，乃是從神來的靈，叫我們能知道神開恩賜給我們的事。《哥林多前書2:12》
我的經歷並未使救贖成真——救贖就是真實。救贖對我來說並沒有真正的意義，直到它通過我有意識的生活實現出來。當我重生時，神的靈會帶我超越自我和我的經歷，讓我與耶穌基督聯合。如果我只剩下個人的經歷，我就只剩下不是由救贖所產生的東西。但救贖所產生的經歷，通過引導我超越自己，證明了它們的真實性，直到我不再關注經歷，以經歷為現實的基礎。反之，我看到只有現實本身才產生這些經歷。我的經歷毫無價值，除非它們保持我與真理之神的源頭連結，就是與耶穌基督連結。
如果你試圖抑制你內在的聖靈，渴望要獲得更多內在屬靈的經歷，你將發現祂會打破束縛，再次把你帶回歷史的基督面前。永遠不要支持沒有神作為其源頭、沒有信靠神作為其結果的經歷。若然，無論你有過什麼樣的異象或見識，你的經歷就是敵基督的。耶穌基督是你經歷的主嗎？或你把你的經歷置於祂之上？什麼經歷比你的主更珍貴呢？你必須讓祂成為你的主，不理會任何不以祂為主的經歷。這樣，總會有那麼一天，神會讓你對自己的經歷感到不耐煩，你能真誠地說，「我不在乎我經歷了什麼——我對祂充滿信心！」
如果你習慣於談論你有的經歷，你要無情並嚴厲要求你自己。基於經驗的信心不是信心；基於神啟示真理的信心才是唯一的信心。
來自章伯斯的智慧
自然地說，沒有什麼比衰敗更能讓我們迅速喪失信心了——身體美麗的衰退、自然生命的衰退、友誼的衰退、關係的衰退，所有這些都使人心灰意冷；但保羅說，當我們信靠耶穌基督時，這些事情就不會令我們沮喪，光明會透過它們而來。《幫助之地》
1221 Experience or God’s Revealed Truth?
We have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. —1 Corinthians 2:12
My experience is not what makes redemption real— redemption is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left only with my personal experiences, I am left with something not produced by redemption. But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth— Jesus Christ.
If you try to hold back the Holy Spirit within you, with the desire of producing more inner spiritual experiences, you will find that He will break the hold and take you again to the historic Christ. Never support an experience which does not have God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions or insights you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you place your experiences above Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? You must allow Him to be Lord over you, and pay no attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. Then there will come a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience, and you can truthfully say, “I do not care what I experience— I am sure of Him!”
Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them. 《The Place of Help》