赤誠追尋神

There was a beautiful red stone nearby, which I almost lunged at to lay my hands on.
Immediately I was in the Garden of Gethsemane beholding the Lord in prayer.
The agony I beheld was even more terrible than the door I had just seen.
Shocked, I jerked my hand away from the stone and fell to the floor in exhaustion.

“What was that back there?” I asked.

“We beheld for a moment the agony of the Lord before His crucifixion, and we felt briefly what He felt that terrible night.
It is hard for us to understand how our God could ever suffer like that.”

The angels’ words were like lightning bolts straight to my soul.
I had fought in the great battle. I had climbed to the top of the mountain. I had become so familiar with the spiritual realm that I hardly noticed angels anymore, and I could speak on nearly equal terms with the great eagles.

Yet I could not bear to share even a moment of the sufferings of the Lord without wanting to flee to a more pleasurable experience!

“I should not be here,” I almost shouted. “I, more than anyone, deserve to be a prisoner of the evil one!”

“No one is here because he deserves it.
You are here because you were chosen before the foundation of the world for a purpose.”

我看見基督的新婦，像以斯帖一樣，站在王面前。
她預備妥當，美麗無瑕，穿著細麻衣（Linen^^），頭上戴著金冠。
耶穌王極其喜悅祂的新婦，筆墨難以形容。
祂向她伸出祂公義的皇杖。在異象中，新婦觸摸杖頭。當她這樣作，王的權柄與恩寵傳遞給她，濃厚如有形有質的液體充滿她全人每部份。
祂說：「去吧，我的新婦．．．帶著我的權能去拯救列國！」

在下一幅異象中，我看見新婦披帶著榮耀，騎在一匹巨大，美麗的白色戰馬上。
耶穌作王，新婦緊抱著祂，二人一起向著禾場飛奔。
在異象中，耶穌與祂的新婦完全合而為一，有著相同的使命。
王權──
從他們身上散發出充滿愛及光的權柄，各國被這種「愛的權柄」掩蓋，全地都充滿主榮耀的知識。

Found on 26.3.04:

"The Bride Will Acknowledge Her 'Third Heaven Position'"
by Patricia King (Pat Coking)
September 2003

"Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace in front of the king's rooms, and the king was sitting in his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance of the palace. And it happened when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter." Esther 5:1,2

讀到馬大和馬利亞的故事，很多人會滿有權威地說︰「嗯，耶穌不大喜歡馬大，祂只喜歡馬利亞。」
當你翻開聖經，你發現事實上不是這樣。約翰福音記載，當耶穌聽見拉撒路的死訊，「耶穌素來愛馬大和他妹子並拉撒路。」耶穌那刻心裡想著的是馬大，經文甚至沒有提到馬利亞的名字。
馬利亞和馬大分別代表了教會兩種角色︰敬拜追尋神祂自己及服侍祂地上的身體。兩者的特質與服侍神的方式，在神眼中都很有價值的。

可惜的是，教會中的馬大和馬利亞常常互相排斥。
馬大會說︰「如果馬利亞真是那麼屬靈，她應該起來做些實際事情幫助有需要的人，而不是整天跪在那裡哭哭啼啼。」
馬利亞會說︰「我真希望馬大可以脫下她的圍裙來到耶穌腳前禱告，神自然會解決其他問題。」

面對挑戰的時候，馬利亞會說︰「不管任何代價。」馬大卻會坐下計算「代價是甚麼？」
馬利亞是以永恆為念的理想主義者；馬大是以地上事務為念的計劃執行者。老實說，要建造一所堅固長存的房屋，兩者缺一不可。

馬利亞最大的恩賜是對主本身的專注，但她也傾向忽視生活或教會事務上的實際細節。馬大在先後次序上出現錯誤，她忽略了我們永恆最終的目的，但主沒有否定她工作的重要性，特別是當主的同在沒有在教會顯明的時候。

最大的問題，就是當馬利亞貶低或否定馬大在服侍基督身體的重要作用。相反亦然。
沒有任何事情像看見兒女不能和平共處更令一個父親傷心。神希望提醒我們的是︰「對，你是我的孩子，但他也是我的孩子，雖然他和你有很大不同。」
神渴望看見兩者能夠互補互助。
我們的重要任務，就是在兩者之間取得平衡。

當馬大與馬利亞能夠一起盛放她們個別的恩賜，主就得到最大的服侍。