3月20日与神为友

与神为友的快乐。这一章说出与神真正为友的快乐，较之祷告时偶尔感到祂同在是大有不同。若与神亲密到一个地步，不需要求祂向你指示祂的心意。这样，你的信心生活就进入成长的阶段了。

与神的关系正常，生命就自由快乐；你就是神的旨意，你一切凭理智所作出的决定，就是祂在你身上的旨意，除非祂有特别的拦阻。

你与神有美好愉快的友谊，便可以决定一切事情，因为就是决定错了，祂总会阻止；祂一阻止，就该立刻停止。

与神为友的困难。亚伯拉罕为什么停止了祷告？他与神的关系还未够亲密，所以在神未答应他的要求之前，便不敢前进。这时他与神的关系，仍有待改进。

我们祷告时，若突然中止，说：“唔，我不敢肯定，这也许不是神的旨意。”这样，你还有另一些阶段要经历。

我们认识神还未及耶稣的深切，也未达到祂要我们应有的认识——“使他们合而为一，像我们合而为一。”

试想想你最后祷告的事是什么？是专注于自己的需求呢？还是神自己？是坚持要得一些圣灵的恩赐？还是要见神的面？

“你们没有祈求以先，你们所需用的，你们的父早已知道了。”所以，祈求的目的是使你更认识神。

“要以耶和华为乐，祂就将你心里所求的赐给你。”不住地祷告，使你对神有更完全的认识。

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The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit. You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop immediately.

The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say, “Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will,” then we still have another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22). Think of the last thing you prayed about— were you devoted to your desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better.

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.

Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…? —Genesis 18:17