the purpose of prisions
There are no "get out of jail...FREE" cards in life... as much as we in the Christian Community like to preach that... along with preaching our other favorite... that prisons are only places to learn our lessons and then escape from ... the purpose of being placed in a prison is not to escape from it... the purpose of a prison is to become a prisoner... a prisoner for life...
Entering our Prisons is much more than when we come to that time in our lives ... when our world comes crashing down.... that time when life as we know it comes jarringly to a halt.... that place of helplessness... frustration ... despair...
When one goes to prison... we no longer are in control of anything... when we go to bed... when we get up... what we wear... what we eat... what we do... not even when we can go to the bathroom....all that is over... someone else is in control of all that.... we have become a prisoner.... if we do not understand that... do not see this as the purpose ... and try to escape... then we just have to go back and start all over again... until we see... that being a prisoner is the reason we have been placed in our prison. We are supposed to become ... a prisoner of the Lord.
When that finally happens...when we stop running our own lives... stop trying to achieve our destiny... when we actually let Him control our lives... there is no longer any thought to escape ... it no longer matters...... we simply want what He wants.... circumstances no longer matter.... my plans no longer matter... we take no thought for tomorrow... we have no ambitions... no ministry... no work... there is nothing that we have to do for God... no things to accomplish... we want nothing but Him... our prison is the Lord Himself... we have become His prisoner....
After I see these things... and then read something from the past which says it ... and says it so much better than I... I love to quote it... so here is another gem from T.Austin Sparks....
"Christ is not a second personality or power, to come along to reinforce .. US, to vivify .. US, to strengthen .. US, for us to use in life and in service, and that He should make.. US something. That is not the thought, and that is not the angle of Scripture at all. And yet, how almost universally, perhaps largely unconsciously, that is what is happening. Christians are wanting to be made something, even as Christians; and Christian workers and the Lord's servants are, though perhaps unwittingly, wanting to be made something as workers; and they want Christ to reinforce ..THEM, come behind .. THEM, and make .. THEM something as His servants and in His service. That whole system of things is diametrically opposed to the truth. The truth is that Christ shall be all, and that we decrease that He may increase; that He should be the primary Personality, and that the impact and registration of any life and any service should not be: 'What a good man he was!' or 'What a good woman she is!' or 'What a fine worker!' but: 'What a presence of Christ! What a testimony to Christ! What an expression of Christ! What a sense of Christ! What a reality of Christ!'"
That will never happen until... we simply stop.... and allow ourselves to be taken captive.... to become a prisoner of the Lord.
:)
Entering our Prisons is much more than when we come to that time in our lives ... when our world comes crashing down.... that time when life as we know it comes jarringly to a halt.... that place of helplessness... frustration ... despair...
When one goes to prison... we no longer are in control of anything... when we go to bed... when we get up... what we wear... what we eat... what we do... not even when we can go to the bathroom....all that is over... someone else is in control of all that.... we have become a prisoner.... if we do not understand that... do not see this as the purpose ... and try to escape... then we just have to go back and start all over again... until we see... that being a prisoner is the reason we have been placed in our prison. We are supposed to become ... a prisoner of the Lord.
When that finally happens...when we stop running our own lives... stop trying to achieve our destiny... when we actually let Him control our lives... there is no longer any thought to escape ... it no longer matters...... we simply want what He wants.... circumstances no longer matter.... my plans no longer matter... we take no thought for tomorrow... we have no ambitions... no ministry... no work... there is nothing that we have to do for God... no things to accomplish... we want nothing but Him... our prison is the Lord Himself... we have become His prisoner....
After I see these things... and then read something from the past which says it ... and says it so much better than I... I love to quote it... so here is another gem from T.Austin Sparks....
"Christ is not a second personality or power, to come along to reinforce .. US, to vivify .. US, to strengthen .. US, for us to use in life and in service, and that He should make.. US something. That is not the thought, and that is not the angle of Scripture at all. And yet, how almost universally, perhaps largely unconsciously, that is what is happening. Christians are wanting to be made something, even as Christians; and Christian workers and the Lord's servants are, though perhaps unwittingly, wanting to be made something as workers; and they want Christ to reinforce ..THEM, come behind .. THEM, and make .. THEM something as His servants and in His service. That whole system of things is diametrically opposed to the truth. The truth is that Christ shall be all, and that we decrease that He may increase; that He should be the primary Personality, and that the impact and registration of any life and any service should not be: 'What a good man he was!' or 'What a good woman she is!' or 'What a fine worker!' but: 'What a presence of Christ! What a testimony to Christ! What an expression of Christ! What a sense of Christ! What a reality of Christ!'"
That will never happen until... we simply stop.... and allow ourselves to be taken captive.... to become a prisoner of the Lord.
:)
