從天上賜下的復興
踏腳石

經文
何西阿書十四1-9
1以色列啊,你要歸向耶和華你的神;你是因自己的罪孽跌倒了。
2當歸向耶和華,用言語禱告他說:求你除淨罪孽,悅納善行;這樣,我們就把嘴唇的祭代替牛犢獻上。
3我們不向亞述求救,不騎埃及的馬,也不再對我們手所造的說:你是我們的神。因為孤兒在你─耶和華那裡得蒙憐憫。
4我必醫治他們背道的病,甘心愛他們;因為我的怒氣向他們轉消。
5我必向以色列如甘露;他必如百合花開放,如利巴嫩的樹木扎根。
6他的枝條必延長;他的榮華如橄欖樹;他的香氣如利巴嫩的香柏樹。
7曾住在他蔭下的必歸回,發旺如五穀,開花如葡萄樹。他的香氣如利巴嫩的酒。
8以法蓮必說:我與偶像還有甚麼關涉呢﹖我─耶和華回答他,也必顧念他。我如青翠的松樹;你的果子從我而得。
9誰是智慧人,可以明白這些事;誰是通達人,可以知道這一切。因為,耶和華的道是正直的;義人必在其中行走,罪人卻在其上跌倒。
信息分享
這幾天我們在思想基督徒的一個傾向,就是從依靠神轉為依靠自己,而這往往是靈性倒退的原因。沒有甚麼比看見自己的子民渴望自我掌控、依賴自我更令神感到厭惡,這不是因為全能的神自負的要掌控一切,而是因為祂知道,倘若我們企圖以自己的方式生活,我們會貶低自己的身份,因而不能達成祂在我們身上的計劃和美意。我們必須面對一個事實,那就是我們沒有辦法不倚靠神,因為只有神才是獨立存在的。沒有我們,祂仍然存在,但假如沒有祂,我們就不能存在。
舊約時期的復興,是出現在以色列人的集體敬拜生活達到高峰的時候。他們承認以自己的方式生活是不行的,只有在倚靠神的時候,才能得到生活的喜樂和果效。我們從今天的經文看到神怎樣呼召祂的子民悔改,歸向倚靠祂:「當歸向耶和華,用言語禱告他。」這表示:「你們清楚明白為甚麼而悔改。」
悔改是一塊從自我掌控到歸向倚靠神的踏腳石,除此以外沒有別的方法。因此在所有復興中,悔改是問題的核心;在復興中,神強烈地向我們顯明一個真理──惟有透過悔改,才能通向與祂建立持久關係的道路。大家要謹記,歸向神是一切改變的關鍵,所有的轉變都必須包含核心的改變──遠離自我掌控,歸向倚靠永活的神。
「歸向神是一切改變的關鍵」
進深研究
代下七1-14;珥二12;賽五十五7
1. 神甚麼時候會醫治大地?
2. 神的應許是甚麼?
祈禱
天父,我明白如果我在倚靠神和自我掌控的問題上跌倒,我在各方面就都會跌倒。求您幫助我不要否認這個事實,要面對它並悔改歸向神。奉耶穌的名求,阿們。
Heaven-Sent Revival
The stepping stone

Bible reading:
Hosea 14:1-9
1 [a]Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall!
2 Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.[b]
3 Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion."
4 "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots;
6 his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
7 People will dwell again in his shade; they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like the vine— Israel's fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what more have I[c] to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a flourishing juniper; your fruitfulness comes from me."
9 Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.
Message
Nothing is more abhorrent to God than to see within His people the desire for self-control and self-dependence. This is not because of any egotism in the Almighty that requires Him to be the boss, but because He knows that when we try to run our lives on our own terms we demean ourselves and fall short of His plans and purposes for us. We must face the fact that we are helplessly dependent and that God and God alone is independent. He can exist without us but we cannot exist without Him.
The periods of revival in the Old Testament came at the high peaks of corporate worship in the life of Israel, when the people acknowledged the fact that they could not successfully run their lives on their own terms but were happy and effective only to the degree that they were dependent upon God. In the chapter before us today we see how God called His people back to dependence upon Him by encouraging them to repent: "Take words with you, and return to the Lord." This means (so I believe): "Have a clear idea of what you are repenting of."
The stepping stone from independence to dependence is always repentance. There is simply no other way that it can be done. That is why in all revivals the issue of repentance becomes paramount. In revival God underlines in a dramatic way the truth that the path to a continuous relationship with Him is through repentance. Never forget this. The key to all change is in a returning to God, for every effort to change must invoke at its core a shift in direction - away from dependence on one's own resources to dependence on the living God.
"The key to all change is a returning to God"
Prayer
Father, I see that if I stumble here, over this matter of dependence and independence, I stumble all down the line. Help me not to deny this issue but to face it and repent of it. I do so now in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further study
2 Chronicles 7:1-14
Joel 2:12
Isaiah 55:7
1. When will God heal the land?
2. What is God's promise?
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