April 24th
No "Get Out Of Jail Free" Card
I was looking at my appointments for tomorrow and I see I am scheduled to go to jail. While that sounds pretty funny, it is no laughing matter for the two guys I was scheduled to see. I don't know, have you ever visited anyone in jail? Have you ever been in jail? Through the years I have seen many behind bars. Some times on the visitations I have to visit with a plate glass between us, using a telephone. Other times, like the one coming up, I will have privileges to actually visit one on one in a secured room.
As always when I leave I feel two things. One, I feel free. I can move about, go where I want and just enjoy freedom. It is good to "get out". Two. I feel for those I have left behind. They are still as they were before I visited. (I trust that I have given encouragement through the Word.)
For those who may be reading these lines in prison via. the internet and for the rest of us here is the word of the Lord. (Luke 4:18)
"The Lord has sent me to proclaim release to the captives...to set at liberty those who are oppressed."
There are two kinds of prisons. The real one with concrete and bars and the other one "things that bind us and keep one in prison". My friend, Jesus unlocks the prisons we have put ourselves in. Prisons? Yes, for example, some are bound by personal habits; some are in the prison of guilt and shame, some are in the prison of a mind set that lends them to a "sentence" of discouragement.
Jesus has come to set us free from our self.
My prayer for you
Come, Lord Jesus and set us free. You have the keys. May this special reader, by their faith, call upon you to release them from their prison. Whether a REAL PRISON or a personal prison both can soar high with the wings of an eagle above the present circumstances.
Amen