February 14

"And again I say, Rejoice." (Phil. 4:4)

It is a good thing to rejoice in the Lord. Perhaps you have tried this, and the first time seemed to fail. Never mind, keep right on and when you cannot feel any joy, when there is no spring, and no seeming comfort and encouragement, still rejoice, and count it all joy. Even when you fall into divers¹ temptations, reckon it joy and delight and God will make your reckoning good. Do you suppose your Father will let you carry the banner of His victory and His gladness on to the front of the battle, and then coolly stand back and see you captured or beaten back by the enemy? NEVER! The Holy Spirit will sustain you in your bold advance, and fill your heart with gladness and praise, and you will find your heart all exhilarated and refreshed by the fullness within. Lord teach me to rejoice in Thee, and to "rejoice evermore." (1 Thess.5:16)━Selected

"The weakest saint may Satan rout²,

Who meets him with a praiseful shout."

"…Be filled with the Spirit,...singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." (Eph. 5:18, 19)

Here the Apostle urges the use of singing as one of the inspiring helps in the spiritual life. He counsels his readers not to seek their stimulus³ through the body, but through the spirit; not by the quickening of the flesh, but by the exaltation of the soul

"Sometimes a light surprises

The Christian⁴ while he sings."

Let us sing even when we do not feel like it, for thus we may give wings to leaden feet and turn weariness into strength. ━J. H. Jowett

"At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." (Acts 16:25)

Oh, Paul, thou wondrous⁵ example to the flock, who could thus glory, bearing in the body as thou didst "…the marks of the Lord Jesus"!(Gal.6:17) Marks from stoning almost to the death, from thrice beating with rods, from those hundred and ninety-five stripes laid on thee by the Jews, and from stripes received in that Philippian jail, which had they not drawn⁶ blood would not have called for washing! Surely the grace which enabled thee to sing praises under such suffering is all-sufficient grace. ━J. Roach

"Oh, let us rejoice in the Lord, evermore,

When darts⁷ of the tempter are flying,

For Satan still dreads⁸, as he oft did of yore,

Our singing much more than our sighing."

二月十四日

“我再说你们要喜乐”（腓四：4）

　　在主里喜乐，何其佳美！也许你曾试过要凡事喜乐，可是不久卽告失败。不要紧，仍继续下去，当你不能感觉喜乐，没有可以喜乐的理由，安慰和鼓励时，仍该喜乐，算作喜乐。甚至当你落在百般试炼中的时侯，仍要算作喜乐；这样，神就要证明你的“算”不是徒然的。你想你的父亲会不会让你举着得胜和喜乐的旗号到前线去，然后祂冷冷地向后一退，任凭你被仇敌掳去或击败呢？决不！父的圣灵必定会在你勇敢地前进的时侯支持你，将喜乐和赞美充满你的心，那时侯你就会因着里面的充满感到非常的新鲜和欢乐了。主啊，教导我们怎样在你里面喜乐，“要常常喜乐”（帖前五：16）━选

“向撒但高唱对主的赞美，

最弱的圣徒，也能击败魔鬼。”

　　“…要被圣灵充满…口唱心和赞美主”（弗五：18-19）

　　这里使徒保罗劝我们用歌唱赞美来增进我们的灵命。他劝告读者，要从圣灵里寻求激动，而不是外表的兴奋，不是求肉体的刺激，乃是求灵里的欢欣。

“圣徒以歌讼赞美神，

时常会见到光明的骤临。”

　　让我们不断地歌唱赞美，甚至不喜欢唱的时侯也得唱。这或许可以使你沉滞的腿上有似添了活泼的翅翼，转变疲乏成为力量。━乔怀得

　　“约在半夜，保罗和西拉，祷告﹑唱诗﹑赞美神；众囚犯也侧耳而听”（徒十六：25）

哦！使徒保罗，你真是众圣徒的表率，你能够这样荣耀神，你“…身上带着耶稣的印记。”（加六：17）你有被石掷伤的记号三次棍打的伤疤，犹太人给你的一百九十五鞭的鞭痕，腓立比监狱中无数的血斑！你靠着恩典还能在受苦的牢狱中唱出赞美来。啊，我相信那恩典一定是彀用的恩典！━罗区

魔鬼的飞箭如雨而来，

我们永远在主里欢喜，

从古到今，撒但总有它的戒心，

我们的歌唱，远胜我们的哀叹。

1 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

2 rout   

n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮

参考例句：

• The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
• The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。

3 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 darts   

n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• His darts trophy takes pride of place on the mantelpiece. 他将掷镖奖杯放在壁炉顶上最显著的地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I never saw so many darts in a bodice! 我从没见过紧身胸衣上纳了这么多的缝褶！ 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 dreads   

n.恐惧，畏惧( dread的名词复数 )；令人恐惧的事物v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The little boy dreads going to bed in the dark. 这孩子不敢在黑暗中睡觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A burnt child dreads the fire. [谚]烧伤过的孩子怕火（惊弓之鸟，格外胆小）。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》