The worst prisons are the ones we have been convinced do not exist. In that convinced state, we become the warden of our own imprisonment guarding the walls of our mind against any attempt to escape and discover a deeper reality where truth exists.

After writing to the Ephesians about the need to be trained and equipped for service, Paul wrote, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4: 21-24). 

This verb Paul used to “renew” our thoughts is a word that means to undergo a fundamental change in the way we think. That change is so complete we will move from one state of thinking to another making a choice to escape the old way of thinking that held us captive.  It is a mindset change that only occurs when we allow God’s word and the Spirit to saw through the bars of deception that held us back enslaved by a mind still thinking like an unredeemed person.

This escape is not a one-time break out from the prison of our mind. It happens throughout our walk of faith. It marks the progression of our maturity. The most profound escapes happen when we have been led to believe we have arrived at some new level of revelation that makes us immune from being led astray. That place is the deepest of all spiritual dungeons. Its bars are the thickest. Escape from that cell is only possible when we use the saw of humility to cut our way to freedom.