Quickened For Service

2025年10月4日每日灵修

Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:10 NLT)

There are values in Christrisen for our bodies now. His risen Life can now energize thesebodies; not, for the present, to change them into the likeness ofHis glorious body, but to quicken them for service. There isrisen Life for these mortal bodies now, but it has to bedeliberately appropriated, chosen, drawn upon. It is useless forme when I am feeling ill and weak to sit down and say, "Oh, Lord,come and pick me up, and put me on my feet, and make me well!" TheLord never does so.

I know this: that in such times of desperateweakness and physical discount, utter inability, any kind ofcoming in of the Lord has always been introduced by the Lordmaking me take hold of Him. The Lord has never come in and mademe suddenly to feel myself being filled, permeated with Life, andrising up. I have known the moment very often come when the Lord,not in an audible voice but in what is as good, a suggestion, aprompting, has said, "Lay hold of Life; lay hold of Me as yourLife!" There were no spoken words, but the intimation was to thiseffect: The time has come to repudiate this state and lay hold ofChrist for Life! And that has been unto a renewal for a furtherperiod of service. The Lord does not take us up like anautomaton; He causes us to cooperate with Himself on the basisof His risen Life. All the values of Christ risen are found byour deliberate and definite taking hold of His risen Life. Thatis but to say, repudiate Adam, whether it be in body, soul orspirit, and stand in Christ for whatever the need may be. Is itfor spirit? Is it for mind? Is it for heart? Is it for will? Isit for body? The one essential is to stand definitely in Christfor the situation.... The whole realm and range of Christ for experience is dependent upon His risen Life in us, and our laying hold of it, standing on it. The Lord show us more of what that means.

圣经经文: 2 Corinthians 4:10

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Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message. In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks' wishes that what was freely received should be freely given and not sold for profit, and that his messages be reproduced word for word, we ask if you choose to share these messages with others, to please respect his wishes and offer them freely - free of any changes, free of any charge (except necessary distribution costs) and with this statement included.

Editor's Note

Through the years of our publishing books and articles on Austin-Sparks.Net, we have talked of wanting to compile a series of excerpts similar to Watchman Nee's "A Table in the Wilderness," published by Mr Sparks' son-in-law, Angus Kinnear. We felt that not only would shorter daily excerpts be easy to digest, but they might also inspire readers to read a complete message or book that they may not have read before. This project began in January 2010 when we began to send out daily messages to the Daily Open Windows email list. These continue to be sent daily in email form from Austin-Sparks.Net.

As many of you will be aware, Mr Sparks was from Scotland. He, therefore, used British spelling in his writings; however, many transcripts of his spoken messages have since been published using American English. The website reflects a mixture of both British and American spelling, but for the sake of consistency, all excerpts in this book conform to American spelling and punctuation.

Due to these daily messages being excerpts, they are abbreviated and some have had unnecessary words removed, such as "here this evening...." Also, some daily messages are a compilation of several excerpts from one original message. This is usually indicated with a pause in the text: .... and a reference to the complete source document is always provided. You will also notice that different versions of the Bible have been selected for verses that precede each daily message. Sometimes these Scripture references appeared within the context of the original message, but mostly these have been chosen by the editor with, we trust, the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

As you look through these "open windows" we pray that you will not only look out and see Christ, but you will also hear Him and open the door of your heart so that He can "eat with you daily" (Rev. 3:20). Our desire is that these messages will not simply be "inspiring," as daily devotional messages often set out to achieve, but also challenge you; lifting your vision, opening your eyes, revealing Truth, bringing Life and Light, and enabling you to let go of misconceptions. Light is not always welcome when it first shines into the darkness that our eyes are accustomed to. However, Light is absolutely necessary in order to see. And so we pray that through these messages your eyes will be opened (Eph. 1:18) and we will together "see one thing – how superior is Jesus Christ to all else!"

Austin-Sparks.Net
Wellington, NZ

Open Windows - T. Austin-Sparks

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!”

Theodore Austin-Sparks (1888–1971), often known as "Mr. Sparks" or "TAS", was a British Christian evangelist and author.

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