Do you ever feel like you are in prison? I do sometimes. I don’t feel like I am stuck in a literal jail or penitentiary but it is kind of like that. Right now it is sunny and 75 degrees and I am stuck at work. I am free to go outside as much as I want but I can’t leave unless I want to lose my job. I get paid well to be in this prison and most of the time it is even worth it but right now I don’t think it is. If I had a car right know I wonder if I would be tempted to not come back from lunch.
I read about 2 guys that were in prison once and for some reason they really didn’t mind. For some reason they were very joyful and were singing and maybe even dancing (as much as their shackles would let them). Around midnight a crazy thing happened. There was a really big earthquake, an earthquake so powerful it rattled their shackles lose and even caused the doors of the prison to open. What is even crazier is that these 2 guys never tried to escape.
The jailer that was supposed to keep watch over them fell asleep and was awakened by the earthquake. Figuring all the prisoners escaped he drew his sword to kill himself. Why not? He was going to be executed for letting the prisoners escape anyway. As the cold steel was about to penetrate his flesh he heard a voice coming from the darkness saying, “Don’t do it! We are all here!”
Knowing the 2 guys were Christians the jailer asked them how he too could receive salvation and by the end of the night the jailer’s whole family had become Christians themselves and were baptized. I am starting to think that the jailer and his family were the one that was really set free that night
When I read about those 2 guys I couldn’t help but take a closer look at my own prison. It is really hard being at work today but I wish God would cause an earthquake in my Spirit that would remind me that I am free from my bondage of self-doubt and lack of confidence. I am free from the chains that keep me from being all and doing all God wants me to be.
I pray that God would use my prison to set multitudes of captives free. I wonder if that was the mindset of the 2 guys I read about that made them so joyful. Even though they were in chains, they were really free in Christ. By the way, you can read their story for yourself. It is found in the Bible: Acts 16:22-36.
