Unshackled By God

Acts 16: 16-40 

 

The book of Acts seems to have many events that are so extraordinary that we keep coming away with how incredible these times were as God worked one miracle after another that enabled the Christian faith to grow. Here is another impossible situation where Paul and Silas are locked away in a prison  that would put anyone in complete despair. But God  triumphs, and in a most wonderful fashion. Paul and Silas are freed. The jailer comes to faith along with his household who are all baptized. Eventually the Romans come to apologize to Paul. A Miracle indeed!

But is this just for Paul that such extraordinary things should happen-the seemingly impossible? Can this relate to our lives? Have you ever been in a place where there seemed to be no hope? When we look at what happened to Paul, we see a physical force being applied to him and Silas and the miracle is the earthquake and the shackles falling off as well as the spiritual conversion of the jailer. So often we are burdened with situations that seem as impenetrable as a jail cell and we are shackled to these situations  where we are sure there is no hope. These are the things such as family problems that never appear to get better, children who are troubled, parents who are dysfunctional, family members who are continuously a problem with no clear change on the horizon or even are own personal dilemmas with weight, substance abuse health issues or personal quirks that need to be altered.

It can also be situations with relationships, work and career, a future that does not look so bright or worries over our family members that never become smoothed out  or solved. Sometimes it is like we can see visually these problems locked in a cell surrounded by bullet proof glass, steel and concrete-an impenetrable fortress that nothing is going to shake.  It would be well for us to remember what happened in Pauls situation. Paul and Silas prayed and sang and petitioned God. The shackles were broken and they were freed. God did not leave them in the prison which could have ended there lives.

Is it impossible for us and only possible for Paul? Paul told us to pray incessantly. Thus, our prayers should be focused on the 'jail cells in our life' that appear to be impenetrable fortresses that we are sure nothing can enter or change. Jesus told us that with God nothing is impossible. But we are always forgetting this, as if it could not be true. Yet, this is a most important lesson for our hearts. God already knows what troubles us. Our prayers need to be sent to a waiting and willing God who can do the impossible just as he did with Paul and Silas. What a great promise that is!

If we need evidence of this, we need only to listen to the many testimonies that happen everyday of how people are led out of terrible situations through prayer and petition. The  TV news may not report it or may brush off the man standing there trying to tell the media how God interceded and how prayer changed everything. Nevertheless, it happens. God has not left this world, He is active in it and in our lives.

Last week, a tiny miracle took place for a man in England who had many health problems and bills to prove it. He did something that he felt he was born to do. He sang on a talent show and won it with a beautiful and triumphant version of  Puccinis's Nessun Dorma, an aria from  Turnadot. The judges and the audience were stunned and visably moved by this incredibly ordinary man who could sing opera like an angel. I am sure that Paul Potts, who won the contest, never would have believed that he would get out of the financial problems (concrete cell) that he was buried under or that he would ever sing what his heart had long desired to do, let alone that the world would take note.

It is interesting to note that in Nessun Dorma, the words of the aria end with this: "With the dawn I will win! I'll win! I'll win!" This is the hope that Christ has brought us, through our belief in him. Indeed, there is a dawn and one where we will win because of what Jesus has done for us. We can break the shackles and stand triumphant as God answers our prayers. The walls are not impenetrable. The impossible is what God does best. Pray for it. Never lose site of the God who loves you and knows the burdens that you carry. In the end he promises, "We will win! We will win!"

Laurie Erdman

 

 

 

 

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