We don’t have to live our lives “stressed out;” instead, we get to live “resting in” the adequacy of Christ, who has brought our lives and our life story into union with His. Paul spent the last years of his life imprisoned under house arrest in Rome, and in Ephesians 3:1, he referred to himself as Christ’s prisoner, and in Ephesians 4:1, he said that he was “a prisoner in the Lord.” Being in Christ seated in the heavenly places was Paul’s great consciousness and reality, and I’m convinced that is why he and Silas were able to sing praises to God while in chains in the Philippian jail. They were convinced that Jesus was winning and that no matter what they might face, Jesus would be more than big enough for it. It is this kind of mindset that abides “in Christ” and releases the supernatural activity of God. This ought to be extremely encouraging to you, as it is to me because we don’t have to wait for a perfect set of circumstances to line up so that we can experience real interior freedom. It’s got nothing to do with circumstances and situations and the behavior of other people. Because I’m in Christ, and His very life is my life, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that no matter how much a person mistreats you or dishonors you, you never have to live another day in resentment or being burdened by a bad attitude toward them. The bad news is that because you’re in Christ, you will never have another excuse.
