第九週■週四

w09d04-ch

晨興餧養

林後四 16『所以我們不喪膽，反而我們外面的人雖然在毀壞，我們裏面的人卻日日在更新。』

西二 19『…持定元首；本於祂，全身…得了豐富的供應，並結合一起，就以神的增長而長大。』

我們外面的人，我們必死的身體，因着死的殺死工作逐漸銷毀；我們裏面的人，就是我們重生的靈，連同我們裏面的各部分，（耶三一 33，來八 10，羅七 22，25，）卻因復活生命的供應，得以日日新陳代謝的更新。（聖經恢復本，林後四 16 註 3。）

我們得蒙重生以後，就有了神，但我們所有神的元素不多。這就是爲甚麼歌羅西二章十九節說，我們需要以神的增長而長大。…我們以神在我們裏面的增加而長大。…我們若有神豐滿的在我們裏面，就會有豐滿的長大。…當神在我們裏面增加，祂的新元素就加到我們裏面。不論我們天然的個性是快是慢，當神聖的元素進到我們裏面，就更新我們。我們接觸神的時候，神就將祂自己這神聖的元素注入我們裏面。這新的元素就加到我們現有的元素裏。（李常受文集一九八九年第二册，四四五至四四六頁。）

信息選讀

神願意將祂自己加到我們裏面，但我們若不接觸祂，祂就不能在我們裏面增加。我們也許經過一段時間沒有接觸神，也沒有向祂禱告，反而憑自己並在自己裏面作一切。在這段期間，神沒有加到我們裏面，我們也沒有以神的增加而增長。…我們守晨更親近主不是只爲着運用心思讀聖經的字句，乃是爲着運用靈。爲此，我們必須說，『哦，主耶穌。』我們呼求主乃是屬靈的呼吸。我們必須藉着向神禱告並呼求而接觸神。這樣，祂就將祂自己加到我們裏面。當我們接觸祂，祂就將更多的神聖元素加到我們裏面。當神新的元素加到我們裏面，這新的元素就新陳代謝的更新我們。就天然說，我也許是性急的人，但因着神的元素進到我裏面，這元素就更新了我天然的習慣。

有時候神可能允許召會經過『風暴』，…因爲神要我們得更新。我們若在『風暴』中受了苦，卻還保持原樣，沒有更新，這是可悲的事。…我們必須禱告：『主阿，我不要保持原樣。我不要今年跟去年一樣。我要日日得更新。』…我們每日需要接觸神，將自己向祂敞開，讓祂進到我們裏面，逐日新鮮的加增到我們裏面。

每時每刻我們都需要接受神，使祂能加到我們裏面；我們也必須拒絕己，好接受基督的死，使我們能與我們裏面的主合作。這樣，我們就會享受更新的性能，也會享受更新的結果，就是我們在行爲、性格、個性、甚至習慣上，新陳代謝的改變。…當我們天天在基督裏經歷神，我們就會看見神的心意是要一點一點的更新我們，特別是更新我們的習慣。這是日日得更新的真實經歷。爲這目的，神興起種種環境消耗我們外面的人，使我們裏面的人能日日得更新。

當主所有的兒女都經過更新的過程，成爲新耶路撒冷的時候，他們就會在完全更新的情形裏。聖城叫作新耶路撒冷，因爲那裏沒有神舊造的舊元素。我們經過患難的時候，在我們裏面需要日日不斷的有更新，使神能完成祂的心意。（李常受文集一九八九年第二册，四四六、四五○、四五三至四五四頁。）

參讀：日日在更新，第一至二章；長老訓練第二册，主恢復的異象，第三章。

WEEK 9 — DAY 4

Morning Nourishment

2 Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

Col. 2:19 …Holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together…, grows with the growth of God.

As our mortal body, our outer man, is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man, that is, our regenerated spirit with the inward parts of our being (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 7:22, 25), is being metabolically renewed day by day with the supply of the resurrection life. (2 Cor. 4:16,After we have been regenerated, we have God, but we do not have much of God. This is why Colossians 2:19 says that we need to grow with the growth of God…We grow by the increase of God within us…When we have God in us to the fullest, we will have the full growth…When God is
increasing within us, His new element is being added into us. When the divine element comes into us, it renews us regardless of whether we are slow or quick in our natural disposition. As we are contacting God, God infuses Himself as the divine element into our being. This new element is added into our existing element. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed Day by Day,” p. 357)

Today’s Reading

God desires to add Himself into our being, but He does not increase in us when we do not contact Him. We may go through a period of time in which we do not contact God or pray to Him. Instead, we are doing everything by ourselves and in ourselves. During this time, God is not added into our being, and we are not increasing with the increase of God…Our morning watch with the Lord is not just for us to exercise our mind to read the letter of the Bible, but it is for us to exercise our spirit. This is why we have to say, “O Lord Jesus.” Our calling on the Lord is our spiritual breathing. We have to contact God by praying to Him and calling on Him. Then He adds Himself into us. When we contact Him, He is adding more and more of the divine element into our being. As the new element of God is being added into our being, this new element metabolically renews us. I may be a quick person naturally, but because God’s element comes into my being, this element renews my natural habit.

Sometimes God may allow the church to pass through a “storm”…because He wants us to be renewed. The tragic thing is that while we are suffering in the “storm,” we would remain the same with no renewing…We have to pray, “Lord, I don’t want to remain the same. I do not want to remain the same this year as I was last year. I want to be renewed day by day.”…Daily we need to contact God, open ourselves up to Him, and let Him come into us to be a new addition into us day by day.

Moment by moment we have to receive God so that He can be added into us, and we have to reject ourselves to receive the death of Christ so that we can cooperate with the Lord within us. Then we will enjoy not only the renewing capacity but also the renewing result, which is a metabolic change in our behavior, in our character, in our disposition, and even in our habit…When we experience God in Christ daily, we will see that God’s intention is to renew us bit by bit, especially to renew our habit. This is the real experience of being renewed day by day. For this purpose God raises up all kinds of environments to consume our outer man so that our inner man can be renewed day by day.

When all of the Lord’s children pass through the process of renewing to become the New Jerusalem, they will be in a state of being fully renewed. The holy city is called the New Jerusalem because it has no old element of God’s old creation. As we pass through afflictions, there needs to be a continual renewing taking place in us day by day so that God can accomplish His heart’s desire. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed Day by Day,” pp. 357-358, 360-361, 363)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “Being Renewed Day by Day,” chs. 1—2; CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 3