人的生命注定不可能總是一帆風順,有順境亦有逆境,人心難測,世事難料,但主的愛卻是永存也是永恒的,無論境況怎樣,境遇如何,可能遭逼迫、被欺騙、受試煉、遇挑戰。。。卻總可以謙卑心懷地向上帝祈禱,正如靈修的文裏寫道:當我們迫切需要時,禱告會從我們的嘴和心底深處油然而生。。。而上帝是垂聽禱告的,向祂呼求。。。
下麵是今晨我讀到的靈修文章,分享給 J 妹妹。雖然與 J 萬裏之隔,但輕舟此刻心係著你,為你祈禱,願神的恩典和慈愛與你同在!
向上帝呼求
來源:http://simplified-odb.org/2013/02/15/向上帝呼求/
信主多年,我還不能完全了解禱告到底是怎麽一回事。禱告對我來說是一個謎。但有一點我非常清楚:當我們迫切需要時,禱告會從我們的嘴和心底深處油然而生。
每當我們一籌莫展而驚惶失措;被逼到超出忍耐極限;離開自己的安逸窩;或麵臨挑戰和威脅時,我們才會出於本能而又不由自主地禱告:「主啊,救救我!」這是我們自然的呼求。
作家尤金·畢德生寫過:「禱告的言語是在困厄時期,嚴峻考驗下煉就而成的。當我們無法自救而必須向上帝求助時;不滿自己處境而尋求解脫時;不滿於自己而祈求有所改變時,我們用的禱告詞是樸實而不加修飾的話語,而這些話語就成了最自然的禱告。」
人總在生命遭逢困厄時,才開始禱告,而我們也會繼續禱告,因為人生總會麵臨各式各樣的困難。禱告不須特別準備,也不用斟字酌句,更不拘於形式。不論身處順境或逆境,在最需要的時候,禱告會從心裏湧流出來,成為我們每次麵對人生境遇的自然反應(腓立比書4章6節)。所以,能透過禱告將所有的事情帶到上帝麵前,是何等大的特權啊!
英文原文
After all these years, I still don’t fully understand prayer. It’s something of a mystery to me. But one thing I know: When we’re in desperate need, prayer springs naturally from our lips and from the deepest level of our hearts.
When we’re frightened out of our wits, when we’re pushed beyond our limits, when we’re pulled out of our comfort zones, when our well-being is challenged and endangered, we reflexively and involuntarily resort to prayer. “Help, Lord!” is our natural cry.
Author Eugene Peterson wrote: “The language of prayer is forged in the crucible of trouble. When we can’t help ourselves and call for help, when we don’t like where we are and want out, when we don’t like who we are and want a change, we use primal language, and this language becomes the root language of prayer.”
Prayer begins in trouble, and it continues because we’re always in trouble at some level. It requires no special preparation, no precise vocabulary, no appropriate posture. It springs from us in the face of necessity and, in time, becomes our habitual response to every issue—good and bad—we face in this life (Phil. 4:6). What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer!