双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：10月13日 保罗的刺

10月13日

保罗的刺

 

我靠着那加给我力量的，凡事都能做。

腓立比书4:13

使徒保罗藉着自己的亲身经历，知道受苦意味着什么。当他向哥林多信徒讲述他与复活主的一些个人经历​​时，他承认自己确实有个身体的问题：“又恐怕我因所得的启示甚大，就过于自高，所以有一根刺加在我肉体上，就是撒但的差役，要攻击我，免得我过于自高。”（哥林多后书12:7）。

我们不知道那根“肉体上的刺”到底是什么，但肯定是身体上的疾病。可能是某种眼疾或癫痫；或者如威廉·拉姆齐爵士所认为：最有可能是疟疾。然而，我们知道他如何处理这个问题，以及后来他的态度如何：

“我三次求过主。叫这刺离开我。但他对我说，我的恩典够你用的，因为我的能力是在人的软弱上显得完全。所以，我更喜欢夸自己的软弱，好叫基督的能力覆庇我；因此，我为基督的缘故，就以软弱、凌辱、急难、逼迫、困苦，为可喜乐的。因我什么时候软弱，什么时候就刚强了。”（哥林多后书12:8-10）

保罗当然不喜欢肉体上的那根刺，但当他知道无法摆脱它的时候，就停止呻吟，开始赞美了。他知道这是神的旨意，苦难是见证基督在他生命中的能力的机会。

你能像保罗那样超越自己的环境吗？靠我们自己的力量我们不可能去承受像他那样严重的苦难。然而，我们可以像使徒保罗一样说：“我靠着那加给我力量的，凡事都能做”（腓立比书4:13）

今日祷告：

天父，求祢赐给我力量，去忍受祢允许临到我的一切，并用圣灵充满我，使我所做的是祢所愿的；奉耶稣的名，阿们。

October 13

PAUL’S THORN IN THE FLESH

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.Philippians 4:13

The apostle Paul,by firsthand experience,knew what it meant to suffer.As he was telling the people of Corinth about some of his personal experiences with the risen Lord,he confessed that he had a real physical problem:“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations,there was given me a thorn in my flesh,a messenger of Satan,to torment me”(2 Corinthians 12:7).

We don’t know exactly what that“thorn in the flesh”was,but it must have been a physical ailment.It may have been some type of eye disease or epilepsy;or,as Sir William Ramsay thought most likely,malarial fever.However,we do know how he handled his problem and what his subsequent attitude toward it was:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.But he said to me,“My grace is sufficient for you,for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,so that Christ’s power may rest on me.That is why,for Christ’s sake,I delight in weaknesses,in insults,in hardships,in persecutions,in difficulties.For when I am weak,then I am strong.(2 Corinthians 12:8-10,NIV)

Certainly Paul did not like that thorn in the flesh.But when he knew that it was not possible to get rid of it,he stopped groaning and began glorifying.He knew it was God’s will and that the affliction was an opportunity for him to prove the power of Christ in his life.

Would you be able to live above your circumstances as Paul did?To withstand suffering as severe as his in our own power would be impossible.Yet with the apostle we can say,“I can do everything through him who gives me strength”(Philippians 4:13,NIV)

Pray for the Day:

Father,give me the strength to endure whatever You allow me to endure,and fill me with the Holy Spirit,so that what I do will be Your will;in Jesus’Name,Amen.