I have to admit I have a little bit of claustrophobia. I don’t like confined spaces, being confined or held down. It’s a feeling I have never liked and makes me panic.

While on vacation this past week we were at an amusement park. We had been riding rides all week but toward the end of the week, on one of the rides, I began feeling claustrophobic. I was praying it would get over with soon. Again, I did not like that feeling. I needed to get out, I was looking for an exit but saw no way out. I just talked myself through it. Later we went to get on another ride that I was afraid would make me feel the same way and I opted out, saying I would wait by the side until they got done. To me, sitting on the side is no fun but I couldn’t get over the fear.

While reading this morning the Lord showed me how this is just like being bound and chained down by sin. It’s suffocating, it holds you back, it restricts you, it makes you captive. The thought of being chained up and bound, for someone like me, is not a good thought, it makes me take deep breaths. I’ve been in chains before. So bound by sin and shame, the chains were so tight, I could hardly leave my house. The chains held me back. Just like my claustrophobia did on that ride. The devil wants us in chains because we will miss out on some great opportunities, great experiences that God has planned for us. He wants us to panic and think “I” can’t do that. God’s design was for us to be set free of sin and shame. So much so that He sent His child to die so we would walk free. The reality is, if we have heard about Jesus and know Him then we hold the key to unlock our chains. The key is Jesus, He is freedom! Accept His freedom.

John 8:32, And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

The truth is Jesus, He will set you free.

We read story after story in the bible where people were set free of sin, of demons, of sickness. There is freedom from anything of the devil. Jesus is that big, that powerful.

I Peter 1:19 says, He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

God didn’t pay this ultimate price for us to continue living in sin and shame. He came for us to live life free of that. When I was in my bondage to sin and shame I was not living for Him. I couldn’t, I was so bound I could hardly talk to a human being, so I surely couldn’t share the good news of Christ with anyone. The devils perfect plan. Keep us silenced and alone, not sharing the love of Christ. God has a plan for our lives, a perfect plan. He has gifted each of us in a way that when our gifts are used He is glorified and others are influenced and brought into the family of God. The devil also has a plan for our life, anything he can do to stop us from living out Gods plan. Chained and living in bondage that’s his plan. Like me on that ride, looking for a way out, the devil will make it appear as there is no way out but there is a way, Jesus is the way! Don’t opt out, siting by the side, watching everybody else live and walk out God’s plan thinking there’s no hope for you. Walk free of those chains holding you back and accept the freedom Jesus offers. A life lived for Him is freedom!

Michelle J.