第三週■週四

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晨興餧養

腓一21『因爲在我，活着就是基督，死了就有益處。』

加二20『我已經與基督同釘十字架；現在活着的，不再是我，乃是基督在我裏面活着；並且我如今在肉身裏所活的生命，是我在神兒子的信裏，與祂聯結所活的，祂是愛我，爲我捨了自己。』

我們要來看，神的生命在我們裏面所遇到的難處。…在我們身上所有好的也罷，壞的也罷；贊成的也罷，不贊成的也罷，可以說，沒有一處不是神生命的難處。

我們中間無論是聰明的，或是愚拙的；是受過高等教育的，或沒有受高等教育的，我們裏面的觀念，都是在黑暗裏，叫我們不能認識生命，認識基督。…神的生命在我們裏面所遇到的第一個難處，就是我們不認識我們人的觀念乃是黑暗的。我們不領會我們的觀念，在我們看好像是正大光明的，實在說來，卻是滿了黑暗、無生命的。

你得救時，接受了一位活的基督，祂在你裏面作了你的生命。…這位活的基督在你裏面，你怎樣對待祂，纔是值得關切的。（李常受文集一九五三年第一册，一六八至一六九、一七一至一七二頁。）

信息選讀

我們得救以後，都有一個要作好的觀念。…好比我們昨天晚上剛剛受浸，就有個觀念要大發熱心，廣傳福音。然而今天早晨，我們禱告神，與神交通時，這位活的基督在你我裏面，把我們摸了一下；祂在你我裏面，不斷的運行，把我們裏面推動了起來，結果故事就來了。…祂不停的運行，使我們看見，從前〔錯待〕妻子，或責怪丈夫，埋怨別人，是不合宜的，應當去向他們認罪。…這就是基督在我們裏面的故事。當我們禱告時，這位活的基督，在我們裏面動一動，摸一摸，就要我們去向那些我們曾經得罪過的人認罪。

生命在我們裏面所遇到的第二個難處，就是假冒。…一個人是否屬靈，不在於外面的表現，乃在於他如何對待基督。…假冒〔的屬靈〕，是生命的一個大難處。…有一些人，生性溫柔、謙讓，與人無爭，體貼人，肯爲人落淚，同情人，願爲人捨己。他們有這許多的長處、美德；等到他們作了基督徒後，這些生性的美德也帶進來了。他們以爲這些就是生命，就是基督徒該有的。…以道德來說，那是該有的；以生命來說，那都是假冒的。…生命就是神自己，生命就是基督，生命就是聖靈。凡不是神、基督、聖靈的，就不是生命。…只有…基督從你裏面出來，那個纔是生命。

有些人〔從來不發脾氣〕，你要他們發脾氣，還真是難。要人不發脾氣不容易，要人發脾氣也不容易；因爲那就是那個人的生性，生性總是難改的。然而，當基督在他們裏面運行，感動他們，要他們說幾句真話，說幾句厲害的話時，他們若是肯反着自己，順從裏面的感覺說真話，那就是生命從他們裏面出來了。

所以，…生命…就是不理睬你的天性，不管你的愛好，簡單的讓基督在你裏面運行，破碎你自己；這時，你憑着基督在你裏面的運行所作的，就是生命。若是你凡事都憑天性、天然去作，其結果無論是甚麼都是假冒。（李常受文集一九五三年第一册，一七二、一七五至一七八頁。）

參讀：神的經營，第八至九章；認識生命與召會，第三至四篇。

WEEK 3 — DAY 4

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Morning Nourishment

Phil. 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

We need to see the obstacles that God’s life encounters in us…Everything we have, whether good or bad, approved or disapproved, can be an obstacle for God’s life.

It does not matter whether we are wise or foolish, whether we are highly educated or uneducated, all our human concepts are in darkness,…and they keep us from knowing Christ as life in us…The first problem that God’s life encounters in us is that we do not realize the darkness of our human concepts. We do not realize that our concepts, even though they seem proper and upright, are actually full of darkness and without life.

The day we were saved, we received a living Christ, who became our life in us…The only thing that matters is how we take care of the living Christ in us. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” pp. 131-133)

Today’s Reading

After we are saved, the concept of trying to be good is within all of us… As soon as we are baptized, we typically think that we should be zealous and preach the gospel. However, when we pray and fellowship with God in the morning, the living Christ in us may touch us in a different way according to His constant operation and move in us. Then things truly begin to happen in us. For example, as He operates in us, we will see that some things we may have done in the past are inappropriate, such as [mistreating] our wives, blaming our husbands, and complaining about others. We will even have a sense that we should apologize…This is what Christ is doing in us. When we pray, the living Christ will move in us and touch us to apologize to those whom we have offended.

The second problem that life encounters in us is hypocrisy…A person’s spirituality is not determined by outward appearance but by how he takes care of Christ. [A] spirituality [that] is false…is actually a great hindrance to life. Some people may be naturally gentle, modest, uncontentious, caring, willing to shed tears for others, sympathetic, and self-sacrificing. They have many good points and virtues. After they become Christians, they bring these natural virtues into the church. They think that these virtues are of life and that Christians should have them…From the point of view of morality, people should have these virtues, but from the point of view of life, these virtues are false. Life is God Himself, life is Christ, and life is the Holy Spirit. Anything that is not of God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit is not life…Life involves only the expression of Christ Himself out of us.

Some people are born with a disposition that does not lose its temper even when others try hard to make them lose their temper. It is difficult for some people not to lose their temper, but for others it is difficult for them to lose their temper. This is due to their disposition, and their disposition cannot be changed easily. Nonetheless, when Christ operates and moves in them, urging them to speak some frank, strong words, life will be expressed if they go against their disposition and obey the inner feeling to speak a frank word.

Thus, the expression of life involves the rejection of our natural disposition and preference and simply allowing Christ to operate in us and break us. Then our actions through the inner operation of Christ will be of life. If we always do things according to our disposition and natural being, the outcome will always be hypocrisy. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” pp. 133- 138)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 3, “The Economy of God,” chs. 8-9; CWWL, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” chs. 3-4