在开始今天的讯息以前，让我们一起重温「复兴祷告」的五个特点──热诚、持久、大胆、具有说服力和悔罪。我们现在来看看「复兴祷告」的第六个特点，也是最后的一个，那就是属灵的绝望。我以前的牧者托马士牧师（David Thomas）在我年青时曾经告诉过我说：「如果我们的国家还有另一次复兴的话，它将会由感到绝望的人来肩负。」

旧约其中一个深刻地经历过属灵绝望的人是尼希米。他听到自己同胞的可怜境况时内心有着极大的忧伤。有人告诉他：「那些被掳归回剩下的人在犹大省遭大难，受凌辱，并且耶路撒冷的城墙被拆毁，城门被火焚烧。」（3节）。第4节让我们看到尼希米听到这个消息后的反应：「我听见这话，就坐下哭泣，悲哀几日，在天上的神面前禁食祈祷」。

我们读圣经时并没有看到其他被掳的犹太人有这种反应。尼希米可以轻易地将注意力转向其他事情，但他的心对神是那么的敏锐，以致他在灵里感到深深的绝望。华理斯（Arthur Wallis）评论尼希米对耶路撒冷城墙被毁的反应时说：「他的感受……是神的新行动产生前的阵痛。」

尼希米那么渴想看到神动工，以致不仅仅祷告，而且禁食。一般人需要处于相当绝望的情况底下才会不进食！你对复兴的需要有多渴望？是否足以驱使你采取某些相应的行动呢？

「属灵的绝望驱使我们向神哀求」

进深研究
拉十1-6；珥二12；徒十三2

1. 是甚么促使以斯拉禁食？
2. 初期的信徒在禁食时发生了甚么事情？

祈祷
天父，您深深地触动了我的内心，我知道您不是要让我受伤，而是要建立我。求您帮助我对属灵的绝望有更深入的认识。奉耶稣的名祈求，阿们。

Heaven-Sent Revival

Day 353

"Labour pains"

"...I sat down and wept, and mourned for days; and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven." (v.4, RSV)

Bible reading:
Nehemiah 1:1-11

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,

2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

3 They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."

4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

5 Then I said: "Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's family, have committed against you.

7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations,

9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'

10 "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.

11 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man." I was cupbearer to the king.

Message

We look now at the sixth and final characteristic of "revival praying": spiritual desperation. My one-time pastor, David Thomas, used to say to me when I was a young Christian: "If ever there is to be another revival in our nation, then it will be borne in on the shoulders of desperate men."

One of the best illustrations I know in the Old Testament of a person who experienced spiritual desperation is Nehemiah. When he heard of the pitiable condition of his fellow countrymen he reacted deeply. He was told: "The survivors there in the province who escaped exile are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire" (v.3, RSV). Look at the reaction of Nehemiah when he received this news: "When I heard these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days; and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven" (v.4).

We do not read of many of the Jewish exiles reacting in this way Nehemiah could easily have turned his attention to other things, but his heart was so sensitive to God that he became spiritually desperate. Arthur Wallis, commenting on Nehemiah's reaction to the news that the walls of Jerusalem were reduced to rubble, says: "His feelings...were the labour pains out of which a new movement of God was born."

Nehemiah was so desperate to see God work that he not only prayed but fasted as well. People have to be pretty desperate to go without food! How desperate are you in connection with the need for revival? Desperate enough to do something about it?

"Spiritual desperation causes us to intercede"

Prayer
Father, You are probing deep. But I know You do it not to demean me but to develop me. Help me, I pray, to know something more of what it means to be spiritually desperate. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

Further study
Ezra 10:1-6
Joel 2:12
Acts 13:2

1. What motivated Ezra to fast?
2. What happened when the early disciples were fasting?

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