With a Subtitle: This passage reminds us that Christ still delivers people from every kind of prison
A brief Excerpt: Acts 12:7 shows that God is still able to break chains and set captives free. Some prisons have bars, but many are hidden in the mind, body, and heart. Jesus remains the only true Deliverer.
Scripture
Our verse for today comes from Acts 12:7, “And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the prison. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the chains fell off his hands.”
Background
I have been to prison only once. When I was much younger and playing softball for my church team, we scheduled a game against some of the inmates at the old Polk Youth Center in Raleigh, which was closed down in 1997. They had a team and a field within their grounds, so we took the opportunity to go and play against them one summer afternoon. I don’t remember much about the game itself (I think we lost by a run or two), but I do remember that we had a girl on our team, and she was not allowed to come with us. I also remember the inmates sitting in the bleachers, cheering on their own and ribbing us as we batted and caught and ran. While I was in college, I taught a Sunday school class at the youth detention center that was around the corner from my church. It wasn’t a prison, but the kids there were not there by choice, and they didn’t seem to be particularly interested in what I had to say. Naturally, I wonder if any of those in the youth home ever decided to follow Jesus, or if any of them ended up in the prison where I played softball. In the summer of 2019, my dad had a stroke. When he went to rehab, he stayed in a facility that was around the corner from my former church and the youth home where I taught. And in that facility, I saw people who were in prisons that no bars could compare to. Their minds were gone, or their bodies were broken, or both. Some may not have seen or recognized a loved one in years. Their end had come; only they hadn’t experienced it yet.
Application
In God’s grace and mercy, my dad recovered enough to go back home, and he returned to much of his normal life. Unfortunately, time is still undefeated, and though his light shone bright as ever as he continued to trust fully in Jesus and the absolute sovereignty of God, ALS was not as forgiving, and his journey on earth ended within the year. Prisons are all around us, and most exist without our knowing. Prisoners pass us by all day long, held captive by everything from A to Z. Many stare at us in the mirror. Jesus is the answer. I’m just not sure what the question is. But if it can be asked, He can answer it. He knows how to set people free.
Charge
As we seek Him today, turn to Jesus for deliverance. It doesn’t matter what it is, He is willing and able.
Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words
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