Jesus Showed Up At The Jail Last Night

Jesus Showed Up At The Jail Last Night

Last night, John - my 24 year old son - and I - along with others from my church - joined other chaplains from across the metroplex to minister to the inmates at the Tarrant County Corrections Institute in Fort Worth, Texas. Both John and I had a most wonderful time in Jesus.

Another chaplain volunteer and I were assigned to a pod on the 13th floor to minister to the women in the C section. Susie - whom I have had the privilege of accompanying before - asked if I would like to join together with her. We did this before and had a glorious time. I said - "Yes." She asked if I would teach the lesson, and she would interject comments along the way. I gladly agreed.

A group of nine women gathered around us to study Ephesians 4. As I began to teach the lesson, I noticed that one of the inmates to my far right was wiping her eyes and crying. I knew that Jesus was speaking through me to her and touching her heart about some things.

We got through most of the chapter when I noticed that my time was almost up. I immediately wrapped things up quickly before closing in prayer. But before doing that, I asked them if a few of them could very quickly tell me how this lesson impacted their lives. In other words, how would what was said effect their lives? What were they going to do with the Word that was just preached? How would they apply it to their everyday life?

One woman said that it stirred her to greater prayer - prayer to seek God for the purpose that He had for her life - for she certainly knew that it wasn't to spend the rest of her life in jail.

Then something very amazing happened at this point. The woman who was crying throughout the Bible Study began to talk. At least she tried to. She started to explain how she had gotten away from the Lord and then stopped. She could not talk for crying. She finally got out that she had once known the Lord but got away from Him. Now, she wanted to get back with Him. I repeated her request to repent of her backsliding and to fully surrender her life to Jesus to make sure that I understood her well. She assured me that this is what she wanted to do.

I then turned to all of the eight ladies(one inmate had just taken medications before I came and had to leave because she couldn't stay awake) and asked if there was anyone else who needed forgiveness or to fully surrender their lives to the Lord. All eight shot up their hands.

At the beginning of the lesson, I had asked if they were all in right standing with the Lord. They sheepishly said they were.

But after hearing the Word preached, the conviction of the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they realized that they were not totally right.

We all bowed our heads, and I led them in a prayer asking for forgiveness of their sins and also for Jesus to become the Lord of their lives.

After the prayer, I began scrambling to get all of my material together to get out of there. The guards will ask you to leave if you overstay your time.

But I was interrupted with the woman to my immediate left crying. She had big tears falling down her cheeks while she related how she was experiencing a burning sensation in her chest area. I told her that that was the Holy Spirit ministering to her. I related how before coming up to minister, we had gathered together with the other ministers and had sung the song - "The Presence of the Lord is here." Another inmate then made this comment - "There is a Presence here alright. I can feel Him very strongly in our midst." Two of the other women seemed to physically shake when she said that. I then happened to look around and the woman who originally asked for prayer to come back to the Lord was crying and the woman immediately to my right had big tears coming down her cheeks.

Jesus was in our midst - ministering to these ladies in such a beautiful way! Oh! How awesome it was!

All of the women thanked us, wished us well, and asked us to please come back next week. They were so uplifted in the Lord. They were calling out to us and waving to us as we left.

My son John was assigned to the old jail which is a rough place. He had the opportunity to minister to four inmates. He prayed with two of them for their families. But the other two - he ministered to them out of God's Word.

The first man claimed to be a Christian, but was struggling in the areas of his mind and mouth. He had trouble believing God... figuring everything in his mind...and controlling his mouth(stop cursing). Before going to the jail, the Lord impressed on John to preach on the mind from Ephesians 4. Here was his golden opportunity. This inmate - who is soon to get out - was so uplifted by John's delivery of the Word. He related how he never thought of the verses before as he presented them. He gained such understanding from John's preaching and teaching.

The last inmate that John ministered to also was getting out soon. He claimed to be a Christian, but was still struggling with the desire for drugs. John was able to minister to him about the mind from Ephesians 4. He also told him to watch his conversation for his tongue - according to James 3 - would determine the direction of his life. This inmate related to John how all of the inmates talk all day long of getting high. This was a real revelation to this guy about the tongue - meaning that what you talk about determines the direction that you will go. John stirred this man up by telling him that if he would live for God, then Jesus - according to John 1:12 - would give him the power to never come back to jail. The man received the Word of the Lord. Hallelujah!

Please pray with us for these precious inmates. Many of them are getting out soon, and they face many fears.

One woman whose name is Kim is getting out this weekend. She is going to try to get plugged into my church. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

I cannot tell you how much I love these women in the Lord. I know that John would say the same for the men. Every time that we go in to minister to them, we always feel such an overwhelming love for each one of them.

Thank you for allowing me to relate to you about our glorious time at the jail.

Oh, Saints of God, let's reach out to the lost! There is nothing more exciting than this!

May God give each of us a great harvest of souls!

In Jesus' Name,

Connie

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