The following post was originally published on the website The Walk To Remember in 2018. It has been reformatted to fit this website.

The chains are broken. Shattered if you will. They lay in a heap where you once stood on the day that you gained your independence. It was a greater gain than any slave had ever received from his master. It is far greater than the gain that America had received from England. It transcends circumstances and the borders of a nation. It is your independence and freedom from this world. From the bondage of sin. From the fetters and rusty old chains of Satan.

Jesus said in John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” and in John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” This coming from The One who not just proclaims to be the only way to the Father through salvation and the only giver of everlasting life in the spiritual realm, but also to be the truth (John 14:6). Such a proclamation can only mean that there are no other options but Him, without Him you are dead, and all else is a lie. 

It is this lie that leads the unredeemed to believe that they are the enlightened ones (Romans 1:22). That the children of God are fools without sense. That they are indeed too weak to live life without a God that they designed from their own feeble minds. However, it is a matter of perspective. They think they see, but they don’t understand because the chains that bind are wrapped from head to toe (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is difficult to see through iron. They believe that a life bound is a life abundant. They know no other way until, like Legion, this Jesus comes and makes them new again. Their eyes are wide shut until they, like John Newton, can sing:

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch; like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

That was once us, wasn’t it? We thought that we knew Him and despised what we knew. But looking through our own blind eyes, we couldn’t see Him at all. Then, something like scales, fell from our eyes (Acts 9:18). We were once Saul, until he gave us a new name like Paul. We loved our sin as chains immersed us like weeds upon a beautiful garden. 

The spiritual plane is full of great testimonies. Drug addicts that flushed their addiction, porn addicts that burned their vice, adulterers that reconciled, and drunks that went dry. All because of the name above all names. But what about us who are the remnant? What about those who cannot gain victory? Who wrestle with the flesh? Who question our salvation? Who grow weary asking questions that have no answers?

It’s all about the chains. Once the name of Jesus resonated through our souls, shattering our old grayed out selves and bidding the glorious light through the cracks, our chains were broken. They were shattered if you will. They were nothing more than a mess of metal lying upon where our dead selves once cast a shadow. However, for those of us who are still bound in our minds, we return like a dog to its vomit (Proverbs 26:11). Why? Because that which should be past still tastes good, despite the fact that it makes us sick. We frantically wrap the chains back around us and struggle to hold them together with our own worn hands. Why do we do this? Are we in denial that He has freed us? Or are we addicted to the bondage? Why are we holding on to that which was defeated? That which is broken? That which His death had laid to rest? That which He said “ It is finished”? What good would it have been to Lazarus if he refused the removal of his burial wrapping? Or even if he refused to leave the tomb? But Jesus called him (John 11:43-44). He has called you to surrender that which binds you. To surrender your tomb.

Let us on this Independence Day look at ourselves. See those chains? They are broken. They rest where He touched you. They no longer have power over you. They no longer constrict. They no longer bind. You have been freed by The Way, The Life, and The Truth. Follow the Prodigal, who made the decision to arise, turn his back to the chains, and walk back to his father (Luke 15:17-20). Do not be like Lot’s wife and look back (Genesis 19:26). Do not long for the lie. Do not yearn for the death. Do not reach for anything else. Turn your eyes upon Jesus… and walk to the One who has emancipated you (Philippians 3:13-14).

Celebrate believer! You have been freed.