5月25日
标 题：伤痛的祷告
经 节：耶稣极其伤痛，祷告更加恳切，汗珠如大血点滴在地上。（路加福音廿二章44节）
该如何祷告并不难了解，问题是很难动手去做。上回你整个人的身心灵陷入极大痛苦地为人代求，是什么时候的事了（希伯来书五：7）？
我们是一个竭尽全力避免痛苦的世代，这就是现今极其缺乏代祷者的原因。大部分基督徒停留在肤浅的祷告阶段，然而，神要带领我们进入更深刻的代祷生活，这种经验只有少数人体验过。深入且长时间的代求是痛苦的。当其他人已经走开或睡着了，你仍然侍立在神的面前（路加福音廿二：45）。为了一些不断悖逆神的人，你会经历到与神隔绝的痛苦。我们之间有哪些人曾经历过这种热切的代求呢？
我们渴慕自己的生命及教会能拥有五旬节的经历，但没有客西马尼园和十字架，就没有五旬节。我们如何拥有成熟的祷告生活？借着祷告。当我们觉得不想祷告的时候，就是我们应该祈祷的时候。祷告没有快捷方式。读有关祷告的书籍、参加祷告研讨会，或背诵一些鼓舞人心的格言，都不能使我们变成代祷者。只有愿意摆上自己的时间和精力祷告，才能使我们成为代祷者。
何不接受神的带领，成为代祷者呢？不要让自己满足于肤浅及自我中心的祷告。安静在神的面前祷告，直到进入祂要领你去的祷告深度。
The Agony of Prayer
And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then
His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke
22:44)
Prayer is not difficult to understand. It is
difficult to do. When was the last time your heart so grieved for those you
were interceding for that your entire body agonized along with your mind and
heart? (Heb. 5:7).
We are a generation that avoids pain at all costs.
This is why there are so few intercessors. Most Christians operate on the
shallowest levels of prayer, but God wants to take us into the deep levels of
intercessory prayer that only a few ever experience. Deep, prolonged
intercession is painful. It involves staying before God when everyone else has
gone away or sleeps (Luke 22:45). It involves experiencing brokenness with the
Father over those who continually rebel against Him. How many of us will
experience this kind of fervent intercession?
We long for Pentecost in our lives and in our
churches, but there is no Pentecost without Gethsemane and a cross. How do we
become mature in our prayer life? By praying. When we do not feel like praying
is precisely the time we ought to pray. There are no shortcuts to prayer. There
are no books to read, seminars to attend, or inspirational mottoes to memorize
that will transform us into intercessors. This comes only by committing
ourselves to pray and then doing so.
Why not accept God’s invitation to become an
intercessor? Don’t allow yourself to become satisfied with shallow, self-centered
praying. Stay with God in prayer until He leads you to pray at the level He
wants.
