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Pray Bold Prayers

2026-01-11 in /by

How bold are your prayers? As John Wesley crossed the Atlantic, he was reading in his cabin and became aware of heavy winds knocking the ship off course. He responded in prayer. A colleague wrote it down:

Almighty and everlasting God…Thou holdest the winds in thy fists and sittest upon the water floods…command those winds and these waves that they obey Thee. Take us speedily and safely to the haven whither we would go.

Having offered the prayer, Wesley took up his book and continued reading. On deck his colleague found calm winds and the ship on course. Wesley made no mention of the answered prayer. His friend wrote, So fully did he expect to be heard that he took it for granted he was heard.

How bold are your prayers?

手杖

2026-01-11 in , /by

耶利米书 29:11 耶和华说：我知道我向你们所怀的意念是赐平安的意念，不是降灾祸的意念，要叫你们末后有指望。

申命记 33:25 你的鞋(亦做:门闩)是铜的、铁的。你的日子如何，你的力量也必如何。

在我父亲的家中有一个小房间，里面藏着我家几代所用的许多手杖。有的是爬山用的，有的是走平坦大道用的，有的是走泥泞之地用的，有的是雨后雪后行路用的，每种手杖的样式各不相同。有时我回故乡去探望父亲，他老人家常喜欢和我出外散步；每次出发之前，我们总先到手杖室中去拣选我们那一次所适用的手杖。因此我们常想起神的话语是我们生活中的手杖，会给我无限帮助和安慰。

在打仗的时候，紧急的风声使我们心慌意乱，神给我们的是：『他必不怕凶恶的信息；他心坚定，倚靠耶和华』（诗112:7）。这杖扶持我们经过许多黑暗的日子。当死亡夺去我们的孩子，使我们心碎的时候，我在应许中找到另一根安慰的杖：『一宿虽然有哭泣，早晨便必欢呼』（诗30:5）。

With Ordinary People

2026-01-09 in /by

You have bills to pay, beds to make, and grass to cut. Your face won’t grace any magazine covers, and you aren’t expecting a call from the White House. Congratulations—you qualify for a modern-day Christmas story.

Step into the stable, cradle in your arms the infant Jesus. Listen as one who knew him well puts lyrics to the event. What no theologian conceived, what no rabbi dared to dream, God did. John 1:14 proclaims, “The Word became flesh.” Christ in Mary. God in Christ. The Word of God entered the world with the cry of a baby. God writes his story with ordinary people like Joseph, like Mary. People like you, like me.

神的记忆

2026-01-09 in , /by

诗篇 103:12 东离西有多远，祂叫我们的过犯离我们也有多远。

跟朋友谈天时，常会有这样的对话：

你记得吗？你说你最讨厌大红大紫的颜色，怎么今天也穿得大红大紫了？

哦！真的吗？我甚么时候说过这样的话？你记错了人吧！

碰到几十年不见的朋友，那就更加记忆纷乱而冲突：我记得你……。

没有的事，那时我根本不在那地方。

明明是你，我记得清清楚楚。

你胡说八道，我脑子中完全没这回事。

如果是一件不相干的事，彼此吵吵闹闹一番，也就算了。

假如是一件事关紧要的案子之类，那就成了一方否认，一方作假见证了。

救恩的曙光——耶稣

2026-01-08 in , /by

路加福音 1:78-79   因我们神怜悯的心肠，叫清晨的日光从高天临到我们，要照亮坐在黑暗中死荫里的人，把我们的脚引到平安的路上。

「耶稣能拯救黑暗中的人，愿意的人请举手，我为你们祷告。」那年的大专福音营，讲员在最后结束的时候这样说。奇怪！我是好人，我听父母师长的话，考上前几志愿国立大学，洁身自爱，常做善事，爱护动物，我怎么可能是在黑暗中的人？但那一刻，我竟然意识到自己就是。

路加福音书第一章记载，祭司撒迦利亚被圣灵充满，预言自己的孩子要成为至高者的先知！撒迦利亚接着宣告，上帝要差来「清晨的日光」ἀνατολὴ，从高天临到，要照亮坐在黑暗中死荫里的人，把他们的脚引到平安的路上。（路1:78-79）ἀνατολὴ不易翻译，其他中文圣经译作「旭日」、「升起来的光」、「救恩的曙光」、「黎明的曙光」，那就是弥赛亚耶稣。

圣经关于道路的词语，多用来比喻一个人生活或做事的方式。人生道路是连续行为的累积。那年暑假，升起来的光照亮坐在黑暗中的我，回首才知道原本走在错误道路，是朝向自我毁灭而不自知。上帝差来「救恩的曙光」——耶稣，使我回头转向正确道路行走，渐次把我的脚引到平安的路上。

More to Your Story

2026-01-08 in /by

Everything changes when you know the rest of your story. In 2 Samuel 22:25 (MSG) David says, “God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.” But what is the text of our lives? Self-help gurus and magazine headlines urge you to “find your narrative.” “Look inside yourself,” they say. But the promise of self-discovery falls short.

Your story indwells God’s. This is the great promise of the Bible. “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone” (Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG). In his story, you’ll find there’s more to your story.

上帝使万事互相效力

2026-01-07 in , /by

罗马书8:28  我们晓得(神使)万事都互相效力，叫爱神的人得益处，就是按祂旨意被召的人。

「万事都互相效力，叫爱神的人得益处。」（罗马书8:28）这句话常被理解为，不管发生了甚么，无论是好事、坏事，爱上帝的人都会在其中得到好处。这句常出现于安慰告白失败、失恋被甩的人，或求职工作不顺利。

最后一次用到这句，是在数年前。我维持读书、打电脑的姿势太久，没有起来走走，做一下伸展运动，结果肩膀沾黏。这是坏事。那阵子全世界COVID-19肆虐，我们家打疫苗，丈夫和孩子们都肩膀肿痛哀哀叫。这也是坏事。我就用了这句话：「肩膀沾黏的徒手治疗更痛，打疫苗的痛真是小菜一碟。真是万事都互相效力，叫爱神的人得益处啊。」说自己更倒楣，多了肩膀沾黏的坏事，但负负得正，坏坏变好。

这句话被节录，然后滥用、乱用。直到我阅读希腊文圣经罗马书第八章，才知道自己对这句话理解错误三十多年。

The Headline Story

2026-01-07 in /by

We love to know where we came from. We need to know where we came from. Knowing connects us, links us to something greater than we are. That is why God wants you to know his story.

Framed photos hang in his house and lively talks await you at his table. A scrapbook sits in his living room, brimming with stories. Stories about Bethlehem beginnings and manger miracles. Enemy warfare in the wilderness and fishermen friends in Galilee. The stumbles of Peter, the stubbornness of Paul. All part of the story. But subplots to the central message of the headline story: John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life!”

God saves his people—God’s story. And we are a part of it.

No One Has Ever Imagined

2026-01-06 in /by

Try this. Imagine a perfect world. Whatever that means to you, imagine it. Does that mean peace? Then envision absolute tranquility. Does a perfect world imply joy? Then create your highest happiness. Will a perfect world have love? Ponder a place where love has no bounds.  Whatever heaven means to you, imagine it.

Get it firmly fixed in your mind. Delight in it. Dream about it. Long for it. And then smile as the Father reminds you from the apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “No one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” No one. No one has come close.

Think of all the songs about heaven. All the artists’ portrayals. All the lessons preached, poems written and chapters drafted. When it comes to describing heaven, we are all happy failures!

木乃伊

2026-01-06 in , /by

希伯来书 9:27-28  按着定命，人人都有一死，死后且有审判；像这样，基督既然一次被献，担当了多人的罪，将来要向那等候他的人第二次显现，并与罪无关，乃是为拯救他们。

开罗的埃及博物馆收藏了十万件的展览品，但埃及最著名的木乃伊不在展览之列。博物馆入门处贴了一张布告：木乃伊恕不展览。向导说，这张布告并非暂时性的。沙特总统决定今后不再展览木乃伊。我们问为什么？她说，本来木乃伊就不是什么供展览的艺术品，后来不知什么人开始了这股邪风。现在沙特要纠正这个怪现象，恢复原来的规矩。

说得也对，木乃伊除了给人恐怖感以外，什么也没有。多年前我们经过伦敦时，刚好碰上一个著名的木乃伊运来英国展览，博物馆外摆了三条街长的人龙。朋友带我们从旁门进去看楼上一些不出名的木乃伊，看得我毛骨悚然。那些死人若地下有知，恐怕也要抗议这样「不顾情面」的展览了。