Day 39 — Build Yourself a Cell

John 5:17

Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”

In 1955 Wang Ming-Dao was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for his refusal to deny Jesus.  He lived during the Cultural Revolution in China; back when China was the equivalent to what North Korea is today.

One day Wang Ming-Dao was told that he could go free if he signed a confession to say he was not a Christian and would stop speaking about God. He signed the confession: he walked away free. And then only a few steps away from the gate, he stopped.  He realised he’d made a terrible mistake. He rushed back to the prison authorities and told them to rip up the confession and take him back in.  He spent the next few years in solitary confinement.

"When I was put in solitary confinement, I was devastated. I was an evangelist," he said. But Wang Ming-Dao soon realised he could actually preach down the pit toilet in the corner of his cell, as all the sewage pipes were linked and sound carried through them. His prison cell became his pulpit, the sewage pipes became his megaphone and over seven years 96 prisoners came to faith!  

"I had no Bible, no pulpit, no audience, no pen and paper. I could do nothing. Nothing except get to know God. And for 20 years, that was the greatest relationship I have ever known.” “When I was in the cell, the only thing I was focused on was getting to know Jesus, it was only me and Him in that cell. You need to build yourself a cell where it’s only you and Jesus.” 

Our friend in John 5, similar to Wang Ming-Dao, was refined through his circumstances and his desire tested in the waiting.  He was being prepared for an encounter that would transform his life, and the lives of many who would hear his story, such as us today.  The story in John 5 centres upon him alone: whether he was the only one that day to encounter and receive the Kingdom we are not told.  But we are told that he did.  He was ready, he was prepared to meet Jesus, a relationship that would be the greatest he had ever known.

I encourage you in this moment of lockdown: don’t despise the moment. Ask Jesus for eyes to see through the moment.  Jesus is present.  Jesus is still Lord.  Jesus is available and accessible to us and invites us to build ourselves a cell to focus our availability and accessibility to him.

Prayer – Jesus I welcome you.  Open my eyes to see you.  Open my heart to receive you.  Open my mouth to speak about you. Amen

Sam Miller
Open Doors