Have you ever prayed "Lord make
me more like Jesus?" Have you ever thought of the significance and ramification
of such a prayer? Are you ready to take the journey that the answer to such a
prayer will take you on?
THE PRISONER OF THE LORD: PAUL
Paul wrote the letters
to the Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians, and Philippians from prison.
It is interesting to note that Paul generally referred to himself as the
prisoner of the Lord rather than of Rome!
Ephesians
3:1 KJV For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you
Gentiles,
Ephesians
4:1 KJV I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
Ephesians
6:20 KJV For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak
boldly, as I ought to speak.
Philippians
1:12-14 KJV 12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the
things which happened unto
me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; 13 So
that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; 14 And many of the
brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak
the word without fear.
Philemon
1:1 KJV Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our
dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,
Philemon
1:9 KJV Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a
prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Philemon
1:23 KJV There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;
Colossians
4:10 KJV Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's
son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you,
receive him;)
Colossians
4:18 KJV The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
He also wrote 2 Timothy after he was
imprisoned the second time shortly before being beheaded for his faith:
2 Timothy
1:8 KJV Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of
me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God;
2 Timothy
1:16-17 KJV The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft
refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: 17 But,
when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me.
It is interesting to note what the
Lord told Ananias about Paul at the beginning:
Acts
9:15-16 KJV But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a
chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the
children of Israel: 16 For I will shew him how great things he
must suffer for my name's sake.
Paul was destined to suffer for the
Lord’s sake.
We begin to understand when Paul
addresses the Corinthian church and we see what Paul is glorying in:
2
Corinthians 11:30 KJV If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things
which concern mine infirmities.
2
Corinthians 12:5 KJV Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not
glory, but in mine infirmities.
2
Corinthians 12:9 KJV And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for
thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me.
We need to
be able to distinguish between satanic bondage and a Godly lockup!
Prison breaks you and fashions you
into another being. Lessons are learned in prison that should never be
forgotten. Many times we can only learn the lessons God wants us to learn when
He locks us up. When in lockup we become useless to society, ineffective and
unable to make a contribution if we ever actually did so before. However God is
remolding and refashioning us into something different. We are being brought
into a new level of awareness and while the rest of the world looks on in
amazement and perplexity at our condition we need to be aware that God is doing
a work in us that will bring glory to Him as long as we let Him perfect that
work in us. New lessons are learned, new attitudes are being developed. We are beginning
to get a hazy glimpse of what God is doing in us and through us as the heat and
pressure is brought to bear on us.
A FEW THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT A PRISONER
Restricted freedom of movement
Restricted freedom of speech
Restricted freedom in relationships
Restricted freedom in influence
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Philippians 1:6
God does not give up. He does not
throw up His hands in despair and defeat. He will bring us back to the same
test under different circumstances maybe, but the goal is the same...to refine
and purify us, to bring us forth as a finely tempered weapon useful to Him,
bringing glory to Him. This does not mean that he will make us physically whole
but rather spiritually enhanced and mature for we have passed through the fire,
we have been placed in His crucible of refining. He will keep at it until we
have learned the lesson.
It would be a horrible tragedy if
after we have gone through the trials God subjected us to, the end result is a
broken bitter disappointed wreck bereft of the goodness and character of the
Christ...simply because we failed to understand and yield to His workings in
our life.
When God starts something you can
rest assured He'll finish it!
THE PRISONER OF THE LORD: JOSEPH
Genesis
37:2 KJV These are the
generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen
years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and
with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father
their evil report.
Genesis
41:46 KJV And Joseph was thirty
years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from
the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.
Between Joseph's dream and his
becoming ruler in Egypt was a time span of approximately 13
years. In that time he was tossed into a pit by his brothers, sold into
slavery by the same brothers, lied upon by a scheming lustful woman, tossed
into prison on false charges then forgotten by the butler.
We may call the butler ungrateful but
Yahweh was not ready to release Joseph until the appointed time. A premature
freedom may have probably release him to obscurity. It is a thing of wonder in looking back to see
how God brought him to the point where he actually saw his dream fulfilled a
little more than 7 years after he had become ruler in Egypt. It was the most
unexpected path for a teenager to travel, down the trail of hate and
betrayal, abandonment and desolation, becoming lost in an Egyptian prison with
no seeming hope in the world except for that one little statement "the
LORD was with Joseph".
Yet in all the despair, toils sorrow
betrayal, pain, desolation Yahweh was arranging circumstances to bring his
chosen to the point of fulfillment.
In the Psalms
Joseph is identified as a person tried (refined) by the Word of Yahweh until he
was ready for the role he was identified for:
Psalms 105:17-22
KJV He sent a man before them, even
Joseph, who was sold for a
servant: 18 Whose feet they hurt with
fetters: he was laid in iron: 19 Until
the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. 20 The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let
him go free. 21 He made him lord of his
house, and ruler of all his substance: 22
To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.
In considering the process it is not
what any one of us would have done to our child but Yahweh is not man. He is
the All Wise, All Powerful, Eternal fount of wisdom and He knows what needs to
be done to bring out the gold He sees in us.
We have a tendency to try steering
our loved ones away from the pain and shield them from hurt. We may think that
is the godlike thing to do but when we look at the way God dealt with his choice
men and women we see a striking difference in His dealings with them. We see
God giving them a powerful promise and anointing then leaving them in a
wilderness experience that perplexes and bewilders in its desolation and
intensity. The oldest book in the Bible deals with one such person...a man
whose uprightness and integrity God extolled before the enemy then immediately
left him exposed to the enemy's onslaught.
THE PRISONER OF THE LORD: DAVID
David was 30 years old when he began
reigning as king. He was probably anointed by Samuel when he was maybe in his
late teens:
2 Samuel
5:4-5 KJV David was thirty
years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven
years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over
all Israel and Judah.
1 Samuel
17:42 KJV And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he
disdained him: for he was but a
youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
Between the time of his
anointing and becoming king David went through some of the most
trying times of his life. He was constantly on the run for his life from a
jealous king, had to live in caution among the enemy, face up to threats from
his own men at Ziklag...a life of constant looking over his shoulder, hiding
and pretense in order to live. Surely tending sheep must have look ideal to him
in those long wear, days and nights with almost every man's hand against him!
When we read the Psalms we have an
idea of the mind of David during those years but God was molding and making him
into the leader that he wanted not what man desired! David was in the crucible
and the press, but God was making a diamond out of him.
Remember that when Job was placed
into prison by God he had no Bible like we have to give insight into what we
know.
Hear Jobs words:
Job
23:3-10 KJV Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! 4 I
would order my cause
before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would know
the words which he
would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. 6 Will
he plead against me with his great
power? No; but he would put strength in
me. 7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so
should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 8 Behold,
I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I
cannot perceive him: 9 On the left hand, where he doth
work, but I cannot behold him: he
hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: 10 But he
knoweth the way that I take: when he
hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
Job had great influence before his
calamity as he himself declares:
Job
29:1-25 KJV Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, 2
Oh that I were as in months
past, as in the days when God preserved me; 3
When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; 4 As I was in the days
of my youth, when the secret of God was upon
my tabernacle; 5 When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; 6
When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of
oil; 7 When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the
street! 8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and
the aged arose, and stood
up. 9 The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. 10
The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their
mouth. 11 When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when
the eye saw me, it
gave witness to me: 12 Because I delivered the poor that
cried, and the fatherless, and him
that had none to help him. 13 The blessing of him
that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing
for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my
judgment was as a
robe and a diadem. 15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor: and
the cause which I
knew not I searched out. 17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked,
and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. 18 Then I said,
I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. 19 My root was spread out by the waters,
and the dew lay all night upon my branch. 20 My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was
renewed in my hand. 21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my
counsel. 22 After my words they spake not again; and my speech
dropped upon them. 23 And they waited for me as for the rain;
and they opened their mouth wide as for
the latter rain. 24 If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my
countenance they cast not down. 25 I chose out their
way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.
Psalms
66:10-12 KJV For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us,
as silver is tried. 11 Thou broughtest us into the net;
thou laidst affliction upon our loins. 12 Thou hast caused men
to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou
broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
Psalms 69:33
KJV For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
Malachi
3:2-4 KJV But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall
stand when he appeareth? for he is like
a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: 3 And he shall
sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as
gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in
righteousness. 4 Then shall the offering of Judah and
Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former
years.
Revelation
3:18 KJV I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire,
that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Remember therefore to Let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the
earth; 11 And that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. 13 For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good
pleasure. 14 Do all things without murmurings and
disputings: 15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the
sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Philippians 2:5-15 KJV
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