10月6日

標　　題：禱告改變你

經　　節：倘或你肯赦免他們的罪……不然，求你從你所寫的冊上塗抹我的名。（出埃及記卅二章32節）

禱告不是要改變神，乃是要改變我們。禱告不是要神來祝福我們的活動。更確切地說，禱告帶我們進入神的同在，昭示我們祂的旨意，並且預備我們順服祂。

摩西登上西乃山，待了四十天與神交通之後，神告知他以色列百姓所做的惡事（出埃及記卅二：7）。在神透露事實給摩西之前，他不知道百姓們危急的情況，也沒有領悟到神對他們的審判已迫近。當神讓摩西瞭解事情的前因後果，摩西對百姓生成熱愛憐憫之情，就像神的感受一樣。摩西變得願意為那些硬著頸項的頑梗百姓犧牲性命。摩西為百姓獻上一個令人感動、無私的禱告，他願意自己的名字從神的生命冊上被塗抹掉，來換取神對百姓的赦免。在摩西與神共處的時刻，神已經為祂的百姓塑造了一位代禱者。

神會在你的禱告時光，軟化你的心，改變你人生的方向。當你為其他人代禱，聖靈會在你的心裡動工，使你對他們擁有的熱愛憐憫之情，就與神對他們一樣（羅馬書八：26∼27）。如果你對神的百姓沒有愛心，你當為此禱告。如果你沒有照著神的心意事奉祂，開始禱告。你不可能親密地明白神的心意，卻又對祂無動於衷。你與神相交的時光會改變你，使你更像基督的樣式。

Prayer Changes You

Yet now, if You will forgive their sin--but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. (Exodus 32:32)

Prayer is not designed to change God, it is designed to change us. Prayer is not calling God in to bless our activities. Rather, prayer takes us into God’s presence, shows us His will, and prepares us to obey Him.

Moses climbed Mount Sinai and spent forty days communing with God. God showed him the wickedness of the Israelites (Exod. 32:7). Moses had not known their desperate condition, nor had he realized the imminence of God’s judgment upon them until God revealed it to him. As God made Moses aware of all that was at stake, Moses felt the same compassion for the people that God felt. Moses became willing to sacrifice his own life for his obstinate people. In a compelling and selfless prayer of intercession, Moses offered to have his own name blotted out of the book of life if God would spare the people. In Moses’ time with Him, God had formed a mighty intercessor for His people.

God will use your prayer times to soften your heart and change your focus. As you pray for others, the Holy Spirit will work in your heart so that you have the same compassion for them that God does (Rom. 8:26–27). If you do not love people as you should, pray for them. If you are not as active in God’s service as you know He wants you to be, begin praying. You cannot be intimately exposed to God’s heart and remain complacent. The time spent with God will change you and make you more like Christ.