“And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear.”
If Philippians doesn’t mess with your head and shatter you, you’re reading it too quickly. Everything that we think is true is backwards when we hold it up to Paul’s life. Imprisonment was one of the biggest assets to his ministry. Sit on that. Prison. You know you are operating in the supernatural when being punished for your message is the thing that strengthens it. That’s always been true of the global church. When the church is persecuted it gets stronger. So why are we always fighting for our rights?
As you know, I’m a big fan of freedom. Confidence is right up there too. Boldly speaking God’s message without fear? Yes. These are the things I want for myself. These are the fruits of what I want to produce in my ministry. How do I get that? Risk it all. Paul risked his life to spread the Gospel. He gave up everything he knew to follow Jesus. He didn’t hold on to any earthly thing.
What are you holding on to for your security today? What would “risking it all” look like? Most of us in America can’t imagine what faith is like when you can be thrown in prison and tortured for your faith. We get upset when people don’t like us. That’s not martyrdom, and when we act like it is we absolutely miss the power of the Gospel. All I know is that when Paul was willing to do whatever it took to spread the good news of Jesus, God turned that into win after win after win. Paul’s earthly life was not pleasant. It was supernatural. What life are you living today? What do you need to let go of to get there?