於2015-01-06發佈

「十天的更新恢復」
恰克˙皮爾斯
中文翻譯:微牧之歌2015-01-06

恢復第四天:讓祂親近你!

故此你們要順服神,務要抵擋魔鬼,魔鬼就必離開你們逃跑了。你們親近神,神就必親近你們。”(雅各書4:7,8)

我們討厭“順服”這個詞。不過,這個詞並不是個壞詞。它的意思是“忍受”。你永遠不能抵擋你的敵人,除非你順服神。上帝有絕對的一切的權柄。我們必須學習順服。

這麼大的信心,就是在以色列中,我也沒有遇到過。(馬太福音第8章)

在我們恢復和更新的過程中,有些事必須交還我們,以便完成整個過程。以下是幫助我們恢復的三要素:

1. 祂恢復我們與祂的親密接觸。對於很多基督徒來說建立關係是困難的,因為我們的社會教養的是對親密的畏懼。我們保護自己,害怕受傷。我們不允許自己情緒外顯。有些更複雜的情況下,那些在過去經歷過破碎關係的,不想再嘗試新的親密關係。可是,事實很單純,那就是我們需要彼此。我們需要上帝。沒有彼此,我們永遠不能進入恢復的豐盛。我們要開始允許上帝和我們進行親密的溝通,也要允許上帝讓我們彼此之間建立親密溝通。我們要開始擁抱與上帝的親密關係。經典的例子是馬大和馬利亞。(路加福音10:38-42)。我們只想著我們要做些什麼,以至於忘記了我們所為何來。馬利亞坐在耶穌的腳前,直到她知曉她的命定。當她知曉她生命的目的以後,她就可以起身去和馬大一起洗碗了,或者是其它要做的事情。她並沒有忽略工作。透過親密關係,馬利亞得到了她生命所需的,然後就去打理家裡事務。上帝在呼召我們進入一個新的親密之所。從這個親密之所,我們得到新的向前的策略。不過這親密並不只是給我們自己的。上帝想恢復我們作為每一個個體的生命,祂也同樣要恢復我們成為基督的新婦。為此之故,我們必須允許祂將我們帶入彼此間的親密關係中,將我們投入聖經所定的命運之途。

2. 祂開始重建我們的父子的關係。當我們不瞭解上帝是阿爸天父,且也沒有進入上帝為我們預備的領養之靈的時候,我們真的沒有那足以重建恢復也承襲產業的關係。這是相當重要的。很多時候,上帝從處理我們地上的父親及權柄的問題開始,以便重建我們與祂的父子關係。當我們地上的父親濫用他們的權柄,或者沒有在家庭中妥當扮演他們的角色時,上帝一定要重建我們的思想,可是我們也必須允許祂這樣做。祂既不是虐待的父親,也不是缺位的父親。祂是慈愛的,深深關愛我們的天父——祂這樣關愛我們以至於祂對我們的生命有著恢復的計畫。我們要允許祂帶領我們來理解這些。只要這些問題秩序都釐清,上帝在我們生命中的話語就會開始生長並發。

3. 上帝重建我們孩子般的信心。我們曾去過的那些爭戰和荒野之處,上帝都曾親臨。經過這些時刻,祂開始逐漸增長我們的信心。當孩子般的信心開始升起時,上帝的榮耀就降臨在我們中間。我一直認為我自己是一個充滿信心的人。我在全世界主領充滿信心和盼望的會議。請求上帝為你製造一個場景吧,你就可以向祂求一樣簡單的東西。請求,相信,觀看祂如何恢復你的信心。


Restoration Day 4: Let Him Draw You Near!

Submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:7,8). We hate the word submission. However, the word is not a bad word. The meaning is “to stand under”. You can never stand against your enemy until you submit. God has absolute authorities and delegated authorities. We must learn submission. No greater faith have I see in all of Israel than the one who understood authority (Matthew 8). In the process of our restoration and renewal, certain things must be restored to us in order to make the process complete. Here are three key factors that move us toward restoration:

1. He restores intimate contact with Himself and others. Relationship is difficult for many Christians simply because our society breeds fear of intimacy. We protect ourselves. We don’t want to get hurt. We don’t want to allow our emotions to be seen. And to complicate matters, those who have experienced broken relationships in the past don’t want to chance future intimacy. But the simple fact is that we need one another. We need God. Without one or the other, we will never enter into the fullness of restoration. We must begin to allow God to make us intimate communicators with Himself and then each other.

We need to begin by embracing an intimate relationship with God. The classic analogy is Mary and Martha (see Luke 10:38-42). We get so caught up in what we are to do that we forget what we are about. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus until she knew her destiny. Once she knew the purpose of her life, then she could go do the dishes with Martha, or anything else that needed to be done. She did not neglect the task. Through intimacy, Mary simply gained what she needed for her life and then tended to the business of the house. God is calling us into a new intimate place. From this intimate place, we gain our new strategies for moving ahead. But the intimacy is not for ourselves alone. Just as God wants to restore us as individuals, He is equally interested in restoring us as the Bride of Christ. For that reason, we must allow Him to bring us into intimate relationships with one another that will thrust us forward into our biblical destiny.

2. He begins to restore our Father/child relationship. When we do not know God as Abba Father and have not yet come into the spirit of adoption that God has for us, we really do not have the relationship needed to grasp our restoration and the inheritance that comes with it. This is important to understand. Many times God starts by dealing with our earthly father and authority issues in order to restore the Father/child relationship that we have with Him. In cases where our fathers have abused their authority, or did not take their proper role in the family, God must restructure our thinking, but we must let Him. He is neither an abusive Father nor an absent Father. He is a loving Father who cares deeply for us—so much so that He has a plan of restoration for our lives. We need to allow Him to bring us to that understanding. Once those issues are in order, the word of the Lord over our lives can begin to spring forth.

3. God restores our childlike faith. God sees all the war and wilderness places that we have been in. Through those times, He begins to increase our measure of faith. As this childlike faith begins to arise, the glory of God rests upon us. I have always considered myself a man of faith. I lead meetings all around the world filled with great faith and expectation of what God will do. Ask the Lord to create a scenario for you to ask Him for something simple. Ask, believe and watch Him restore your faith.