Your Chains Are Already Broken

"Lord, I falter and I fall down and I hold on to the chains you broke when you came and saved my soul" - "The Struggle", Tenth Avenue North

So often we hold on to things that we have done and ask God to forgive us over and over again. While the Bible calls us to ask for forgiveness of God, it never says to dwell on our imperfections. This is something I have struggled with for a long time and I honestly don't believe I am alone. I think the reason we don't always feel like once is enough when it comes to asking forgiveness of God is because that it's not that way in this world. When we ask someone to forgive us rarely can we just do it once and it'll be done. There will still be hurt and unresolved feelings. So we come to think that the God of the universe is this way too. But He is not.

In Psalm 103:12 it says "He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west". Then in Isaiah 43:25 it says "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins." The Bible says it loud and clear - when we ask God for forgiveness He gives it to us.

God has never been one to keep anything from us. He gave up His own son for us. So many of us wear crosses around our necks but then we go and forget what it means. The cross means we are loved and forgiven. The cross means our chains are broken. There's even a song by Chris Tomlin called "At The Cross" that talks about Jesus' love and how at the cross His love ran red and our sins were washed white. How powerful is that picture! Your sin is washed white and your chains are broken. There is nothing our God would not do for you.In verse sixteen of Psalm 116 the author says "O Lord, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, born into your household; you have freed me from my chains".

Jesus broke our chains for us 2,000 years ago. We need to keep that in the front of our minds because there are other voices trying to tell us differently. I wrote an entire post about how the devil tries to trick us into believing we aren't good enough. But the devil is dead wrong. I love what this tweet from Trust In Him says: "Christ has already broken your chains. Don't let the devil fool you into thinking you're stilled locked in."

Our God loves us so much. What can we possibly do for Him? Here's what you can do: live for Him. Now, here's the deal. You can't live freely if you have chained yourself to a wall of sin and shame. So you have to let God's grace and mercy and love in. Let those chains fall off and run to Him. And while you are running to Him starting spreading His love and the hope only Jesus can bring to the world.

"Hallelujah, we are free to struggle, but we're not struggling to be free.Your blood bought and makes us children. So, children drop your chains and sing!" - "The Struggle", Tenth Avenue North