I will struggle to get across what the Lord showed me this week. Here goes anyway. I will tell you now that I cannot say publicly what my "prison" is at present.
Lets' jump in ...maybe it will help you also.
I was doing my "Jesus One and Only" study this week and was given a revelation into a story I have known all my life. I was reading Luke 7 :18-27. The story is where John the Baptist calls two of Jesus' disciples to give Jesus a message. Basically, he was doubting whether Christ was who He said He was. Now don't forget, John was the "one who prepared the way of the Lord"and
here we find him doubting. How awful of him...but wait...look at Mark 6:17-18!
WHERE WAS JOHN? He was in prison!!! Think with me here.... he prepared the way of the Lord and was obedient to God's will , but was in prison. What is Jesus doing at this time? He is out performing miracles and being about His Father's business.
Wouldn't you understand John the Baptist struggling through some doubt. I sure can!
He did all that he was supposed to do and was in a prison. I am sure he wondered why didn't Jesus just free him from this prison...isn't that the kind of stuff Jesus did?
My thought...the prison I am speaking of is not a prison of sin. Allow your thinking to make that prison that place you are at, the thing you are enduring or the situation that just doesn't make sense.
I am in a prison. But the Lord has revealed to me that my prison is just where He wants me. So, in that I have found my freedom. Just like John, as we all know, he was considered a burning and shining light, I can be a burning and shining light in my prison.
My mind would say, "Get John out of that prison, he can be used greatly outside those prison walls". But that wasn't the plan. We know now how that could have been detrimental to the work of Jesus Christ. (can't get into that theology now)
What am I trying to say? God has given me peace about my "prison". It is not my place to question His plan. It is my place to submit to His will. Whether I understand or not. If he allowed John to stay in prison then be beheaded , who am I to think that I should be released from mine.
I will struggle at times in this prison and that is NO FUN! But so did John...and he was still called in scripture a burning and shining light. I will doubt in my heart at times, but not in my head.
God is in control and He can do WHATEVER He wants with me. Like it or not!
LADIES - THIS IS FREEDOM!!!! I have released two major fears to him and I can live in freedom in my prison!
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3 comments:
Deanna,
I definitely know what is like to be in a prison. Thank you for your honesty. Thank you for doing this Bible Study on Tues also. I realized also that we would have doubts in our head but when it comes to my heart, I, too know that God can do whatever He sees fit and that it will ALWAYS be for my benefit.
Your sister in Christ,
Kristie
After being reminded of John and others that were imprisoned for our Lord, and how faithful they were, it makes me ashamed of the little Mayberry type prison I often put myself in. And the whole time the keys are hanging right outside the door. But if it is His will for me to stay,I want to be faithful, as Joseph was, and remember that there is reason that I may not see for years to come.
Thanks for this post. It's really made me think.
My thought about the "freedom in my prison" didn't come from the lesson on John the Baptist, although that ties up the loose ends from where my thoughts began. My thoughts actually began about my freedom on the lesson where we see Jesus coming into Nazareth and how He was so gloriously accepted and then in the same breath totally rejected. Luke 4:30 clearly tells us that in spite of the anger displayed by the crowd that He passed thru them and continued on his way! That's where my "freedom in prison" began. Understanding that God has uniquely called each of us to a journey that He alone is charting and we ultimately don't have to understand or even reason it out! It is HIS journey we are called to and the "prison" is part of it. He asks that we fulfill our time! I totally don't understand why God has placed me where He has but I know that my freedom is dependent one thing -- my total obedience to the journey and the cell. May God grant us all the "freedom" we need in Him as we are reminded that no temptation or life circumstance has come our way that He FIRST did not bear, and to top it off He has made a way to endure it! Like John the Baptist, he endured to the end. Thanks for sharing your prison thoughts with us!
Kindred spirits,
Lauri
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