於2012-05-11發佈

常在主的同在裡
我們曾在先前的每週一話討論過,分辨可能藉由感動來運作,感動使我們開始感受到他人正在面對的事。許多先知性的人飽受憂鬱之苦的原因,是因為在靈裡感受到太多環繞在他們周遭的事物,卻無法區分是恩賜在運行,還以為是自己的問題。並非我們感到沮喪就表示我們憂鬱,有可能是感受到附近之人的感覺。倘若我們詢問主這些感覺,祂會引導我們真正的問題所在。當我們越來越成熟,我們將會學習分辨到底是來自他人或其他狀況,還是我們心中的問題。

曾有人說過,許多先知性的人容易鬱悶的性情,很可能是憂鬱症的傾向。這不應成為神兒女的困擾,我們可以從中得自由。憂鬱的產生有其原因,而我們不需要受其所苦。凡認識與服事主的人都應該定意不成為憂鬱症的犧牲品。當然,憂鬱有可能是腦中化學物質分泌不平衡所導致,若真是這樣,就要想辦法修復。我們若透過憂鬱的眼睛觀看,就會對世界或人們的看法有所偏差。這會大大阻礙先知性的啟示,所以我們一定要勝過。

在以賽亞書六章3節,撒拉弗晝夜呼喊說:『聖哉!聖哉!聖哉!萬軍之耶和華;祂的榮光充滿全地!』當我第一次讀到這裡時,不禁納悶到處充滿戰爭、飢荒、虐童、疾病和受苦,他們怎麼說得出這些話。於是我求問主,主回答我撒拉弗能這樣說,是因為他們活在祂的同在裡。當我們在祂的同在裡,除了榮耀其他什麼都看不見。那時我就下定決心尋求常在祂的同在裡,超乎一切。 

這並非意謂在祂的同在裡,我們不會看見一切發生在世界的邪惡事情,而是我們看見神如此浩大,最終祂會為萬事帶來得勝與榮耀的結局。生命比死亡更強大,真理比謊言更強大,生命和真理將會得勝。

先知性呼召的最佳例子是在以西結書卅七章,以西結在那裡看見枯骨成為極大的軍隊,他必須對那些枯骨發預言,直到他們成為被呼召的樣式。當我們只看見錯誤,或人們所處的狀況,卻沒看見先知性的解答,我們就會變得可憐兮兮,而沒有先知性的眼光。

羅馬書十四章17節告訴我們,神的國只在乎『公義、和平,並聖靈中的喜樂』。我們若行主眼中看為正的事,我們就會有平安和喜樂,無論周遭景況如何。這並不表示我們無感於他人的受苦,而是我們知道所有人類問題的解答。當人們認識主時,有誰不喜樂呢?這並不是錯覺─這是我們必須踏進的最大真實、終極真理。

倘若我們開始感到恐懼、擔心或沮喪,幾乎都是因為我們看自己或環境而不看祂的結果─是我們將眼目從耶穌身上轉移的後果。就好像彼得行在水面上,只要祂一直看著主,他就行在水面上,一當他看著海浪,他便開始沈下去。不要沈淪,要將你的眼目定睛在耶穌身上。

倘若我們常在祂裡面,活在神國度裡的平安和喜樂,那麼當我們去到一個地方,開始感到沮喪或恐懼,我們需要分辨是誰在受苦。記得耶穌做每一件事都先看到天父在做,而我們也需要做同樣的事。當我們看到某件事,我們便在那事上被授權。未來我們會更深入來探討,但這是千真萬確的。甚至當耶穌看到井邊婦人有五位丈夫,你可以確定的是,那婦人離開時已從婚姻不美滿的事上得醫治。神賜下關乎他人的景況或問題所在,並不是為了讓別人對我們的先知性恩賜印象深刻,而是要讓他們得醫治。

(摘自喬納 word for the week, Week 17, 2012)


Abiding in the Presence of the Lord - The Path of Life, Part 10
Week 17, 2012 
Rick Joyner 

We discussed in a previous Word for the Week how discernment may operate through impressions, which is where we start to feel in ourselves what someone else is dealing with. One reason many prophetic people suffer depression is because they pick up on so much spiritually around them that they think it is their problem and fail to distinguish this as the gift working. Just because we feel depression does not mean that we have depression, but we may be feeling what someone close to us is dealing with. If we inquire of the Lord about these feelings, He will lead us to the truth about them. As we mature, we will learn to distinguish what we are picking up from others, or other situations, and what is actually in our own hearts.

That being said, many prophetic people are of the melancholy temperament that can be prone to depression. This is something no child of God should be subject to, and we can be free of it. There are reasons for depression that we do not have to be subject to. All who know and serve the Lord should resolve to not be subject to depression. Of course, depression may be the result of chemical imbalances, but if this is the case, let’s get it right. We cannot see the world or people as they are if we are looking through the eyes of depression. This is a serious hindrance to prophetic revelation that we must overcome.

When I first read in Isaiah 6:3 where the cherubim were saying day and night, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory!” I could not help but wonder how they could say this with all of the wars, hunger, child abuse, disease, and suffering everywhere. I asked the Lord about it, and He answered that these cherubim could say this because they dwelt in His presence. When we are in His presence, we will not see anything but glory. That is when I resolved that above all things I will seek to abide in His presence.

Now this does not mean that when we are in His presence we do not see all of the evil that is taking place in the world, but rather we see God as so much bigger and that He will ultimately bring all things to a victorious and glorious conclusion. Life is stronger than death. Truth is stronger than any lie. Life and truth will prevail.

An ultimate demonstration of the prophetic calling is in Ezekiel 37 where Ezekiel had to see in dry bones an exceedingly great army, and he had to prophesy to those bones until they became what they were called to be. When we only see what’s wrong, or even the condition that people are in, and do not see the prophetic solution, then we are being pathetic, not prophetic. Our purpose is to see people, places, and sometimes events as they are called to be and to prophesy life to them until they become what they are called to be.

We are told in Romans 14:17 that the kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” If we do what is right in the sight of the Lord, we will have peace and joy regardless of the conditions around us. This does not mean that we are not sensitive to other people’s sufferings, but we know the Solution to every human problem. Who cannot rejoice when they know Him? This is not delusion—it is the ultimate reality, the ultimate truth that we must walk in.

If we start to feel fear, worry, or depression, it is almost always the result of looking at ourselves or the conditions rather than looking to Him—it is the result of taking our eyes off of Jesus. It is like when Peter walked on the water—as long as he kept his eyes on the Lord, he walked on the water, but when he started looking at the waves, he began to sink. Don’t sink. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

If we abide in Him and live in the peace and joy that is the kingdom, and then we go into a place and begin to feel depression or fear, we need to discern who is suffering from this. Remember that Jesus did not do anything that He did not see the Father doing, and we need to do the same. When we see something, we have been given authority over it. We will study this in more depth later, but this is true. Even when Jesus saw the five husbands of the woman at the well, you can be sure that when He left she was healed of what had been causing her to not be able to have a godly marriage. We are not given knowledge of other people’s conditions or problems just to impress people with our prophetic gifts, but to get them healed.