David Oshin
Author
Every believer is a prisoner and ought to live like a prisoner. But who is a Prisoner ?
A prisoner, (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against his or her will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or by forcible restraint.
I know you may be wondering but how does this apply to a believer, a believer is free, he has been delivered by the blood of Jesus, and I understand you might be considering in your heart the scripture Paul quoted for the believer.
Gal. 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
If a believer is therefore free, how come you are saying, he is a prisoner. Alright!
This is something i love about the Bible, it is balanced and standing on one end of the truth is what most times lead to heresy. Have you wondered about the fact that, the same Apostle Paul that said we should stand in the liberty of our freedom called himself a prisoner 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,
This tells us a believer is free from something and imprisoned to something. That something is the reactant that makes the equation balanced. Since we have established the fact that a believer is a prisoner and at the same time free, lets find the factors that balances the equation.
* A believer is delivered from the lusts of the world and Imprisoned by the Love of God.
* A believer is delivered from the devil but a prisoner of the Lord
Imprisonment in the context of a believer means a believer cannot do what he or she wishes, we are bound by God’s love to live a life that pleases God continually, and that is big , big work. I see a lot of scolfieldic believers, I mean prison-breakers, they are believers by denomination but unbelievers by words, actions and character. A believer is a prisoner, he has self imposed limitations, nobody is putting him or her behind bars, but it is a self imposed incarceration so as to please the master, our affections are imprisoned, our desires are imprisoned, we don’t have liberty to engage in worldly affairs, Paul tells us to endure hardness as soldiers of Christ, a soldier cannot entangle him or herself with the pleasures of the world (2nd Tim.2:3-4), for instance , how can a believer be having secular musics on his or her phone/tablet/system, talk more of singing it to show you are updated. Its nonsense!!!
To be continued.
Watch out for the concluding episode of this article.
