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.

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順服

順從誰，就作誰的奴僕。 （羅六16）

要省察自己被什麼力量轄制，首先要承認一個難以接受的事實，就是我這樣轄制，自己要負責，因為我向此力量屈服了。我若做自己的奴僕，便要自己承擔責任，因為我向自己屈服了。同樣地，我若順服神，是因為自己向神降服。

人若自幼順從了自私自利之心，就會發現這是世上最強暴的捆鎖。這種因降服而形成的桎梏，是人本性沒有能力擺脫的。你只要對情慾稍為縱容（所謂情慾，就是人一定要立刻得著的，這包括肉體的情慾和心思上的情慾），便成為它的奴僕了。一旦降服，你儘管恨自己不該如此，也無濟於事。除非有神的救贖，靠自己絕對沒有解救的出路；所以必須完全謙卑屈服在主耶穌面前，惟有他能潰敗轄制你的權勢。 [耶和華用膏膏我……報告被擄的得釋放。 ]我們在極小的事上，便可以發現：[啊！我要放下這嗜好是隨時都做得到的。 ]是不能的。你會發覺這嗜好牢牢地轄制著你，因為你是甘願向它降服。唱[它斷開一切鎖鏈]很容易，但同時卻明明活在自我的捆鎖裡。只有降服耶穌才能解脫人生中任何的奴役。

祈禱◆主啊，我讚美你，你阻止我即時要為自己尋求各樣的東西，你使我唯獨尋求你那永久的憑證——你的感動，讓我獲得在你裡面的平安。