DAY 21
試驗 The Test
雷克-喬納 Rick Joyner
翻譯：Kate
轉載/轉寄 請註明出處：國度禱告網

耶和華神吩咐那人說："園中任何一棵樹上的東西，你可以隨便吃。
但從善惡樹上，你不可吃。
因為你吃的日子必死"（創世記2:16-17）。

主把禁止之樹放在花園裡，不是為了讓人墮落。祂把善惡樹放在伊甸園是為了給他們一個地方來證明他們對祂的順服和承諾。如果沒有違背的自由，就不可能有發自內心的真正順服。主規定人必須做出選擇。我們被造是為了與神相交，也是為了生產勞動。人被造也是為了自由，我們不自由就永遠不會有成就。自由是人的自然狀態。

自由也是困難的。我們不能擁有自由而不承擔隨之而來的責任。上帝給人的自由，讓人達到非凡的成就，也會導致悲慘的錯誤。錯誤是有後果的。即便如此，我們也不能逃避對自由的呼喚。在別人為我們做所有重要決定的情況下生活可能更容易，但如果沒有自由，我們將永遠受到挫折和扼殺的深刻影響，因為我們被創造為自由。

生活中一些最有成就感的經歷是在我們主動出擊，做出好的選擇，並看到成果的時候。當我們選擇做錯事時，最令人沮喪和受傷的經歷就會出現。為了避免後者，許多人選擇了在邪教或專制團體中綑綁的生活，這些邪教或專制團體為他們的人民做出了所有的決定。然而，正如德國人民在第二次世界大戰中所瞭解的，這總是會導致更糟糕的後果。我們被創造出來就是為了擁有自由，沒有自由我們永遠無法成為我們所被創造出來的人。讓我們接受自由所帶來的巨大責任，並正確地選擇。

許多人也陷入了試圖生活在律法下的綑綁，以逃避自由的責任。我們往往認為舊約是律法，新約是恩典，但這不一定是真的。舊約是信，新約是在靈。如果在沒有聖靈的情況下閱讀新約，它將只是法律。因此，公義將試圖通過遵守字句來建立，而不是尋求住在基督裡。

舊約和新約是上帝寫給我們話。正如耶穌所說，"聖經上的話是不能廢的"(直譯：聖經是不可打破的)（見約翰福音10:35），這意味著它們是合一的。事實上，在新約中到處提到的 "經上寫的 "都是指舊約，因為當時新約剛剛寫好。舊約是新約信仰的基礎。舊約聖經是教會賴以存在的教義基礎，也是國度的福音（見羅馬書16:25-26；使徒行傳28:23）。當然，耶穌在祂所有的信息中使用和提到的也是我們稱之為舊約的書卷，正如我們在路加福音24:25-27中所看到的那樣：

那時，耶穌對他們說：「無知的人哪，先知所說的一切話，你們的心信得太遲鈍了；基督受這等害，又進入他的榮耀，豈不是應當的嗎？」於是從摩西和眾先知起，凡聖經上所指著自己的話，他都給他們講解明白了。

在約翰福音5:46-47中，祂對此做了一個重要的聲明：

"你們既信了摩西，必當信我，因為他書上有指著我寫的話。你們若不信他的書，怎能信我的話呢？」"

如果作為道的那一位自己用經文作為祂所有教義的基礎，那麼我們就更需要致力於經文。即便如此，如果在尋求成為一個符合聖經的民族時，我們禁止任何人做那些在新約中沒有明確記載的事情，我們只是把它變成了另一條法律。它不是為了以這種方式約束我們，而是為了讓我們自由地去做任何沒有被它特別禁止的事情。這並不意味著所有沒有被它特別禁止的事情都是正確的，但它把瞭解主的聲音和跟隨聖靈的責任交給了我們。這是一個巨大的責任，但沒有它，就不可能與祂建立真正的關係。沒有這種自由，我們仍然會與律法結婚。正如保羅在加拉太書5:4中解釋：" 你們這要靠律法稱義的，使基督於你們沒有果效，從恩典中墜落了。" 因此，"基督釋放了我們，叫我們得以自由。所以要在這自由裏站立得穩，不要再被奴僕的軛挾制。"（加拉太書5:1）

DAY 21
The Test
Rick Joyner

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17).

The Lord did not place the forbidden tree in the Garden in order to cause man to fall. He put it there to give them a place to prove their obedience and commitment to Him. There can be no true obedience from the heart if there is not the freedom to disobey. The Lord established that man would have to make choices. We have been created to have fellowship with God, and for productive labor. Man was also created to be free, and we will never be fulfilled until we are free. Freedom is the natural state of man.

Freedom is also difficult. We cannot have freedom without taking the responsibility that comes with it. The freedom that God gave to man to reach for extraordinary accomplishments can also lead to tragic mistakes. Mistakes have consequences. Even so, we cannot escape our calling to freedom. It may be easier to live with someone else making all of the important decisions for us, but without freedom we will be perpetually frustrated and stifled in a profound way because we were created to be free.

Some of the most fulfilling experiences in life come when we take initiative, make a good choice, and see the fruit. The most discouraging and hurtful experiences come when we choose to do wrong. To avoid the latter, many choose a life of bondage in cults or authoritarian groups who make all of the decisions for their people. However, as the German people learned in World War II, this always leads to even worse consequences. We were created to have freedom, and we can never become who we were created to be without it. Let us accept the great responsibility that comes with freedom, and choose rightly.

Many also fall into the bondage of trying to live under the law to escape the responsibility of being free. We tend to think of the Old Testament as the law and the New Testament as grace, but that is not necessarily true. The Old Covenant is the letter, and the New Covenant is in the Spirit. If the New Covenant is read without the Spirit, it will just be law. Therefore, righteousness will attempt to be established by complying with the letter, instead of seeking to abide in Christ.

The Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God to us. As Jesus said, "the Scripture cannot be broken" (see John 10:35), meaning that they are a single unity. In fact, everywhere in the New Testament, "the Scriptures" referred to are in relation to the Old Testament books, as the New Testament was just then being written. The Old Testament is the foundation for New Testament faith. The Old Testament Scriptures were the basis for doctrines upon which the church is based, as well as the gospel of the kingdom (see Romans 16:25-26; Acts 28:23). Of course, it was also the books we call the Old Testament that Jesus used and referred to in all of His messages, as we see in Luke 24:25-27:

And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
"Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?"
And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

In John 5:46-47 He makes an important statement about this:

"For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me.
"But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

If the One who is the Word Himself used the Scriptures as the basis for all of His teachings, how much more do we need to be devoted to them? Even so, if in seeking to be a biblical people, we forbid anyone to do that which is not specifically written in the New Testament, we have only turned it into another law. It was not meant to bind us in that way, but to free us to do whatever is not specifically forbidden by it. This does not make everything that is not specifically forbidden by it right, but it casts upon us the responsibility to know the Lord's voice and follow the Holy Spirit. This is a great responsibility, but without it there could not be a true relationship with Him. Without this freedom, we would still be married to the Law. As Paul explained in Galatians 5:4, "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." Therefore, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).