Prison Break: Testimony

Alarm bells ring… Sirens howl… Dogs bark… Spot lights on! Snipers in position! The sound of heavy boots marching up and down the hallway with fully armed men ready… ready to kill! Inmates in their cells absorb the atmosphere and blaze the prison with their cheers and jeers… Over the P.A. system it is announced, “Code Blue everybody! Prisoner 210984 missed rollcall! He is trying to escape… Gentlemen we want him back dead or alive, what ever it takes, do not let that monster leave this facility!”

This week has seen the most aggressive attempt by Dee to try break out of prison to date. It was a close call, if it wasn’t for the fact that Warden J.C. was on duty, things could have ended in a bad way…

Have you ever had one of those weeks that ended in complete chaos and you never even saw it coming? It kinda sneaks up on you like a tram inspector! (LOL) Those are the weeks that the enemy escapes and runs amuck! LOL! Looking back on it, it is somewhat funny how that smallest break in defences or the letting down of the guard of a minute inspires a full frontal onslaught from the enemy, the deceiver and the accuser!

My problems this week seemed numerous but I think giving you only a brief synopsis will suffice. It all started when my boss tried to cheat me out of money that he owed me. And because of that I’ve found myself in a financially difficult situation this week. Then I’ve had to renew my visa and that had its own challenges. Then I realised I’m really behind with my uni work and I need to step up my game if I want to graduate at the end of the year. To top that off there was this other personal issue that had really thrown me off! Actually all those other problems don’t matter in magnitude and gravity as much as this one!!! This has been one of my most challenging weeks in a long, long while!

So how did I come from a point of thinking that my world was about to fall apart, to a point where I can put LOL in my blog and add on old ‘tram inspector’ jokes? Well it’s actually really simple, 1 Peter 5:6,7 says, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” All it took was to give the Lord the burdens of my heart because He cares for us! Obviously it’s easily said than done! And I tried resisting and doing things in my own strength, living in self-pity, but then I got a word, “Your troubles may seem like a mountain but the truth is things could be much worse. There are people out there who are going through more trails than you could handle!” Soon after that I heard news that a friend’s mother has been diagnosed with cancer… Wow! What a realty check is that? Your problems just seem so insignificant!

As Christians we should expect trails in our lives! We should expect a bit of suffering, if the devil doesn’t put obstacles in our way then we should ask why we don’t threaten the devil enough for him to try stopping what God is doing in our lives. “Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” (1 Peter 4:13) I know that my friend is strong! God loves him! God is doing a great work in him and that he has a high calling on his life! “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 - The Message). I know he will make it through this very difficult time because the Lord will not give him more than he can handle! For Christians the purpose of tests, trails and suffering is to prove their true character, to clear away the impurity from sin and allow the pure nature of Christ to show itself.

This helped me put things into perspective… I couldn’t let my problems beat me down! I had to give them to Christ who will deal with them because Ndumiso is not strong enough to deal with these problems by himself! The devil tried so hard to condemn me for the mistakes I had made this week, for all the feelings, thoughts and actions that were not of God! Dee tried so hard to loose himself upon the world because of the guilt and condemnation that could only come from the devil. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” The freedom that comes from a verse like that can not be verbalised! It set me free because even though my mistakes were “fleshly” my heart is in the Spirit! After I had confessed my sins and repented there was no reason for me to live in guilt because the blood of Jesus washed my sins away! AMEN!

So the next time you are having a bad week/day/hour/minute… confess and repent, cast your burdens on to Jesus and walk in victory knowing that you can on longer be condemned! If I had only learnt that sooner my week would not have seemed so difficult! Now Dee is captured once again and I can move on having learned what not do the next time so I can prevent another attempted prison break.