I’ve never been to prison, but I have learned some things from prison. One of which is assignments are temporary, but the call is permanent.
Imagine how confined Paul must have felt after all those years of active ministry. He went from missionary trip to missionary trip. He served in between trips at the church in Antioch. He preached in crusades. He ministered to small groups. He established churches and had ministers’ conferences. He performed miracles and was used powerfully by God.
And then prison. I can’t imagine what it felt like to go from that level of effective and productive ministry to nothing. It had to be a shock to the system. Did he feel a little lost in his calling? Did he wonder, “How can I do anything for God here in this dark place, confined to prison with no freedom to travel?”
But I dare say that those prison years were likely his most impactful years of ministry.
No, there are no records of crusades or salvations or healings during those years. But the fruit of what he chose to do with his time confined in prison was not confined to that small cell.
Think about it. In the book of Acts, we have very short snippets of what he preached when he traveled or taught when he encouraged the leaders at Ephesus on his way to Rome.
But we have preserved for all time the letters he wrote to the churches at Ephesus and Philippi and Colossae. We have in our Bibles his encouragement to Timothy and Titus as they pastored that still help us lead well today.
Imagine your life in God without the truths in those precious letters he wrote from prison that we may not have if he hadn’t been forced into confinement.
His assignment changed. His platform looked different. But ministry wasn’t cancelled because he was thrown into prison. It just took on a new form.
Impact isn’t determined by the size of your platform. Impact flows from obedience. And the thing is, Paul had no idea the eternal impact those letters would have on us thousands of years after his death.
He didn’t sit in that cell and think, “I am writing part of the Bible, so I better make this good. People are still going to be reading this in 2022.” No. He just followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit, “Write them a letter.” And his simple obedience is still impacting us today.
His assignment changed overnight. He went from actively ministering and using the gifts God gave him to nothing without warning.
I’ve never been in prison and I truly hope to never land there. But I’ve been in that place. I can relate to sudden change of seasons. It wasn’t pretty. There may have been some depression involved. Some frustration. Some sadness.
There was definitely a process between the Lord and me in those years. I wrestled with what ministry was supposed to looked like. I had it pigeonholed to a platform and God just isn’t that small.
Maybe yours isn’t platform ministry. Maybe yours is motherhood. You went from being needed to watching them walk out the door, fully capable adults ready to test it their wings and fly. Now what, Lord?
Maybe you lost your dream job and are floundering. That’s all I knew! Now what, Lord?
Maybe a spouse has died and all your plans together for the future vanished before your eyes and you’re feeling a little lost. Now what, Lord?
I don’t know what your Now What looks like and it will be different from mine and from Paul’s. But I do know God has a Now What for you, and it can only be found in seeking Him.
During that season of loosening my death grip on what my expectation life and ministry was supposed to look like, God brought me back to one question more than any other.
“Am I enough? If you never stand on another platform and if you never teach another lesson, am I enough to satisfy every longing of your heart?”
That hurt a little. Of course He is enough. It was all for Him, wasn’t it? That’s what I had always said anyway.
Our words reveal our intent. Our actions reveal our heart.
And my actions in allowing my change of season to so rock me revealed to me that I may have been saying Jesus is all I need but in reality it was Jesus plus ministry that brought me joy.
It’s easy to say Jesus plus nothing is enough until all you have is Jesus and you realize you were dependent on all these other things for your joy. It’s embarrassing to admit it took years to untangle it all to get to the place of contentment with just Jesus.
But Paul helped me with that. What I learned from prison came from watching Paul live confined in a prison cell yet still doing what he could for the kingdom right where he was. And I could only watch him because he didn’t go into a depression when his assignment changed overnight.
I can only learn from his prison example because he chose to write letters.
Writing a few letters seems small and insignificant compared to what he had been doing. But thank God Paul didn’t discount that prompting of the Holy Spirit to write a letter because it seemed too small or somehow beneath his level. I’m thankful Paul did the small things well.
We aren’t going to stand before Jesus and give an account for how big our platform was. We are going to give an account for how big our obedience was.
If your assignment has changed and you’re not quite sure what to do, ask this question. “How can I make an impact for the kingdom today, right where I am?”
Or better yet, pray this. “Lord, put me where I’ll be most effective for your kingdom in this season.” And release any expectation of what it needs to be. Paul would never have imagined prison would be the most effective place for him to be.
Then simply obey what He prompts you to do, no matter how small it may seem. You have no idea the generations it will impact in the future.