Rise up O Men and Women of God

If the devil can keep a saint of God cowering in a corner, then he or she will never break out of their prison; a prison of despair, if you please. This jail without bars will keep them bound indefinitely. Fear will so paralyze the prisoner that they will never venture beyond their 6 by 6 cell. It will be a life sentence of confinement.

The scriptures tell us when Peter lay in prison, chained between two guards, God sent His angel to deliver him. When Simon awoke to the fact and arose to follow his emancipator, it says, “and his chains fell off.” Not while Peter was passively lying there was he freed, but after he actively arose in obedient faith.

I read that in India they bind their young elephants to a stake with a straw chain. As the animal grows older and larger, it does not attempt to pull away, believing it cannot. O, beloved child of God, why not give that chain that has held you for so long a good yank by faith, remembering, Jesus came to set captives free.

 Arise, my soul, arise,
shake off your guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice,
in my behalf appears.

Richard D. Sandlin