第六週■週二

w06d02-ch

晨興餧養

羅九 23『且要在那些蒙憐憫、早豫備得榮耀的器皿上，彰顯祂榮耀的豐富。』

林後四 7『但我們有這寶貝在瓦器裏，要顯明這超越的能力，是屬於神，不是出於我們。』

保羅的十四封書信…總歸可用一個辭來表達：『敞開的器皿』。神要一個敞開的器皿。保羅在羅馬九章二十三節告訴我們，神把我們造成『蒙憐憫、早豫備得榮耀的器皿』。然後在林後四章七節說，『我們有這寶貝在瓦器裏。』這兩處經文可視爲我們經歷基督與召會的基本祕訣。…如果你不曉得你必須是一個敞開的器皿，基督與召會〔就〕沒有路。…敞開的器皿就是不作甚麼，只是一直敞開，好得着充滿。經過種種過程的神—三一神、包羅萬有的靈、複合的靈—在這裏等候得着一個入口，好進到你裏面去。祂進到你裏面有多少，在於你向祂敞開有多少（李常受文集一九八○年第一册，三二六頁）。

信息選讀

主所要的乃是我們愛祂，保守自己一直敞開。不要作甚麼，只要讓祂進來。…如果你愛召會，卻不把自己完全敞開，你就仍然喜愛爲主作些甚麼。…這就是天然的生命帶着墮落的性情。正當的光景乃是：我不需要作甚麼，但我需要愛主愛到極點，一直向祂大大的敞開。這完全啓示在新約裏。…倘若你以此爲祕訣，再去讀保羅所寫的書信，你就會看見這是他書信裏真正的本質。

當你進到我所交通的經歷裏，你會跪下來敬拜主，說，『主，現在我曉得了，我必須愛你，必須盡力事奉你，我必須有一顆敞開的心，向着你是一個敞開的人。主阿，因着你的憐憫和說話，你不要我作甚麼。主阿，我在這裏。』這真是美妙，這正是主今天所要的，主的見證就在這一個點上。器皿只能盛裝東西，燈臺只能爲着添油把自己敞開。口一封閉，油就無法再添進來了。這意思是說，不再繼續有油了。燈臺甚麼也不作，只是把自己敞開，接受油並照耀。它接受了加添的油，就有所彰顯，發出光來。事實上，燈臺就是真正盛裝油的器皿。

現在你就能明白馬太二十五章裏十個童女的比喻了，那就是器皿有額外的油。器皿盛裝油是爲着照耀並焚燒，這就是童女。童女在主眼中不是一個忙忙碌碌、活躍有所作爲的人，而是一個敞開自己來接受油的人；然後油會從裏面焚燒而照耀出去。

你愛主，你保守自己一直向祂敞開，然而你不作甚麼，祂要作成一切。這不但是可能的，也是主所要求的。主要求你停下你的作爲，但祂不要你打盹或漠不關心；祂要你非常儆醒。要愛祂，把自己一直向祂敞開，天天告訴祂說，『主，我愛你。主，我在這裏向你敞開。主，憐憫我，因着你的恩典，我不喜歡我的全人有那一部分向你是關閉的，我喜歡完完全全的向你敞開。』

真正的基督徒生活就是愛主，保守自己一直向主敞開，並停下自己的作爲。然後主就來作成一切，這器皿便單單盛裝主，享受主的充滿，並享受主的作爲。這就是正當且真實的基督徒生活（李常受文集一九八○年第一册，三二七至三三○、三三三、三三五頁）。

參讀：成全訓練，第二十二章。

WEEK 6 — DAY 2

Morning Nourishment

Rom. 9:23 In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.

2 Cor. 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.

The summary of [Paul’s] fourteen Epistles may be expressed in just two words: open vessel. God wants an open vessel. In Romans 9:23 Paul tells us that God created us as vessels of mercy unto glory. Then in 2 Corinthians 4:7 he says that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” These two verses may be considered as a basic secret to our experience of Christ and the church…If you do not realize that you have to be an open vessel, Christ and the church…have no way…An open vessel is doing nothing but keeping itself open to the filling up. The processed God—the Triune God, the all-inclusive Spirit, the compound Spirit—is here waiting for an opening to get into you. How much He would enter into you depends upon how much opening you would give Him. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” p. 241)

Todays Reading

What the Lord wants is that we love Him, that we keep ourselves open. Do not do anything. Let Him in. If you love the church but do not open yourself up absolutely, you will still love to do something for the Lord…This is the natural life with the fallen nature. The proper situation is that I do not need to do anything, yet I need to love the Lord to the uttermost, keeping myself wide open all the time to Him. This is what is fully revealed in the New Testament…If you take this as a key and read once again the Epistles written by Paul, you will see that this is the genuine substance in his Epistles.

When you enter into the experience of my fellowship, you will kneel down and worship the Lord. You would say, “Lord, now I know. I must love You. I must serve You to the uttermost. I must have an open heart with an open being to You. O Lord, by Your mercy and Your speaking, You do not want me to do anything. Lord, I am here.” This would be wonderful. This is what the Lord wants today. The Lord’s testimony is just here at this point. A vessel can only contain something, and the lampstand can only keep itself open for the refilling of the oil. When the opening is shut, there is no more refilling. That means there will be no continuation of the oil. The lampstand does not do anything. It just opens itself to receive the oil and to shine. It receives the filling oil, and then it expresses something; it shines. Actually, a lampstand is a real vessel containing oil.

Now you can understand the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. That is just the vessel with an extra portion of oil. There the vessel contains the oil for shining and burning. This is a virgin. A virgin in the eyes of the Lord is not one who is so busy and so active in doing but one who keeps himself open to receive the oil. Then the oil may burn from within to shine out.

You love the Lord, and you keep yourself open to Him all the time. Yet you would not do anything, but He would do everything. Not only is this possible, but this is also required by the Lord. The Lord requires you to stop your doing. But He does not want you to be sleepy or indifferent; He wants you to be very alert. Love Him and keep yourself open to Him. Tell Him every day, “Lord, I love You. Lord, I am here open to You. Lord, have mercy upon me, and by Your grace I do not like to have any part of my being closed to You. I like to keep myself entirely and thoroughly open to You.”

A genuine Christian life is one that loves the Lord and keeps itself open to the Lord and stops its doing. Then the Lord comes in and the Lord does everything and this vessel just contains the Lord and enjoys the Lord’s filling up and enjoys the Lord’s doing. This is the proper and genuine Christian life. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” pp. 242-244, 246-247)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” ch. 22