Mastered to Master: The Inner Triumph That Claims the Outer
When the Master holds me, He also entrusts me with all that is His.
E. Stanley Jones draws from Philippians 3:12 and 1 Corinthians 3:21–22 to offer a vibrant declaration of what it means to live as one possessed by Christ. He connects the inner mastery of the soul to the outward mastery of life’s challenges—not through self-discipline or willpower, but through divine possession. When Paul says, “I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own,” Jones sees this not as striving, but as responding to already-being-claimed.
The “it” is the resurrection life, not just in the future but now—a life that rises above death, sin, fear, and futility. We only master the “it” because He has first mastered “me.” In other words, spiritual authority and victory over all things arise out of surrender to Christ’s indwelling Lordship. This is no contradiction. It is the holy inversion of the Kingdom: I become masterful because I belong entirely to the Master.
Jones presses the implications further. If I belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God, then all things are mine in Him—teachers, time, life, death, the present, the future. The entire cosmos is framed by my union with the One who reigns above it all. And here’s the beauty: I don’t become controlling—I become creative. Christ’s mastery sets me free unto all things, not to dominate them, but to live fully, freely, creatively within His purposes.
The devotional ends with this powerful statement: “Heal me at the heart and let the world come on.” In Christ, we do not flinch at what life throws at us. He in us is greater than anything outside us.
♔ Journal Entry — In the Voice of the Holy Spirit:
You have been made Mine. And because you are Mine, everything that threatens to master you must now pass through Me.
I am the resurrection and the life alive within you. You no longer strive to claim victory, because I am your victory. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead now abides in you—not dormant, but active, present, unwavering. I have mastered you in love so that you may walk masterfully in the world.
You do not need to chase after peace, belonging, or success. They are already yours, wrapped in My Son. The world, life, death, the present and the future—they are now part of your inheritance. You do not fear the headlines or the horizon. You are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and from that vantage point, the battles on earth are already overcome.
Let Me renew your heart daily, and the world may press in, but you will not be crushed. The voices around you may try to define you, but I already have. I call you Mine. I call you whole. I call you sent—released into this world not to conquer it through force, but to fill it with My life, expressed through your yielded spirit.
So yield again today, not out of fear, but out of joy. Let Me live through you. Mastery is no longer a task, it is a fruit. You are not a prisoner of circumstance; you are a vessel of resurrection life. All things are yours because you are Mine, and I am Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
(Philippians 3:10–12, 1 Corinthians 3:21–23, Romans 8:11, Ephesians 2:6, Galatians 2:20)
✧ Prayer of Confidence:
Father, I rejoice that I am not a slave to striving or subject to the tyranny of my circumstances. I belong to Jesus, and in Him, all things are already mine. You have placed me in Christ and placed Christ in me. Because You have claimed me, I can now walk in the world as one who is already held, already equipped, already victorious.
Today, I yield—not to fear, not to flesh, but to the joy of belonging. Master me again from the inside, that I may respond to the world not in reaction, but in radiant freedom. I don’t need to gain what You’ve already given. I simply walk in it, resting in the truth that everything needed for life and godliness is already mine in Him.
Devotional credit: E. Stanley Jones, In Christ
Image credit: Unsplash
🔍 Unsplash Image Search Suggestion:
Search for: “keys in open hand”
📷 Suggested Caption:
When the Master holds me, He also entrusts me with all that is His.