Freedom!
Last
week I received good news from my physicians. I am still cancer free
after almost two years! Other than a few minor aches and pains, I am in
very good health for a senior citizen. I subsequently contacted the Red Cross
and I am happy to know I am once again free to donate blood. As a regular
donor, it saddened me that I was no longer eligible to do something so
important to me.
Freedom
means different things to different people. For Dr. Martin Luther King
and the Freedom Riders of the sixties, it meant freedom to fully participate in
American life. For some, freedom means being free from poverty, abusive
relationships, fear, lack or low self-esteem. For others, freedom means
being free to explore, speak and write what they choose or worship as they
desire.
In the
book of Acts, a mob of people attacked Paul and Silas and they ended up in
prison (Acts 16:22-35).
In spite of their imprisonment, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises
unto God (Acts 16:25).
Although
they were in dire straits after being beaten and then imprisoned, they seemed
to behave as if they were free men. They did not allow their external
circumstances to determine their relationship in Christ. In the midst of their
praise, the chains fell off of them and their fellow prisoners.
What
does freedom mean to you? How has focusing on God led to your freedom?
How might your praise help others to get free?
Please comment below about your freedom from or freedom to do something. Others can
receive their freedom from hearing from you!
Revelation 12:11 New International Version (NIV)
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God:
and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened,
and every one's bands were loosed.
John 8:36
Revelation 12:11 New International Version (NIV)
11 They triumphed
over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink
from death
Acts 16:25, 26
their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink
from death
Acts 16:25, 26
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God:
and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened,
and every one's bands were loosed.
John 8:36
36 If the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
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