In the Depths of Struggle: Prophetic Words from Prison Cells

At Milton Keynes Christian Centre while studying the Apostle Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia for our teaching series, we were reminded of a challenging period in church history marked by both remarkable progress and significant resistance. The act of following Jesus appears to cultivate a remarkable beauty that flourishes amidst adversity.

It reminded me that some of the most profound and inspirational writings in Christian history were penned from prison cells. The strength of faith and the power of God's Word truly shine through these beautiful works.

Take, for instance, John Bunyan's timeless masterpiece, "The Pilgrim's Progress," which he wrote during his imprisonment in Bedford jail. This allegorical tale has captivated readers for centuries, providing deep spiritual insights and guidance for the journey of faith.

Then there are the poetic and Christ-filled letters written by Samuel Rutherford during his banishment in Aberdeen. Despite his physical separation from his congregation, Rutherford's words carried a profound sense of love, hope, and devotion to Jesus.

And let's not forget the apostle Paul, who penned the very words of holy Scripture while under house arrest in Rome. His letters, such as Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, continue to impact lives and shape our understanding of God's grace and truth.

The Apostle Paul, through a thought-provoking letter to his companions in Corinth, provides us with a profound insight into the challenges he encountered while serving Jesus.

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. - 2 Cor 11:23-27

These writings are a testament to the power of faith, resilience, and the indomitable spirit of believers even in the most challenging circumstances. They remind us that physical barriers or limitations do not limit God's presence and inspiration.

So, let us take a moment to appreciate and delve into these beautiful profound writings, crafted with love, wisdom, and profound spiritual insight from the confines of prison cells. May they inspire us to seek God's truth and grace in every season of life.

If you have any personal favourites or recommendations of authors who have inspired and encouraged you in difficult times, please share them in the comments below. Let's encourage one another in our spiritual journeys through the written words of these saints!

Lord why is this?

John Newton wrote:

I asked the Lord that I might grow

In faith, and love, and every grace;

Might more of His salvation know, 

And seek, more earnestly, His face.

’Twas He who taught me thus to pray, 

And He, I trust, has answered prayer.

But it has been in such a way,

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favoured hour, 

At once He’d answer my request;

And by His love’s constraining pow’r, 

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel 

The hidden evils of my heart; 

And let the angry pow’rs of hell

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand

He seemed intent to aggravate my woe;

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, 

Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this?’ I trembling cried,

‘Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?’

‘’Tis in this way,’ the Lord replied,

‘I answer prayer for grace and faith.’

‘These inward trials I employ,

From self, and pride, to set thee free;

And break thy schemes of earthly joy, 

That thou may’st find thy all in Me.’

Can sickness be better than health?

The deepest, most precious, and most abiding spiritual lessons, which God has been pleased to teach me were learned in consequence of enduring my various experiences of sickness. . . . I feel it would have been nothing short of a calamity to have missed the physical suffering through which I have passed. . . . I am positive that I have sometimes met with God’s refusal to heal when I have been most in fellowship with him.

Hudson Taylor

If it’s good enough for one of the greatest Christian Missionaries 

When it looks like God is indifferent...

If your hopes are being disappointed just now it means that they are being purified. There is nothing noble the human mind has ever hoped for or dreamed of that will not be fulfilled. Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly; many things lie unsolved, and the biggest test of all is that God looks as if He were totally indifferent. Remain spiritually tenacious. 

 In the Bible you never find the note of the pessimist. In the midst of the most crushing conditions there is always an extraordinary hopefulness and profound joy, because God is at the heart. The effective working of Redemption in our experience makes us leap for joy in the midst of things in which other people see nothing but disastrous calamity.

Oswald Chambers

Righteousness equals...

Which are the days that have furthered you most in the knowledge of God—the days of sunshine and peace and prosperity? Never! 

The days of adversity, the days of strain, the days of sudden surprises, the days when the earthly house of this tabernacle was strained to its last limit, those are the days when you learned the meaning of this passion of “Go.” 

Any great calamity in the natural world—death, disease, bereavement—will awaken a man when nothing else would, and he is never the same again. We would never know the “treasures of darkness” if we were always in the place of placid security.

Oswald Chambers

Righteousness = peace + quietness + confidence (forever)

“And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭32:17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I am not my own

The from now on to live for him.

That I am not my own, 

but belong with body and soul, 

both in life and in death, 

to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. 

He has fully paid for all my sins

with his precious blood, 

and has set me free from all the power of the devil. 

He also preserves me in such a way that 

without the will of my heavenly Father 

not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, 

all things must work together for my salvation. 

Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me 

of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready

from now on to live for him.

Ending up in Holland when you planned to go to Italy

At the moment I am reading The Magnificent Journey by James Bryan Smith. I’ve found it an enthralling and challenging read. But today I was caught off guard by a revelation by and a story shared by James. 

If you know our family you will know in recent years that we have discovered the reason for many of the limitations I have faced in my health and body have be caused by inherited chromosomes that were faulty. For me these limitations have not had a dramatic impact to my life, apart from stopping my football career with Aberdeen FC long before I could walk! lol

However the chromosomes I have passed on to my daughter causing CMT and another that I can’t even say the name of, are having a significant impact to her life. Disability wasn’t a destination or a path that I hoped or dreamed of for my daughter. Today I discovered that James, the author of this book also has had an unexpected journey with his daughter and chromosomes. Below is an extract from the book including his story and that of a mum whose child was born with autism.

Our daughter Madeline was born with a chromosomal disorder. We had been planning for a healthy daughter and all that goes with that, such as normal growth and development, watching her one day walk and talk. We did not get that. Things did not go as we planned. Instead, we got something different. At the end of the first year of Madeline’s life, someone gave us a piece written by Emily Perl Kingsley, who had a child born with autism. She compares this unexpected change of plans to having your vacation plans changed: 

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip—to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives.

You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.” “Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” 

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place. 

So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you never would have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around . . . and you begin to notice Holland has windmills . . . and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. 

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy . . . and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.” 

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away . . . because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But . . . if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things . . . about Holland.

Take courage...

Just down the road from me is the village of Olney where John Newton served as minister for a substantial part of his life. A little less well known is William Cowper, a man who was often found in the teeth of depression. John cared for William, even moving him into his house for long periods of time. 

John encouraged his friend to write hymns with him which would not only help to communicate biblical truth to his congregation, but also as a way of helping William totake a small step out of the darkness that seemed to torment his soul.

Below is a post which appeared on Desiring God about William and one of his famous hymns, God moves in a mysterious way!

New Year’s Day, 1773, marked a decade since depression nearly snatched away William Cowper’s life. 

 The mental agony tortured him so severely ten winters prior that he was locked up in St. Alban’s insane asylum after a botched suicide attempt. While there, he stumbled upon a Bible that the asylum’s Christian director had strategically left open. His eyes fell upon Romans 3:23–26, and the glory of Jesus Christ chased the shadows from his soul. 

 But by the beginning of 1773, successive blows had left Cowper staggering. His brother died in 1770, followed by two of his cousins the following year. In 1772, neighbors’ whispers suggested that Cowper’s relationship with his landlady was something short of innocent. The grief and the slander soon gathered into clouds too dark for his sanity. And so, as Cowper walked through the fields after church 246 years ago today, Cowper “was struck by a terrible premonition that the curse of madness was about to fall on him again” (John Newton, 217). 

 But before night fell on Cowper’s soul, he sat in the light of his remaining sanity, took up his pen, and wrote a hymn that has strengthened generations of staggering saints through their various shadows. Take Courage Cowper’s hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” is a song for every saint who sits on the edge. It is a guide for all who do not see fresh hopes rising over the horizon of the new year. It is a confession of faith in the face of darkness — one that flickers with enough light to carry us through whatever midnights this year brings. 

 At the heart of the hymn is a simple exhortation: “Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take.” Take courage. Take courage when the clouds come thundering toward you. Take courage when the coming days seem covered in shadow. Take courage when you cannot understand God’s ways. But why, we ask in the valley, should we take courage? Throughout the rest of the hymn, Cowper gives his reasons.

Take courage and read on

The Waiting Room

Waiting can often be a frustrating and even scary place to be. But through the life of Abraham we discover that whilst waiting for the promise of God he got to know intimately the God of the promise.

Here is my recent preach at MKCC

The Waiting Room - Waiting for God's Promise from MKCCpreaching on Vimeo.

The solid logic of heaven

He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall he not with him freely give us all things? - Romans 8:32 

How is it imaginable that God should withhold, after this, spirituals or temporals, from his people? How shall he not call them effectually, justify them freely, sanctify them thoroughly, and glorify them eternally? How shall he not clothe them, feed them, protect and deliver them? Surely if he would not spare this own Son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it can never be imagined that ever he should, after this, deny or withhold from his people, for whose sakes all this was suffered, any mercies, any comforts, any privilege, spiritual or temporal, which is good for them.

John Flavel (The works of John Flavel - Banner of Truth)

When God's will equals suffering

Ex fisherman, eager but flawed follower of Jesus, then elder statesman of the church, late in life, takes some time out to encourage fellow believers who are facing difficulty & suffering.

Tucked away in his letter known as First Peter we find some very surprising advice on a christian response to suffering. Ch 4:12-19.

It ends with these shocking words:

Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. v 19

It would seem that at least some suffering we go through can actually be God's will for us! And in the middle of that suffering Peter's advice is to trust the one who's will is it for us to suffer. And in the middle of that suffering, not to be crushed by it but to keep doing good. None of that seems natural.

Here are some thoughts on this small challenging passage of scripture

1. Often suffering can be a test v12. Often we can ask where is God in our suffering but maybe the better question is where are we? Where is our faith?
2. We are not only to endure suffering but to rejoice in suffering v13.
3. When we suffer for Christ the God has never been closer to you than in that moment v14
4. Not all suffering is God's will, often we bring it on ourselves because of a direct result of our sin. v15
5. The antidote to this type of suffering is not endurance or rejoicing but repentance. v17
6. Suffering as a direct result of being a Christian is not marked by shame but by glory. v16
7. Faith is needed in the middle of suffering, not particularly faith to get out of it but faith to trust your creator God to bring glory to his name by transforming us through it. v19

Faith & Suffering

Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. - 1 Peter 1:7

Too many people would have you believe that suffering is a result of lack of faith. More faith, purer faith, greater faith is the shield we are to use to deflect suffering as it would try to enter our lives.

This does not seem to be the message that the Apostle Peter is communicating to the hearts of the hard pressed believers who were in the midst of great suffering.

His message was not that faith was an escape route from suffering but that suffering was proving the genuineness of that faith. And, that faith proved by suffering would never be forgotten and would one day be displayed for all to see.

Just as the conquering armies of the day would hold a homecoming celebration where all the spoils of war, gold and riches, were put on display as proof of their victory, on the day of all days, Jesus will put on display your faith forged and proved genuine in the battle of suffering.

It would seem that God suggests that suffering proves faith is genuine and not that faith is lacking!

Mission means radical risk

“You know that from day one of my arrival in Asia I was with you totally—laying my life on the line, serving the Master no matter what, putting up with no end of scheming by Jews who wanted to do me in.....there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God. - Acts 20:17-24

The message of radical risk and sacrifice seems to be some what missing in the UK church. We are obsessed with success rather than sacrifice, power over servanthood. If things are not going well for you then somehow you are doing something wrong, out of God’s will or a failure.

Paul had previously spent time in Ephesus and while there wrote to the church at Corinth describing his time:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. -2 Cor 1:8-10

I'm 51 now. I left Bible College 30 years ago starry eyed and ready to take the world for Jesus. I set off to plant a church sent out from MKCC and failed miserably. In the 30 years since what I do know is that I've learned far more in the defeats and difficult times than I have in the easy and successful times.

Radical risk forces us to rely on God and that’s a good place to be. It's easy to serve god when everything is rosy, when the crowd is growing, people are being saved, baptisms are abounding & offerings are up, but its also easy to trust in yourself during that time.

Radical risk with radical sacrifice can often put us in a place where everything can be lost even life its self. At that point we have no other option but to rely on God but that is always the best option we have.

• The Miletus Farewell
• Mission means relational leadership

Enter the Silence

28-30 When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face. The “worst” is never the worst. 31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever walk out and fail to return. If he works severely, he also works tenderly. His stockpiles of loyal love are immense. - Lam 3:28-30 (Message)

I don't do silence very well.
I walk in the the house and switch on the TV.
I sit in the car and switch on the radio.
I work at my computer and iTunes is open.
Even when its quiet it's not.
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Email & RSS feeds keep the unheard noise going.

So advice like.. Enter the silence....bow....don't talk....don't ask....wait, don't come easy. But God is saying that that is the pathway to hope in trouble. The light in the darkness.

Silence opens the way for me to  listen.
Bowing says God is in charge not me.
Not asking against every instinct in my body, means I am trusting.

Trusting the one that will never betray, never let down, never lie, never use you and never desert you no matter how bad it gets.

Silence is not weakness and not to be feared it is the doorway to... Stockpiles of His love!

Counted worthy to suffer?

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name. - Acts 5:41

I wrote about this verse a few days ago but just can't get it out of my head. So I guess God is still trying to get something into my heart.

Earlier in the narrative of this part of the early church history we read of some amazing conversions and incredible miracles. God was on the move so much that people were dragging their sick friends on to the street to be healed. The unbelievable thing was this healing did not come about through a touch or prayer. The shadow of the apostles falling on the sick as they walked by was enough.

Our cry often in the church of today is, we would love to see more of what they had then now. What if....? It would be awesome wouldn't?

Yet I see that this revival, this demonstration of God's power in new and incredulous ways, brought something that I am not sure we are ready to welcome.

The Apostles doing God's will, performing His miracles, preaching His Gospel are arrested & tortured.

These crazy, radical, selfless followers of Jesus did not see the dichotomy of a life sold out for Jesus and temporal suffering. In fact to them they were partners. Earthly comforts were way less important than Jesus cause.

Their memory had been scared indelibly with the sight of a suffering saviour. When salvation was gained suffering was present. So now it was no impostor to this Jesus focused life.

I am sure for them seeing conversions and miracles there was great joy. But it is notable at this time of revival, from deep within joy sprang up because: "...they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name."

Joy in the Gospel

15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. – Phil 1:12-18

So we find the Apostle Paul in prison awaiting trial, facing death. At the same time some preachers who just don’t like him are getting off on preaching Christ so that things will get worse for Paul.

That’s low. I would be crazy mad. I’d be praying down fire on their heads. But we find Paul rejoicing because Christ is proclaimed even when the motive is wrong.

The man and the message had captivated Paul’s whole being to the point that what happened to him was of no consequence.. Christ was enough. Not when he was planting a new church, preaching at some revival or singing in a beautiful auditorium that’s air-conditioned and has comfy seats. But he was enough in the stench and staleness of a cell facing death any day. Jesus was enough.

When we truly get the Gospel + nothing = everything, it will revolutionise our lives. The Gospel does not guarantee your best life now it guarantees wicked sinful people an eternity with the Holy and Perfect Son of God – Jesus.

And the fact that this message is being shared with other wicked people becomes the consuming passion of Paul’s life. We must be PASSIONATE ABOUT PEOPLE. Lost people matter to God, so they must matter to us.

They mattered to Paul. Outside of prison he preached the Gospel. Inside the prison he preached the Gospel to all the other prisoners and the whole imperial guard!

Surprised by Joy

Honoured to have another opportunity to share God's Word with the great people of Milton Keynes Christian Centre. Continuing our series - Draw Near.

My subject this week: Surprised by God. Click here if you can't see the video.


Surprised by joy from MKCCpreaching on Vimeo.

Worthy to Suffer

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name (of Jesus). - Acts 5:41 

A couple of days ago I wrote a post suggesting in the early church the Success & Sacrifice were links in the chain of its explosive growth.

In the very next chapter we find these guys in prison, threatened and beaten because of their witness. Not just a nasty look or a comment on facebook but actual physical beatings for talking about Jesus.

Their reaction, REJOICE because Jesus has found them WORTHY TO SUFFER.

I have to say that perspective has not found a comfortable home in my heart.

But for some it is just so true. I received an e mail yesterday from Ps George who had just received news from one of the areas that we are partnering around the world through LightForce. It informed me that a pastor who was preaching the gospel to unreached people was martyred. He leaves behind a young family.

This is not a theory it is real with real people who are so committed to the cause of Jesus they will not stop when threatened, beaten or even put to death.

I'm not sure if my brand of Christianity is even the same ball park as guys like this pastor or the early church fathers.

God protecting me from suffering would be much higher on my agenda than the perspective that somehow Jesus allowed it because I was worth in his eyes with the result of rejoicing.

Success and Sacrifice

3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. - Acts 4:3-4

Honestly I like verse 4 and the 5,000 but I am less keen on the previous verse with words like arrest and custody.

But this would seem to be be the story that replays in the early days of this fledgling movement of Jesus. Moves of God that saw 5000 people join the revolution after just a preach coupled with imprisonment, beatings and eventually martyrdom.

It isn't mentioned much nowadays but following Jesus means we sign up for both. Success and sacrifice seems to be links in the chain and partners in the Kingdom. I know its not a gospel that is preached often but it is the story of this early radical movement.

This year we laid out the next step of our vision at Milton Keynes Christian Centre of "Bringing people to Jesus, equipping them to be fully devoted followers of Christ". We are now seeing around 1,000 show up each Sunday to celebrate and serve Jesus together, now we are believing, praying and working towards 2000.

I love the idea of 2,000 but ever so slightly apprehensive about the sacrifice it is going to take to get there.

Unexpected Road Blocks

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counsellors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. - Ezra 4:4-5

So God has spoken. Your whole body tingled with excitement as you contemplated your step into this new adventure with God.

It has been years in the making. It started when emotion took you by surprise when you watched that video on line. Then it started to multiply as you read God's Word. This rising passion you felt inside was being provoked at every turn.

It grew till passivity was now no longer an option and you now knew that your life was never going to be the same again. It was now time to step out in obedience and faith. With tension gripping your heart you jump with both feet.

Your security is gone, your cover removed, now everyone knows that course you have chosen. Now it's you and God. Will it work? Yes of course it will. You tested and checked so of course it will work.

And then it happens, bang! A totally insurmountable road block in your God vision. Like the returning exiles it comes in many forms:

Discouragement, frustration, compromise, temptation, intimidation, rumour & opposition.

It is then that so many of us give up. We accept the road block and down tools. It is in the face of these obstacles that Godly Leadership is found and formed.

The next chapter in Ezra simply records that the leaders of the mission chose to listen to the voice of God, GOT UP and CONTINUED TO WORK.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them. - Ezra 5:2