(pic credit: Bling LA ©2020 by crisbaj. Used with permission)
April 1, 2020 Quarantine day 14
Healthy Keys 4 Being A Prisoner of Christ part 1
As I pray and meditate and study on ‘being a prisoner of Christ’, a number of ‘Keys’ emerged. Here they are, no special order, with notes.
KEY: *Identity of living ‘inside’ Jesus,
Paul’s implied that imprisonment was an external issue… Prison? Yeah? So what?
Why? Paul saw his entire life as ‘inside’ Jesus and His Life.
He said, I, Paul, am the slave/servant of Jesus (Phil 1:1).
I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus… the prisoner of the Lord (Eph 3:1, Eph 4:1, Philemon v1).
Somehow, his life was totally hidden in Jesus.
{Heart-check] Is mine?
KEY: *The Master Jesus as THE focus, not the difficulties of being in prison.
In one of the books written during an imprisonment:
“that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:8a-11
In-between imprisonments, Paul wrote:
We are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always manifesting the death of Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you (2 Corinthians 4:8-12).
Paul was able to focus and connect with Jesus, regardless of being a prisoner.
{Heart-check] All this ‘quarantine’; where’s my focus? The difficulties, or the Master Jesus?
KEY: *Am I willing to be constrained?
Blogger ‘Jenn@Home’ pointed out that a prisoner of the Lord,
“would no longer be free to come and go as he or she pleases or according to his own convenience but would abide in Christ in such a way as to have his comings and goings directed by God,” that true “life in Christ is often one of constraint, demanding decisions of me that impact my walk with Him.”
[Heart-Check} As part of my life-call, am I willing to be constrained in Christ Jesus?
KEY: *Paul Saw Adversity as Kingdom Opportunity
In all of the imprisonments and difficulties, Paul clearly continued to ‘move ahead’ in extending and advancing the Kingdom of God. In his 4+ years of imprisonment, Paul accomplished so much. He discipled leaders who went on to become ‘Church Fathers. He grew the churches he planted. He wrote brilliant letters that were so God-inspired, we read them in our modern Bibles. His testimony was so powerful, he saw some of his captors become Christians, an act of high treason to Rome in that day.
{Heart-check] What’s my inner thoughts on adversity? Kingdom opportunity, or… something else?
KEY: *Boldness, No Fear
Paul, in the middle of all this prison stuff, with shackles around his ankles, didn’t ask for relief from his difficulties and an easier deal. He didn’t whine to the brethren.
Nope. In the middle of it, Paul was such a ‘Kingdom force’ that he encouraged the brethren to be “more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear” (Phil. 1:14).
Bold, No fear.
[Heart-check] In the middle of this quarantine, being bold and living without fear… where am I with that?
TAKE-AWAY:
Five down, more coming…
written by crisbaj
© 2018-2020 by crisbaj/AdoreTheLord.blog All rights reserved.
All Scripture references from New International Version unless otherwise indicated.
If you re-post or use material from this blog, please be honest and give author citation + AdoreTheLord.blog as the source… thanks!!
References:
https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/144-pauls-two-year-roman-imprisonment
Adore the Lord 