My Chains are Gone

Yesterday, I played a new arrangement of Chris Tomlin's song Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) and have received several favorable comments. In the heart of every individual is the desire to experience total freedom.....physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I was thinking about the implications of freedom in Christ today when I received my sister's weekly email devotion, "Ramblings." She spoke eloquently about freedom and her personal testimony. I am reposting her email here in its entirety.



***********************************
RATTLE... RATTLE... CLANK.... CLANK....CLANK... that is the sound of a chain dragging behind you as you walk. I have never been “in chains” in the natural. I do not know what it is like to have a huge black metal chain clamped around my arms or my ankles. I cannot begin to imagine the heaviness of the chain or the sheer irritation of having to wear a chain.

Until 1955, the United States had "chain gangs” in our prison systems. A chain gang was a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work. The use of chains could be hazardous, causing the prisoners to stumble or fall. Falls could imperil several individuals at once. Some of the chains used in the system weighed twenty pounds or more. Some prisoners suffered from shackle sores — ulcers where the iron ground against their skin. Gangrene and other infections were serious risks.

To be bound in natural chains must be terrible, but what about being bound by spiritual chains? I have been bound by spiritual chains and it is a terrible feeling. A spiritual chain is anything that binds us or holds us back from being all that God desires us to be. These chains can be the old rusty “stand-bys” of bitterness, hate, unforgiveness, or fear. They can also be the shiny new-fangled ones of complacency, violence, or kingdom blindness. All are spiritual chains that need -- no, rephrase that -- that MUST be broken in order for us to grow to our full potential in Christ.

There is only one way for a spiritual chain to be removed. Chris Tomlin said in “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)"

My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace.

What a difference it makes in people when they believe that Jesus TRULY is the Son of God and not just the product of the human imagination. When we fully understand that He is the only one that can deliver us from the chains that are binding us, then and only then will we be set free. Many on the chain gangs tried to set themselves free and as a result were killed; too many Christians have been killed spiritually by trying to set themselves free as well from the chains that enslave them. You cannot pick the chain; you cannot lose enough of yourself to wiggle your way out of the chain. It takes the blood and the power of Jesus to set you free.

I can truly say “My chains are gone, I’ve been set free!” For the longest time, I had walked in chains of trying to please everyone -- trying to be what everyone else wanted me to be. I was trying to live like THEY wanted me to live, chained by other people's thoughts and beliefs. A few weeks ago, I was set free from those chains! Jesus visited me and I allowed Him to set me free from the chains of what everyone else wanted and expected. I have been set free, ransomed by His unending love and His amazing grace.

My friends, I encourage you to go again to the cross of Calvary and see and feel the power of the blood, believe the Word, and feel the blessing of awe and wonder which breaks into our individual lives. Then you can truly live and walk in the freedom that Christ has to offer you. Your chains can be broken. Whether your chains are self-inflicted or you are a prisoner on a chain gang, the Master Guard, Jesus Christ, has the key and is willing to set you free. You, too, can break out into the song with those who have experienced His deliverance!

My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace.

Free at last, thank God Almighty I am free at last. . .and it feels GREAT!!!!!

****************************************

My prayer for each of you today is the same as the hope my sister expressed above. May you know true freedom in Christ -- free from the chains of doubt, abuse, and sin that have bound you for far too long. I look forward to hearing that this song has also become your anthem.