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“And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” Acts 16:23-25

   I don’t know about you but that sounds like Paul and Silas had been hit in the head one too many times. Looking back over Paul’s ministry since he became a Christian it’s easy to see he suffered persecution a lot. This was his second missionary journey and from their first trip and stay in Galatia he became accustomed to rejection and opposition.

   We all experience stress and oppression in our lives and it seems to be magnified when we feel it due to following the Lord and His direction for our lives. Paul was preaching and then thrown in jail. He spent half if not most of his ministry in a cell or chained to a soldier. He fully knew what bondage meant. He could easily cry out for justice and freedom because from a human standpoint he experienced neither. However, Paul was able to praise God behind bars. It wasn’t jailhouse religion or a ploy to deceive the keepers of the jail but genuine and sincere worship of his Savior Jesus Christ.

   What can make a man in chains, not knowing if he would ever see daylight again or not, lift his hands and praise the Lord? The answer is simple but getting there comes with great devotion. Paul knew the true meaning of freedom. Chains or a dark cell could not take away the deliverance he felt when he gave his heart to Jesus on the road to Damascus. What he had was not something man could offer or take away. Inner peace is beyond money, emotion or situation. Yes, physically and emotionally it stinks but in the situation Paul knew salvation from sin was the ultimate freedom to attain.

   Prison sentences and bondage in this world can only last so long. Freedom from sin is eternal. That’s real freedom.

   Let’s never forget those who have fought and given their lives for the freedom we hold in America. They paid the ultimate price for us. Also let’s never forget the freedom we cherish from sins grip made possible only by God Himself through the Person of Jesus.

   As you celebrate the 4th keep in mind this world can bind you and oppress you but in Jesus is freedom today, tomorrow and forever.

Dr. David Ayers