I was pretty excited to get back to the jail. I have been gone away for a few weeks but I am now back on track with my jail ministry schedule.
I prayed about which area of the jail I should minister to and really felt impressed a few days prior that the new area of the jail that houses some of the misdemeanors was really going to be a focal point of this ministry. There are some excellent prison ministries out there, but I feel very specifically to minister to the local jails and to inmates who will be re-entering our area. I feel like this is a ministry that is supposed to have an apostolic scope (apostolic meaning a ministry that will have an effect on a geographical area). Apostolic because the inmates who leave this facility, and the other facilities we will soon minister to, will be entering the surrounding area and into local churches. That is why Ambassadors are so important....but Ill get off my soap box, lol.
I walked into the new area of the jail, chose a group of men, and went into the ministry room. As they filed in the door I noticed two men in particular who both made sure they shook my hand and looked me in the eyes. They both had firm grips. This may not seem important but when you see a man in that place who is confident, with his head held high, there is a reason for it. And I felt like the Lord was their reason.
I sat down and hadn't said a word and five men were literally in tears. I was thinking "That extra quite time must have payed off" when one of the men said to me "We have been praying all day for a minister to come. I just turned in the request form to have a minister and then we were called out to church. You don't know how much that means to us." Its in moments like that that you really become humble before God and appreciate that God goes before you and sets things up, like dominoes, to all work together.
I opened with asking for prayer requests and invited someone to open us up in prayer and one of the gentlemen who had shook my hand did. He did such a great job that when he was finished I asked him if he would pray over these men everyday in the barracks just like that. He smiled and blushed and said he would.
We had worship and the men held hands and closed their eyes as I asked them just to hear God. The teaching was from John 10:1-4, Is 43:1-3. I asked the men How many of them thought that if you just knew how to hear God that you believe He would speak to you everyday? I was excited when every hand but two went up, about 15 men.
The title was "An Invitation from God". The Holy Spirit directed me to teach that when God asks us to do something he is not just giving us an order. Submission and authority are key issues for most of these men. I let them know that when God asks us to do something it is really an invitation to join God in what he has already done and is doing.
I then explained that John 10:3 and Isaiah 43:13 says that God called us by our name. That we belong to Him. I really felt that God wanted me to impress on them that we are His possession. Not like we posses a car or a toaster oven, but as we would posses a child. We are simply His. From Him, like Him, and loved by Him for no other reason other than we are His.
One of the two men from earlier told me that his wife was a preacher and that when he was on the phone with her earlier she said that he could help minister to these men while he was there. He was grateful that God loved him and that he could serve others in the jail.
We then talked about humility and trust. At some point we MUST realize that we cant fix things on our own. For life to work the way it was designed to we must trust One who is bigger, wiser, kinder, and stronger than we are. I told them that life's obstacles are just opportunities for us to trust God and be loved by Him.
Finally in verse 4 of John 10 "He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him" I explained that whatever God has asked you to do, He is not asking you to do it alone. When God invites you to go somewhere in your life its because He is already there. He is asking you to join Him, to reap victories that He has sown for you.
I asked the men if they had seen the Lion King. We talked about when, in the movie, Simba had went to the elephant grave yard, a place forbidden to the future king, and his father had to come rescue him. We talked about the scene where Mufasa calls for Simba and he goes to his father and while he is walking he steps into his father's footprint. Its at this moment that Simba sees how small a lion he is, and how great a lion his father is. The point of this illustration was to show that wherever you go, so long as you are going where He invites you to go, you are following in the footsteps of a God much greater than yourself. One who can face your enemies unafraid, destroy them, then invite you to join in the victory. And that is what it is to receive direction from the Lord.
If you pray for this ministry pray that these men's focus will be on God, not on their circumstances. That the hope of God would fill their hearts and that they could change the lives of others because of it. There are so many who want to help those around them. Pray for an anointing on those lives.
Thank you and God bless.
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