PRISONS MADE PRISMS
Verse for Today: Monday, November 22, 2010
Psalms 69:33 - The Lord hears the needy and does not despise His captive people.
The Word of God confirms the heart of God through the experience of all His children all the time. King David learned about mercy and compassion in the heart of God and heard so much about it from his previous generations. But he realized through his varying experiences that whatever he learned about his God were absolutely true, as proved day by day in his own life. Our God does not despise the needy and the poor. He will not forsake the poor in spirit who go to Him admitting their inadequacies and utter depravity and ask for help. God knows that many of His beloved children are prisoners of the forces of the world and their spiritual enemy, and some are imprisoned by their own flesh which is a chief agent of the enemy. When His children suffer in the hands of these enemies and the difficult circumstances created by them, God has compassion over them. He hears their heart cry for a release and timely deliverance. He sees their tears and meets their needs. Many of God's choice servants were prisoners of different types. Jacob was a prisoner of circumstances who lost all his freedom and had to run away for life and became an exile. His son Joseph was a literal prisoner for almost a decade in Egypt. Jeremiah was a prisoner because he stood for the truth and spoke the Word of God courageously. David was an exile for several years and ran for his life like a stray dog. Peter, Paul, Silas and others were literally prisoners. John was an exile and the Baptizer was in the prison. John Bunyan was a prisoner for Jesus and George Matheson was a prisoner of blindness all his life. There are scores of others who have been in prisons because they belonged to the Lord. There are many who were put in prisons without any cause and some were set up and eliminated from the scene by circumstances. All of them have gone to the Lord and presented their needs and situations to the Lord. He doesn't despise them, but give them the strength to convert their prisons into prisms through which the glory of the Lord reflects. In these prisons, they testify to the power of the Lord and make it an opportunity to welcome fellow prisoners or guards to the kingdom of Heaven. These prisons thus become centers of spiritual miracles and prompt these saints to sing and praise the Lord.
Dear friend, are you a prisoner of circumstances complicated by the enemy of your soul and his agents? Do you feel suffocated by the suspicion that is created by these enemies to tarnish your testimony and image? Remember how the agents of the enemy tried the same strategy against Joseph and Jeremiah who were innocent, yet thrown into prison! The Baptizer was put in prison because he stood for the truth and preached the truth even to the kings and rulers! It doesn't matter what the people around you think about you. It matters most what the Lord thinks about you, and so trust in the Lord to exonerate you at the right time. Some of the Lord's prisoners have to wait until they reach the Bema to be exonerated and recognized, but a few are declared innocent here in this life itself. We will have to leave it to the Lord, but to continue to do what He wants us to do even in the prisons so that His kingdom will enlarge. These prison experiences are often Satan's way to dislodge us and make us unusable in our faith. But let us confide in the Lord and tell Him all our heartaches and ask Him to give us His power to become victorious in spite of the efforts our enemy makes to taint us. The Lord has enough of comfort, blessings, courage and strength to give us to keep going. Even in a situation of captivity, we have ministries to perform and lead people to the Lord. We have to comfort the weary and the discouraged saints with the courage with which our Lord encourages us. During our times of loneliness in our captivity by the circumstances, we can still go to the presence of the Lord to recharge our spiritual batteries and gain courage and confidence to fulfill the Lord's purpose even in the prisons. This was what Joseph, Jeremiah, Paul and John did and what scores of His beloved children are doing even today. Many of God's choice servants are still preaching the Word and encouraging others from the prison cells of circumstances, sicknesses, poverty, loneliness, rejection, misrepresentations and hyper-criticism even from co-believers. Let us follow the pattern of the Man of Sorrows who sends even a thief to paradise even while He was suffering on the cross.
Psalms 69:35 - For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.
Thought for Today
When the enemy tries to lock a child of God up in the prisons of circumstances, the Lord converts the prisons into prisms through which the glory of the Lord will reflect.
Verse for Today: Monday, November 22, 2010
Psalms 69:33 - The Lord hears the needy and does not despise His captive people.
The Word of God confirms the heart of God through the experience of all His children all the time. King David learned about mercy and compassion in the heart of God and heard so much about it from his previous generations. But he realized through his varying experiences that whatever he learned about his God were absolutely true, as proved day by day in his own life. Our God does not despise the needy and the poor. He will not forsake the poor in spirit who go to Him admitting their inadequacies and utter depravity and ask for help. God knows that many of His beloved children are prisoners of the forces of the world and their spiritual enemy, and some are imprisoned by their own flesh which is a chief agent of the enemy. When His children suffer in the hands of these enemies and the difficult circumstances created by them, God has compassion over them. He hears their heart cry for a release and timely deliverance. He sees their tears and meets their needs. Many of God's choice servants were prisoners of different types. Jacob was a prisoner of circumstances who lost all his freedom and had to run away for life and became an exile. His son Joseph was a literal prisoner for almost a decade in Egypt. Jeremiah was a prisoner because he stood for the truth and spoke the Word of God courageously. David was an exile for several years and ran for his life like a stray dog. Peter, Paul, Silas and others were literally prisoners. John was an exile and the Baptizer was in the prison. John Bunyan was a prisoner for Jesus and George Matheson was a prisoner of blindness all his life. There are scores of others who have been in prisons because they belonged to the Lord. There are many who were put in prisons without any cause and some were set up and eliminated from the scene by circumstances. All of them have gone to the Lord and presented their needs and situations to the Lord. He doesn't despise them, but give them the strength to convert their prisons into prisms through which the glory of the Lord reflects. In these prisons, they testify to the power of the Lord and make it an opportunity to welcome fellow prisoners or guards to the kingdom of Heaven. These prisons thus become centers of spiritual miracles and prompt these saints to sing and praise the Lord.
Dear friend, are you a prisoner of circumstances complicated by the enemy of your soul and his agents? Do you feel suffocated by the suspicion that is created by these enemies to tarnish your testimony and image? Remember how the agents of the enemy tried the same strategy against Joseph and Jeremiah who were innocent, yet thrown into prison! The Baptizer was put in prison because he stood for the truth and preached the truth even to the kings and rulers! It doesn't matter what the people around you think about you. It matters most what the Lord thinks about you, and so trust in the Lord to exonerate you at the right time. Some of the Lord's prisoners have to wait until they reach the Bema to be exonerated and recognized, but a few are declared innocent here in this life itself. We will have to leave it to the Lord, but to continue to do what He wants us to do even in the prisons so that His kingdom will enlarge. These prison experiences are often Satan's way to dislodge us and make us unusable in our faith. But let us confide in the Lord and tell Him all our heartaches and ask Him to give us His power to become victorious in spite of the efforts our enemy makes to taint us. The Lord has enough of comfort, blessings, courage and strength to give us to keep going. Even in a situation of captivity, we have ministries to perform and lead people to the Lord. We have to comfort the weary and the discouraged saints with the courage with which our Lord encourages us. During our times of loneliness in our captivity by the circumstances, we can still go to the presence of the Lord to recharge our spiritual batteries and gain courage and confidence to fulfill the Lord's purpose even in the prisons. This was what Joseph, Jeremiah, Paul and John did and what scores of His beloved children are doing even today. Many of God's choice servants are still preaching the Word and encouraging others from the prison cells of circumstances, sicknesses, poverty, loneliness, rejection, misrepresentations and hyper-criticism even from co-believers. Let us follow the pattern of the Man of Sorrows who sends even a thief to paradise even while He was suffering on the cross.
Psalms 69:35 - For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.
Thought for Today
When the enemy tries to lock a child of God up in the prisons of circumstances, the Lord converts the prisons into prisms through which the glory of the Lord will reflect.
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