SOME SONGS BY
CERTAIN VICTORY:

"Manacles and Dreams"

by Paul Lytle

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

Matthew 24:9

Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.

Luke 6:22

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance.

Romans 5:3

Standing still with blood upon my back
The whip cuts with narrow thread-like tracks
Then they'll starve me or put me in a box
But I will sing as they pelt me with rocks

I find that
Every step is as a running stream
I find that
Every breath is like it's new to breathe
I find that
I have meaning beyond my means
I find that
Life is made of manacles and dreams

When they take the Ten Commandments off the wall
When they push us and laugh when we fall
When they blame us for the troubles of the land
That's the time we will sing as we stand

I find that
Every step is as a running stream
I find that
Every breath is like it's new to breathe
I find that
I have meaning beyond my means
I find that
Life is made of manacles and dreams

I find that
Every step is as a running stream
I find that
Every breath is like it's new to breathe
I find that
I have meaning beyond my means
I find that
Life is made of manacles and dreams

*          *          *

Heavenly Father, keep my eyes upon You, no matter how the world seeks to distract me. Give me the strength to never give up the fight for Your will. Amen.

One of the greatest testimonies for Christ is when a Christian remains joyful during persecution. I wonder at the message we (and I am specifically speaking of Americans here) are giving to the unsaved when we complain about the lack of prayer in school, or how the Ten Commandments are being taken off of court houses, or when they blame "God" for starting all of the wars.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible comes from Acts 16, where we learn of a time when Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Phillipi. They are flogged, of course, and thrown into the prison, where they sing and preach. Then a great earthquake comes and opens all of the doors, but they remain there, using the occasion to convert a guard.

What I love about the story is not the flogging, but the singing. It is not the great earthquake that I love, but that they stayed in their prison, ready to use the situation for good.

Likewise, it is not the verses in this song that are important, but the refrain. The verses set the scene, but the point is our reaction to it. This world will always be a prison for us, thus the manacles, but we are made for a different world.

When I see the people on the news who complain about the Ten Commandments being taken off monuments, I must wonder if they are touches any lives with their complaints. Yes, we are being persecuted. But I think our reaction should be to just put them back up joyfully. And when they come down, we put them back up, again and again, completely futilely, until the people out there finally begin to understand that the display doesn’t matter one bit. The monument, or whatever, is the flogging. The singing is what really matters.

So how do we do that? How can we possibly get to a place where we are being flogged and singing at the same time? Christ is the only way. We can only sing for joy when we have lost everything here when we know we have something far greater on the other side. In Christ, all else becomes as nothing. Not even our lives will matter any more when we have put our full trust in the Lord.

-Paul

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