經文: 「親愛的弟兄啊，你們卻要在至聖的真道上造就自己，在聖靈裡禱告。」— [聖經·猶大書 1章20節]
救主耶穌全然智慧，但祂精簡扼要地傳揚真理，並沒有給我們太重的負擔，因為知道我們不過是塵土、凡人，我們的心思意念都在肉體上、都在世界上，若沒有一顆尋求仰望的心，人是無法從世界中轉回歸向上帝的。因此祂呼召我們棄絕老我、背向世界，用信心仰賴祂在我們心中作奇妙善工，以祂的慈悲勸勉我們，渴慕真理追求成聖，讓這樣的事成為一生中最大的願望與喜樂。
能找到天堂上帝與否，端視我們內心的態度，真實的信仰不在於外在的宗教儀文，乃取決於內心誠實執著的態度。我們清楚看到亞當錯誤的選擇，使他走向滅亡的死胡同，惟有渴慕天堂樂園的心，才能引導我們進入榮耀的永生，脫離卑賤短暫的俗世。現今的世代邪惡，不法的事增多，都在在提醒了我們要迫切禱告，讓我們全人被上帝的靈挑旺，獻上禱告的馨香之祭。若能做到這地步，禱告就不再是例行公事，而是如呼吸般成為生命的一部份，藉此與上帝的生命緊緊相連，心靈中尊主為大，行事為人都在聖靈的掌管之下。
除非在某種情境下，一個誠實人才有機會藉行為顯出他的誠實，但他無論在何時，內心所持守的原則應該是一樣的。同理，我們心中禱告的靈應該是不間斷的，當然我們有時候會有特定的禱告時間；但我們內在的生命，與上帝連接的靈命，是超越外在時空的限制，也不受形式的拘束。
弟兄們，花些時間斟酌推敲「持續」這個詞意，並仔細尋思(根據聖經)這個字在我們生命中所佔的位置。上帝是愛的源頭，從那兒有一股汩汩清泉不斷向人類湧流，所以我們可以每時每刻依靠上帝的恩典，來支取祂的能力，治死敗壞蠢動的肉體，讓聖靈保守上帝的生命在我們心裡面，藉著禱告緊緊地將心繫在耶穌身上，並且全心全意的回應上帝的愛。
—《 神 的 心 意 》
[每日靈修 8月28日]
作者：慕安德烈
編輯：榮華興
［圖片版權屬「安穩港口」所有，在此僅供分享福音用途。]
『 Prayer a State of the Heart 』
Scripture: “But you, my loved ones, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, and making prayers in the Holy Spirit,” — [Jude 1:20]
“Our Saviour, though He had all wisdom, yet gives but a small number of moral teachings to mankind. It is because He knew that our whole malady lies in this, that the will of our mind, the lust of our life, is turned into this world; and that nothing can set us right but the turning the will of our mind, and the desire of our hearts to God and that heaven which we had lost. And hence it is that He calls us to nothing but a total denial of ourselves and the life of this world, and to a faith in Him as the worker of a new birth and a new life in us. He teaches us every reason for renouncing ourselves and loving the whole nature of our redemption as the greatest joy and desire of our heart.
“We see thus that our will and our heart is all; that nothing either finds or loses God; and that all our religion is only the religion of the heart. We see with open eyes that as a spirit of longing after the life of this world made Adam and us to be the poor pilgrims on earth that we are, so the Spirit of prayer, or the longing desire of the heart after Christ and God and heaven, breaks all our bonds asunder and raises us out of the miseries of time into the riches of eternity. Thus seeing and knowing our first and our present state, everything calls us to prayer; and the desire of our heart becomes the spirit of prayer. When the spirit of prayer is born in us, then prayer is no longer considered as only the business of this or that hour, but is the continual breathing of the heart after God. The spirit of prayer, — a state of the heart becomes the governing principle of the soul’s life.
“An honest man may prove his honesty by acts. At other times there is no special call to show his honesty. But it is all the same the inward living principle of his heart. Just so the Spirit of prayer may possess the heart without interruption, and yet at other times may have its hours of prayer. But its own life and spirit is vastly superior to, independent of, and stays for no particular hours or forms of work.
It would be worth while making a study of the place that, according to Law, the word “continual” ought to have in our life. First there is the continual streaming forth of the infinite love of God toward, men. Then the continual unalterable dependence upon God every hour of our life. Then the continual receiving of goodness and happiness from God alone. Then comes the continual mortification of our evil nature; then again the continual and immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit maintaining the life of Christ in us. Then the continual breathing of the heart after God in prayer. And then the continual loving of Him with our whole heart.
— God’s Best Secrets by Andrew Murray
「 28 August 」
