Every one of us knows what it feels like to wake up inside a prison we never saw ourselves enter. Not a prison of steel bars, but the kind built from fear, shame, distorted thinking, and the quiet suffering we carry alone. These are the prisons that don’t show up on a background check—but they shape our lives all the same.

And here’s the part we rarely admit to ourselves: most of the time, we don’t even realize we’re locked inside. We just feel the weight. The cycle. The hopelessness. Recovery calls this “your side of the street.” MRT calls it “recognizing your prison.” Scripture calls it remembering—remembering those in chains as though you were chained with them (Hebrews 13:3). Because the moment you recognize your own captivity is the moment you become capable of standing with someone else in theirs. Not with pity. Not with judgment. But with solidarity born from shared humanity and redeemed suffering.

I’ve lived in those invisible cells. I’ve counseled people trapped in them. And I’ve watched God use both literal and internal prisons to refine character, restore dignity, and reveal His mercy in ways comfort never could. So when I talk about suffering in solidarity, I’m not speaking as an observer—I’m speaking as someone who has been behind those walls and found Christ already waiting there. This devotional isn’t about theory. It’s about truth. It’s about recovery. It’s about the Gospel. And it’s about learning to see our own captivity clearly enough that we can walk beside others without superiority, without fear, and without pretending we’ve never been imprisoned ourselves.

What is the prison of your own suffering? For me, it was those moments where my life seemed to come undone – the rug pulled right out from underneath me. Locked in my own irrational thought process, false beliefs, and not understanding the reason I seemed to constantly be in this never-ending cycle of always finding myself in a place of brokenness, suffering, and hopelessness. There are moments in many individuals lives where they are in some form of a prison. And this prison may be a literal prison, or it may be a product of one’s circumstances. Whether this is a place of financial debt, broken relationship, physical limitations, disability, or injury, or any other constraining circumstance. 

Yet, the single most travesty within our Christian faith communities and fellowship is when fellow saints perceive those who are in some form of prison and are suffering – see them with a biased assumption that God has not favored them. That, they have committed some form of sin, or are spiritual rebellion. To some extent, there are those who have this idea that Christians suffering in their own prisons are lacking faith in God. 

However, let’s consider the Apostle Paul: he probably experienced similar judgments and perceptions. Specifically, when we read his epistles that were written while he was in prison and suffering for the cause of the Gospel. Early saints of the way may have seen his trouble as a sign of God’s own disfavor and wondered how someone with so much potential had fallen to such lowly depths. 

Now, consider the reality of what I am wanting to share with you today. Prisons today different from person to person – and are full of God’s beloved sons and daughters. Despite this reality, He uses these prison moments in profound and mighty ways. We see how he used Paul’s suffering and prison moments, Joseph of Egypt, John the Baptist, John the beloved disciple, and numerous other men within scripture. Most of these men were used by God in powerful ways and they have experienced imprisonment, captivity, or depth of loneliness and despair – and our Heavenly Father, in His tender mercies, used those moments. 

Recognizing our Prisons

One of the workshops I was advised to take, while working in the field of addiction counseling, is to become MRT certified. Moral Reconation Therapy is a therapeutic behavioral approach that utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Techniques. This program was designed by Dr. Gregory Little and Dr. Kenneth Robinson in the 1980s to reduce recidivism among offenders with substance use disorders, and has expanded to treat a variety of individuals struggling with addiction, trauma, anger management, or other behavioral issues. The idea behind this is grounded in the perspective that risky or criminal behavior often stems from faulty thinking patterns. Such patterns that include impulsivity, lack of empathy, and distorted perceptions. 

On the title page of the workbook is this heading: 

How to Escape Your Prison

And the first chapter of the workbook: Prisons and Unhappiness where it observes: 

“The first step in escaping prison is to realize you are in one. That will probably be the easiest step in making your escape. You may simply be able to look around and see walls and bars encircling you. That will probably be all the proof you need. You may see barbed wire fences, armed guards, and lots of people watching you while you watch them. That can also let you know you’re in prison. So, if you see those things around you and you are certain you are in prison, then you’ve made your first small step toward escape.” 

Now, why bring this up for our topic and devotional today? Because, when we recognize our own prison is what brings us into solidarity with those still inside theirs. And while the opening paragraph of the first chapter references awareness and acknowledgement, Hebrews 13:3 calls each of us to “remember those in prison as though in prison with them.” Both provide a high level of empathy born from identification and not pity from a distance. 

Once we acknowledge our own captivity – to fear, shame, addiction, or distorted thinking – we stop seeing the imprisoned as them and start seeing us. This is the moment of clarity – moment of reconation. A reordering of conscience that moves us from judgment to compassion, from avoidance to presence. 

Suffering in solidarity means refusing to look away from the pain of others because we recognize it as kin to our own. 

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MRT teaches how transformation begins when we confront the walls we’ve built around our hearts and minds. The Gospel teaches that Christ entered those walls – not to condemn, He enters to redeem. When we remember those in prison, we remember that Jesus Himself was numbered among the transgressors, and that His grace reaches every cell, every addiction, every despair. 

So, it is brought up because solidarity is the spiritual escape route. It is not about breaking free from suffering – it is discovering who Christ is within that moment of suffering. The One who turns captivity into communion and brokenness into ministry. 

Reflective Question: Where have I mistaken someone’s suffering for God’s disfavor, rather than His refining grace?

Judge Thou Not – Lest Ye be Judged

Christ calls each of us to a higher level of understanding and living. One of those is the simple truth on judging others: 

“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 7:1-3, KJV).

Within the traditional, and secular, recovery rooms, one may hear this slogan: Keep your side of the street clean. 

At its very core, this slogan means taking responsibility for your own actions, attitudes, and amends – not managing, fixing, or policing anyone else. 

It is at the very core of Christ’s message. He is reminding the apostles, and those gathered to hear Him that removing the beam from our own eye is required before we address the speck in someone else’s. If our focus is on fixing others, policing them, or attempting to manage them in some way – we are taking our focus off of ourselves. 

Within our path of recovery – and hopefully, thriving in sobriety – one may see Christ’s teaching here as a way of keeping our side of the street clean. It is the ability of recognizing our own prisons, our own sufferings – and that is what Paul articulates in Hebrews 13:3. It is taking our moral inventory on a daily basis – not taking anyone else’s. And what this means is that we: 

• Own our choices without blaming others. 
• Make amends where our attitudes and behaviors may have caused offense or harm. 
• Letting go of what is not within our ability to manage. 
• Refusing to retaliate even when others stay messy
• Staying humble and honest regarding our motives, resentments, and reactions. 
• Maintaining our own personal integrity and faith regardless how others may behave.

This is never about perfection – it is about direction and relational. 

From a practical Christian recovery perspective: keeping your side of the street clean is a form of discipleship. It is the ability for each of us to choose how we walk in the light, even when others do not. It is the humility of confession, the courage of repentance, and the discipline of living a crucified life before our Heavenly Father (Galatians 2:20). And it is a safeguard against: 

• Resentment
• Self-righteousness
• Blame shifting
• Emotional Chaos
• Spiritual Pride

Because it keeps us grounded in the truth that we are responsible for our own obedience, not someone else’s behavior. 

And it perfectly ties into suffering in solidarity because we cannot suffer in solidarity with others if we are still blaming someone else for our own suffering. Solidarity requires: 

• Humility
• Empathy
• Self-awareness
• Moral Clarity
• Willingness to see our own captivity

Once we understand how we are not to judge others – how we are to “keep our side of the street clean” we stop projecting our pain onto others and begin to recognize the prisons we’ve built within our own lives. This recognition is what allows us to stand with others in their own prisons without judgment. 

We keep our side of the street clean so that we are able to stand with others in their suffering, we do so without judgment, without superiority, and without pretending we’ve never been imprisoned ourselves. 

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What is Your Captivity – Your Personal Prison?

This doesn’t mean you are literally behind bars, however, your circumstances may cause you to feel as if you are. Do not ever despair and lose hope. Because our prisons are not meant to last. It is ordained of God and designed either for our current ability to witness God’s grace and tender mercies or future image in building character and integrity: 

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance complete your faith, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4, ESV)

We are being refined in our suffering. Consider 1 Peter 1:7, the apostle Peter writes: “So that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” This verse is central to understanding how trials shape and strengthen our faith. 

The reason we are being refined in our own suffering is that we are being molded into his image, the exact likeness of our Savior – Jesus Christ. 

Do you know someone who is in prison? Do not condemn them. God is highlighting the present witness of His saints and preparing them for future fruitfulness. It is never His intention for His sons and daughters to turn on its visibly fallen. Solidarity is His prescription for believers. We are to advocate, pray for, and minister to those who suffer and meet their needs however we are able to – and as led by the Spirit. We demonstrate our solidarity in their suffering when we remember how we are suffering – and then suffer with them in solidarity. 

Summary

Suffering in solidarity begins with the courage to recognize our own captivity. Whether our prisons are built from fear, shame, addiction, distorted thinking, or the circumstances we never asked for, Scripture and recovery both teach us the same truth: transformation starts with awareness. MRT calls it recognizing your prison. Christ calls it remembering those in prison as though you were there with them. When we stop judging, stop projecting, and stop pretending we’ve never been behind our own bars, we become capable of standing with others in compassion instead of condemnation. Christ meets us in our suffering — not to shame us, but to redeem us — and invites us to do the same for one another.

Call to Action

If this message spoke to you, take a moment today to reflect on the prisons you’ve survived — and the ones you may still be sitting in. Bring them before Christ. Let Him sit with you in the cell. And then remember someone else who may be suffering silently. Pray for them. Reach out. Stand with them.

If you’d like to go deeper, join me for the livestream devotional where we’ll walk through this message together, explore Hebrews 13:3, and talk about what it means to live out solidarity in a world full of unseen prisons.

Like, share, and subscribe to help this message reach others who need hope in their own captivity. And if you know someone who’s struggling, send this to them — let them know they’re not alone.