Prisoners of the Lord.

Eph 4:1  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called

The prisoner of the Lord.

Eph 3:1  For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles

The prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Luk 21:12  But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. 

For my (Jesus') name's sake… into prisons.

Are we all figurative prisoners of the Lord? By all I mean those who choose to be a Christ follower, a Christ believer. Some, like Paul was, are in prison for their faith, real steel door, behind iron bars prisons. They are called to believe and the Holy Spirit fills their hearts to such a degree they are willing to endure torturous conditions just to proclaim their believe.

Jesus said this-

Mark 8:38  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Mat 10:32  Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 

Mat 10:33  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

And after His death believers did this- 

Act 5:41  And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. 

Act 5:42  And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. 

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 

Rom 1:17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 

Every single Christ follower in prison for their faith around this world we live in is obviously NOT ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

I sit here and even the thought of torture has me shuddering. Being torture in a very literal, physical way is something far removed from my realm of existence. I am allowed to walk out of my house wearing a I Love Jesus  tee-shirt, or a tee-shirt with any number of Christ and God affirming sayings on them. I have a shirt that reads- 'Life is Fragile, Handle With Prayer'. I can BOLDLY wear these shirts out anywhere I want to without any fear of being taken prisoner, and really no fear of being ridiculed.  I live in a world where it is more common to hear- 'I like your shirt.' - than anything else. This is my existence- no fear of prison for proclaiming my faith in Jesus Christ. I have no reason whatsoever to be ashamed of my Lord and Savior. I do not have the testing ground of pain, of agonies, of being shamefully abused mentally, emotionally, verbally, physically because of my love for God. And just because I do not have this experience, does not mean it doesn't exist for a lot of people.

I heard on the news that the president of the United States is going to speak out on Christian persecution in a big way, why? Because it exists and is growing worse and worse in a lot of places around the world.  I can't imagine watching my children being murdered right before my eyes just because I believe in Jesus Christ.  People are MURDERING Christians for their faith, for their belief and it just blows my mind that they are doing that, the very thing they did in Christ's day, in the apostles day, in the dark ages, in the middle ages, and so on. Persecution for believing in our Savior has never ended, it has ebbed and flowed throughout history.

The power of belief in Christ is so threatening to others, rather than turn away and simply ignore what they don't personally believe- they kill the believer as if that will somehow kill the power of Christ.

Are we prisoners of Christ Jesus? Are we prisoners of the Lord? 

We'd better be.  We'd better belong to Christ no matter what we are called to endure.  To be His prisoner is to be free, truly free in a way those who deny Christ can never be.

God help us all!

Give strength to EVERY Christ believer called to endure any sort of trial or tribulation, any torture, any imprisonment. Please, Father in Heaven, please bless them, bless us, and have Your Holy Son, Jesus Christ return soon so we may ever be with Him!

All through Your love, Your mercy, Your grace!

Your will be done!

Amen.