阅读经文 

藉着聆听别人的祷告，我们可以学到一生受用的功课。例如，我父母的祷告培养我成为一个跟随耶稣的人；从他们树立的榜样，我学会了去感谢神、祈求神的赦免、为神国的降临祷告，和很多其他的方方面面。他们也教导我去哀叹、向神呼求，祈求祂的帮助和祈求公义在世上彰显。

我们需要学习赞美神的祷告，我们也需要学习向神哀叹的祷告。在十字架上的耶稣祷告说：“我的神！我的神！为什么离弃我？”（参可 15:34）这篇出自诗篇二十二篇的祷告，是人在心灵被刺透时向神的呼喊。

在今天启示录这段经文中，我们也听到殉道者的祷告：“……主啊！祢不…… 给我们伸流血的冤，要等到几时呢？”我们也看到，这个祷告回应了古老诗篇中的哀叹。（参诗 74:10，94:3，119:84）

在这段经文中，神开启我们的眼睛，让我们看到并相信一幅更大更美好的图景。我们被挑战，要像神那样热切渴望实现地上的公正与和平。殉道者不满足于自己身在天上，他们仍继续作工和祷告，祈愿神的公义施行在地上，如同行在天上。他们的祷告也提醒我们，神的计划不单是要挽回我们的灵魂，它也要修复整个世界，有一天我们将会以更新和完美的身体居住在这地。

这些有能力的话语，帮助我们今天凭信心生活。

There are life lessons we can learn by listening to prayers. For instance, my parents’ prayers nurtured me to be a follower of Jesus. By their example, I learned to give thanks to God, to ask for forgiveness, to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom, and much more. They also taught me to lament, to cry out to God, for help and for justice on the earth.

We need to learn prayers of praise, and we need to learn prayers of lament. Jesus’ prayer on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) was a soul-piercing cry to God from Psalm 22.

In our reading from Revelation today, we listen again to the prayer of the martyrs: "How long, Sovereign Lord…until you…avenge our blood?" And we can see that this echoes ancient laments in the Psalms (see also Psalm 74:10,94:3,119:84).

In this passage God opens our eyes to a bigger and better picture of faith. We are challenged to long as much as God does for justice and peace on the earth. The martyrs are not content just to be in heaven. They continue to work and pray for God’s justice to be present on earth as it is in heaven. Their prayer also reminds us that God plans to restore not just our souls but also the whole earth, where we will live again one day in our bodies, restored and whole.

These are powerful words for living by faith today.