Why Paul Went To Jail

Thankfully, Paul wrote more than one letter. He had plenty of time you know, being in jail and all. The prison guard must have been impressed. You could say “prison was good for Paul.”  I’m kidding! But really, imagine that He didn’t do time. With his heavily packed schedule pastoring interesting churches like the one at Corinth (where a nice dude was having an affair with his dad’s wife…I know, I can’t get over it too), where would he have found time to write so much? And if he didn’t write so much, where would Miss August find material for today’s post? So from my heart to yours, Dear Apostle Paul, “Thank you. Today’s post exists because of you. I’m pretty sure you never knew the internet would come much less that one random lady would be hare-brained enough to think she could run a blog on Jesus stuff and provide reasonable stuff twice a week (that is Tuesday and Thursday- for those who don’t know).

Apostle Paul working on the next blog post epistle

So the next time you wonder why Paul had to go to jail, know this in your heart, he went  so that we could find two weeks’ worth of blog material. Nice. Worthy Jesus stuff he did there.

We shared prayers from Ephesians in the last post and we continue today with the ones from Philippians. This post contains my top favourite prayer from Paul’s epistles. Here we go:

1.      I pray that my love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement (or discernment); that I may approve of things that are excellent, that I may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

2.      I pray that the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep my heart and mind through Christ Jesus.

3.      I pray that my God shall supply all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

With a little meditation, we will see how powerful these prayers are.

People love this one, we can make it fit into anything. A need is a need even if others consider it 'ridiculous pricey shoes with heels designed to cause pain'.

My top favourite is the first one. Somehow, my ‘Jesus-let-me-marry-the-right-man’ mind realised that the first prayer point listed here is one that every single lady (or man) should pray. That even as we seek to fall in love (don’t like that phrase) and get married, God will empower us to abound in love in all wisdom and in all judgement and that our emotions, will and intellect will approve only of people that are excellent on God’s scale. Now, I do not mean we shouldn’t relate with people that are ‘not excellent’; just that God’s wisdom and sound judgement will guide us in our decision making not only about choosing spouses but in every area of our life. That prayer is not reserved for single people only. It is a blessing for everyone who desires to please God in taking decisions.

PS: Picture from wikipedia