The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. – Luke 4:18
I have known many prisoners over the years and some of them were behind bars. We have heard the axiom, “Iron bars does not a prison make,” but there is another phrase I would like to coin. It is this, “The absence of prison bars does not make one free.”
I have read how elephants are trained to not use their strength to escape. When they are just babies a rope is tied to their foot and they are tethered to a post. They struggle and struggle to get free, but they can’t break the rope. As the elephant grows it finally realizes that it can’t break free so it quits trying. When the elephant becomes an adult all the trainer has to do is tie a rope around its leg and it won’t even try to escape. The elephant has learned that it is a prisoner.
We have all known people who were in that kind of prison. In fact, many of us have had our own prisons to deal with. I have dealt with hundreds of drug addicts who were in a prison of addiction. My wife and I worked with a woman who was in a prison of alcohol and street life. She had been given an opportunity to change, but she could only see the prison (addiction) she had been in for over 20 years.
The good news is that Jesus came to open those prison doors. There is freedom in knowing him and receiving his grace. I was in one of those prisons for years. I had become victim to my own behaviors and was addicted to a sin that was destroying me. I finally found the way to be free and I have not gone back into that prison.
The good news to those in prisons of undesirable behaviors is that he has come to set you free. If you are in bondage to a behavior that you no longer want to serve turn wholly to him and seek him for the freedom he has promised.
In Galatians 5 Paul writes, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (v1). Some have misunderstood the freedom of grace. They have thought that grace was freedom to continue in sin without consequence, but it is not. Grace gives us freedom from sin and from sins prison.
Prayer: I want to thank you for freedom – And I ask you for the grace to continue in the freedom you have given me. In Jesus name. Amen.
Message: In Galatians 5 Paul writes, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (v1). Some have misunderstood the freedom of grace. They have thought that grace was freedom to continue in sin without consequence, but it is not. Grace gives us freedom from sin and from sins prison.
Affirmation: "I am free - thank God, free at last." The prison of my past no longer holds me. I am free in Christ.
Reflection: This freedom promised by Christ is freedom from the inside out. Have you been held captive by a behavior from which you wanted to be free? Jesus was anointed to give you freedom.
I have known many prisoners over the years and some of them were behind bars. We have heard the axiom, “Iron bars does not a prison make,” but there is another phrase I would like to coin. It is this, “The absence of prison bars does not make one free.”
I have read how elephants are trained to not use their strength to escape. When they are just babies a rope is tied to their foot and they are tethered to a post. They struggle and struggle to get free, but they can’t break the rope. As the elephant grows it finally realizes that it can’t break free so it quits trying. When the elephant becomes an adult all the trainer has to do is tie a rope around its leg and it won’t even try to escape. The elephant has learned that it is a prisoner.
We have all known people who were in that kind of prison. In fact, many of us have had our own prisons to deal with. I have dealt with hundreds of drug addicts who were in a prison of addiction. My wife and I worked with a woman who was in a prison of alcohol and street life. She had been given an opportunity to change, but she could only see the prison (addiction) she had been in for over 20 years.
The good news is that Jesus came to open those prison doors. There is freedom in knowing him and receiving his grace. I was in one of those prisons for years. I had become victim to my own behaviors and was addicted to a sin that was destroying me. I finally found the way to be free and I have not gone back into that prison.
The good news to those in prisons of undesirable behaviors is that he has come to set you free. If you are in bondage to a behavior that you no longer want to serve turn wholly to him and seek him for the freedom he has promised.
In Galatians 5 Paul writes, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (v1). Some have misunderstood the freedom of grace. They have thought that grace was freedom to continue in sin without consequence, but it is not. Grace gives us freedom from sin and from sins prison.
Prayer: I want to thank you for freedom – And I ask you for the grace to continue in the freedom you have given me. In Jesus name. Amen.
Message: In Galatians 5 Paul writes, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (v1). Some have misunderstood the freedom of grace. They have thought that grace was freedom to continue in sin without consequence, but it is not. Grace gives us freedom from sin and from sins prison.
Affirmation: "I am free - thank God, free at last." The prison of my past no longer holds me. I am free in Christ.
Reflection: This freedom promised by Christ is freedom from the inside out. Have you been held captive by a behavior from which you wanted to be free? Jesus was anointed to give you freedom.
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