I’m Willing

^{Phil 1:12} Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel."

I came across this verse last night. Paul is sitting under house arrest near the end of his ministry in Rome awaiting an audience with the Roman emperor Nero. Prison would seem like "the end of the line" for so many. For Paul it is the opportunity to tell the good news of Jesus to the most powerful man in the world in his day. But note here that Paul isn't simply waiting for his moment with the emperor. While imprisoned in Rome he writes four letters that now appear in our New Testament: Philippians, Philemon, Colossians and Ephesians. And he sees his imprisonment as an opportunity to minister to the Praetorian guard (Caesar's elite guard). Inspired by his own boldness, Paul says, Christians in Rome are have become unafraid to share the gospel.

What would it look like if we too saw our present circumstances, no matter how undesirable or depressing they may seem, as opportunities to live our hard won freedom in front of those who don't know Jesus. What would it be like NOT to join in the chorus of complaining and blaming and instead ask for God to use us to shine light in the darkness and let His joy flow through us to others?

I've been thinking about this recently. Not everything I would have liked to have happened in almost twenty of ministry has happened. I've had to make adjustments. More often, I've had to completely re-orient when I finally figured out that the path I was on wasn't the path God was leading me down. How much happier I would have been if rather than dig in my heals and "fight for my right" to do it my way, I had the faith to see that God had bigger and better plans to use me to accomplish the very thing I felt led to accomplish all along – leading others into a transforming relationship with Jesus.

Paul doesn't stop leading others toward that relationship because he is in chains in Rome waiting for the emperor to see him. Even in incredibly limiting circumstances, Paul never stops living for the purpose for which he was created. He looks around and asks, "okay, Lord, what would you have me to do now?" And then he does it. And people's lives are changed. A whole world is changed through this man's willingness to press through his limitations, his hurt, his pain, his depression and fear, and simply say, "Lord, I'm willing even here."

Think what might happen inside of your world if you let go of the outcome and simply said, "Lord, I'm willing."