Are you following someone in Twitter? Are you following a top corporate CEO or a football star player or a baseball star? Or are you following your beliefs that you come from a poor family, with very little education and etc and etc so therefore you will also be poor. Do you feel you are prisoner of your circumstances?
Actually, it is not our circumstances which imprisons us. It is ourselves, our mind, which imprisons us. We allow ourselves to be imprisoned by our environment, - our circumstances.
Pastor Joel Osteen of Houston, Texas, often tells the story of the circumstances of his father.
His father came from a poor family in Arkansas. But early on, he decided to break away from being poor and made a firm decision to get a good education. Long story short, after many years, Pastor John Osteen, rose up to become one of the well known Pastor in Houston and brought forth his son Joel Osteen who is now known the world over.
There are many stories similar to this. It shows that man (and women), when they decide to break away from their “prison”, with strong determination, do break-away to unprecedented heights.
Look around you, your co-workers, your friends, and your neighbors. You will find out that most of them came out of personal “prisons” and made it.
Breaking Out of Your Prison!
1. Make a firm decide to break out.
2. Find a role model.
3. Follow your role model.
The question now is, - who would be your role model. Would it be a great scientist, an inventor, a business tycoon, prime minister, or president of a country?
Why not Jesus Christ, the God and Man who suffered, shed blood, and died on the cross, to save all of us from going to hell, some 20 centuries ago? Think about that for a moment.
After all Jesus is God, our Creator and Supplier of the air we breathe, our ability to inhale the free air He provides. The nine very high tech systems of our body which keeps us alive.
Jesus, the Provider. When the Jews escaped from Egypt and were traveling in the desert towards Jerusalem their promised land, they had no way to feed themselves. It was a desert. God provided them with manna each and every morning without fail. And to think that most of those in the desert did nothing but complain, complain and complain. Sound familiar?
It is till happening today in the year 2011!
Ask yourself, - does it not make sense that if your are to follow something or someone, why not follow the role model of all role models, Jesus Christ! To know Him, read a few pages of the old book, a.k.a., the Bible. It is His love letter to all of humanity, Christians, Moslems, Buddhists, and everyone. It is the manufacturer’s (Jesus) operating manual for us, the manufactured ‘items’. He made us and the Bible is the operating manual for us, how to operate smoothly, how to do maintenance work on ourselves, how to keep us healthy, happy and prosperous. All this instructions are in the book!
All the information in books in all bookstores, Books A Million, Barnes and Noble and all the libraries in this planet cannot compare with the information you will find in the 66 books within the big book, the Bible.
Read Up. And Follow Jesus.
Here is a story which happened over 2,000 years.
“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” He answered them, “He who made me well said to me. ‘Take up your bed and walk.” Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, “Take up your bed and walk.”
But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a wrong thing come upon you.” John 5:2-14. (NKJV).
Jesus knew the man wanted to be healed. Why do you think Jesus still asked him if he wanted to be healed. To find out the man’s self built “prison”.
Notice that the man did not answer Jesus’ question. Instead, he answered with an excuse or a “blame” at the fact that no one helped him get to the pool before anyone jumps in ahead of him.
Excuses, excuses, excuses. Sounds familiar doesn’t it. We blame the government, we blame the “system”, the bureaucracy, Bush #1, Bush #2, Obama, Osama the Bin Laden, or our mother-in-law.
Jesus with few words, as usual, - said to the man - “Rise, take up your bed and walk”.
Or you might have said, “Stop bellyaching, stand up, get the job done, and move ahead”.
“Make a list of your strengths and your weaknesses. Concentrate on your strengths and get going. Ask the Lord to help you because without his help you are not getting anywhere.”
This is the part where we all stumble. We do not rely on the Lord, our Creator. We are the branches, and He is the Vine. Without Him, we can do nothing, yes, nothing. We might succeed for a while, but as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, you will stumble.
Break out from your prison and decide to follow Jesus.
(*) My take from the preaching of Pastor Ken Jumper (Aug. 28, 2011), of "The Harvest" non-denominational church in Lexington, SC. www.the-harvest.org
