Sitting here in the dark, I try to open my eyes but I see nothing. A faint sliver of light off in the distance, my hope is gone. Desperate, I try to orient myself. How did I end up here? Where is “here”? How do I get out of this place? I hear nothing but the clanking of metal chains against the stone ground. Feeling my wrists, I realize that my hands and feet are bound by handcuffs and I seem to be chained to something. My muscles are weak. My brain is numb. And I am battered and bruised. How long have I been here? And what did I do to deserve this treatment?
Voices. I hear voices! But what are they saying? I try to speak out but my mouth is parched and dry. I am straining to even squeak out a response to the voices. Are they laughing? What are they saying? Slave! You are worthless. You are ugly. No one cares about you. No one wants you. Give up! And now I feel the weight of the situation begin to hit me. I fight and I struggle against the bindings but they feel like they are stronger every time I push and pull. The more I struggle, the darker it feels. And that light I spoke of, I don’t know where it is anymore. I don’t know where it came from or where it went. I feel like I’ve tried everything but nothing is working. And I cry in despair. ----- In the book of Acts chapter 12, there is a story about the followers of Christ being persecuted, slaughtered and imprisoned. Peter is arrested and put in prison. And the scriptures say that “the church was earnestly praying to God for him”. There came a night when Peter was in prison and an angel of God came to him and woke him. And once again the scriptures say that “the chains fell off of Peter’s wrists”. Peter then was instructed to get dressed and quickly he followed the angel past the guards and out of the prison. The prison doors and chains that bound him were open or broken. And Peter walked out of the prison with nothing or no one holding him back. Once outside, the angel disappears and Peter returns to the church that is praying for him. ---- I believe that there are sometimes in our lives where we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders. We feel beat up, abandoned or even bound by life’s circumstances. Whether it is relational, financial, our jobs, debt, lies or any number of sins, I believe that Satan uses those things to bind us. He shames us which tends to cause people to go into isolation. If we can just keep quiet about these sins, no one needs to know and I will get through it. And when we keep more and more of these secrets, we dig ourselves deeper and deeper into a black pit. Away from our supports. Sometimes we even drive others away when we react out of our shame. The truth is we don’t want to be alone. But we begin to believe the lies of the enemy saying that no one would like me if they knew just how bad I actually am. No one could possibly love the person that I have become...Darker and darker we are placed into a prison of the heart and mind. And we give strength to the lies until we don’t have the will or the hope to fight it anymore. The scene or picture I painted above was not what I believe Peter was dealing with. However I do believe that it is something we deal with today in our everyday lives. We hide something and it begins to weigh on us. It cuffs our hands and our feet. It binds our hearts and minds until we lose the hope of freedom. And we live with that weight until we are paralyzed by the effects of long suffering. However, I brought up this story of Peter in prison not to remind us of our own despair but to show us that prayer can break that which binds us. We can be in our darkest of places and through prayer, an angel of the Lord can appear to us, wake us from our slumber, and lead us into the light. The chains can and will break off of your hands and feet. And you can find freedom from the oppression. So the questions we all need to ask ourselves are, what am I allowing to weigh me down and lead me towards darkness? Am I trying to do this all on my own power or am I praying that God deliver me from my oppression? Because I believe that when we pray, the chains will loosen and then fall from our hands and feet. I believe the prison doors will open and it will be up to us whether we walk through them or continue to be prisoners/slaves to our sins. ----- Acts 12:1-10 New International Version (NIV) Peter’s Miraculous Escape From Prison 12 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews,he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. 6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself,and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
1 Comment
DMT
6/20/2018 04:03:45 pm
🙌🙌🙌 This has been like cleansing rain. Just what I needed after enduring my own recent trial. I know there are times that I am so overwhelmed and doubt tries to steal my faith; I feel isolated and alone. But thank God for his spirit. It’s then when I hear his voice in those darkest hours, and I realize that I’m not trusting him. I’m trying to do things in my own strength. This is such a reminder of how easy it is for us to get into our flesh and not stay in the spirit. What a powerful message this is. You have such a great voice, I can’t wait to read more. God bless.
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