How can I be released? - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
Psalm 107:13-15

How can I be released?
Sylvain, a convict in another country sentenced to life in prison, explains:

For ten years I made plans how to escape from this dark place: ten years full of plans for revenge and full of hatred for society and for people! For ten years, day after day, I dreamed of a life outside the grey walls.

But then one day when I turned on the radio, a Christian programme was being broadcast. A word from the Bible touched me to the core: "Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. ... If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:34, 36). And at that moment I also had to think again of what my mother had taught me earlier in my life. It was as if God was saying to me, "You are a prisoner, but your real prison is not these walls at all. In reality, your soul is imprisoned and you are a slave to evil."

I knelt down, wept and asked God, "Forgive me! Free me!" That's when I felt God's nearness for the first time in my life. Deep peace entered my heart - I was free! I gave up my plans to escape. I now wanted to serve God, here in prison.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Horatio G. Spafford (1828-1888)

Today's reading: Numbers 21:1-15 · Matthew 13:10-17