Few people seem to be as impressive as the Apostle Paul. He was a man who not only spoke and taught of God’s mysteries, but also lived such truth: His lifestyle was altogether married to his revelation of the Word of God… Paul’s life was literally not his own!

One such instance where this is displayed is Acts 16. Here, we find Paul and Silas unjustly captured by the Romans. They were beaten, tortured, and thrown into the “inner prison“. Verse 25 continues:

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway” (Acts 16:25-33).

What a marvelous occurrence! But doesn’t it seem a bit strange to you? Paul and Silas are being tortured! Their feet are being held “fast in the stocks” (vs. 24), a common method of torture in which prisoner’s feet were thrust widely apart and forced through holes in wooden walls. It was utter agony, no doubt. Thankfully, relief comes suddenly as they begin to worship the Lord Jesus “at midnight” (vs. 25). Without warning, the foundation of the prison is shaken by an earthquake, their bands loosen, and all prison doors fling wide open! “We’ve made it! We can go free! God has heard our cries“, Paul and Silas must have exclaimed! However, quite interestingly, the men stay put. They don’t fly out of the prison like other carnal men would do, even when God has seemingly answered their urgent prayers… But why?

As I said, Paul’s life was no longer his own. For Paul, this was a genuine and most-sincere reality. Time and time again, day after day, he proved faithful to God’s “furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48:10). Many men may recite such nice, and spiritual platitudes, but few men actually mean it at heart, and even fewer men ever truly demonstrate it.

What a heart Paul must have had! As he got up from the cold prison floor, finally loosed from his painful bonds, his prayers answered, he sees a single sleeping Gentile out of the corner of his eye… Finally, he realizes the divine purpose of this painful venture: God wants to use Paul to minister mercy to his enemy, and affect salvation for his entire household! And Paul, unlike most of us, actually agrees to God’s sovereign plan. Instead of fleeing to his own comfort and safety, Paul chooses to stay behind, to endure the furnace once more, and continue to bare the reproaches of the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:8).. “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here“, he cries. Paul’s own bonds were utterly insignificant when compared to the glorious salvation of the one who was persecuting him! What a man of God! And what a marvelous example for us to follow. It was no longer about Paul, but about the bigger and divine picture. Likewise, if our lives are not our own, it cannot be about us either. Will we be faithful in God’s dealings? Will we say yes to His sovereignty, even when it hurts our flesh, reputation, image, or freedom? Of Paul, it could rightly be said, “there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches” (Prov. 13:7).

How interesting that God even granted Paul an optional escape. It was almost as if He was testing him, soliciting a proper response. But Paul was a bondservant, or a “doulos” in the Greek, a love-slave (Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:1). He continually proclaimed, “I love my Master… I will not go out free” (Ex. 21:5)! These were no mere platitudes, for it was well-evidenced in his actions.

Friends, we must likewise choose to remain faithful to God’s furnace, for it’s the furnace that yields the truest character and maturity. God makes His choices from such a place (Isa. 48:10)! Like Paul, our bonds are oftentimes optional: God will only ever deal with us according to the extent that we allow Him: He will never force Himself upon anyone. In the dealings of God, often times, He may even give you a way of escape, and even bless you as you go. But your glorious potential will never be fully realized. You can be a happy Christian, have a happy life, etc., but the investment God has put on the inside of you will never come to fruition if you don’t allow Him to have His perfect and complete work within you (Jas. 1:4; Lk. 21:19)..

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9).

Friends, what point is there to have true substance if it’s not to become meat for creation? So many of us want real spiritual substance, we want the anointing, we want the power of God – but we often want it unto ourselves. God, quite contrarily, is looking for a people who will willingly choose to go low and die to the flesh, so that His glory will manifest through them, not just for them (Jn. 3:30)! Like Jesus, Paul here is a pattern of this kind of Christian! He followed the pattern set by King Jesus, and now admonishes us to follow the same (Phil. 3:12-17). Do we have it within us to plead for God’s purging flame (Song. 4:16)? Can we, like Paul, honestly say, “keep me in my bonds until the work is complete!”? This was the heart of Jesus, and this will be the heart of those coming sons that are found with His image! Can we be grateful for our trials and tribulations? Can we thank God for our trial, being assured of the glory to follow after it? Can we be so genuine, in fact, that when the chance comes for us to flee we choose not to. The sleeping Gentiles all around us, though they hate us, are looking to feast upon the God we house inside.. And friends, this great glory inside will be ever-perfected by God’s flame:

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).

Dear reader, there’s a new breed of Christians coming forth in the earth! Christians who care more for the glory of God and His purposes than they do for their own earthly lives! These will be Christians who covet God’s anointing, not unto themselves or to their own end, but for those unto whom they are sent! What will be said of us? I pray the Word of God makes us free.