经过过去几天的思考，我们不妨在这儿停下来，提醒自己要明白神对事情的次序──「生命之先必有死亡」的真理。麦子里面有能够长出无数颗麦子的潜力，但是每颗孤单的麦子却必须先落到地里死去以后才会有丰盛的结果。潜力必须在种子死后才能够发挥出来，从死亡里面产生出丰富的收成。这个原则不仅仅是大自然有趣的事实，如果我们的生命要多结果子，我们也必须愿意向自己的计划死去，这样才能活出神的计划。

接下来我们要思考一下生命常遇到的另一些问题──障碍和反对。你是否希望自己的生命不会遇到这些令人沮丧的情况？它们在阻挡你的前路或妨碍你属灵生命的成长？让我告诉你，如果没有它们，你会更糟糕，因为你所面对的障碍和反对可以变成一种激励，促使你属灵方面的成长。

有一位牧者朋友曾经历过一段十分困难的日子，他要求我和他一起祷告，祈求神除去他事奉中的所有障碍。我充满爱意地将手放在他肩膀上，对他说：「如果神这么做，你的事奉便不会有结果。」他明白那意思，所以转而要求我祈求神帮助他向自己所关注的一切死去。我照着他的要求祷告，从那天开始，他的事奉很有力，结果非常理想。朋友，你知道吗？你的事奉也可以有同样的成果。

「生命的障碍可以促进属灵生命的成长」

进深研究
腓一1-14；徒五41；罗八17

1. 保罗怎么样看自己的挫折？
2. 正面的结果是甚么？

祈祷
天父，我越来越明白真正重要的不是有甚么会发生在我身上，而是我如何对待这一切事情。求您把这教导植入我的内心，使它每天主导我的人生。奉耶稣的名祈求，阿们。

The Corn of Wheat Afraid to Die

Day 286

Problems? No, prods!

"...God...is using your sufferings to make you ready for his kingdom." (v.5, TLB)

Bible reading:
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

1 Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters,[b] and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.

4 Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

5 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you

7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might

10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.

12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.[c]

Message

We pause at this point to remind ourselves of the principle we are seeking to understand, namely that in God's order of things, life is always preceded by death. A grain of wheat has within it the potential of becoming many grains of wheat, but first the solitary grain must fall into the ground and die. It is only after death that its potential is released, and out of the dying comes an abundant harvest. That principle is not just to be seen as an interesting fact of nature; if our lives are to be fruitful, then we, too, must be willing to die to our own purposes so that we might live to God's.

The next sphere of life we examine is the area of obstacles and opposition. Would you like your life to be free of those potentially frustrating situations that block your way or impede your spiritual development? Then let me say at once, you could be worse off without them. The obstacles and opposition you face can turn out to be prods - prods toward your spiritual growth.

A minister friend of mine who was going through a period of great difficulty once asked me to pray with him that God would remove all the obstacles from his ministry. I put my hand lovingly on his shoulder and replied: "If He does, it will make your ministry less effective." He saw the point, and instead asked me to pray that God would help him to die to his own concerns. I did, and from that day to this, his ministry has flourished and become extremely fruitful. And so, my friend, can yours.

"Opposition can promote spiritual growth"

Prayer
O Father, more and more the conviction grows that it is not what happens to me, but what I do with it, that is important. Deepen this conviction within me so that it becomes a controlling one - today and every day. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Further study
Philippians 1:1-14
Acts 5:41
Romans 8:17

1.How did Paul view his setbacks?
2. What was the positive outcome?

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