晨興聖言-為着主的來臨(W2-3)

第二週　週三

 http://morning-revival.blogspot.com/

晨興餧養

來十二10~11　…惟有萬靈的父管教我們，是為了我們的益處，使我們有分於祂的聖別。一切的管教，當時固然不覺得喜樂，反覺得愁苦；後來卻給那藉此受過操練的人，結出平安的義果。

    成熟乃在於度量的擴充。你要讓神有更多的時間，給你受你所不能受的苦難，以便擴充你的度量。…要緊的是接受神在環境中的安排，這安排就是聖靈的管治。逃躲一次神的安排，就是失去一次度量被擴充的機會。…信徒經過苦難之後，和以前絕不會一樣。…所以信徒遭受苦難時需要注意，要看見生命成熟是接受聖靈管治的總和。人只看見一個人生命成熟，卻未看見那人歷年逐日暗中所接受加起來的聖靈管治（倪柝聲—今時代神聖啟示的先見，一五一至一五二頁）。

信息選讀

    在創世記二十七章，我們看見一個抓奪者。…無論誰來接觸雅各—他的父親、哥哥或舅父—都是輸家。雅各總是佔優勢。…到了拉結死的時候，雅各開始遭受損失，但甚至這損失也叫他得利，就是得着便雅憫。到了三十七章，雅各遭受另一次損失，就是失去約瑟。在這一章，雅各一無所得。從這時起，雅各失去一樣又一樣的東西。最終，到了四十七章，他得着了生命的豐滿。…當你生命滿溢的時候，這生命就要流到別人裏面。這種滿溢就是祝福。所以，在二十七章我們看見一個抓奪的人，在三十七章我們看見一個變化的人，在四十七章我們看見一個成熟的人。雅各的變化開始於神進來摸他的時候（三二25），這變化持續直到三十七章，那時變化的過程就相對的完成了。然而在這一章，雅各還沒有成熟，還沒有生命的豐滿。要得着這個，他必須經歷末後階段的對付，就是在希伯侖的對付。

    雅各在希伯侖，一直活在與神的交通中。…失去約瑟以後，雅各脫去了一切的阻撓，完全向主敞開。毫無疑問，雅各天天想念約瑟。他推測約瑟已經被惡獸吞喫了，但這事沒有得着證實。因此，雅各也許認為他會再見到約瑟。這迫使雅各到神面前，向神敞開。…在那些年間，雅各是個向天敞開的瓶子，讓屬天的雨水不斷地降到他裏面。在那段時間，雅各天天在神面前，被神的生命充滿。

    我們先入的東西攔阻生命的長大。…但是當雅各聽見約瑟在埃及的消息時，他已經倒空了一切先入的東西。沒有什麼霸佔他裏面的人。拉結已經死了，十二個兒子已經走了，雅各已經完全被倒空了。他是這樣的虛空，當好消息來的時候，他並不因此興奮。事實上，他的心甚至相當冰涼（四五26，另譯）。當約瑟的消息來的時候，雅各不僅被變化了，並且完全為神的生命所充滿。他已經成熟了。

      我們和雅各一樣，在被改變之後，神要主宰的用人、事、物倒空原本充滿我們的一切，除去我們先入的一切，使我們的度量增加，好被神充滿。

    從雅各的經歷我們看見，我們所遭遇的每件事，都在神的主宰之下，叫我們被變化，得成熟。沒有一件事是偶然的。神永遠的定旨，只能藉着我們的變化和成熟來完成。雅各的經歷是這事的絕佳例證（創世記生命讀經，一四二一至一四二四、一四二九至一四三一頁）。

參讀：生命課程卷四，第四十六課。

WEEK 2 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

Heb. 12:10-11 …But He [disciplines] for what is profitable that we might partake of His holiness. Now no discipline at the present time seems to be a matter of joy, but of grief; but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised by it.

Maturity is a matter of the enlargement of capacity. You must allow God to give you time to suffer beyond measure; then your capacity will be enlarged… It is important for us to receive God’s arrangement in the circumstances. This arrangement is the discipline of the Holy Spirit. To escape God’s arrangement just one time is to lose an opportunity to have our capacity enlarged… A believer can never be the same after passing through suffering… For this reason, when believers are passing through suffering, they must pay attention and they must realize that maturity in life is the sum total of receiving the discipline of the Holy Spirit. People may see a person who has matured in life, but they cannot see the accumulated discipline of the Holy Spirit which that person has received secretly day by day throughout the years. (Watchman Nee—a Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age, pp. 143-144)

Today’s Reading

In Genesis 27 we see a supplanter…Whoever came in contact with Jacob— his father, his brother, or his uncle—was the loser. Jacob, on the contrary, always came out ahead… However, at the time of Rachel’s death, Jacob began to suffer loss. But even this loss produced a gain, and that gain was Benjamin. In chapter 37 Jacob underwent another loss, the loss of Joseph. In this chapter Jacob did not gain anything. From this point onward, Jacob lost one thing after another. Eventually, in chapter 47, he gained the fullness of life… When you are filled past the brim with life, this life will overflow into others. This overflow is the blessing. Therefore, in chapter 27 we see a supplanter; in chapter 37, a transformed man; and in chapter 47, a mature person. Jacob’s transformation began at the time God came in to touch him (32:25), and it continued until chapter 37, when the process of transformation was relatively complete. However, in this chapter Jacob did not yet have maturity, the fullness of life. In order to gain this, he had to experience the dealings in the last stage, the dealings at Hebron.

At Hebron Jacob constantly lived in fellowship with God… After the loss of Joseph, Jacob was free from every frustration and was completely open to the Lord. Undoubtedly, Jacob thought about Joseph day after day. He had concluded that Joseph had been devoured by an evil beast, but this had not been confirmed. Hence, Jacob might have thought that perhaps he would see Joseph again. This pressed Jacob to God and opened him up to God… During all these years, Jacob was a jar open to the heavens, and the heavenly rain was continuously falling into him. In this period of time Jacob was daily in the presence of God, being filled with the divine life.

Our preoccupations frustrate the growth of life… But when Jacob heard the news about Joseph in Egypt, he had been emptied of every preoccupation. Nothing was occupying his inner being. Rachel had died, his twelve sons had gone away, and Jacob had been utterly emptied out. He was so empty that when the good news came, he was not excited by it. In fact, his heart was even rather cold (45:26, Heb.). When the news came regarding Joseph, Jacob had not only been transformed; he was completely filled with the divine life. He had become mature.

Like Jacob, after we have been changed, God will sovereignly use persons, things, and events to empty us of everything that has filled us and to take away every preoccupation so that we may have an increased capacity to be filled with God.

From Jacob’s experience we see that everything that happens to us is under God’s sovereignty for our transformation and maturity. Nothing is accidental. God’s eternal purpose can only be accomplished through our transformation and maturity. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1193-1195, 1199- 1201)

Further Reading: Life Lessons, vol. 4, lsn. 46