Are you a prisoner?

What do you think of when I say the word "prisoner"- I immediately think of like someone in jail or someone who committed a crime...

Did you ever associate the word with God? I never did. I was reading the book of Ephesians the other night and stumbled upon this awesome scripture. 

Ephesians 4:1-2 niv says:: 

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Hmmm, I thought... "As a prisoner for the Lord..." What does that mean? & do I really want to be a "prisoner" for God? I looked up the definition of a prisoner & some other things too. Here's what I came up with... Basically, being a prisoner for the Lord means to be fully devoted to Him- a synonym for prisoner would be captive. So, you could say Being captive- like being held captive for God. Also, when you become captive for God you are not your own anymore. You live for Him- every moment of every day is for Him- live by His holy Word- 

Close your eyes and picture yourself inside a jail- you're in that room that you see on Law and Order- you know the visitor room where there is that glass down the middle and the convicted is on one side and the visitor on the other. Which side of the glass are you on?

Are you the "visitor" or the "prisoner"? 

Are you just visiting? ~ OR ~ Are you there to stay?

Think about it...

Now, let's take a look at another piece of the verse. It says "...I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Hmmm... okay "...live life worthy of the calling I received..." You're like... umm Michelle, yeah that's nice but I don't have a calling on my life. YES YOU DO!! God created you for a purpose! Did you know that in Jeremiah it says that God knew you before he created you in your mothers womb?! WOAH-- wrap your mind around that!! He knew you BEFORE he created you!! He had already had a plan for your life!!! When it says "calling"- that word in itself can be intimidating... I know it was to me. Your calling doesn't have to be something fancy now-- stop thinking that right away-- you are a wife, husband, mother, father, pastor, child care worker, cashier, receptionist... the list goes on and on... the fact of the matter is that you are created to BE-- God placed a calling on each and every life-- and stay close to Him, under His wing and He will speak sweetly to your heart the plans He has for you. 

"Before I made you in your mother's womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work~Jeremiah 1:5 ncv

"I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. ~Jeremiah 29:11 ncv 

NEXT!! lol Here's the next piece...  "...Be completely humble and gentle; be patient..." ~GULP~ Yikes-- be COMPLETELY humble, gentle and patient... um yeah... that's a mouthful!! lol Okay guys and gals- this is a challenge just by saying humble... now throw gentle and patient in with it... whew. God knows we are not perfect and I have some news for you guys... we will never be perfect- but we can try right? :) He doesn't expect perfect- He wants us to try our best though. There are challenging circumstances EVERYWHERE around us- times that make it VERY difficult to stay humble, gentle and oh goodness- patient. I can think of like 5 times TODAY that I really needed to remember this part of this verse. OOPS-- but you know what? I am forgiven. Amen. How to stay HGP (Humble, Gentle, Patient)- Try... key word TRY... to remember this whenever a tough situation comes up. Ask yourself am I being HGP?? haha I know I'm a big dork here- but see if it works for you. You are in a GRRRRR situation-- in your head say to yourself HGP HGP-- lol see what comes out of your mouth (or what doesn't come out lol)

OKAY-- this is the BIG ONE-- "...bearing with one another in love."  Man, He must have really meant this one-- because it's said again in multiple places throughout scripture. Notice how it says "Bear or bearing" or in more of a easier term... putting up with. I want you to understand something here... this does not mean allowing people walk all over you with their words &/or actions. Also, as it is written many times- forgive others as Christ forgave you. And also, just because you forgave someone- doesn't mean you have to hang out with them all the time- you forgave them- that's the important part. 

Bear with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you. ~Colossians 3:13 ncv

I wanted to point out- the scripture says "...in love." You must do everything out of love. "...If  I do not have love, then I am nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:2 ncv 

There is an awesome song out right now called The Proof of Your Love by For King & Country~ below is the video.

That's the entire verse... Did you forget what verse we were talking about? lol Here is Ephesians 4:1-2 again::

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

So... are you a prisoner?

Take care of you :)