6月9日 第二步妙法

因為凡祈求的就得著。（路十一10）

沒有一件事比祈求更難的了。我們會渴望、愛慕，甚至受煎熬；但非等到山窮水盡，無路可走，我們決不會祈求。只有一種不現實的感覺才催使我們去祈求。你有沒有從德性貧乏的深坑中向神祈求？“你們中間若有缺少智慧的，可以向神求……”但千萬要弄清楚你是真的缺少智慧，你無法照自己的意思隨時面對實際的事物。你若覺得沒有屬靈的實在，第二步最佳的辦法就是照主的話求聖靈（參路十一13）。聖靈的工作就是把耶穌為你所成就的一切，變成真實。

“凡祈求的就得著。”這不是說，你不求就得不著（比較太五45），而是說你未去到求的地方，就始終不能從神領受什麼。領受的意思就是已與神建立父子的關係，在理智上、精神上，以及屬靈的悟性上，都知道是從神而來的。

“你們中間若有缺少智慧的……”你知道自己的缺乏，因為你摸著了屬靈的實際。請勿把你理智的閃燈亮起。人們會說：“傳簡單的福音給我們吧；不用叫我們成為聖潔，因為這使人覺得自己一貧如洗，這感覺並不好受。”“求”就是乞求的意思。有些人家徒四壁而安於貧窮，我們中間一些人在屬靈上也是如此。心目中若有目的去求，就永不會從神獲得；因為是出於情欲，而不是由於貧窮。乞丐求乞，除了一貧如洗的理由之外，便沒有別的理由。因此他並不恥於求乞－－靈裡貧窮的人有福了。

祈禱◆主啊，為著這教會，我稱頌你，因為她正證明你是“窮乏人的力量、是急難中困苦人的力量，是波浪中的避難所、是熱氣下的庇蔭”。

June 9 The Next Best Thing To Do

“For every one that asketh receiveth.” Luke 11:10

There is nothing more difficult than to ask. We will long and desire and crave and suffer, but not until we are at the extreme limit will we ask. A sense of unreality makes us ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of moral poverty? “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God . . . ”but be sure that you do lack wisdom. You cannot bring yourself up against reality when you like. The next best thing to do if you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit on the word of Jesus Christ （see Luke 11:13）. The Holy Spirit is the One who makes real in you all that Jesus did for you.

“For every one that asketh receiveth.” This does not mean you will not get if you do not ask （cf. Matt. 5:45）, but until you get to the point of asking you won't receive from God. To receive means you have come into the relationship of a child of God, and now you perceive with intelligent and moral appreciation and spiritual understanding that these things come from God.

“If any of you lack wisdom . . .” If you realize you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality; do not put your reasonable blinkers on again. People say – Preach us the simple gospel: don't tell us we have to be holy, because that produces a sense of abject poverty, and it is not nice to feel abjectly poor. “Ask” means beg. Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are like that spiritually. We will never receive if we ask with an end in view; if we ask, not out of our poverty but out of our lust. A pauper does not ask from any other reason than the abject panging condition of his poverty, he is not ashamed to beg. – Blessed are the paupers in spirit.