第五週
國度子民有個人禱告的經歷，在隱密中接觸他們的天父，得着對父隱密的享受
詩歌: 補568
讀經：賽三七31，太六5 ～ 6，十四22 ～ 23，詩四二7，歌四12
【週一】
壹 『你們禱告的時候，不可像那假冒爲善的人，因爲他們愛站在會堂裏，並十字街口禱告，爲要叫人看見。我實在告訴你們，他們已經充分的得了他們的賞賜。你禱告的時候，要進你的密室，關上門，禱告你在隱密中的父，你父在隱密中察看，必要報答你』—太六5 ～ 6：
一 我們必須有個人在密室中關上門禱告的經歷；我們的父是『在隱密中』，祂『在隱密中察看』；國度子民是天父的兒女，必須活在父隱密且隱藏的同在裏，並顧到父隱密且隱藏的同在。
二 國度子民在國度屬天的管治之下，活在倒空、謙卑的靈裏，以純潔、單一的心行事，就不可在肉體裏作甚麼，得人的稱讚；乃是必須凡事行在靈裏，討他們天父的喜悅。
三 在隱密中禱告，結果乃是殺死肉體和己；在社會上，甚至在墮落的基督教中，如果不允許人顯揚他們的善行，他們就不幹了；己喜愛得人榮耀，肉體喜愛被人注視。
四 我們都需要一些生命中隱密的長大，一些對基督隱密的經歷；我們需要隱密的禱告主、敬拜主、接觸主並與主交通。
【週二】
五 我們該多多禱告，但不要讓別人知道我們有多少禱告；我們若天天禱告而不告訴別人，或者不讓別人知道，這表示我們是健康的，並且我們正在長大。
六 國度子民必須有密室禱告的經歷，在隱密中接觸他們的天父，經歷對父隱密的享受，並從祂接受隱密的回答—6 節。
七 無論何時我們在義行上顯揚自己，我們就不健康；這樣的顯揚大大阻撓我們在生命裏長大。
八 我們人的生命喜愛炫耀、公開顯揚，但神的生命總是隱藏的；假冒爲善的人就是有外面的表顯，裏面卻空無一物的人。
九 我們在天然的生命裏，絕不可能實行在隱密中過隱藏的生活；只有在神聖的生命，不喜歡顯揚的生命裏，纔可能實行；我們若認真要成爲國度的子民，就必須學習憑着我們父隱藏的生命而活。
【週三】
貳 我們需要學習主的榜樣，獨自上山去禱告而過隱藏的生活—十四23，參路六12：
一 主沒有與羣眾在一起留在所行神蹟的結果裏（指除了婦女孩子，食飽五千人的神蹟），乃是離開羣眾，在山上獨自在禱告中與父在一起—太十四14 ～ 23：
1 主催門徒離開，祂好有更多的時間獨自禱告父—22 ～ 23 節。
2 祂需要獨自禱告祂在諸天之上的父，好叫祂在地上爲着建立諸天之國，無論作甚麼，都能與父是一，並有父與祂同在；祂不是在野地，乃是在山上禱告；祂離開羣眾，甚至離開門徒，爲要獨自與父接觸。
二 我們應當寶貝這三句話：『與父在一起』、『在山上』、『在禱告中』：
1 與別人一起禱告是很好的，但通常我們需要獨自禱告；我們與別人一起禱告時，無法像我們獨自向主禱告時享受主那樣深。
2 甚至主耶穌也告訴我們，我們禱告時，要進我們的密室，關上門，向那在隱密中察看我們的父禱告（六6）；這樣，我們就會感覺到祂與我們是何等親，我們與祂是何等近。
3 我們必須學習離開羣眾、家庭、朋友和召會裏的聖徒，去到更高一層的『高山』；我們必須離開羣眾和屬地的事物，獨自並隱密的與父在一起，好與祂有親密的交通。
【週四、週五】
叁 詩篇四十二篇七節說，『深淵就與深淵響應』：
一 別人的深處只能與從我們深處出來的響應；凡不是從深處出來的，就永遠不能達到別人的深處。
二 沒有深處的生活，我們只能用表面的工作得着人表面的感動；只有『深淵…與深淵響應』；國度的生活是深處的生活，是能『往下扎根，向上結果』的生活—賽三七31，參徒六7，十二24，十九20。
三 一面，我們需要讓基督作爲生命的種子，在我們那是好土的心田裏深深扎根（太十三23）；另一面，我們在基督裏是活的植物，需要在包羅萬有之基督這土壤裏深深扎根，祂是美地的實際（林前三6、9，西二6 ～ 7）：
1 好土象徵好的心，沒有爲屬世的交通往來所硬化，沒有隱藏的罪，也沒有今世的思慮和錢財的迷惑；我們需要天天讓主對付我們心裏的這些事物，好叫我們能以神的增長而長大—19 節。
2 我們已經被栽種到基督這美地的實際裏，需要花時間（特別是早晨與主同在的時間）來吸取祂。
四 撒種者撒種的時候，有的落在路旁，有的落在土淺石頭地上，有的落在荊棘裏，有的落在好土裏；這給我們看見，人對神話語的接受有四種不同的方式—太十三4 ～ 8、18 ～ 23：
1 主耶穌告訴我們，在這幾種不同的情形中，有一種叫作土淺石頭地，上面有一點土，下面是石頭；種子落在這一種的地上，長得頂快，但是日頭出來一曬，因爲沒有根，就枯乾了—5 ～ 6 節。
2 根是長在地下的；葉子是長在地上的；換句話說，看不見的生命叫作根，看得見的生命叫作葉子；許多基督徒的難處就在於看得見的生命雖然有許多，卻缺少隱密、隱藏的生活。
3 沒有隱藏在深處的，這樣的基督徒是沒有根的，經不起試煉和試誘；求神作工在我們身上，使我們能往下扎根。
4 沒有根，就是沒有隱藏的寶貝，沒有隱藏的生命，沒有隱藏的經歷；有些經歷我們必須遮蓋起來；一切若都不遮蓋起來，就要失去一切了—參賽三九2 ～ 8。
【週六】
肆 要有深處的生活，就必須與主有直接、親密的交通；雅歌四章十二節說，『我妹子，我新婦，乃是關鎖的園，禁閉的井，封閉的泉』：
一 這時愛主的尋求者在其屬靈長進上成爲一個園子，作基督私有的享受。
二 她不是一個公園，乃是一個關鎖的園；她所有的一切，只求良人的喜悅，不求人的喜悅。
三 如果今天的信徒關鎖多一點，蓋紮得緊一點，他們作工就會更有功效。
四 願主恩待我們，讓十字架在我們裏面作更深的工，好使我們深深扎根，過深處隱藏的生活，以滿足神的要求，使神心滿意足。
Week Five
The Kingdom People Having the Experience of Praying in Private to Contact Their Heavenly Father in Secret to Have Some Secret Enjoyment of Him
Hymns: E1132
Scripture Reading: Isa. 37:31; Matt. 6:5-6; 14:22-23; Psa. 42:7; S. S. 4:12
§ Day 1
I. "When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you"—Matt. 6:5-6:
A. We need the experience of praying in our private room and shutting our door; our Father is in secret, and He sees in secret; the kingdom people, as children of the heavenly Father, must live in and care for the Fathers secret and hidden presence.
B. The kingdom people, who live in an emptied and humbled spirit and walk in a pure and single heart under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom, are not allowed to do anything in the flesh for the praise of men, but must do all things in the spirit for the pleasing of their heavenly Father.
C. The effect of our praying in secret is that the flesh and the self are killed; if people in society and even in degraded Christendom are not allowed to make a show of their good deeds, they will not do them; the self loves to be glorified, and the flesh loves to be gazed upon.
D. We all need some secret growth in life, some secret experiences of Christ; we need to pray to the Lord, worship the Lord, contact the Lord, and fellowship with the Lord in a secret way.
§ Day 2
E. We should pray much yet not let others know how much we pray; if we pray every day without telling others or letting them know about it, it means that we are healthy and that we are growing.
F. The kingdom people must have some experience of prayer in their private room, contacting their heavenly Father in secret, experiencing some secret enjoyment of the Father, and receiving some secret answer from Him—v. 6.
G. Any time we exhibit ourselves in our righteous deeds, we are not healthy; such an exhibition greatly frustrates our growth in life.
H. Our human life loves to make a display, a public show, but Gods life is always hidden; a hypocrite is one who has an outward manifestation without having anything within.
I. We can never practice living a hidden life in secret in our natural life; it is possible only in the divine life, the life that does not enjoy making a show; if we are serious about being the kingdom people, we must learn to live by the hidden life of our Father.
§ Day 3
II. We need to learn from the pattern of the Lord living a hidden life in His going up to the mountain privately to pray —14:23; cf. Luke 6:12:
A. The Lord did not remain in the issue of the miracle with the crowds (the miracle of feeding five thousand men, apart from women and children), but He went away from them to be with the Father privately on the mountain in prayer—Matt. 14:14-23:
1. The Lord compelled the disciples to leave Him in order that He might have more time to pray privately to the Father—vv. 22-23.
2. He needed to pray privately to His Father who was in the heavens so that He might be one with the Father and have the Father with Him in whatever He did on earth for the establishing of the kingdom of the heavens; He did this not in the deserted place but on the mountain, leaving all the people, even His disciples, so that He might be alone to contact the Father.
B. We should treasure three phrases—to be with the Father, on the mountain, and in prayer:
1. To pray with others is good, but often we need to pray by ourselves; when we pray with others, we cannot enjoy the Lord as deeply as when we pray to the Lord privately.
2. Even the Lord Jesus told us that when we pray, we should enter into our private room and shut our door and pray to the Father who sees in secret (6:6); then we have the sensation of how intimate He is to us and how close we are to Him.
3. We have to learn to leave the crowds, our family, our friends, and the saints in the church to go to a higher level on a "high mountain"; we have to be separated from the crowd and the earthly things, to be with the Father privately and secretly to have intimate fellowship with Him.
§ Day 4 & Day 5
III. Psalm 42:7 says, "Deep calls unto deep":
A. Others can respond deep within to only what issues from deep within us; anything that is not from the depths will never reach the depths of others.
B. If our life has no depth, our superficial work will only affect other lives superficially; only "deep calls unto deep"; the kingdom life is a life in the depths, a life that can "take root downward and bear fruit upward"—Isa. 37:31; cf. Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20.
C. On the one hand, we need to allow Christ as the seed of life to take root deep in the soil of our heart as the good earth (Matt. 13:23); on the other hand, we, as living plants in Christ, need to take root deep in the soil of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land (1 Cor. 3:6, 9; Col. 2:6-7):
1. The good earth signifies the good heart that is not hardened by worldly traffic, that is without hidden sins, and that is without the anxiety of the age and the deceitfulness of riches; we need to daily allow the Lord to deal with these things in our heart so that we can grow with the growth of God—v. 19.
2. Because we have been planted in Christ as the reality of the good land, we need to take time to absorb Him (especially in our times with Him in the morning).
D. While the sower sowed, some seeds fell beside the way, some on the rocky places, some into the thorns, and some into the good earth; this shows us four different ways for man to receive the word—Matt. 13:4-8, 18-23:
1. The Lord Jesus tells us that among these different conditions, one is the rocky places; there is a little earth on the surface, but underneath there are rocks; when the seed falls into this kind of ground, it springs up quickly, but as soon as the sun comes out, it withers because of the lack of root—vv. 5-6.
2. A root is growth that occurs beneath the soil; leaves are growth that occurs above the soil; in other words, roots are the hidden life, whereas leaves are the manifest life; the trouble with many Christians is that, while there is much apparent life, there is the lack of a secret, hidden life.
3. The Christian who does not have anything in the depth of his being has no root; he will not be able to stand in the day of trial and temptation; may God work in us so that we can take root downward.
4. To be without root is to be without any hidden treasure, hidden life, or hidden experiences; it is essential that some of our experiences remain covered; to uncover everything is to lose everything—cf. Isa. 39:2-8.
§ Day 6
IV. In order to live a life in the depths, it is necessary to have direct and intimate fellowship with the Lord; Song of Songs 4:12 says, "A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, / A spring shut up, a fountain sealed":
A. At this point in her spiritual progress, the Lords loving seeker has become a garden for Christs private satisfaction.
B. She is not an open garden but an enclosed garden; all that she has is for her Beloveds delight and for no one else.
C. If todays believers would close up a little more and seal up tighter, their work would become more prevailing.
D. May the Lord grant us grace and do a deeper work in us through the cross so that we may strike deep roots and live a hidden life in the depths to fulfill Gods requirements and satisfy His heart.
