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Don’t Lose Your Edge + The Importance of Vision

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 6:1-23.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 6:1-6 (NIV)
1  The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us.
2  Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live.” And he said, “Go.”
3  Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?” “I will,” Elisha replied.
4  And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees.
5  As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh, my lord,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”
6  The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

On verses 1-6:  The number of prophets Elisha is discipling is growing, so Elisha’s disciples propose that they build a new facility for them to meet near the Jordan River.  They begin to cut down trees in the Jordan.  While one of the young prophets is cutting, his ax head flies off its handle and falls into the water.  The young prophet is distraught because the ax head was not his, but was borrowed. 

Worship Is a Heart Thing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 5:13-27.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 5:13-14 (NIV) 
13  Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 
14  So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 

On verses 13-14:  Elisha had told Naaman to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River and his leprosy would be cleansed. Naaman was outraged at how “unspiritual” Elisha’s advice was, believing Elisha’s advice to be purely practical and natural instead of supernatural (v11-12).  Yet his servants advise Naaman to take Elisha’s advice seriously (v13).  Naaman follows Elisha’s advice.  When he dips himself 7 times in the Jordan River, his leprosy is cleansed and his skin is restored (v14).

客旅的祷告

 11 到了一个地方,因为太阳落了,就在那里住宿,便拾起那地方的一块石头枕在头下,在那里躺卧睡了。 12 梦见一个梯子立在地上,梯子的头顶着天,有神的使者在梯子上上去下来。 13 耶和华站在梯子以上[a],说:「我是耶和华你祖亚伯拉罕的神,也是以撒的神,我要将你现在所躺卧之地赐给你和你的后裔。 14 你的后裔必像地上的尘沙那样多,必向东西南北开展。地上万族必因你和你的后裔得福。 15 我也与你同在,你无论往哪里去,我必保佑你,领你归回这地,总不离弃你,直到我成全了向你所应许的。」

雅各的经历让我想起四十年前只身启程前往美国求学的旅程,印象虽有点模糊,但是那种不知未来的不安情绪却是无法遗忘。很感谢神,祂安排了一位老教授坐我邻座,因转机需在东京留宿一晚,我就跟着他后面出关、入关,一直平安到美国。那时候,我真实的领受到雅各单纯、平凡的祷告,「保佑我,给我吃,给我穿,使我平平安安地回家」,因为我需要。

现在的祷告内容多了许多,工作难题、人际关系、家人需要、服事代祷…,牧者还不断提醒我们要感谢,要赞美。是的!圣经教导我们在祷告中交托我们许许多多的生活需要,但是,有些时候我还是会渴慕像雅各那样单纯、平凡的祷告;因为我相信未祈求以先,天父已经知道我所需用的,而「有得吃,有得穿,享平安」就是我最平凡的需要。

不要论断人

马太福音7:1-2

你们不要论断人,免得你们被论断。因为你们怎样论断人,也必怎样被论断;你们用甚么量器量给人,也必用甚么量器量给你们。

网路一篇文章写着:有个人初到美国不久,某天早晨到公园散步,看到一些白人坐在草坪上聊天、晒太阳。他心想:「美国人生活真是悠闲,有钱又懂得享受生活。」

走了不久,又看到几个黑人也悠闲地坐在草坪的另一边,这位先生不禁想到:「唉!黑人失业的问题真严重,这些人大概都在领社会救济金过生活。」

一个人对同样悠闲地坐在草坪上的白人和黑人,从既有的印象或认知,竟然可以产生如此南辕北辙的主观想法。哈兹立特有句话:「偏见是无知的孩子。」说得一点都不错,「人」合「扁」为偏,人一旦有了偏见,就会把「人」看「扁」、看「偏」了。

When God Does Not Work the Way You Expect

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 5:1-12.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 5:1-12 (NIV)
1  Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
2  Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.
3  She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

On verses 1-12: Naaman was a high-powered commander of Aram’s army, yet he had a disease that his influence, intelligence and experience could not solve. He had leprosy. So with the recommendation of an Israelite slave girl in his house, Naaman gets permission from the king of Aram to go to the king of Israel to see if Elisha the prophet can heal him.  Naaman brings with him a huge amount of gold and silver. 

Every Miracle is a Parable

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 4:18-44.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 4:18-37 (NIV)
18  The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers.
19  “My head! My head!” he said to his father. His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20  After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.
21  She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.

On verses 18-37:  Here God uses Elisha to raise a dead boy back to life.  We’ll look at some of the lessons we can learn from this incredible miracle when we talk about verses 42-44.

But for now notice that the Shunammite woman was willing to pour out her heart in front of Elisha, but not in front of Elisha’s servant Gehazi. 

心蒙脂油/耳朵发沉/眼睛昏迷

启示录3:17-19

你说:我是富足,已经发了财,一样都不缺;却不知道你是那困苦、可怜、贫穷、瞎眼、赤身的。我劝你向我买火炼的金子,叫你富足;又买白衣穿上,叫你赤身的羞耻不露出来;又买眼药擦你的眼睛,使你能看见。凡我所疼爱的,我就责备管教他;所以你要发热心,也要悔改。

(今天的分享有点味道。)有个人去找医生:「医生,我一直放屁,但也还好啦,我没有很困扰!因为我的屁不会臭,也不会响。其实,进来以后,我已经放了最少20个了,您都没感觉,就是因为我的屁不会臭,也不会响。」

医生说:「我知道了,把这些药拿回家吃,下礼拜再来一次。」下礼拜那人再来看医生:「医生,您到底给我什么药?我的屁还是放个不停,虽然不会响,可是臭到爆!」医生说:「很好!你的鼻塞已经治好了,现在要治你的重听。」

许多时候,我们离开了神,走岔了路,但是浑然没有感觉;因为我们心蒙脂油,耳朵发沉,听见,却不明白神的话,眼睛昏迷,看见,却不晓得神的作为。

When You Take God At This Word

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 3:13-27.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 
 
2 Kings 3:13-14 (NIV) 
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” “No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the LORD who called us three kings together to hand us over to Moab.” 
14 Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you. 

On verses 13-14:  Elisha the prophet is approached by three kings: the idol-worshiping Joram king of Israel, the God-fearing Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and the king of Edom.  Together they ask Elisha for guidance on what to do in their fight against the king of Moab.  Knowing that Joram was a notorious idol worshiper who consistently disrespected the Lord, Elisha wonders, “Why are you coming to me when you can be consulting your idols?” 

神恩赐的生活

耶利米哀歌3:23-26

23 每早晨这都是新的,你的诚实极其广大。 24 我心里说:「耶和华是我的份,因此我要仰望他。」 25 凡等候耶和华,心里寻求他的,耶和华必施恩给他。

26 人仰望耶和华,静默等候他的救恩,这原是好的。

西元1814年,法国将军陶美尼打仗时,被敌军炸断一条腿,负责擦皮鞋的勤务兵为此难过的哭着;陶美尼将军斥责说:「哭什么哭!你忘了吗?军人只能流血、流汗,不能流泪!以后我只要穿一只皮鞋就好了,多方便啊!你只要擦一只皮鞋就够了,多轻松啊!」

有句话说:「命好不如态度好!」发生事情以后,执著过去已经不重要了,重要的是你怎么面对未来!所谓的态度有部分是我们生活上的行为表现,更重要的是我们心灵的交托和盼望,也就是我们的信心!我们相信天父的慈爱,祂的怜悯永不断绝。因此,信心将我们从痛苦的灾祸深渊救拔出来,再将我们浸泡在喜乐的救恩泉源当中。

一只皮鞋

耶利米哀歌3:23-26

23 每早晨这都是新的,你的诚实极其广大。 24 我心里说:「耶和华是我的份,因此我要仰望他。」 25 凡等候耶和华,心里寻求他的,耶和华必施恩给他。

26 人仰望耶和华,静默等候他的救恩,这原是好的。

西元1814年,法国将军陶美尼打仗时,被敌军炸断一条腿,负责擦皮鞋的勤务兵为此难过的哭着;陶美尼将军斥责说:「哭什么哭!你忘了吗?军人只能流血、流汗,不能流泪!以后我只要穿一只皮鞋就好了,多方便啊!你只要擦一只皮鞋就够了,多轻松啊!」

有句话说:「命好不如态度好!」发生事情以后,执著过去已经不重要了,重要的是你怎么面对未来!所谓的态度有部分是我们生活上的行为表现,更重要的是我们心灵的交托和盼望,也就是我们的信心!我们相信天父的慈爱,祂的怜悯永不断绝。因此,信心将我们从痛苦的灾祸深渊救拔出来,再将我们浸泡在喜乐的救恩泉源当中。