We know that Paul spent a good deal of time in prison for the sake of the Gospel. He spent that time writing. We know that he was imprisoned more than once and at times, we know that guards came in—we learned that in Philippians—and we know that they had to change the guard every 8 to 12 hours. They would bring someone in, chain him to Paul and this guard would see the life of Paul. Why? Because Paul just lived his life, regardless of where he was. He did not sit there and say, “Woe is me, I am in jail.” He did not sit there and get angry, have a pity party or shout out, “WHY ME, GOD!” He embraced the relationship with His Lord, not his circumstances, remembered his passion and pressed on!

In one prison, people could come and visit him as he was literally chained to the guard, and the guards were getting saved! They’d pull the guard out—because the guard is now saved—and they’d bring in another guard and Paul would get that guard saved too! How? Did he sit there and drill him with the Gospel until he got saved? No, of course not! Paul lived out his passion and the guards got saved because they saw him live what he preached, they saw his passion. They saw that he had no restrictions on him. He used every moment to the fullest and his rest was in God, regardless of his circumstances.

They knew the beatings he experienced and yet there he was, still preaching the Gospel. Many of them learned of his experiences. He was shipwrecked, stoned and left for dead, whipped—all that he went through for the sake of the Gospel—and he pressed on! Why did he do this? How did he do this? Because Paul remained focused on the passion God put within him and rather than consider the boundaries man would attempt to put on him, he focused on the passion God placed in him.

This is the author of Romans. He knew and understood struggles more than most. Paul had sown into their faith and when he got word of what was taking place, he immediately acted and reached out to them. I can feel his heart as I read his letter: Listen, people of Rome, I am coming to you as soon as I can. My concern over what is going on cannot wait for my arrival, we’ve got to bring correction to this situation immediately! You know what Jesus did for you. You are ‘The Church at Rome’; you are believers of the Most High God! You have people coming in and they are muddying the waters and I am here to clear this up with you because I love you! If they had used phones or internet, I’m sure he would’ve been Skyped in to address them face to face! Instead, it’s coming in a letter.

In Romans Chapter 5, Paul talks about these false doctrines that have crept in, disrupting their faith and affecting their passion. He addresses the issue head on dealing with the stark reality of Adam’s transgressions, revealing how the sin of one man resulted in judgment upon all mankind. Sin reigned. From the fall of Adam, he takes them through the Law, reminding them that the revelatory nature of the Law was to expose our sin, not to God for He is aware, but to us. From the Law, Paul reminds them that the only path to eternal life with God is through the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, our Lord! He is our righteousness! It is by faith we receive this gift and by His grace that we receive eternal life.

Sin reigned unto death, but grace reigned through unto righteousness. (I encourage you to read the book of Romans; dig in deep my friends, because it will transform your life.) The point Paul really is trying to make here is that you cannot muddy the waters of your faith and expect to live this life as God ordained you to live. You cannot. Why? Sin reigns unto death. What a vicious tyrant sin is! If ‘sin’ were a king, it’d be likened to a vicious tyrant: Nero, Tiberius, Stalin, Hitler, Fidel Castro—all were tyrants in the deepest, most corrupt and unimaginable sense of the word. We all saw the external effect of the reign of sin in their lives.

Friends, as believers, we must fight against sin’s reign. We need to see sin as a vicious tyrant, ready to steal our soul and we must resist with all that we have. Yes, by grace we are made righteous but this does not grant us permission to sin. The more we bring His Word into our lives, the more time we spend in prayer, the more we allow Him to refine us, shape us, mold us, the less power sin has over us.

We’ve had a few tyrants ourselves. Obama was not for the people; he did more to harm the minorities in our nation than most care to admit. He stripped us of our military, fought against the family unit, against God, religious liberty, and on and on. We ask, “Lord, why do you allow people like that to step into leadership in our nation?” This nation is to be a beacon of His Light into all the world. We voted him in, and yes, God allowed it. But remember, the Lord has told many that if He would not have allowed Obama to get into office, we would not have our Trump today. Why? Because the Church would not have prayed like they did! We needed to prepare the ground for Trump to take office.

We ask, “Wouldn’t they have prayed like they have if we’d had a Christian in office?” Ah, a question that answers itself! When things around us start to go haywire, when sin abounds, the intercessors pray! We seek God with a fervency. When what is happening around us begins to get stirred up, the reflex of the intercessor is to go to God. That is what we do; this is one of my passions.

Now, I did not used to go to God. I used to get angry with God. And that reign of sin in my life caused me to get angry with God, to reject Him, and to blame Him rather than turning to the only One who had the answer. I remember crying out over this issue, “Lord! When will this ever happen? When will my reflex be to turn to You instead of getting angry with You? When will that happen?” And He was probably wondering the same thing.

“When will that happen, My child? How many situations are you going to go through, before you finally turn to Me? How long are you going to allow sin to reign in your life and push you away from Me? How long are you going to allow circumstances to dictate to you instead of you stepping into My call in your life and leaning on Me, pressing into Me? When are you going to follow your passion? Stop looking at the boundaries the world puts on you!” I am sure these questions ran through His mind. I mean, He already knew the answer, but I just imagine that that is what He was saying.

I can honestly say that, today, finally, when circumstances around me start to go haywire, a reflex has been created within me: I go to God. He finally got me to a place where, when something goes haywire, my spirit starts praying! I honestly do not remember the moment that took place because it was happening for a while, and then I began to notice it more and more. I cannot tell you the relief I felt when my reflex was to turn to Him because it meant I had grown little bit, was moving out of the infant stage, adding some cheerios now and I am well on my way to the meat! Plus, my burden automatically became His and I didn’t have to carry it alone.

To be continued next week…

Blessing & Love,

Ricci Wilson