I'm Kelly Ann Snyder. Welcome to Living Perfectly Loved, the podcast created to encourage, equip, and inspire you to live free from fear and full of joy, secure in God's perfect love. If you're longing to stand firm in Christ amidst the storms of life with a faith deeply rooted in God's perfect love, stop anxiety and fear from stealing your joy and controlling your life, shine brightly and love fearlessly, confident in who God uniquely created and called you to be, then this faith-inspiring podcast, full of practical help and spiritual tools, is for you. You're listening to season one, episode six: Believe, Jesus is your Chain Breaker, brought to you by Living Perfectly Loved Ministries and my new book, Living Perfectly Loved: A Christian's 12-Step Journey to Freedom from the Grip of Anxiety and Fear. For all recommended resources, products, and freebies discussed in this episode, please see the notes for this episode. I'm happy to announce that in each episode this season, I will be sharing an excerpt from my book containing each of the 12 steps the Lord used to deliver me from the grip of anxiety and fear. In this way, you'll be getting a sneak peek into my book, Living Perfectly Loved. I'm so glad you've decided to join me. Subscribe to my email list today at kellyandsnyder.com and you will be kept in the loop with all book and ministry-related announcements I make, and be eligible to receive all free resources I create and share with my subscribers. Visit my website at kellyandsnyder.com to learn more about Living Perfectly Loved Ministries, including direct links to purchase my book and information that can help you take the next step forward in your faith journey. If you haven't yet listened to my podcast trailer, I'd like to invite you to do so after listening to this episode. All right, let's get started! The following is an excerpt from step five of my book, Living Perfectly Loved, titled, Believe, Jesus is Your Chain Breaker. Surrender and breakthrough go hand in hand. First we surrender. Then we experienced breakthrough. But what if you've gone through all the steps, surrendered, everything you can think of and yet true freedom feels just out of reach. I know this struggle feels overwhelming and you've been fighting the good fight. You feel the chains of oppression, refusing to shake loose and the hope you've been trying to hold on to slowly slipping away. At this point, you've probably started to wonder, where is God in all this? Fortunately God gave us a story of Paul and Silas in prison to help us understand how to remain joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer in the midst of our trials and suffering. See Romans 12 verse 12. In acts 16, verse 16 through 40, we read that these two disciples had just been severely beaten for testifying about Jesus, thrown into prison, and locked up in chains. I imagine that the prison environment would have promoted hopelessness and despair. Dark, dank, with the sound of clinking chains and groaning from fellow inmates. How is it that Paul and Silas never gave up on God? Unlike their fellow inmates, Paul and Silas were not without hope. They trusted God had a plan. Rather than give up, they began to sing. Rather than worry about their future or look to their chains in despair, Paul and Silas kept their eyes on God. They didn't sit it in their jail cell panicking, complaining, or worrying. They didn't dwell on the pain they felt or considered the horrible way they had been treated. In their time of bondage, they chose to rise above their circumstances, and believe that God was still with them and for them. As a result in a place without hope, they became a source of hope and encouragement to others. In their worship to the Lord, they gave their fellow prisoners the courage to believe that they too had a Savior who loved them. The story doesn't end there. Paul and Silas were still singing songs of praise to God with the other prisoners listening in when something miraculous happened."Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose," Acts 16, verse 26. Wow, how great is our God! Paul and Silas trusted in the faithfulness of Jesus, their Savior to break through their chains, and their faith demonstrated through praise, opened the door for God to work a miracle in their midst. They got their breakthrough. As we can clearly see from this story, there is power in our praise to usher in the presence of our Lord. What is praise, but an outward expression of our belief in Jesus Christ? By declaring our faith in Jesus to save us, through praise, I am confident we will see heaven in vade earth and God move in power on our behalf. God always works in ways that will bring about the greatest good. Not only did God deliver Paul and Silas and all the other prisoners from prison, but He allowed His breakthrough miracle power to have a ripple effect. The story continues."The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open. He drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted,'Don't harm yourself. We are all here.' The jailer called for the lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked,'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They replied,'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.' Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in the house. At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. Then immediately him and his household were baptized," Acts 16 verse 27 through 33. Incredible. When the jailer saw all the prisoner's cell doors open wide and their chains broken off, he must have believed his worst fears were coming true. He was responsible for keeping prisoners. If they had all escaped, he would be held accountable, likely paying for his error with his own life. With their chains broken off and their cell doors flung wide open, Paul and Silas could easily have made their escape without a moment's delay. Who would blame them for hightailing it out of there. Rather than leave when they had the chance. However, I believe they recognize that true freedom is found in Jesus Christ alone. Even in chains, Paul and Silas were free. They must have discerned, however, that the jailer was not. The jailer, though physically unbound, was nonetheless a captive to fear. That night, Paul and Silas were called to extend the love of Jesus to the jailer so he could be set free from his fear of death, and he and his household saved for eternity. All that was required for their deliverance was that they believe in the Lord Jesus, according to verse 31. This was his breakthrough moment. The moment God had ordained for him from before the world began to come to the knowledge and truth of Jesus Christ. The veil was removed from his eyes, and for the first time he understood the love of Jesus: the earth shaking, chain breaking, power of His perfect love. Praise the Lord! What if Paul and Silas had left prison, the moment their chains came off and the doors opened? They would have missed the opportunity for God to use them to help save the jailer and his family. How devastating that could have been. Like Paul and Silas, we are also called to submit to God's perfect timing so that the greatest good can be accomplished in and through us. Jesus came to set the jailer free from his bondage to fear, and He will set you free too. Jesus has already gone before you and cleared the path paved for your deliverance from anxiety and fear. The Bible confirms this saying,"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews two verses 14 through 15. If Jesus gave his life so that all might be saved and live free from anything that would try to keep them in bondage, then you need only believe in Him to receive your deliverance. While I don't know when or how your breakthrough will come, I do know God's promise is that He will bring you out of the darkness and break away your chains, Psalm 1 0 7 verse 14. God has not abandoned you. In His perfect timing, Jesus, our chain breaker, will break through every chain of oppression holding you in bondage to anxiety and fear so that you may live in freedom and rejoice in Him, if only you believe. The Holy Spirit will bring clarity, revealing to you any unrepented sin in your life or blocks to healing and deliverance. A small adjustment in your thinking could be all you need to finally recognize where you've allowed yourself to be led astray, if that is something that applies to you. If you need help with this, you can refer to this episode's show notes where I've provided the link to a resource that has worked wonders in my own life when it comes to praying and declaring freedom for my own deliverance. It's called,"A Biblical Guide to Spiritual Deliverance." Check it out! Don't let your struggle with anxiety and fear continue to control you or keep you in bondage. Start praising Jesus for who He is, your chain breaker. Praise Him for the breakthrough He already has planned for you and the future He has prepared for you. Believe without doubting that He has the power to rescue you and that is what He intends to do. Child of God, His grace is for you. Psalm 1 0 7 verses 10 through 16, gives us hope for the breakthrough we're longing for. It says,"Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains because they rebelled against God's commands and despised the plans the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter labor. They stumbled and there was no one to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of the darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron." Let's pray. Heavenly father, thank You for Your amazing grace. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to pay the penalty for my sin and to make a way for my freedom from anxiety and fear. I confess that I have allowed fear to control my thoughts and actions and I ask for Your forgiveness. I declare that you are Lord of my life and I choose now to put my faith in You alone. Deliver me from oppression. Rescue me from my affliction. Save me from my sin. You are my strong deliver. You are my help and my healer. You are my God. You're perfect love casts out all my fear. In you, I will overcome. Lord Jesus, go before me and break open the way. Break every chain. In the mighty name of Jesus and by the power of His blood I pray, Amen. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Living Perfectly Loved podcast. While it's true that God is love and we are perfectly loved by Him, we all struggle at times to live like this true. While we should strive to grow in Christ likeness, we can rest in knowing God loves us because of who He is, not because of who we are or anything we could ever do for Him. In Jesus Christ, we are enough! Remember, you don't have to be perfect to live perfectly loved. You have always been and will always be a completely forgiven, fully accepted, deeply loved, daughter the King. Beautiful friend, His grace is for you. Please subscribe to my podcast now and stay tuned for another episode of Living Perfectly Loved. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He shine His face on you and be gracious to you. May He turn His face toward you and give you peace, in Jesus' name.