Perhaps you know somebody who only found God when they went to prison. Some people do not encounter Jesus until they are too ill to move around. They are helpless, lying on their backs in a hospital somewhere. In a way, they are no different from the ones in jail. This prison Christianity is an example of a positive problem.
Those who put troublemakers in jail are doing their jobs and we do not waste time on them. Our concern in this post is what happens to the one in confinement. Granted, most prisoners will not get religion, as the saying goes. However, there is a percentage of prisoners for whom jail is a benefit and for whom it is a positive. They look back on their prison sentence and all they can do is thank God for their prison Christianity
They realize they might never have found God if they did not spend that downtime – enforced though it was – in prison. I know a fine gentleman who confessed that the ten weeks they spent in bed with a broken back were some of their best weeks. I am not sure he found God, but he had lots of time to think about his maker. There is nothing like a life-threatening event to make you think of heaven or if you will get there. Who knows what God might have built on the foundation He made in that man during those ten weeks of lying in bed?
Paul Experienced Prison Christianity
The Apostle Paul experienced a version of prison Christianity. You may know that he wrote many of his epistles from jail but that is not what we mean. By the time he wrote those letters, Paul was already a powerful Christian. He did not find God in those jails. Instead, Paul imparted Christ to others around him, even to us, as we continue to benefit from his letters.
His initial experience with prison Christianity was blindness. God struck Paul with blindness so that Paul could see Jesus. Isn’t that interesting? He first became blind before he could see. How often does God have to strike us with an ailment or some other confinement before we see Him? How often has God had to hit you with trouble so you could acknowledge Him as Lord?
Only you and God know the answer. If your answer is more than once or twice, please pay attention. God probably inspired this post for you. Paul’s confinement did not end there. After God opened Paul’s eyes, the Apostle’s his prison Christianity started. Unlike some of us, Paul did not spend his confinement in a human jail. He went into the wilderness of Arabia, no doubt sent there by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit enjoys leading us the same way God does – in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. You might remember how that same Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for forty days. Jesus came out of confinement swinging – at the devil. In the same way, after the Holy Spirit imprisoned Paul in the Arabian desert, Paul returned swinging. It should not surprise you that the Apostle wrote half of the New Testament.
Do Not Wait Until You Are Helpless
I wonder how often the Holy Spirit wanted to take you into isolation and you resisted. God’s isolation and confinement are always for our benefit. Of course, we must ensure it is not satan’s obscurity, which comes whenever we sin. The best way to know the difference is to ensure we do not live in sin. Notice I did not say we do not sin but we do not live in sin.
As soon as we sin, we apologize to God and turn away from it. We do not continue in sin. Then, when we go into isolation, we know it is a confinement with God, and that can only have wonderful results. Embrace it; it may be your version of prison Christianity and your season to shine.
An influential man of God, who shall remain nameless, fell into sexual sin a few decades ago. Unlike now when sexual sin in the pulpit is so common, that man went into obscurity. God must have met him there and given him a personal version of prison Christianity. I see him wielding influence once again. God can redeem a man even in the obscurity of the devil. All that God is waiting for is repentance.
Please note that repentance is not the lip service of merely saying sorry. It involves a 180-degree turn. You renounce the sin and turn your back on it. The Apostle Paul did, and see how God used him mightily. Do not wait any longer. Embrace your ‘prison’ sentence, make the most of it through repentance and you too can come out swinging.
Maranatha!
