第五週■週四

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晨興餧養

提前四7 ～ 8『…操練自己以至於敬虔。因爲操練身體益處還少；惟獨敬虔，凡事都有益處，有今生和來生的應許。』

我們在召會生活中行事爲人的路，就是操練自己以至於敬虔。任何事若對於別人不是正確、敬虔的見證，我們都不該作。我們不需要思考一件事是否合乎律法或是否正確，而該思考它是否有敬虔的彰顯，就是神顯現於肉體。…有些弟兄可能會到酒吧去喝啤酒。他們可能告訴其他的聖徒說，他們得了自由，脫離一切的束縛，而且在召會生活中不該有任何律法。…所有的聖徒該回答：『不，在召會生活中我們不接受這種說法。』我們必須明辨、剛強，不是要造成分裂，而是要保守召會在正確的路線上，顯大我們的神。我們的生活該是敬虔的，而非鬆散的。我們都該將這事帶到主面前。（李常受文集一九七八年第二册，八五八至八五九頁。）

信息選讀

神的經綸就是祂的家庭行政，祂的計畫，要將祂自己分賜到我們裏面。祂的分賜產生敬虔的生活。事實上，敬虔乃是神聖分賜的結果。…這樣來自神的分賜的敬虔生活，在於操練我們的靈。…敬虔的生活來自神的分賜，但神不是將自己分賜到無生命的器皿裏。…在〔藥房〕裏，藥師把藥分配到無生命的瓶子裏，因爲瓶子是無生命的，所以不需要瓶子的合作。然而，神正將自己分賜到我們這些活的器皿裏，我們已經有自己的口味、揀選、偏好、感覺、思想、頭腦、意志等；我們若不剛強的操練我們的靈，與主合作，神就無法將祂自己分賜到我們裏面。我們的靈不僅是接受的器官，保留的器官，也是爲着神分賜的入口。我們的靈大大敞開的時候，我們的全人就敞開。然後神就有路將祂自己分賜到我們裏面。神的分賜在於我們的配合，我們的配合就是操練我們的靈。

這就是我們必須禱告的原因。正如走路操練我們的腳和腿，照樣，惟有禱告操練我們的靈。我們禱告的時候，不該這麼關切物質的事物，或以我們個人的事務爲目標。我們應當在靈裏禱告，好摸着神，接觸神，並敬拜神。這種禱告操練我們的靈，敞開我們的靈，並使我們得在靈裏遇見神；然後神聖的分賜立刻流進我們的靈裏。今天我們基督徒的生活是敬虔的生活，來自於神將祂自己分賜到我們裏面。這在於我們的靈得着完全的操練。（李常受文集一九七九年第一册，八○三至八○四頁。）

你早上起來如果甚麼也不說，你可能有例行公事的禱告，卻沒有真正的摸着主；這是因爲你沒有操練靈。我們必須建立說『哦，主』的習慣。當我們說『哦，主』的時候，我們就摸着主。這是操練靈的習慣。…在艱難的光景中，…我們應當勉強自己說，『哦，主耶穌！』…奧林匹克運動員…勉強自己操練。我們基督徒若要剛強並要在主裏長大，就必須勉強自己用我們的靈。

假定我們的家庭生活遇到了難處。…那時你如果不操練你的靈，你整個魂，包括你的心思、意志、情感，就會得勝。你的魂就會勝過你，制伏你，征服你的靈。這甚至會使你很厲害的發脾氣。因此，每當你在艱難的光景中，你必須勉強自己操練你的靈。勉強你自己操練、使用你的靈，會使你成爲不一樣的人。…操練我們自己以至於敬虔，乃是在我們日常生活中操練我們的靈活基督。（李常受文集一九九三年第二册，二四一至二四二頁。）

參讀：生命的基本功課，第—七至—八課；真理信息，第一章；健康的話，第五章。

WEEK 5 — DAY 4

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Morning Nourishment

1 Tim. 4:7-8 ...Exercise yourself unto godliness. For bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the present life and of that which is to come.

The way to conduct ourselves in the church life is to exercise ourselves unto godliness. We should not do anything that is not a proper testimony of godliness to others. We do not need to consider whether or not something is legal or right but whether it is an expression of godliness, God manifested in the flesh. Some brothers may go to bars to drink beer. They may tell the other saints that they have been liberated from all bondage and that in the church life there should be no legalities...All the saints should reply, “No, in the church life we do not accept this kind of speaking.” We must be discerning and strong, not to cause division but to keep the church in the right lane to manifest our God. Our living should be godly, not loose. We should all bring this matter to the Lord. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 2, “Crucial Principles for the Christian Life and the Church Life,” p. 628)

Today’s Reading

God’s economy is His household administration, His plan, to dispense Himself into us. His dispensing produces a life of godliness. Actually, godliness is the issue of the divine dispensing. Such a godly life issuing from God’s dispensing depends upon the exercise of our spirit...A godly life comes out of God’s dispensing, but God is not dispensing Himself into lifeless vessels...In the [pharmacy], drugs are dispensed into lifeless bottles, and because they are lifeless, their cooperation is not required. God, however, is dispensing Himself into us, the living vessels, who already have our own taste, choice, preference, feeling, thinking, mentality, will, etc. If we do not exercise our spirit strongly to cooperate with the Lord, God cannot dispense Himself into us. Our spirit is not only the receiving organ, the retaining organ, but also the opening for God’s dispensing. When our spirit opens wide, our whole being opens. Then God has a way to impart Himself into us. God’s dispensing depends upon our coordination, and our coordination is the exercise of our  spirit.

This is why we have to pray. Just as walking exercises our feet and legs, only prayer exercises our spirit. When we pray, we should not be concerned so much for material things and for our personal affairs as the goal. We should pray in the spirit in order to touch God, to contact God, and to worship God. This kind of prayer exercises our spirit and opens our spirit, and in our spirit we meet God. Then the divine dispensing immediately flows into our spirit. Today our Christian life is a life of godliness, which comes out of God’s dispensing of Himself into us. This depends upon our spirit being fully exercised. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 1, “Basic Lessons on Life,” p. 599)

If you rise up in the morning without saying anything, you may pray in a routine way without really touching the Lord. This is because there is no exercise of your spirit. We have to build up a habit of saying, “O Lord.” When we say, “O Lord,” we touch the Lord. This is the habit of exercising our spirit. In a hard situation...we should force ourselves to say, “O Lord Jesus!’’...The Olympic athletes...force themselves to exercise. If we Christians want to be strong and want to grow in the Lord, we must force ourselves to use our spirit.

Let us suppose that a problem comes into your family life...If you do not exercise your spirit at that time, your entire soul with your mind, will, and emotion will become prevailing. Then the soul will overcome and subdue you, conquering your spirit. This can even cause you to lose your temper in a bad way. Therefore, whenever you are in a hard situation, you have to force yourself to exercise your spirit. To force yourself to exercise, or to use, your spirit makes you a different person. To exercise ourselves unto godliness is to exercise our spirit to live Christ in our daily life. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Spirit with Our Spirit,” pp. 181-182)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1979, vol. 1, “Basic Lessons on Life,” lsns. 17-18; CWWL,
1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “The Healthy Word,” ch. 5