Recently I did a prayer walk in my city. I felt the whole walk like He was opening my eyes to notice things. One of the things I noticed was a chain laying beside a trash bin. It led me to pray that the Lord would break the chains of bondage (the bondage of addiction/sin/captivity/depression/mental illness/poverty/etc.) in our city. I prayed for total freedom leading to awakening and gratitude. I heard these song lyrics as I prayed, “You’re waking up my soul and it’s my joy to thank You!” (Upper Room & Cody Lee). When God breaks us free and heals us, we feel such overwhelming gratitude that it leads to praising Him for that freedom.
Anyway, I snapped a pic of the chain next to the trash can. It stirred me to think about how we need to make sure we allow the Lord access to all of us - our mind, heart and spirit - for full soul-healing and not just physical. While we can have a chain of addiction (or whatever bondage) severed we are still in need of deeper soul healing that drove us to addiction in the first place. So I began praying for that deeper ministry in lives that are breaking free from bondage.
But I didn’t like seeing the chain lying there - I wanted no trace left behind. I wanted to pick up the chain and throw it in the trash! It seemed ugly to me. But the chain was purposely bolted to the concrete beside the trash bin. That image remained with me throughout the day. Then I heard a random song by Steven Curtis Chapman on the radio later that afternoon… Remember Your Chains. Some of the lyrics follow:
There's no one more thankful to sit at the table
Than the one who best remembers hunger's pain
And no heart loves greater than the one that is able
To recall the time when all it knew was the shame
The wings of forgiveness can take us to heights never seen
But the wisest ones, they will never lose sight of where they were set free
Love set them free
So remember your chains
Remember the prison that once held you
Before the love of God broke through
Remember the place you were without grace
When you see where you are now
Remember your chains
And remember your chains are gone
So maybe that chain that I wanted to throw into the trash bin has some purpose after all. It’s like my eyes shifted from seeing a picture of bondage to seeing a picture of freedom. The chain’s broken but visible. It may look ugly, but maybe it’s a good reminder of how He leads us out of bondage and into freedom. Maybe it’s a good reminder to remain humbly committed and submitted to our Savior and Lord. There’s that tendency to forget or drift…though let it not be so with us.
He shed His blood - all of it - to break the chains and set His people free. The only trace left behind is evidence of freedom we now walk in. What’s left is a testimony of salvation, healing, redemption and restoration. There is no one more worthy of our worship, so start dancing upon those broken chains and let a freedom song burst forth. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. To Him be glory and honor and praise!
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:16-21 NIV
