The word "prisoner" to some may bring back terrible memories -- memories of suffering, sorrow, and pain. It wasn't a time of joy or happiness for them. 

But to be the "prisoner of Jesus Christ" is something that all should desire to be, for it is only then that we shall be truly free. The apostle Paul considered it a joy, and a privilege to be His prisoner and to be sent, as his Lord was, for a light of the Gentiles: to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house (Isa. 42:6-7). 

We were all prisoners, born in prison, blinded and held captive by Satan, and he wouldn't let us go (Isa.14:17, II Cor. 4:4). But thanks be unto God that the Lord came and loosed His prisoners and set us free (Psa. 146:7, Jn. 8:32). He has enclosed us now, not with iron bars, but with His hands, hands that still bear the marks of the nails to remind us of His eternal love for us. His hands planted us in His garden, and it is a garden, enclosed (S.O.S. 4:12). 

We are His prisoners now, and how sad it is that we are not more joyful, more thankful to God for His power, His wisdom, His goodness, and His love. 

We are as the moth many times, enclosed in its cocoon as God has made it, and all we can see is the darkness and the struggle to get out of it. 

The moth spends much time in "his prison" struggling to pass through the narrow opening of the cocoon. It is a work of great labor and difficulty, and perhaps pain. Some have tried to ease the struggle of the moth and cut the fibers that kept it back, thinking they were being merciful. They watched then as the moth passed through the opening with great ease. But what came out then was not a beautiful butterfly with beautiful colors flying free toward heaven, but a huge swollen body with little shriveled wings. It is the pressure, which the moth's body must suffer in passing through such a narrow opening, that forces the juices into the vessels of the wings, that make it develop into such a beautiful butterfly. "If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Rom. 8:17). Let us not be a stunted abortion, crawling painfully through this life. 

Let us not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of being His prisoners. Let us be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, and walk worthy of the vocation to which we are called. 

"Return to your Stronghold, you prisoners of hope" (Zech. 9:12).