要解答以上的问题，我们可从圣经及教会的历史纪录，仔细去寻找答案。在旧约，我们看见神的子民有时候被提升到灵性的高峰，但随后又落在属灵的幽谷及沮丧中。即使圣灵在五旬节期间大大的倾注教会，但经过一代以后，教会又变得冷漠，以致我们在启示录第二至三章看到神要求小亚细亚的七间教会悔改，重拾他们当初对神的爱。历史向我们印证，在属灵更新的时刻以前，教会需经过一段属灵腐败的时期，就像中世纪初期的一样。

我们要记得，所有属灵上的倒退都是源自于对依靠自己的渴求。起初，当我们与神进入一段新的关系时会强烈的意识到需要倚靠祂，但不幸的是，过了一段时间后，我们心里就有一种强烈要求独立的呼声，而这比任何事情都更容易令我们放弃神所给予我们的一切。

「为甚么我们不能稳站属灵的高峰？」

进深研究
王上十八1-39；赛三十五6-7；哀三40-42

1. 以利亚的经验如何令我们更理解灵性的复兴？
2. 试写出你对灵性复兴的定义。

祈祷
天父，求您帮助我今天察验自己的内心，反省一下我是否过份依靠自己。亲爱的主，倘若我没有放下自恃的心、没有尊你为大，求您让我看见。阿们。

Heaven-Sent Revival

Day 308

Why we need revival

"...But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." (v.9)

Bible reading:
2 Corinthians 1:3-14

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.

7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.

9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity[b] and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God's grace.

13 For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that,

14 as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Message

We have seen that revival is "a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord". Today we examine the question: Why do we keep on needing such experiences? Why can't we hold on to the spiritual highs when they come and not let them go? Why, for example, did the Christians in Wales during the revival in 1904 allow the fire that swept the Principality to die out?

We can find the answer to these questions by looking more closely at the history of God's people as found in the Scriptures and in the records of the Church. In the Old Testament we see that there were times when God's people were lifted to the heights of spiritual blessing, only to plunge later into spiritual apathy and despair. Even after the great outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost the Church one generation later lapsed into coldness so that in Revelation 2 and 3 we see our Lord confronting the seven churches of Asia with the challenge to repent and return to their first love. History tells us that there have been periods when the Church has experienced spiritual decay, for instance in the early Middle Ages, before a time of renewal occurred.

Note carefully what I am now about to say: the cause of all spiritual lapse is rooted in the desire for independence. Initially, when we enter into a new relationship with God, we are conscious of a great sense of dependence upon Him, but unfortunately after a while something rises up within us and clamours for independence. And it is this, more than any other single thing, that causes us to let go of what God gives us.

"Why can't we hold on to the spiritual highs?"

Prayer
O Father, help me to look within my own heart today and evaluate to what extent the desire for independence rules my life. Show me, dear Lord, that if I do not crown You Lord of all, I do not crown You Lord at all. Amen.

Further study
1 Kings 18:1-39
Isaiah 35:6-7
Lam 3:40-42

1. In what way is Elijah's experience a picture of revival?
2. Write out your definition of revival.

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