0418 準備就緒
神呼叫他……他說：「我在這裡。」《出埃及記 3:4》
當神說話時，我們很多人就像在迷霧中的人一樣，不予回答。摩西對神的回答表明他知道自己在哪裡，並且已經準備好了。準備就緒，意味着與神有正確的關係並知道我們所處的位置。我們是如此忙着告訴神我們想去哪裡；然而，那些準備好迎接神和祂的工作的男男女女，當召喚來臨時，就是獲得獎賞的人。我們等待着，想着會有某個偉大的機會或轟動令人振奮的事情來到我們前面；當它真的來臨時，我們很快就會喊出：「我在這裡。」每當我們感到耶穌基督正在興起要接管某項偉大任務的權柄時，我們就在那裡，但我們還沒有準備好去負某些不起眼的責任。
為神做好準備意味着我們準備好做最小的事情或最大的事情——這沒有區別；這意味着我們對自己想做的事別無選擇，無論神的計劃是什麼，我們都在那裡並準備好了。每當有任何責任出現時，我們都會聽到神的聲音，就像我們的主聽到祂父親的聲音一樣；我們因對祂的愛而完全預備好了。耶穌基督期望對待我們正如祂的父對待祂一樣，祂可以把我們放在任何祂想要的地方，無論是愉快的的職責還是卑微的職責，因為我們與祂的聯合就像祂與天父的聯合一樣。 「…使他們合而為一，像我們合而為一。」（約翰福音 17:22）。
要準備好迎接神突然意外的降臨；一個準備好的人永遠不需要準備——他已經準備好了。想想一旦神呼召，我們浪費了多少時間在試着準備上！燃燒的荊棘是象徵準備好的人周圍的一切，在神自己的同在中燃燒。
來自章伯斯的智慧
要謹防孤立；提防你必須獨自發展聖潔生活的想法，獨自發展聖潔生活是不可能的；你會變得古怪和奇特，與神要你所是的樣子完全不同。靈性發展唯一之道就是進入神兒女的社會裡，你很快就會發現神如何改變你的布景。神不會違背我們的社會本能；祂改變它們。《聖經心理學》
0418 Readiness
God called to him….And he said, “Here I am.” —Exodus 3:4
When God speaks, many of us are like people in a fog, and we give no answer. Moses’ reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready. Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, “Here I am.” Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are there, but we are not ready for some obscure duty.
Readiness for God means that we are prepared to do the smallest thing or the largest thing— it makes no difference. It means we have no choice in what we want to do, but that whatever God’s plans may be, we are there and ready. Whenever any duty presents itself, we hear God’s voice as our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with the total readiness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us just as His Father did with Him. He can put us wherever He wants, in pleasant duties or in menial ones, because our union with Him is the same as His union with the Father. “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22).
Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready— he is ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready once God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the person who is ready, and it is on fire with the presence of God Himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them. –Biblical Psychology, 189 L