GET TOGETHER- VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE CHAINS
Ac 16:25 ,26 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
One of the most powerful times for me this past weekend as we worked the Kairos # 12 at Hamilton A& I Correctional Facility happened either Friday afternoon or Saturday afternoon. To be honest I can’t remember specifically which day that it was. We were singing “There Is Power In The Name of Jesus.” Actually the name of the song is “Break Every Chain“. If you aren’t familiar with song here are a few of the words:
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain
Break every chain
Break every chain
It isn’t hard to think about chains when you are in a prison ministering. You see lots of mechanisms that are there to keep people bound. And there is a reason for that. I saw concertina wire to keep people from climbing over the fence. You have to wait for an officer to open the gate to move from one place to another. There are strong fences around the institution. And as I said before there is a reason for that. These are all visible chains or means of confinement.
On the other hand, we can all be imprisoned by some invisible means of confinement and this is not a good thing. As the men sang we saw some of these invisible means of confinement come off. Some were hatred, racism, unforgiveness, bitterness, hopelessness, negative and give up attitudes, condemnation also false guilt,shame and the list could go on. It was a powerful thing to see these invisible chains come off. Wait a minute! I just said that we saw something invisible come off. Well we did! We saw countenances begin to change. Tones of some of the resident’s voices began to change. And most of all hearts began to change. There is power in the name of Jesus!
How about us here in the free world? What kind of invisible chains have us bound? Is it unforgiveness, pride, addiction, greed, envy,egotism or sexual sin? The chain that may have some of us the most bound and could even be the most restricting is that you are a good moral person and that there is no need to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That one may even make a person feel falsely that they are free when they are not. John Wesley called that a false peace. In closing I am going to put some more words to the song Break Every Chain. My prayer is that just like the prisoners in the jail at Philippi had their chains loosed that whatever may have you bound will be loosed as well. And that you will know the true freedom that comes only by faith in Jesus Christ. The Philippian Jailer ask Paul and Silas a question. Ac 16:30 “And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered him Ac 16:31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”. Saved from Hell, saved from the power of Hell, healed from the damage of hell.
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
To Break every chain
Break every chain
Break every chain
Let Us Pray
Lord Jesus today break every chain that is binding us. Break off unbelief, faultfinding, accuser of the brethren, man pleasing and everything that every person reading this needs broken off.
In Jesus Name
Amen
Love you all!
Your Friend/Kinfolk
Preston
