When the chains fell...

Usually I have some witty intro (or at least I try to) to the blog, but today I have one simple question: Where were you when the chains fell?

Huh? I was in chains? What “chains” are you talking about? … Well I’m glad you asked! (Even if you didn’t, humor me by pretending you did)

Many of us have heard the story in Acts 16:16-40 (which you can read here) about how Paul and Silas have been stripped, beaten, and wrongfully imprisoned under careful watch. At midnight, Paul and Silas began to worship God … chained and shackled in a jail cell. As they continued to praise God, an earthquake commenced and the chains that once shackled Paul and Silas were broken.

So back to the question: Where were YOU when the chains fell? Allow yourself to remember back to the point where you felt you were at your darkest hour … where you felt all odds stacked against you ... Picture the heartbreak, sadness, fear, brokenness you felt at that VERY moment …

… and now picture the moment where God delivered you from some stuff, some things, some habits and even some people and replaced that with joy, hope, and love. Can you hear the “chains” falling? Can you feel the guilt, the hurt, the shame, the disappointment falling off?

Something that REALLY stood out that passage of scripture is when the guard is awakened by the earthquake and goes to kill himself because he thinks the prisoners have escaped, Paul stops him by saying they are all there (v.27-28). The jailer then realizes the power of God’s hand on the life of Paul and Silas and asks what must he do to be saved.

Had Paul and Silas escaped, the jailer (and subsequently his family) would not have been saved. Paul and Silas chose to let the power of God deliver them instead of escaping. Had they “escaped,” God wouldn’t have gotten any glory and no lives would have been saved. The next morning the decision was made to release Paul and Silas privately … but Paul made them escort them out PUBLICLY to display God’s power.

Had Paul and Silas escaped rather been delivered, they would have had to hide, “lay low”, and sneak around to get to another place where they could minister ... all while “watching their back” from the past they were running from.  Escaping would have traded the literal chains for the figurative chains of being “on the run.”

When we “escape” things instead of being delivered from them, we usher in a certain silence with a cloud of secrecy hovering over it. When people escape, they can’t FREELY talk about it, they can’t blast their story to the world… they have to “lay low” and stay hidden.

When you “escape” you silence your testimony! Deliverance produces a freedom that escaping never can! God wants you FREE to talk about what He’s brought you out of!

AFTER the chains were broken Paul’s conversation with the jailer saved his life. The Bible says that we overcome by the Blood of the Lamb AND by the word of our testimony … how many of US have silenced our testimony by escaping rather than being truly delivered?

I want to submit to you that every chain that’s been broken off of your life wasn’t just for you but for you to display God’s power to someone else so that they may be saved. For every “chain” that’s come off of you, God has blessed you with a word of encouragement to share with someone else.

It is my prayer that we stop trying to “escape” and submit to God’s power to deliver us and BREAK EVERY CHAIN in our lives. Lord I pray that you will break the chains of sin, hurt, pain, disappointment, negative relationships, emotional distress, fear, shame, guilt, worthlessness, and any other chain that has us physically, emotionally or spiritually bound to the things of our past. Remind us Lord that there is NO CONDEMNATION to those who are in Christ Jesus, You are FAITHFUL AND JUST to forgive us, and help us to remember that although we are called to share our testimonies we DO NOT have to JUSTIFY the grace that You have shown us!

I pray that you find yourself in God’s presence, where there is liberty and fullness of joy, as you rest in the fact that whom the Son has set free is free INDEED!

Below is Tasha Cobbs' performance of "Break Every Chain" from WTAL 2012. You can follow her at @tashacobbs and get the single on iTunes & Amazon!

I love you and rejoice with you as the chains fall!

Allison