於2012-08-28發佈

不要對過錯反應過度

我所認識的先知性朋友幾乎都說,2012年會是『最好的一年與最壞的一年』。我認為這樣的說法證明是對的,但我認為往後的每一年會越來越真實呈現出來。我們正進入世界歷史上最具挑戰的時刻,也是認識主、與主同行的最好時候。正如我多次提到,我們正活在以賽亞書六十章的時候。    

我們正進入美國與列國都必須面對的終極議題,在聖經中,此稱為『斷定谷』(the Valley of Decision)。每一位在這些時候住在地上的人,都必須經過此谷,但現在是我們下決心選擇─我們絕不在真理上妥協,我們絕不否認為我們救恩付上極大代價的主。倘若我們持守真理,我們便不致迷失,我們也會得著應許看見祂的榮耀。

正如主也曾說過,當我們做在最小的人身上,就是做在祂身上。因此,當祂的百姓成為箭靶,我們需要起來與他們同站立,就好像我們與祂同站立一樣。身為基督徒,當我們學會此,以彼此相愛而聞名,世界將會看見此,很快人們會開始看見,耶穌不但受父神差派,到如今祂仍在這裡,祂就在祂子民中間。

當魔鬼知道他無法阻止某人,他往往會到他們後面,把他們推得遠遠的。魔鬼的首要目標就是不讓人們看見基督的光,一旦他們看見祂的光,他仍可以對他們信仰造成傷害,只要他可以將他們推向另一個極端。

正如我們也一再談到,生命道路兩旁各有一個壕溝。基本上,一個是律法主義,另一個則是不法,而生命之道則在這兩個極端之間。許多基督徒窮盡一生在這兩個壕溝間來回擺動,因為他們傾向對錯誤或失敗反應過度。這裡的關鍵字便是『反應過度』。倘若我們處在一個極端裡,我們是需要一些反應,但這裡的關鍵在於不要反應過度,反而掉入另一個極端裡。

顯然,我們在等候主方面也有問題,聖經中有許多關於等候主的勸誡,我卻沒有發現有任何地方說要趕快。許多人,尤其是大發熱心的人,常常因跑在主前面而耗盡。關鍵在於不失去我們的熱心,也不會猶豫不決而使我們難以前進。

箴言廿四章16節說:『因為,義人雖七次跌倒,仍必興起;惡人卻被禍患傾倒。』許多人似乎都認為義人絕不會跌倒,但雅各清楚讓我們知道『原來我們在許多事上都有過失。』(參考雅各書3:2)我們都會犯錯,但『義人』不會讓那些錯誤擊倒他們。我覺得主在這方面對我的解釋是:我們的失敗使祂不喜悅,遠不及我們跌倒後爬起來,卻持續在討祂喜悅上掙扎。

我與先知性恩賜的人同工數十年,有一件事我很早就看出來,凡是被託付最大恩賜和屬靈權柄的人,正是那些有時會犯下最大錯誤的人,特別是最令人困窘的錯誤。他們謙卑,不輕易放棄,反倒從錯誤中學習,繼續往前。似乎惟有在很大的困窘之後,主才會託付他們更大的啟示與權柄。有些人很快恍然大悟,原來神施恩給謙卑的人,所以他們歡喜擁抱謙卑並繼續往前。

我常聽到人們說,他們想要跨出去,試試他們的恩賜,可是他們不想失敗,因為他們不想傷害別人的信心。我學著詮釋這樣的說法,此代表他們太愛面子,沒有安全感,太驕傲以致不敢冒丟臉的險,或太害怕而不敢冒失敗的險。他們以這樣的方式相信他們是怎樣的人,或不是怎樣的人,勝過他們信靠主。倘若我們跨出去、走錯了,傷害了別人的信心,那就是他們的信心用錯地方。他們需要醒悟過來,此意味著要失去我們的假象,信靠人而不信靠神就是一個假象。

即便如此,我們也不要掉入另一邊的壕溝,使我們變得蠻橫霸道,或對神的恩賜麻木不仁。正如箴言十四章26節告訴我們:『敬畏耶和華的,大有倚靠;他的兒女也有避難所。』我們能被使用來代表萬王之王,實在是令人可畏的事,我們絕不要將如此的特權與責任視為理所當然。倘若我們可以持守在兩個極端之間,不偏不倚,我們便會做得不錯。

(摘自喬納 word for the week, Week 32, 2012)


Don’t Overreact to Mistakes - The Path of Life, Part 25
Week 32, 2012 
Rick Joyner 

Almost every prophetic person I know stated that 2012 will be “the best of times and the worst of times.” I think this has proven true, but I think it will be increasingly true with each passing year. We are entering the most challenging times in world history and the best time there has ever been to know and walk with the Lord. As I have said too many times to count, we are living in the times of Isaiah 60.

We are entering times when we must face ultimate issues in America and in every other nation. In Scripture, this is called “the Valley of Decision.” Everyone called to live on earth during these times must pass through this valley, but now is the time to resolve in our hearts what our decision will be—that we will never compromise the truth that we have been entrusted with and we will never deny the Lord who paid such a price for our salvation. If we remain true we cannot lose, and we are promised to see His glory.

As the Lord also said, as we do unto the least of His, we are doing it unto Him. Therefore, when any of His people are being targeted, we need to rise up and stand with them just as we would with Him. When we learn to do this as Christians and the love we have for one another becomes known in this way, the world will see it and soon begin to see by this that Jesus was not only sent by the Father, but He is still here in His people.

When the devil knows that he cannot stop someone, he often gets behind them to push them too far. His first goal is to keep people from seeing the light of Christ, but once they do, he can still cause damage to their faith if he can push them to an extreme.

As we have also covered, a ditch is on either side of the path of life. Basically, legalism is on one side and lawlessness on the other. The path of life is between these extremes. Many Christians spend their lives oscillating between these two ditches because of their tendency to overreact to mistakes or failures. The key word here is “overreact.” If we have been in an extreme, some reaction is necessary, but the key here is not to overreact and therefore fall into the opposite extreme.

Obviously, we also have a problem waiting for the Lord. There are many exhortations in Scripture to wait upon the Lord, and I don’t know of a single one that says to hurry. Many, especially the zealous, often get burned from getting ahead of the Lord. The key is not to lose our zeal and become so hesitant that we are hard to get moving at all. A main reason why Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom was his ability to fall or make major mistakes but then get back up and keep going.

Proverbs 24:16 states, “A righteous man falls seven times, but rises again.” Many seem to believe that the righteous cannot fall at all, but James assured us that “we all stumble in many ways” (see James 3:2). We all will make mistakes, but “the righteous” do not let those mistakes keep them down. I felt the Lord explained this to me that our failures do not displease Him as much as our getting back up after we have stumbled and continuing to fight on pleases Him.

As I have spent decades working with prophetically gifted people, one thing I began to see early was that those who are trusted with the greatest gifts and spiritual authority are those who sometimes make the biggest, and especially, the most embarrassing mistakes. They are humbled, and they do not quit, but learn from the mistakes and keep going. It seems like it is only after a big embarrassment that the Lord will trust them with greater revelation and authority. Some will wise up quickly to understand that God gives His grace to the humble, so they will gladly embrace the humility and keep on going.

I often hear people say that they would like to step out and try their gifts, but they don’t want to fail because they don’t want to hurt someone’s faith. I’ve learned to interpret this to mean that they have so much pride, or insecurity, that they’re too proud to risk embarrassment or too afraid to risk failure. In this way they trust who they are, or are not, more than they trust the Lord. If our stepping out and being wrong hurts someone’s faith, then they have their faith wrongly placed anyway. They need to be disillusioned, which means to lose our illusions. It is an illusion to trust in men instead of the Lord.

Even so, neither do we want to fall into the ditch on the other side that would have us become presumptuous or callous with the gifts of God. As we are told in Proverbs 14:26, “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have refuge.” It is an awesome thing to be used to represent the King of kings, and we don’t ever want to take for granted what a privilege and a responsibility this is. If we can stay between these extremes, we will do well.