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
