0520 保全我們自己的靈魂
你們常存忍耐，就必保全靈魂。《路加福音 21:19》
當一個人重生時，有一段時間他的思維或推理沒有以前那麼活躍。我們必須學會表達我們內在的新生命，這生命是通過形成基督的心思而來的（見腓立比書2:5）。路加福音 21:19的意思是，我們要通過忍耐來擁有自己的靈魂。但我們中的許多人更願停留在基督徒生活的入口處，而非按照神安置在我們裡面的新生命來繼續創造和建設我們的靈魂。我們失敗是因為我們不知道神創造我們的方式，我們把實際上是我們自己不守紀律的本性所造成的結果歸咎於魔鬼。試想一下，當我們醒悟到真理時，我們能成為什麼樣的人！
生活中有些事情我們不需要禱告，比如情緒。我們永遠無法通過禱告來擺脫情緒不穩，但我們可以通過將其從我們生活中踢出而實現。情緒幾乎總是根植於某些身體狀況，而不是在我們真正的內在自我。不聽從因我們身體狀況而產生的情緒，是一場持續不斷的鬥爭，但我們絕不能屈服於它們一秒鐘。我們必須抓住自己脖子的後面，搖晃自己然後我們會發現我們能做到我們曾認為做不到的事情。我們大多數人都被困擾的問題就是我們不願努力去克服情緒化。基督徒的生活是屬靈的勇氣和決心在我們肉體中活出來。
來自章伯斯的智慧
證明聖靈內住的主要特徵是在個人處事上令人驚奇的溫柔，以及對神話語的火熱誠實。《真的門徒》
0520 Taking Possession of Our Own Soul
By your patience possess your souls. —Luke 21:19
When a person is born again, there is a period of time when he does not have the same vitality in his thinking or reasoning that he previously had. We must learn to express this new life within us, which comes by forming the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5). Luke 21:19 means that we take possession of our souls through patience. But many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life, instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God has placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!
There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won’t. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling Spirit is an amazing tenderness in personal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to God’s Word. —Disciples Indeed, 386 R