0314 屈服
顺从谁，就作谁的奴仆《罗马书 6:16》
当我开始审视是什么掌控和主宰我时，我首先必须愿意承认的，就是我才是那个要为自己的屈服负责任的人，不管屈服于什么。如果我是自己的奴隶，那我就该受责备，因为在过去某个地方我屈服于自己。同样地，如果我顺服神，我如此做，那是因为在我生命中的某个时刻，我让自己屈服于祂。
如果一个孩子向自私让步，他会发现这是地球上最具奴役性的暴政。人类灵魂本身没有任何力量能够打破因屈服而产生本性的奴役。例如，屈服于任何具有贪欲的本性一秒钟，尽管你可能会因为屈服而恨恶自己，你就会被那事物所奴役。 （谨记什么是情欲——「我现在必须得到它」，无论是肉体的贪欲还是心灵的贪欲。）任何人类的力量都无法释放或逃脱之，只能透过救赎的力量。你必须在彻底羞辱中把自己向唯一能够打破你生命中支配力量的那位屈服，那就是主耶稣基督。「祂膏我…传扬被擄的得釋放…」（见路加福音 4:18 和以赛亚书 61:1）。
当你屈服于某物事时，你很快就会意识到它对你巨大的掌控力。即使你说，「哦，我随时可以放弃那个习惯」，你知道你做不到。你会发现这个习惯完全控制了你，因为你甘愿屈服于它。唱「祂打破一切枷锁」是很容易的，同时却过着明显向自己屈服的奴隶生活；但向耶稣屈服将会打破任何人生活中的各种奴役。
来自章伯斯的智慧
关于信神的伟大之处，就在于它使人在纷扰中不受干扰【风雨中的宁静】。《以赛亚书注释》，1376 R
0314 Yielding
…you are that one’s slaves whom you obey… —Romans 6:16
The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.
If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “…He has anointed Me…to proclaim liberty to the captives…” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).
When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. –Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R