害怕死去的麦子
神奇妙的作为

经文
罗马书十一25-36
25弟兄们,我不愿意你们不知道这奥秘(恐怕你们自以为聪明),就是以色列人有几分是硬心的,等到外邦人的数目添满了,
26于是以色列全家都要得救。如经上所记:必有一位救主从锡安出来,要消除雅各家的一切罪恶;
27又说:我除去他们罪的时候,这就是我与他们所立的约。
28就着福音说,他们为你们的缘故是仇敌;就着拣选说,他们为列祖的缘故是蒙爱的。
29因为神的恩赐和选召是没有后悔的。
30你们从前不顺服神,如今因他们的不顺服,你们倒蒙了怜恤。
31这样,他们也是不顺服,叫他们因着施给你们的怜恤,现在也就蒙怜恤。
32因为神将众人都圈在不顺服之中,特意要怜恤众人。
33深哉,神丰富的智慧和知识!他的判断何其难测!他的踪迹何其难寻!
34谁知道主的心?谁作过他的谋士呢?
35谁是先给了他,使他后来偿还呢?
36因为万有都是本于他,倚靠他,归于他。愿荣耀归给他,直到永远。阿们!
信息分享
过去几天以来我们都在讨论,我们必须寻求神给我们的特别异象,这是非常重要的,这异象就是透过自己的生命来完成神的旨意。接着我们会问,然后又怎样?一般来说在找到异象后的下一步是看着它死去。为甚么会这样呢?这是有特别原因的,因为我们的异象往往同时结合了属灵的关注和人的想法,所以神要用一种方式来令属灵的关注保留,而把人的想法转变为神的旨意。这方法就是让那异象死去。
这是一个从圣经创世记到启示录都可以追溯到的原则。当亚伯拉罕得到了成为大国的异象以后,这异象在他发觉妻子不育时「死去」了。当摩西被百姓拒绝,被迫逃到旷野四十年时,他所得到的异象也「死去」了。
那么我们会问,为甚么神令异象诞生,又容许它死去呢?原因是:异象死去以后的等待,正是神在我们内心培养敬虔品格的空间。在等待的时候,由于异象的「死去」,好的品格如忍耐、坚毅、持久和自制等就都在我们里面逐渐建立起来。
神过去有没有给你一个你确实知道是来自祂的异象,但现在那异象已经死去呢?如果有的话不需要失望,因为这是神的行事方式,神利用你那等候的时间来改变你对祂的想法,将你的观点改变成祂的观点。
「等候的时间能转化思想」
进深研究
约二十一1-25,六27;赛五十五2
1. 彼得决定做甚么?
2. 耶稣为甚么挑战彼得?
祈祷
亲爱的天父,我为着您奇妙的作为而深感敬畏。求您赦免我,因为我往往以为等候的时间既乏味又无意义,但是现在我的观点改变了。亲爱的天父,求您引导我让我认识您更多。阿们。
The Corn of Wheat Afraid to Die
God's wonderful ways

Bible reading:
Romans 11:25-36
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,
26 and in this way[a] all Israel will be saved. As it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is[b] my covenant with them when I take away their sins."[c]
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now[d] receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.
32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[e] knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"[f]
35 "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?"[g]
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Message
Now that we have spent a few days discussing the importance of catching a vision of the special contribution God wants us to make through our lives, we ask ourselves: What happens next? Usually, the next step after catching a vision is to see it die. There is a special reason for this: our vision often contains a combination of godly concerns and human perspectives, so God has to engineer a way whereby the godly concerns remain and the human perspectives are changed to divine perspectives. His way of doing this is to cause the vision to die.
This is a Biblical principle that can be traced from Genesis to Revelation. The vision Abraham received of being the father of a great nation "died" when he found his wife was barren. The vision Moses received "died" when he was rejected by his people and was forced to flee into the desert for forty years.
Why, we ask, does God bring a vision to birth and then allow it to die? For this reason: the waiting time in which we find ourselves during the death of a vision is God's classroom for the development of godly character in us. It is in the waiting time, as the vision "dies", that such qualities as patience, persistence, perseverance and self-control are built into us. Has God given you in the past a vision of something that you knew was definitely from Him - but now the vision has died? Then don't be discouraged. This is the way God works. He is using the waiting time to change your ideas to His ideas and your perspectives to His perspectives.
"Waiting time is transformative"
Prayer
O my Father, I stand in awe at the wonder of Your ways. Forgive me that so often I have viewed the time of waiting as tedious rather than transformative. Now my perspectives are different. Lead on, dear Father - I want to learn more. Amen.
Further study
John 21:1-25; 6:27
Isaiah 53:2
1. What had Peter decided to do?
2. Why did Jesus challenge him?
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