Monday, April 16, 2007

Prison Chains

“But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened.”
Acts 16: 25-26

If you read the entire account in Acts 16, you will find Paul and Silas have been falsely imprisoned. They were stripped and severely beaten with wooden sticks and thrown into prison and put in chains. There are so many lessons in these verses for us. What would our reaction be to such treatment today? Instead of whining and complaining, God's Word says they began to sing and praise God. Notice it says the other prisoners were listening to them. Our reactions to the circumstances of life speak volumes to those around us. The next part of the verse grabs me...the Lord "makes His praise glorious" and the earth begins to quake and the chains are loosed. Hallelujah, wouldn't you like to have been a fly on the wall of that prison!!!!

What kind of "prison" are we locked up in? Are we defeated because of some past sin and Satan has us bound because we can't forgive ourselves? Are we bound by the chains of a circumstance that is out of our control? Do our finances have us locked up? Is our mind "shackled" because of a heavy burden? Wednesday night we are going to start learning a song called I Bless Your Name. It is the reason for the study of these verses and contemplation. Do you belive God's Word? Are you in "prison"? Then praise Him and call on Him. In Jesus' name, those chains will fall!

Here are the words to the song. It's on the new music CD I gave you at the end of the summer. I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday night. I have missed rehearsing with you.

I bless Your Name, I bless Your Name
I give You honor give You praise
You are the Life the Truth the Way
I bless Your Name, I bless Your Name

In prisoners' chains with bleeding stripes
Paul and Silas prayed that night
And in their pain began to sing
Their chains were loosed
And they were free

Some midnight hour
If you should find
You're in a prison in your mind
Reach out and praise
Defy those chains
And they will fall
In Jesus' Name

We bless Your Name, We bless Your Name
We give You honor give You praise
You are the Life the Truth the Way
We bless Your Name,We bless Your Name

Love ya, mean it!
JuJu

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