Chain Breaking

Life can be rough at times and we can easily get bound by something that imprisons us. No, I’m not talking about a four by six concrete room with bars across the front. I’m talking about the prisons we can find ourselves in as we make our way through life on this spinning orb we call home. We live in a free country, but how free are we really? It’s not the government holding us captive, though this could be true to some extent. What holds us captive are the worldly things that arrest our hearts and souls. The things that lock up our thoughts. Things like alcohol, drugs, pornography, relationships, sex, shopping, food, cellphones, and money. Go ahead, feel free to add to this list. None of these things are unhealthy if done appropriately. However, we can easily become so attached to and comforted by them to the point of being chained to them. However, hope and freedom can come to us.

Peter was arrested and chained inside a prison cell awaiting trial. The night before his trial something extraordinary happened. “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 (Acts 12:7). The extraordinary thing that happened was God bursting on the scene. Unlike ordinary created angels, the "angel of the Lord" bears God's own name and carries divine authority. The "angel of the Lord" is a unique messenger in the Old Testament who speaks and acts as God Himself. The Angel of the Lord here in Acts 12:7 is God who came to free Peter. The light shining in the cell was light radiating from God. God came to Peter’s rescue. In verse 9, we are told that Peter followed Him out of the prison. God didn’t break the chains and leave, He escorted Peter out, walking with him step by step out of the prison.

September 16, 1993, brought an end to my prison time. My prison was alcohol, with occasional drug use. On this day, God burst onto the scene. And as usual when God burst onto the scene the extraordinary happened. The chains of alcoholism fell to the ground and God escorted me out of my prison cell and into a new life. September 15, 1993, would be the last time I consumed any alcoholic beverage. Freedom was mine because God did for me what I couldn’t do for myself. God not only broke the chains that bound me to alcohol, He destroyed the prison. There would be nothing for me to return to. No chains, no prison cell, just freedom. I’m here today because of what God did for me on September 16, 1993. God is still escorting me through life. I never walk alone because Jesus is by my side.

When God breaks into our prison, chains fall and freedom is ours. However, there’s one thing we must do. We must follow Jesus out of the prison and into freedom. No prison is strong enough to prevent Jesus from bursting in and setting us free. Today, I walk in freedom, not because of some government intervention, but because of God’s intervention. Freedom can be gained.