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"There we saw the giants." (Num. 13:33.)
ＹES, they saw the giants, but Caleb and Joshua saw God! Those who doubt say, "We be not able to go up." Those who believe say, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able."
Giants stand for great difficulties; and giants are stalking everywhere. They are in our families, in our churches, in our social life, in our own hearts; and we must overcome them or they will eat us up, as these men of old said of the giants of Canaan.
The men of faith said, "They are bread for us; we will eat them up." In other words, "We will be stronger by overcoming them than if there had been no giants to overcome."
Now the fact is, unless we have the overcoming faith we shall be eaten up, consumed by the giants in our path. Let us have the spirit of faith that these men of faith had, and see God, and He will take care of the difficulties.
－Selected.
It is when we are in the way of duty that we find giants. It was when Israel was going forward that the giants appeared. When they turned back into the wildreness they found none.
There is a prevalent idea that the power of God in a human life should lift us above all trials and conflicts. The fact is, the power of God always brings a conflict and a struggle. One would have thought that on his great missionary journey to Rome, Paul would have been carried by some mighty providence above the power of storms and tempests and enemies. But, on the contrary, it was one long, hard fight with persecuting Jews, with wild tempests, with venomous vipers and all the powers of earth and hell, and at last he was saved, as it seemed, by the narrowest margin, and had to swim ashore at Malta on a piece of wreckage and barely escape a watery grave.
Was that like a God of infinite power? Yes, just like Him. And so Paul tells us that when he took the Lord Jesus Christ as the life of his body, a severe conflict immediately came; indeed, a conflict that never ended, a pressure that was persistent, but out of which he always emerged victorious through the strength of Jesus Christ.
The language in which he describes this is most graphic. "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our body."
What a ceaseless, strenuous struggle! It is impossible to express in English the forcible language of the original. There are five pictures in succession. In the first, the idea is crowding enemies pressing in from every side, and yet not crushing him because the police of heaven cleared the way just wide enough for him to get through. The literal translation would be, "We are crowded on every side, but not crushed."
The second picture is that of one whose way seems utterly closed and yet he has pressed through; there is light enough to show him the next step. The Revised Version translates it, "Perplexed but not unto despair." Rotherham still more literally renders it, "Without a way, but not without a by-way."
The third figure is that of an enemy in hot pursuit while the divine Defender still stands by, and he is not left alone. Again we adopt the fine rendering of Rotherham, "pursued but not abandoned."
The fourth figure is still more vivid and dramatic. The enemy has overtaken him, has struck him, has knocked him down. But it is not a fatal blow; he is able to rise again. It might be translated, "Overthrown but not overcome."
Once more the figure advances, and now it seems to be even death itself, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." But he does not die, for "the life also of Jesus" now comes to his aid and he lives in the life of another until his life work is done.
The reason so many fail in this experience of divine healing is because they expect to have it all without a struggle, and when the conflict comes and the battle wages long, they become discouraged and surrender. God has nothing worth having that is easy. There are no cheap goods in the heavenly market. Our redemption cost all that God had to give, and everything worth having is expensive. Hard places are the very school of faith and character, and if we are to rise over mere human strength and prove the power of life divine in these mortal bodies, it must be through a process of conflict that may well be called the birth travail of a new life. It is the old figure of the bush that burned, but was not consumed, or of the Vision in the house of the interpreter of the flame that would not expire, notwithstanding the fact that the demon ceaselessly poured water on it, because in the background stood an angel ever pouring oil and keeping the flame aglow.
No, dear suffering child of God, you cannot fail if only you dare to believe, to stand fast and refuse to be overcome.
─Tract.
「然而，我今日成了何等人，是蒙神的恩才成的，並且祂所賜我的恩不是徒然的，我比眾使徒格外勞苦，這原不是我，乃是神的恩與我同在。」哥林多前書十五章10節
「恩」這個字有兩種意義，第一是從神得到白白的恩典，而且給予不配接受的人。祂是我們永遠的依靠，我們也該每天為此感謝。另一個意義是藉著神的愛在我們裏面工作，使我們有屬神的能力；恩典不只是神的性情，也是生命的能力，它每天、每時刻在我們裏面運行，賜我們遵守神旨意的能力。
保羅在這節經文講到神的良善，他所有的一切都是神的賜予；由於他比眾使徒更加勞苦，所以神所賜的恩不致於徒然，靠著神的恩，他才能從事他的工作，因為他感覺到藉著這白白賜予的恩以神聖的能力在他裏面運行。
當我們來到施恩寶座前，神給我們有兩種思想，就是神之所以接納我們，使用我們，將祂的恩賜給我們，並不是根據我們的一無所有，而是根據祂的大愛。祂原本愛我們，使我們在一天任何時候都能做成祂的要求。請聽保羅的話：「神能將各樣的恩惠多多地加給你們，使你們凡事常常充足，能多行各樣善事。」（林後九8）「我做了這福音的執事，是照神的恩賜，這恩賜是照祂運行的大能賜給我的。」（弗三7）這恩典如同活水泉源給我們能力，且「多行各樣的善事。」
「這原不是我，乃是神的恩與我同在。」讀每個思想神要在你裏面運行的字句連結起來，「這原不是我，乃是神的恩。」花時間去培養讓神在你身上動工的思想，在施恩賓座前俯伏，直到你有祂的恩，能夠而願意在你身上動工的確據，「你們都要壯膽，堅固你們的心。」
「若是右手叫你跌倒，就砍下來丟掉；寧可失去百體中的一體，不叫全身下入地獄。」馬太福音五章30節
耶穌不是說，人人都要砍下右手，卻是說──「若是右手叫你叫你跌倒，就砍下來」。有許多事，是完全合法的，但是你集中在神身上，你就不能做那些事。你的右手是你所有最好的東西的一件，但是耶穌說如果它阻止你遵依祂的箴規，就砍下來。這是一種最嚴厲的拘束。
當神用重生來改造吾人的時候，那生命開始的特點似乎是殘缺不全的。有許多事你不敢做，他們知道這些事對於你，就像你的右手和眼睛一樣。然而不屬靈的人說──「那有甚麼壞處呢？」你是怎樣糊塗啊！從沒有一個聖徒，開始的時候所過的生活，不是殘缺不全的生活。開始的時候寧可過殘缺的生活，見愛於神，切不可過那神看為殘缺的生活，見愛於人。在開始的時候，耶穌基督藉著祂的靈，阻止你去做許多別人認為對的而你認為不對的事。留心，不要用你的限度去批評別人吧！
開始是殘缺的生活，但是在五章48節上，耶穌給了我們一個完全圓滿的生活──「你們要完全，像你們的天父完全一樣。」（太三48）
「……因祂常與你們同在，也要在你們裡面」約翰福音十四章17節
不要忽略這兩個基督徒生命的階段。第一階段是聖靈在我們裡面動工，第二階段則是聖靈親自住在我們裡面。所有的基督徒都明白第一個階段，但是恐怕只有少數基督徒瞭解接受聖靈內涵的重要。
我們在建造一個幢房子，跟我們住在那房子裡，且以此為家，其間的差異是很大的。同樣的道理，聖靈動工使一個人重生(像蓋房子般)，和祂的進入、內住並管理我們靈裡的深處，及整個生命的氣息，其間的差異也是很大的。
我們是否已接納聖靈？這不同於僅歡迎一個客人而已，乃是以祂為我們的房子、專利權的擁有者、並聖殿的監護人。畢竟我們是「靠祂同被建造，成為神藉聖靈居住的所在。」(弗二22)
這是我奇妙的故事，
基督已進入我內心，
耶穌——榮耀之君，
竟以我心為祂居所。
我心歡喜地接受，
耶穌——我心之王。
我雖常令祂憂傷，
但今願將一切帶到祂腳前。
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