Pleasant Stone Devotional Meditation: July 21

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” ~ Luke 9:23

In the gleaming facets of this “purple stone” we find the practical way out of prison. We have established the fact that anyone can come outside to freedom, not because of achievement, but because Jesus has opened the door. Because Jesus, Himself is the door.

We can either come our or He is wrong. We can either be free from every prison-house, or Jesus Christ died in vain. But we have a part too. And the deepest principle involved in our part of coming out of prison is in this “purple stone” verse at the top of this page. Read it again and see for yourself, that Jesus offers Himself to anyone --- IF that person will give up the right to himself and follow! Ours is the choice. And since the door is open to your prison and mine, we can decide whether or not we will come out.

Here are three things I [Eugenia Price, the author] I have found I must do, after I have believed what Christ has done:

1. I must call my prison by name. If it is jealousy, I must call it “jealousy. “ If it is self pity, or sorrow, or stubbornness, I must say so. I must put an honest sign over the door.

2. I must be willing, once I have been honest with God, to leave my prison. Many of us think we are willing, but when we actually start to walk out, realizing that the door is open, we find ourselves pulling back. It is dark, but it is familiar in there. We’ve been there for so long.

3. I must be willing to stay out, once I come out. Even though the air is sweet and Christ is outside with me, my old thought patterns are deeply made. I have felt “at home” in the dark, foul nest of my prison. At the most unexpected times I long to run back But I must not. This I decide. God is always ready to keep me free, if I choose to stay free.

“[For] God is faithful … God is faithful.”