6月20日
标 题：当神说不的时候
经 节：用刀杀了约翰的哥哥雅各。他见犹太人喜欢这事，又去捉拿彼得。（使徒行传十二章2～3节上）
你是否在神回绝自己的祈求时，仍然能接受神的旨意呢？如果你在神的旨意中祷告，祂总是会回应你的祷告（耶利米书卅三：3）。然而，有时候祂会拒绝你的祈求。
希律王拘捕彼得，并且准备要办他。就在那一夜，教会弟兄姊妹聚集祷告的时候，彼得被天使救出来，逃过一劫。神在那一夜，以神迹回答祂百姓们的祈祷。然而，不久之前，雅各也被希律王拘捕，结果被杀了。当然，教会众弟兄姊妹也曾热切为雅各祷告，就像他们为彼得祷告一样。但是，神那一次对他们的回答是：不。
神是否爱彼得多过雅各？当然不是。雅各曾经是耶稣的密友之一。然而，神让雅各死，却存留彼得的性命在世上继续服事祂。耶路撒冷的教会并没有变得苦毒，他们接受祂的回答，因为他们相信祂的爱与智慧。
有时候神要我们恒切祷告，直到祂在我们身上成就祂的事工（路加福音十一：5～8，十八：1～6）。然而，如果神的答案是否定的，你再怎么乞求神改变心意，也是徒劳无用。有些人无法接受神的拒绝，他们坚持如果祷告够长、够努力，神终究会照着你的心愿成全一切。当神已经清楚拒绝你的祈求时，你仍然不断地恳求，这对神是个侮辱。祷告的目的不是要神顺着我们的心意成就，乃是调整我们的心意能合乎神的旨意。我们一定要学习相信神，当祂对我们说不的时候，要相信祂的旨意是最美好的。
When God Says No
Then he killed
James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased
the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. (Acts 12:2-3a)
Can you accept God’s will when His answer is no? If you are praying in
God’s will, He will always answer you when you pray (Jer. 33:3). However,
sometimes His answer will be no.
King Herod arrested Peter and prepared to have him executed. During the
night, as his church prayed, Peter’s life was spared when an angel freed him.
God miraculously answered the prayers of His people that night. Yet not long
before, James, too, had been arrested by Herod. James, however, was executed.
Surely the church had prayed for James as fervently as they did for Peter, yet
that time God’s answer had been no.
Did God love Peter more than James? Of course not. James had been one of
Jesus’ closest friends. Yet God allowed James to die while He continued to use
Peter in His service. The church in Jerusalem did not become bitter toward God.
They accepted His answer because they trusted His love and wisdom.
There are times when God wants us to persist in our praying until He has
completed His work in us_(Luke 11:5–8; 18:1–6). However, when God’s answer is
no, it is futile to continue pleading for a yes. Some refuse to take no for an
answer, insisting that if you pray long enough and hard enough, God will
ultimately grant any request you make. It is an affront to your Lord to
continue pleading with Him when He has clearly said no. The purpose of prayer
is not to conform God to our will but to adjust our will to God. We must learn
to trust God so that if He says no, we accept that His will is best.
