2月6日 你准备好被浇奠吗?(2)

我已经预备好被浇奠。(提后四6,意译)

“我现在已预备好献上。”这是意志的抉择,而不是情绪的冲动。告诉神你已预备好献上;就是不顾后果,神怎样安排也没有丝毫的怨叹。神能把你带过难关,这是没有人可以帮你的。外面环境可能依旧,里面的心志却有了不同。在心志里首先经历这种转变,那么当事情临到,就不会斤斤计较了。你若没有与神这样碰头,最终便会自怜自叹。

“用绳索把祭牲绑上、拴在祭坛的角上。”祭坛就是火的意思——焚烧、洁净、隔离,其目的就是断绝一切不由神而来的关系,隔绝所有不属于神的物品。不是你去烧毁,乃是神;你只要把祭牲拴在坛角。当火起来燃烧,不要去惋惜这些东西。经过了火的焚烧,就再没有什么会压制你,或使你沮丧。当重要关头临到,发觉没有什么可以像昔日那样摸着你了。你的“火”是什么?告诉神你预备献上,神便会向你显示他自己,就是你日夕所想的。

祈祷◆“但到了神我们救主的恩慈,和他向人所施的慈爱显明的时候……”噢,主啊,这句话经常萦绕我的心头;然而,我极少将你的恩典和慈爱展示人前!

February 6 Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (2)

I am already being poured out as a drink offering . . . —2 Timothy 4:6

Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don't deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.

“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents -burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose- the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don't eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice . . . to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don't wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?

Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.