第二十九週．週一

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晨興餧養

帖前三１３　『好使你們的心，當我們主耶穌同祂眾聖徒來臨的時候，在我們的神與父面前，得以堅固，在聖別上無可指摘。』

箴四２３　　『你要切切保守你心，因為生命的果效發之於心。』

新約聖經強調純潔的心。主耶穌說，『清心的人有福了，因為他們必看見神。』（太五8。）保羅囑咐提摩太，要同那清心呼求主的人竭力追求。（提後二22。）不僅如此，大衛在詩篇五十一篇十節禱告說，求主在他裏面造清潔的心。〔然而，在帖前三章十三節，〕保羅為甚麼不說『在純潔或清潔上無可指摘』，卻說『在聖別上無可指摘』？原因是帖撒羅尼迦前書是一卷論到為著召會生活之聖別生活的書信。這封書信第一個段落（由一、二、三章組成）的結論是：主要使我們的心得堅固，在聖別上無可指摘。（帖撒羅尼迦前書生命讀經，二○八頁。）

信息選讀

詩篇七十八篇八節說，『不至像他們的祖宗，是頑梗悖逆、居心不正之輩，他們的靈向著神不忠信。』…心一不正，靈就不忠信。這節經文指明，心與靈的關係何等密切。

魂是人位的本身，而心是採取行動的人位。這意思是說，每當你行動的時候，是你藉著你的心行動。因此，可以說我們的心是我們行動的代表。…當一位弟兄對他的妻子說，『親愛的，我愛你，』這意思是說，他的心愛他的妻子。…我們喜歡或討厭甚麼，也是我們的心在喜歡或在討厭。因此，我們的心是我們的代表，是我們裏面之所是行動的代表、執行者或大使。

因為心是我們的代表，所以所羅門在箴言四章二十三節說，『你要切切保守你心，因為生命的果效發之於心。』保守我們的心實際上就是護衛我們的心。保守的原文意思是護衛。我們應當護衛我們的心，勝過護衛一切，因為生命的果效發之於心。…心與生命的源頭、生命的泉源、以及生命的流出都有關聯。我們首先有源頭，其次有泉源，然後有流出。

要作一個活的信徒，關係到我們的靈和心。…我們許多人能作見證，我們雖然運用我們的靈，但這還不能每次都有效的叫我們活。運用靈沒有果效的原因，乃是心沒有活動。這意思是說，心出了問題。也許心思沒有更新、聖別、變化，也許沒有被主浸透並被祂佔有，卻充滿屬世的事物。我們可以運用我們的靈說，『讚美主！』但這樣用靈也許不能叫我們活。當我們的心活躍時，運用靈纔有用。

我們的心若是沉睡不醒，運用我們的靈呼求主名就沒有果效。…這就是為何我們必須徹底對付我們的心。這對付必須包括我們的心思、情感和意志。我們的心思必須是基督的心思，我們的情感必須被基督的愛浸透，我們的意志必須與祂的意志是一。我們心的光景若是這樣，我們的心就是活躍的，並且是盡功用的。當我們的心一活躍，我們呼求主就會非常有果效。

我們需要禱告：『主，憐憫我。我要我的心思得著更新，我要我的情感充滿你的愛，我要我的意志真實的與你的意志是一。』如果我們有這樣的心，那作我們行動機關的心就會得堅固，在聖別上無可指摘，就是在成為聖別的光景裏無可指摘。（帖撒羅尼迦前書生命讀經，二一五至二一七、二三二至二三三頁。）

參讀：帖撒羅尼迦前書生命讀經，第十八至二十四篇；為著建造基督的身體講說基督，第三章。

WEEK 29 — DAY 1

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Morning Nourishment

1 Thes. 3:13 So that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

Prov. 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the issues of life.

The New Testament emphasizes the matter of a pure heart. The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). Paul exhorted Timothy to be with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22). Furthermore, in Psalm 51:10 David prayed that the Lord would create in him a clean heart. Why, then, [in 1 Thessalonians 3:13] does Paul not say “blameless in purity” or “in cleanness” but instead says “blameless in holiness”? The reason is that the book of 1 Thessalonians is on a holy life for the church life. The conclusion of the first section of this Epistle, composed of chapters 1, 2, and 3, is that the Lord will establish our heart blameless in holiness. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, pp. 173-174)

Todays Reading

Psalm 78:8 says, “That they might not be like their fathers, / A stubborn and rebellious generation, / A generation that did not set their heart right, / And whose spirit was not faithful to God.”…The spirit is not faithful whenever the heart is not set right. This verse indicates how close the heart is to the spirit.

The soul is the person himself, but the heart is the person in action. This means that whenever you act, you act by your heart. Therefore, we may say that our heart is our representative in action…When a brother says to his wife, “Dear, I love you,” this means that his heart loves her…Whenever dislikes. Thus, our heart is our representative, the acting commissioner or ambassador, of our inner being.

Because the heart is our representative, Solomon says in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, / For from it are the issues of life.” To keep our heart is actually to guard it. The Hebrew word rendered “keep” means “guard.” We should guard our heart above all because from it are the issues of life…The heart is related to the sources of life, the springs of life, and the issues of life. First, we have the source, then the spring, and then the issue.

To be a living believer involves both our spirit and our heart…Many of us can testify that we have exercised our spirit, but still this did not always work to make us living. The reason the exercise of the spirit may not work is that the heart does not act. This means that there is something wrong in the heart. Perhaps the mind is not renewed, sanctified, transformed; it may not be saturated with the Lord and occupied by Him. Instead, it may be filled with worldly things. We may exercise our spirit and say, “Praise the Lord!” However, this exercise may not work to make us living. The exercise of the spirit works only when our heart is active.

If our heart is dormant or asleep, exercising our spirit to call on the name of the Lord will not be effective…This is the reason we need to deal thoroughly with our heart. This dealing must include our mind, emotion, and will. Our mind must be the mind of Christ, our emotion must be saturated with the love of Christ, and our will must be one with His will. If this is the condition of our heart, our heart will be active and functioning. Then if we call on the Lord when our heart is active, this calling will be very effective.

We need to pray, “Lord, have mercy on me. I want to have my mind renewed. I want to have my emotion filled with Your love. I want to have a will that is truly one with Your will.” If we have such a heart, then the heart as our acting agent will be established blameless in holiness, blameless in the state of being made holy. (Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, pp. 181-182, 194-195)

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msgs. 18—24; CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Speaking Christ for the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 3