[Accompany with background music of somber foreboding...] In Acts 12:3 - 6, We find Peter lying in a heavily guarded cell of Herod’s prison awaiting the same execution that James met [a few verses] earlier.
But wait! [Music suddenly changes to a major key with shocking crescendo!] God shows up! “And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shined in the cell: and he struck Peter on the side, and awakened him, saying, ‘Rise up quickly’. And his chains fell off from his hands.” Into this dead-end dungeon of hopelessness strides the power of God to: “bring good tidings unto the afflicted… to bind up the broken–hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound”(Isaiah 61:1).
In obedience to passages such as Matthew 25:36 “I was in prison, and ye came unto me,” we are today symbolically re-enacting those verses of hope as we enter prison after prison in this country and around the world with the promises of hope. These promises are encapsulated in Romans 15:13 "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
1 comments:
how long till the next edition of abounding hope?
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