Locked-up faith!
Verse for Today: Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Acts 5:19 - But during the
night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them
out.
The world often creates
prison-like situations and locks up God's children to frustrate them and make
them ineffective. The world and its master Satan think that the message of God
and its heralds can be locked up to shut them up. These prisons are often
places of persecution, suffering, poverty, sickness, misunderstandings,
gossip and brutal criticism. Once a person is in one or more of these prison
cells, it is very difficult to come out. The enemy does everything possible to
weaken us by taking us out of circulation and making it difficult for us to get
out. Our prisons give us experiences which are dark and cloudy where we become
lonely and friendless. There may not be any one to sympathize with us in these
prison cells. Some of our dear friends and associates will even dare to say
that these prison cells are God's punishment in our lives. They add insult to
our injuries. When we are thus deeply wounded, Satan will come to whisper that our
prison cells are because God doesn't love us anymore. Perhaps God has His
purposes in permitting prison experiences in our lives as in the case of Joseph,
Paul and Silas. God uses it to strengthen our faith. But God also opens the
doors of prisons to release His children through divine intervention. God can
change our prisons into places of victory. He will send His angels to open the
strong iron doors of hindrances in our situations. The key to open these strong
doors is faith and trust in the Lord. To the shame of the enemy, the
Lord gives us peace, patience and praise as He prepares for our release
from the prison experiences.
Dear friend, perhaps you
are going through prison experiences in your life today. Are you
imprisoned by your dark circumstances of poor health, debt, business failure,
job loss, false allegations, gossip, and family concerns? For sure, these
prison experiences are hard, bitter and painful. The lonely days and
nights in the prison cells of situations would caste dark clouds
around us, no matter how strong we are. But we can trust in the Lord who
knows our situation which He has permitted in our lives for our good and His
glory. He will rule and overrule our
situations and give us release from our prisons at His time. He will send help
at the right time to strengthen us and take us out of our situations. Sometimes
it is physical release, but at other times He gives us the release of our
spirits from our situations. God’s Word
will often be our guide in our prisons until He accomplishes His purposes in
our lives through prisons. He gives us hope against hope for a timely divine
release and until then, He will fill our hearts with hope and great expectation
for an imminent release. God who released Joseph, Peter and the disciples from
the prisons will release us also, because He still has missions for us to
accomplish outside our prisons. His Spirit will fill our hearts with His Word to
give us hope and to fortify our hearts from falling into discouragement.
So dear friend, be encouraged. Your help is on the way. Keep hoping for the
Lord's time and His means to come to your help. In the meanwhile pray for faith
and patience to wait for Him. Let us use the key of faith to open the prison
cells of circumstances and enjoy His peace in spite of the prisons of life.
Psalms 107:14 - He brought
them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their bands apart.
Thought for Today
The school of faith sometimes
holds classes in prison cells to teach us great lessons of trust in the Lord.
Prayer for Today
Dear
Lord Jesus: Help me to see Your glory shining in my heart and in the prison
cells of life that You have permitted in my life. Amen!
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