A Prison Sermon-To Those On The Inside
Jeremiah 33: 1-3
1 While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: 2 "This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: 3 ’Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
"Because he lived during such a time of trouble, Jeremiah was a sad-faced man. He talked more about the sorrows of his people than about their joys. And often he wept because of their sins.
For this reason he was called the "Weeping Prophet."
http://www.wisemenseekgod.com/articles/articles.php?page=JeremiahThe_Weeping_Prophet
Today he writes to us from prison. He has been faithful to the ministry that God has given him, and he would not cease to proclaim to King Zedekiah that God had pronounced judgment upon Judah, and that the Babylonians would soon conquer and lead them into captivity. For this, he landed in prison.
Inside the walls of his confinement, The Weeping Prophet continues to wail with the message that God has given him. Yet in his weeping, Jeremiah grasps the glimmer of hope that comes to him. He continues to follow the Word of the Lord faithfully.
From within prison walls, the Weeping Prophet gives us a wonderful plan for calling upon the Name of the Lord.
A number of years ago I would go regularly to jails, prisons and youth detention centers to do ministry. Once I took a young man with me to the local YDC who had been through a troubled youth, but God had worked in his life and in his mid twenties he was a veteran of the Navy and doing very well in life. He was going with me to share his story with the boys. As we approached the compound, we entered the secure area and announced over the intercom who we were and our appointment. “Come in” we heard across the speaker. A thick steel door opened and shut behind us. Before us was another thick steel door that could not be opened until the other door had re-locked. Standing there with my young friend I was oblivious, but I noticed that when the sound of those locks echoed through the steel-he trembled and breathed deeply. He looked at me and said “you never forget the sound of those locks.”
Today, I believe that many of us here may know the sound of that lock closing. We may have been in prison so long that it only clangs in our memory, but it is nonetheless secure. We wake up one day and find ourselves in seemingly impossible situations-with little or no hope to ever get out, and live our dreams.
I want to speak to you some things I hear in Jeremiah’s call from the prison cell today-I believe that God will reveal to you first of all if you are in bondage-and you may not even realize it for what it is. Secondly I believe that today-you can be free. God says you can. It may be the first steps that you take today, but God is setting you free if you will call to Him.
I. Identify The Bars and Chains
Some Prisons that I see in my own life and in those around me:
Poverty/Finances, Addictions and Dependencies (physical, chemical and others), Relationships, Performance, Perfection, Approval, Religion, Self-Esteem/Worth, Defining myself by the world’s standard…
You may be suffering today because of the actions of others- children, spouses, parents, bosses.
The first step to getting free is realizing “I am bound-I am in a prison.”
The prison we build for others-could end up our own-
Not long after a wealthy contractor had finished building the Tombs prison in New York, he was found guilty of forgery and sentenced to several years in the prison he had built! As he was escorted into a cell of his own making, the contractor said, “I never dreamed when I built this prison that I would be an inmate one day.”
Today in the Word, July 12, 1993 (from Bible.org)
II. Revisit The Case: Why Am I Here?
Many of us are in prisons of our own making. It didn’t start out that way-but now we find ourselves trapped-in the vicious cycle.
“You’re in the shape you’re in today because of the decision that you have made in your life.” This quote echoes in my spirit each time I watch the film “Flywheel” from Sherwood Pictures.
Today we are reaping what was sown years before. Today we are sowing what you will reap in the coming years. Others of us are in prisons that are not of our own making-they have been placed upon us-yet they are just as effective in discouraging us and thwarting our pursuit of God’s best for us. In some cases-those decisions were made for us without our input. We had no say. But today we do have a say-because the Word of the Lord has come.
We don’t need to languish over the past-it’s gone. But-we do not want to repeat it!
What was it that got me here? Chances are it didn’t happen overnight. It was a progression, a process. All along the way the steps were likely so gradual that they could not send up a strong warning light. No one wakes up one day and says
“I think I will lead a life of crime and wind up in prison.”
Where did I step out of God’s plan? Where do I need to change? Asking yourself and God those questions sincerely will be the first steps toward your freedom.
You may need some time to grapple with the questions and be ready for the hard answers-but make that step!
III. Get Uncomfortable Again
Remember what its like to be free. Too often we have made friends with our captors and become very comfortable in our little box of a prison cell. It’s been so long since we’ve seen the light of day or sensed freedom-we don’t even want it anymore.
Stop decorating your prison cell…it is not your home!
Often it is much easier to make a partner of the demons in our lives than it is to cast them out. When we go head to head with them, it can be quite painful-but freedom is worth it.
Do not compromise-God will not work with a half or semi effort nor will He accommodate sin in any form. Freedom is predicated upon calling to the Lord-and being ready for the answer. He will not force change upon you that you are unwilling to receive.
The reward-is revelation knowledge-things you do not know coming to you-a brand new way of thinking which will result in a brand new way of life-in freedom.
IV. Exercise the Freedom That You Have
The freedom to believe, the freedom deep inside your mind and your spirit-is always with you.
Sitting there deep inside your prison-the one that perhaps you only know-you have a certain weapon. Your captors and your bars and chains cannot control your attitude or your mind.
Dr. Victor Frankl was a renowned Austrian psychiatrist who was consigned to the Nazi concentration camps along with his family-including his wife.
On April 27, 1945, Victor Frankl was liberated by the Americans. Among his immediate relatives, the only survivor was his sister, who had escaped by emigrating to Australia.
It was due to his and others’ suffering in these camps that he came to his hallmark conclusion that even in the most absurd, painful and dehumanized situation, life has potential meaning and that therefore even suffering is meaningful. Another important conclusion of Frankl was:
If a prisoner felt that he could no longer endure the realities of camp life, he found a way out in his mental life – an invaluable opportunity to dwell in the spiritual domain, the one that the SS were unable to destroy. Spiritual life strengthened the prisoner, helped him adapt, and thereby improved his chances of survival. (Wikipedia)
Whatever circumstances you find yourself in today-whatever prison bars or chains you sense are holding you down and keeping you from the life that God intended for you-you still have the power over how you will receive it-in your mind and spirit. It is your choice whether you will focus on the outward, external situation or whether you can go deep inside yourself and remember that God is with you and that He is in control, and ready to show you “great and mighty things.”
From the depths of prison-Jeremiah heard God say “Call unto me, and I will show you great and mighty things that you do not know.”
See your life in perspective of eternity-“these light afflictions are working a great eternal glory” is the way the Apostle Paul described his own severe situations.
To blame and accuse God of abandoning you-only agrees with your captor. Your enemy is laughing at you when you lash out at your one hope. He knows the power that God has and he knows you are defeated when you give up and blame your Father.
But when you begin speaking the Name-Jesus, when you begin rising up with hope deep in your soul and believing that a better day is coming-you begin to fill up with strength in your prison cell-and your captor becomes very, very nervous.
V. Listen for God’s Counsel
You don’t know everything –yet!
When it comes, it will surprise you just how ignorant you were!
God will show you “great and mighty things.”
It’s interesting that another of God’s prophets from the days of Jeremiah prophesied through time and saw the picture of the One who would come to set captives free-
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners
And hundreds of years later, Jesus took the scrolls at the synagogue and read Isaiah 61, and told everyone there-I’m here! In that moment Jesus declared that it was HE who would set us free-from the chains and bonds.
Because of what Jesus has done for us-we are free! Yet many still languish in the prison cell, refusing to walk out.
God’s will is-for you to be free, his Word will set you free. It may start with a glimmer of hope, an inner peace while all around you is raging. It may start with a baby-step of obedience to Him, using what He is showing you. That baby step will lead to two, and then the steps get bigger…
Today, let’s take those first steps- Call, and then wait for the answer-it will be something you don’t know already…a new revelation.
We finished with a time of meditation and contemplation-asking God to speak to individuals regarding their own situations.
