A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (May 6, 2016)
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36)
There are all kind of chains that keep us locked up in bondage and hinder us from becoming the prosperous, free, and successful people God has called us all to be. Those chains could be caused by hurts and emotional trauma from the past or a myriad of different things such as guilt, shame, unforgiveness, broken relationships, addictions, and on and on.
I will never forget talking to a long time inmate at Parchman Penitentiary in Mississippi. This man was in his late thirties and had been in and out of prison most of his life. We started talking about his childhood and this is the story he shared. At six years of age he picked up a small loaded pistol that his father left lying on a bedroom table. He started playing with it and it went off. He had a baby brother that was lying in a nearby crib. The bullet from that pistol struck and killed his baby brother.
At the funeral the father took this six year old up to the small casket and put the boy’s face in the casket right next to his dead brother. The father yelled at the boy and told him to look at his brother because he was the one responsible for his death. Can you just imagine how that affected that young boy? It was a chain that bound him even to the day that I talked with him.
Besides emotional traumas like the one we just shared, there are also religious chains that bind us. Religious chains are probably the most dangerous because they keep us away from the truth and they make the Word of God of no effect.
We had a young lady get saved at one of our evangelistic church services in Tennessee. She was so happy and so free when she gave her life to the Lord. She was not a member of our church so we did not see her for several months. One of her friends came to us one day and said this young lady had been committed to a psychiatric hospital. What we found out was that she had went back to her family’s church which was a hard line, rules oriented church. The problem with these legalistic type churches is that you can never live up to the standards they set. It was just too much for this young girl and she broke under the weight of all the rules and regulations. It put her in chains!
Here is the truth! Jesus came and died for you and me because there was nothing we could do in the natural to be worthy. It is by grace that we are saved and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty (not chains and bondage)(2Corinthians 3:17). If you are in a church that constantly puts down other churches, encourages isolation from the world and other Christians, and constantly reminds you of how dirty you are, you need to get out.
You need to be in a place where they are in the business of training and releasing, building up and encouraging, speaking life and not death. We are commanded to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. You cannot accomplish that stuck in the four walls of a dead church which is trying to control everything you do.
Thank God there is an answer. His name is Jesus!!! He breaks every chain!!! Please take a few minutes to click on the “Break Every Chain” link below and listen to this song by Jesus Culture. I know this is an old song, and you may have heard it many times, but it is a powerful and very relevant song for every one of us so listen to it one more time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOyjD5Zw2ew
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
