认定目标
照着我所切慕、所盼望的，没有一事叫我羞愧。只要凡事放胆，无论是生是死，总叫基督在我身上照常显大。（腓一20）
竭尽己心以成全主至高的旨意。“照着我所切慕、所盼望的，没有一事叫我羞愧。”耶稣要求我们凡事顺服，若我们不肯顺服，就必然会大大羞愧。保罗说：“我决志要竭尽所能，成全神至高的旨意。”要达到这个目标，是意志的问题。这不是讨价还价、理长论短，乃是意志的降服，是绝对的、不反悔的、对正要害的降服。但我们往往思前想后、诸多疑虑、自作主张、无法定意顺服，而且还口称是为了顾及别人的需要。我们揣摩测度，心想若顺服了耶稣的呼召，会怎样影响那些人，于是就告诉神说：“袮知道我顺服之后会有怎样的后果？”只要持定目标，神是知道的。把所有顾虑都放下，单单来到神面前，存一个心志－－“竭尽所能，完成神至高的旨意。”
为祂的圣洁荣耀而不折不挠。“无论是生，是死，我全不介怀！”（参21节）保罗立志，不让任何事物阻拦他去成就神的旨意，是不折不扣地惟命是从。我们选择遵行神旨意之前，总会有危机出现，因为神好好跟我们说话的时候，我们多半不理睬。于是祂带领我们到一处地方，叫我们竭诚为祂，那时我们就开始挣扎（原文作争辩）；然后，祂令一个危机局面出现，要我们决定顺从还是逆命。从这里开始，决定性的分界线就出现了。若神生命的改变临到你，你要毫不反悔地顺服。
祈祷◆主啊，我何等渴望藉着祢能力的驱策，祢恩典的抚摸，和祢圣灵的感动，带领我与祢面对面。为着我的迟缓，要那么久才对某些事情有所醒悟，我祈求祢的宽恕。
January 1 Let Us Keep to the Point
“. . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death” —Philippians 1:20
My Utmost for His Highest. “. . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . .” We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, “My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory.” To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.
My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. “Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!” (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.