Prison or Temple?

Acts 5:17-25

Peter had been thrown in jail for preaching the gospel. While he was in jail, the Lord told him to come out and go into the temple to preach to the people the words of this life (Acts 5:20). Peter could have stayed in prison for many years, but Lord called him out: just how he is calling many out today. And just like Peter, you have the choice to stay in prison, or heed God’s call and come into the temple.

The life of a prisoner is very horrible and terrible life. In Proverbs 13:15, the bible says that the way of the transgressor is hard. Many people portray that they’re having fun in sin, or that they’re happy in sin, but they don’t show you those sleepless nights, or when they can’t bear to look at that image they see the mirror. They just want you to see when the party lights are on, but when the lights go off, reality sets back in, then it’s back to the same ol miserable life they had before the party started.

Prison means a state of confinement or captivity; that’s exactly how the devil has you when you are out in sin. A prisoner has no privacy, the devil comes in as he pleases or he can decide to leave, and you have no power to stop him. The things that the devil gives you as temporary joy are just like prison food: it only lasts for a short time, just enough for you to want more.

The devil destroys people progressively. He something in your path that attracts you or is pleasing to you, and he will watch to see if it will affect you at all. Then he sends it again on a bigger scale so when it comes it will not only get your attention, but also hold it, and if you don’t realize what’s going on right then and there, the next time it comes, the devil will have you in his bag. All the devil needs you to do is just move one inch to make a kill.

When you are in bondage, your will is actually taken from you, meaning you are forced to do things you don’t want to. When you sin you are actually giving the devil control of you; it’s an exchange of will for sin. In prison they have something called recess. You get out of your cell and go outside and exercise, play ball, or lift weights, but that only lasts for a while. That is exactly how the devil does a person in sin. He let’s them have a little fun, but at the end of the day, it’s back to bondage.

There is good news for everyone that is in prison, and that is: you can be free! When people know that they are about to get out of prison in a couple days, they start getting ready, just as Joseph did when he went to go see Pharaoh. The bible says that Joseph “shaved himself, and changed his raiment.” This is how you must prepare when you come into the Temple. You can’t just come in there any way you want to.

Acts 12:5-10.
God wants everyone that is in bondage to come out, but once you start on your way out, don’t let anything stop you. Peter was on his way out, but he ran into an iron gate that stopped him from getting to the city. The devil will put an iron gate right in front of your face just as soon you even think about coming out, and that iron gate can be anything: a girlfriend, boyfriend, music, your own desires, and even 
drinking. The devil knows the thing that affects you the most and he 
can either make you or break you by it. But most people don’t understand that when they get saved, the thing that the devil kept on bringing is not even going to be a problem anymore! That is one of the benefits of salvation!

God is calling everyone out of bondage, and He wants them to 
come into the Holy of Holies. Once you are there, life begins. When prisoners come out, they never want to go back into that place again in their whole life, and that’s how it should be when we get saved. We should not want to go back on God.

Remember when Jesus healed the man when the waters were troubled? He told him “sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee.” That thought should always be in our mind when the devil tries to make us go back on God. We should be afraid of what is waiting for us as soon as we step on the devil’s territory! You maybe used to drink a little bit, but now when you go back to sin, you might become an alcoholic, and just go on a downward hill from there. That is what Jesus was talking about when he said a worse thing, meaning it’s going to be ten times worse than before, and it will never get better. So our mind-set should be that we want to be with God all the way to the end.

In conclusion, I believe that the only way people are going to come out is if we go out and get them. Isaiah 61:1, God appointed Isaiah to go preach to the people and bring them out of prison. Jesus told his disciples to go preach unto all the world (Mark 16:15), and the disciples did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They had to hit the streets and tell people about the gospel. So remember: if you want to see more people come out, it’s only going to come through our effort. Be Encouraged.

By: Marcus Sanabria