Half-A-Decade

I recently completed five years of being incarcerated. Five years ago, because of my sins, my comfort was taken away from me. My freedom was taken away from me. My life was taken away from me. Five years ago, my sins were unveiled and my hypocrisy was revealed. Five years ago, I decided that I was done running away from Him and decided to run to Him. If someone would have told me that five years ago I would be in prison for the next 5 years, I would have fainted. When I had woken back up, I would have said, "nothing good can happen in those 5 years." Little did I know that my God had different plans. When He said in Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present outcome”, He really meant it.

The last five years haven’t been exactly the most luxurious or the most comfortable years. It hasn’t been a shower of good news. It hasn’t been a season of all happiness and all smiles. But it has been a reminder of faithfulness. Not my faithfulness, because I have fallen short many times. It has been a reminder of His faithfulness. His faithfulness has been a strong tower for me (Prov 18:10). His faithfulness has stood strong no matter how devastating the storm. The last years have not been what I expected as they have been the most fulfilling years of my life. I have been stripped off of my pride but been given inexpressible peace. My worldly comforts have been taken away so that I can receive comfort from God to comfort others (2 Cor 1:4). I have been sorrowful, yet rejoicing (2 Cor 6:10). I have lost my freedom, but I have found rest in His perfect will. My old life has died, and Christ Himself has become my life (Col 3:4). In the last five years, what I have gained eternally outweighs what I lost in this world, because I gained Christ.

I used to listen to the song, "Bless the broken road" by Rascal Flatts (Don’t judge me). In my mind the destination of that song was always a girl. That I would find the one, no matter what I went through and how broken I was. But a few years ago, I downloaded the same song, but this time by a Christian group named "Selah." I still remember the first time I listened to that song in prison. A realization became crystal clear to me, and I teared up. I realized that I was wrong this whole time. The destination of the song was never a girl or anything this world could offer. The destination was Jesus. In that instant I went looking for that old hole in my heart that has caused me so much pain and hurt, but I couldn’t find it anymore. Instead I found an overflow of grace, forgiveness and the love of my Lord. My emptiness was filled with Jesus, and I realized that I was no longer lost or blind. With my heart filled with sorrow and gratitude, I asked for forgiveness and gave thanks to Him. This whole time He waited patiently for me while I impatiently made a chaos out of my life. 

“But you just smile and take my hand. You’ve been there, you understand.” – Rascal Flatts
Isaiah 42:3 says, “A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick he will not sniff out.” This is one of the promises that I have seen being fulfilled in my own life. I was a bruised reed, but Jesus healed me. I sought the world and found emptiness. 5 years ago, the Lover of My Soul sought me when I did not think I was worth searching for, and found me. Now my life is hidden with His (Col 3:3). 

In my finiteness I made a fool out of myself, but in His infinite love He is transforming this fool into His disciple. God is Able (Hebrews 7:25)

Misplaced Isaacs

While in prison, I have committed myself to taking care of my health. I pledged to work out regularly and eat healthy. I have been doing good on my promise. I have been doing so good that I even worked out on Christmas Day. I was probably doing a little too good, and God had some different plans.

A few days ago, I woke up with a little bit of fever and fatigue. I did not think much of it. The next day I woke up with one giant pimple on my face and a few bumps on my body. I still did not think much of it and kept doing what I normally do. The next day I woke up with more giant pimples and bumps all over my body begging to be scratched. I was down with chickenpox! I could not work out anymore and my hunger was gone. I went into a mild depression. Two of the things that I prioritized were out of my reach, and I felt like all the progress I made was gone.  In a way, I felt useless. Then God met me in Genesis chapter 21 and 22. 

In chapter 21, Abraham and Sarah just had Isaac, and needless to say, they were very happy. They had been waiting for Isaac for a long time now. He was the fulfillment of God’s promise to them. Then it says that when Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a great feast. But during that feast, Sarah saw Ishmael (Isaac’s stepbrother) mocking Isaac. So she asked Abraham to kick Ishmael and his mother Hager out. And Abraham did so. Did Sarah blow this whole thing out of proportion? Ishmael was probably just giving Isaac some little-brother treatment. Did Sarah elevate Isaac to a place where he did not belong?

In chapter 22, God asks Abraham to take his promised son whom he loves to be sacrificed as a burnt offering. So Abraham took Isaac for the journey. While they were on their way, Isaac asked Abraham where the lamb for the offering was. Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb.” After they reached the mountain, Abraham bound Isaac on the altar, and he was about to slay his own son when the Lord stopped him.  Instead, God provided a ram, caught in a nearby thicket by its horns, for the sacrifice. Why did God do all this? Did he want to test Abraham’s faith? Probably. Was it a picture of God’s own Son and His sacrifice? Yes. But what God taught me this time was this: maybe this happened so that Abraham would not put his Isaac in the place of his God. We have all had our Isaacs, something we have longed for, prayed for, waited for. We cherish our Isaacs that God has granted us, but unfortunately, very often we also misplace our Isaacs. We try to find identities in them. We try to find fulfillment in them. We try to find our value in them. We try to find our god in them. We put our Isaacs in the place of our God. Maybe God was showing Abraham that obeying Him was more important than the life of his beloved son. Maybe God was showing Abraham that Isaac is the gift, but He is the Giver. 

I have misplaced my Isaacs more often than I can remember. I am ashamed to confess that I have given higher priority to this world than to my obedience to God. I have tried to find my joy in the things of this world. It is funny because the very things that I thought would bring me joy only left me feeling more and more miserable. I have tried to find fulfillment in the blessings rather than the Provider. I have loved the gift more than the Giver. I have dug for myself broken cisterns that could hold no water, and in the process, I have forsaken the Living Water (Jeremiah 2:13).

But by the grace of God, I was bought with a price and redeemed. He gave me this righteousness and took my cross. He took my broken cistern and gave me an everlasting well. The life I now live is not my own anymore. The life I now live belongs to the Lamb who died for it. 

 

Sometimes we may have to walk up the mountain in Moria, with our Isaac as an offering, to meet the Lamb.

Lonely Places

    I have a Hispanic friend in Christ here who is 64 years old and is in love with playing soccer. Though he is a little slow, he still outweighs us in Skills every time we go outside to play. He is also a diabetic. A few weeks ago, he was not feeling great. Normally he stays in good shape, but that day he was sweating and acting differently. He went and told the officers how he was feeling, just to hear them say to put in a medical request. Ten minutes later he had a stroke. He was taken to the infirmary. Thankfully his life was spared but something changed. When he walked in the barracks we all noticed the change, the left side of his face was now drooping. His speech was very unclear, and his left eye nearly shut. When I first saw him my heart hurt, and I was angry. I went to God, and asked him to heal that man. My mind was filled with questions, and my heart filled with desperate cries. A couple of days later God reminded me of a story.

    In Mark 1: 40–45, Jesus healed a man with leprosy. At that time, the lepers stayed in lonely places, castrated from society. They were labeled unclean and were not allowed in any sort of gatherings. Babies cannot live without touch, yet lepers were forced to. People thought lepers were cursed by God, but in the story the leper comes to Jesus, breaking all the social codes and asking Jesus to heal him. Jesus was compassionate.  He reached out his hand and touched the man and made him clean.

    I read the story in this prison cell, and I see myself as this leper who used to roam around the lonely places. I committed a crime and now I am castrated from society. I have been living without the touch of my loved ones. Some people consider us prisoners cursed by God. Sometimes even we consider ourselves cursed. But Jesus reached out his hand and touch the man. Why? I know that Jesus can heal without touching. He can heal by words and even just by a thought. So why did he touch the man? Because this leper was starving for love just like my brothers and me. Jesus did not touch the leper because his body needed it, but because his soul needed it. So often I have longed for physical freedom and healing but ignored the touch of Jesus. Often, I wanted God to move in my time so that when he didn’t, I counted his silence as his absence. So often I have been wrong. I prayed for my friend’s healing, but it has not happened yet.  Instead, a different kind of healing took place. He has been reading his Bible more. He has been praying more. His talk and smile are different now because he talks about Jesus more. 

    Being in captivity I have experienced similar things to leprosy. Yet when I asked for physical freedom and healing, God gave me much more. The day I got arrested, I promised God that I would follow Him wholeheartedly if He would set me free. He saw through me and knew that I was lying. If He would have physically saved me that day, then I would have been eternally lost. Since He kept me lost in the jail, I found Jesus and gained eternity. In this Lonely Place, Jesus reached out and touched me. Because of Him, I do not roam around lonely places anymore. Now I tell people how Jesus touched me and swapped places with me by taking my Lonely Places and lavished me with His freedom. 

    In verse 37, Peter says something profound that resonates with any and every person that walked this earth, “everyone is looking for you.” The life I used to live was filled with immorality, hypocrisy and deceit. I was trying to fill the emptiness that only Jesus can fill. In my inmost being I was looking for Jesus all along. But now, “I found the one my soul loves” (Songs of Solomon 3:4).

 

    “Without You, Jesus, my soul flies like a bird without a nest.”  - My Hispanic soccer-loving friend.

Remember Him

 

A few weeks ago, one of my friends went in front of the parole board. It was his third parole hearing this time around. He had already done three years’ worth of denials. He was very confident that they will let him go this time because he has not been in any trouble in the last three years. We were all cheering for him on the day right before the results came. Another two years’ worth of denial. I just stood beside him not saying much. But then I asked if he was doing okay. He said, ‘No, it feels like a death in the family. No matter how much you try you couldn’t save them.’

 

The same evening, I came to my cell with a heavy heart and a muddled mind. I opened my Bible to what I was supposed to read that night. It was Mark 15. The crucifixion of Jesus. In this chapter the decision has been made to crucify Jesus after He has been flogged. Then they made Him carry His own Cross to the place called Golgotha. And they crucified Him. But what caught my eye was that before they crucified Him they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh but He did not take it. He did not take the drink that would help him to dull the senses and could make it easy to endure the cross. He was offered a little less of the cross but He did not take it. Instead he drank the full cup of wrath and experienced all of the cross. 

 

‘They offered Him wine mixed with myrrh and he received it not.’

Mark 15:23

I found myself going back two thousand years to this place called Golgotha. My pain and the tears in my eyes blurred my vision so I could not see Jesus clearly. My vision cleared when the tears rolled away and I saw Jesus on the cross. Still, I thought to myself, He could not really understand all that I have been through. Then suddenly I see this cup underneath His cross. It is full of wine and myrrh and it sits rejected. And I keep staring at that rejected cup. It is like the answer to all my problems. I lift up my face toward Him and ask, ‘Why did you not take it?’ He answers, ’So that you will know that I went through everything you went through and so much more until it was finished.’ Then I asked, ‘what about the time when I was drenched in my own sin?’ My Jesus still lifted and nailed to the cross and the cup still rejected. ‘What about the time I felt lonely and forsaken?’ My Jesus still lifted and nailed to the cross and the cup still rejected. ‘What about the day I entered the razor wired walls?’ My Jesus still lifted and nailed to the cross and the cup still rejected. I ask, ‘What if I never come out of prison?’ My Jesus still lifted and nailed to the cross and the cup still rejected.

‘They offered Him wine mixed with myrrh and he received it not.’

Mark 15:23.

I can often go throughout my day forgetting what Jesus did for me on the cross. That is why in Luke 22:19, The Lord commands us to remember Him because He knows that we are forgetful people. Though the bones of my Savior can never be found, I have found His heart. In this passing life, I have come to know His eternal love for me. In this momentary darkness of suffering, sorrow and pain, His cross over-shadows all and the cup still sits rejected. And now I sit in this prison cell drinking from the cup of his grace. Overflowing is the cup of His Grace.

 

“...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. Hebrews 12:1-3

Chasing Pools

A week ago, I was sitting in my chair enjoying some music and not wanting any human interaction. Then suddenly, through my peripheral vision, I saw a friend of mine coming towards me. (In my defense, when you live in a barracks with 50 men, sometimes it’s hard to get some space to gather your thoughts.) I tried to act like I didn’t see him even though he pulled his chair really close to me. I guess he didn’t see my sign that read, “No human interactions please.” Then after him staring at me for a while, I gave up and asked him the reason for existing in my space. He had a question for me, a serious one. 

He asked, “What if the only reason I am a Christian in here is because I do not have access to the temptations of the free world? What if I am a Christian in here just to get by?”

A few months ago, I was struggling with the same question. Before being locked up, I was a hypocrite. And I was such a good hypocrite that even I did not know that I was one. I had successfully deceived myself (1 Cor 3:18). I was asking God to show me whether my heart was sincere towards Him or if I was still being deceived by myself. That is when God reminded me of a question He asked a man like me 2000 years ago, “Do you want to get well?”

 

In John 5, Jesus was by a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. There were a lot of disabled people by that pool. They believed that if they would get to that pool at a specific time, they would be healed of their disease or disability. Jesus saw a man there who had been an invalid for 38 years, and he simply asked him, “Do you want to get well?” The man replied that he had no one to put him in the pool, and the days when he tried to get in, others would pass him and get in the pool before him. Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” And just like that the man was healed.

I was just like the disabled person, a spiritually crippled man sitting in his own filth for so long. Jesus saw me lying there, learned about my condition, and then asked me, “Do you want to get well?” And when he asked, I pointed towards a muddy pool and showed Him my helplessness. He asked, “Do you want to get well?” I answered, “If you can just help me get a better future.” He asked, “Do you want to get well?” I answered, “If you can just help me out to get a lighter sentence.” He asked again, “Do you want to get well?” I answered, “If you can just help me get out of prison.” Is it possible that my pool, my helplessness, captivity and freedom, all these things have nothing to do with me being well? There is a song we sing here called “Son of David” by Ghostship. It is probably our favorite song because we get to shout when we sing the chorus. There is a line in that song that says, “the blind won’t gain their sight by opening their eyes.” All my life, I thought that I could see the pool I needed right before me, but it took God to show me real healing.  

It never ceases to amaze me how good God has been throughout my entire life. How He has carried me. How He meets me in a prison cell. How He is running toward me while I am running toward Him. “The life I now live in the body, I live by Faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

I have often tried to show God the solutions to my problems. I have often tried to chase various pools to satisfy the deepest desires of my heart. And every time it has left me hurt and dry. But God has shown me this: that I will find my wellness in the precious words of Jesus Christ. He has told me, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  Now, I will no longer be found sitting around a pool near the Sheep Gate.

 

“WHEN I WAS FREE, I WAS CHAINED,

BUT WHEN I BECAME CHAINED,

JESUS SET ME FREE!”

 

JESUS

I sit in my cell today feeling disheartened. I don’t even know why I feel this way. Like David, I am questioning my soul; ‘Why are you so discouraged?’ I ask myself, is it my past? Is it my future? Is it my present? I do not understand why I feel this way. I feel broken and lonely. What shall I do? Where shall I go? 

 

I met a guy here who was on fire for God the last time he was in prison. He said he read the Bible and did prayer circles all the time. But when he got out, the first thing he did was to throw away his Bible in the trash can. Even as the Bible hit the bottom, he said to himself, ‘I probably will be back.’  Sure enough, he did make it back!

 

In my past, when I tried to trek on the roads that I shouldn’t have been on, I learned that those roads led to nothingness. When I tried to run away from God, I was running away to emptiness. In John 6, Jesus feeds the five thousand and walks on the water. In the same chapter, He also gives his disciples a tough teaching about the cost of following Him. Because it was a hard to follow through the hard teaching, many deserted Him. Only the twelve remained. “‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked.  Peter answered, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’”

 

In this exchange, I grasp the desperation that Peter had. In a way he was saying, ‘I have already tried all that the world has to offer. And I have learned that It all leads to Oblivion.’ In the same way, right now my soul is downcast and my past seems a little too close and my future seems faint. And in the midst of that, Jesus asks me ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ In my despondency and my brokenness, all I can say is, ‘Lord, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life.’

 

Through all this I have learnt that without Jesus, no matter where I am at, I am living to die. But with Jesus I am dying to live. In the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, no one satisfies my soul like my redeemer and my savior JESUS CHRIST does.

‘We have come to believe and to know that YOU are the HOLY ONE OF GOD.’

John 6:69

Darkest Days, Greatest Light

 

Today is April 4^th and it is Easter Sunday.  This past Friday was Good Friday.  But in prison every day feels the same. We are stuck in one place and have the same unchanged view. We wear the same colorless clothes and are always surrounded by the unending concrete walls. It feels like we are stuck in a perpetual Black Saturday.

 

When I was first arrested and went to jail, a few hours in the jail was enough for me to say, “Yup, I am not coming to this place again.” But shockingly, since my incarceration, I have seen countless men who keep coming back to jail after getting out.  I met this one guy who came back in jail and got out six times in only 11 months.  Let me tell you, they don’t come back because they love this place.  But still they keep coming back to a place they hate. It all just sounds like a hopeless Black Saturday.

 

I have heard the saying “Time heals” countless times, but I would gently like to disagree with that. If the saying was true then the percentage of recidivism would be low. There are people who have spent decades in prison but come back to this place after a month of freedom. I have met men who are in their fifties who have spent more time in prison than in the free world, and are still coming back to prison for the 8^th time.  Seems like time itself is incomplete in bringing healing.

 

For what I have experienced, time itself doesn’t eternally heal anybody. It can bring fleeting contentment but not long-term. The only way time can heal is if it is spent with Someone who is Himself the Healer. We cannot expect eternal restoration to come through time if it’s not spent with Jesus, both in prison and in the free world. 

If I was doing my time in prison without Jesus, then no matter how much of my life I spend here, I will still be lost. That’s where most of the prison population is right now. They have neither experience the death of Jesus on a Friday nor have the hope for a resurrected King on a Sunday. They are just stuck in a colorless and hopeless Saturday.

 

Instead, I know a Christian man here who says, ‘I am free, I am just waiting for them to release me.’ He has been in prison for 30 years. He became a Christian when an officer shared the Gospel with him and since then he has been spiritually free. I can tell you about how so many people have wasted their lives here, but I’d rather tell you about how Jesus uses our hopeless and defeated Saturdays to usher us into the Glorious and Victorious Sunday. 

 

Psalm 88 is one of the most dismal chapters in the Bible, and it is also one of my most cherished ones. In this chapter, the author is going through a challenging phase and is deserted. It’s a gloomy chapter with a despondent conclusion. But through the dark times, the author cries out to the Lord three times. The darkness does not drive us away from God, rather it makes us desperate for Him. 

 

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

2 Coronthians 7:10

 

Jesus uses our Saturdays “to show that this all-surpassing power is from God.” Only Jesus can turn our arrest into a rescue mission.

 

I wrote this on the day of my sentencing: “Thank you for reminding me of how Great of a God You are. Even in the day of dread and shame, you walked with me. While I confessed and asked for forgiveness for my sins out loud in the court, you set a table for me. How amazing are you that even in the day of my suffering, You brought Yourself Glory. You brought a smile instead of shame. I once was blind but now I see. Where You go, I’ll go and where You stay, I’ll stay.”

 

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. 
To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Isaiah 61:1,3

 

 

 

 

White as Snow

It's Valentine’s Day and nobody here cares much about it. We are all acting tough and hardcore, but hurting from inside since we do not have our loved ones close by. Then suddenly someone yells excitedly, ‘It’s snowing! The snowflakes are huge!’ We all run to our cells and try to look at the snow through the little window that we are provided. It looks different than what it typically looks like. It looks New!

 

I’ve been incarcerated for couple of years now. Throughout this time, the view outside has always stayed unchanged – dull green and brown with razor wires (there might be other colors but I am color blind). When it rains it’s disheartening because I love rain, but I am unable to touch even a drop. Every now and then, I will see a few birds flying around and sometimes I envy them for the freedom they have.  But today was entirely different. It’s snowing, and the snow is sticking to the ground. The ground that used to be dull green, brown and dry is now white and untarnished. The cells that were dark and dingy are now beaming with a glow because of the light that is reflecting the snow and entering the cells through the small window. After looking at the scenery for an hour, I barely remember what it used to look like before. The snow has even made the razor wires look decent. I wonder if that is how Jesus looks at us.

 

Before I was incarcerated, I was living in a prison of my own making. It was made up of hypocrisy, hurts, lies, hate, immorality, double mindedness, etc.  Even though I appeared to be free, every bone in my body was chained. I had no purpose and all I wanted to do was hide.  My life looked like a dull green-brown, dry prison ground. But then during my hardest time, SOMEONE put me back together.

 

But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer.
    For he gets their attention through adversity.

Job 36:15

 

God uses our own suffering to rescue us and gets our attention toward Him. When I arrived at the penitentiary, God used that physical distress to liberate me from my spiritual misery. And for sure, I can say that being spiritually free while physically captive is much better than being spiritually enslaved while physically free. My Lord and my redeemer Jesus, met me at my lowest point and unshackled me through His blood. He renewed my heart and gave me a purpose. He gave me a Freedom that can never be taken. He took my past and made it white as snow. So now when He looks at me, My Father sees me as blameless, untarnished because of the work of my Savior on the Cross.  He gave me a future that leads to Him. Jesus gave me Himself.  Now when I look at my scars, it no longer reminds me of my pain and sufferings but instead it reminds me of the love and sacrifice of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

He made me White as Snow.

 

“Though your sins are like scarlet,
    I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
    I will make them as white as wool.”

Isaiah 1:18

 

One Christmas Morning

It is not often that I cry but today was different. It was 12 am of Christmas day when we all came out of our cells to wish each other a Merry Christmas. Some people were asleep in their cells so my Mexican friend and I decided to go in their cells and woke them up with the song, 'Feliz Navidad'. After that the Hispanic group and I planned on staying up all night drinking coffee. While we were doing that in the cell, some guys joined us in the cell and said thay wanted to sing Christmas songs. We gave some of them coffee too and brought some hymnals and started singing Christmas songs.

 

I have been in worship bands and also been a worship leader in the free world where most of the songs we sang were in key and it sounded fairly good. This was not anything like that. This was a group of convicts packed in a small cell who were geeked up on coffee, who couldn't hit a single note right. We were all laughing, giggling and singing loudly the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In That moment, God gently took my attention and showed me something. He showed me Heaven. He showed me a group of misfits, outcasts and sinners dressed all in white intent on giving God their best through their singing in a cold cell, sitting on a toiler and a sink. He showed me a group of people though we couldn’t hit a single note right, we all sang in one accord. He showed me the meaning of 'sorrowful yet Rejoicing.' In that moment, God showed me heaven. 

 

Then suddenly, God drew my attention to a question that shook my heart. "Who is pleading for them?"

 

In that cell, if one would’ve summed up the total amount of time due to the prison, it would’ve been over 100 years. You see, so many who are in prison are forgotten. They are forgotten by the world and even their own families. I know that because I get mail from my family and friends and they don’t. When I call home, they don’t. When I get ready for a video visit, they do not. 

"Who is pleading for them?"

 

There are many men here who have more than two decades left to do in prison. When I see them, I see the hurt in their eyes. When they are near me, I can feel the heaviness of their hearts. When they walk, I see them taking every step feeling defeated. We want to be known, not as criminals but just as people who have made some mistakes. We want to be called by our first names, not by a number. We long to be loved again. My friends here and I have made a mistake and now are paying for it. But these cells can get really cold and lonely. Every brick surrounds us with the guilt of our past sins and beats you bloody with it. Sometimes the end of the tunnel seems so far away. 

Who is pleading for us?

 

If you are reading this letter, I am not asking you to donate money to a prison association or any other thing, but I am asking you to go to the Throne-room of God that is covered in the blood of Jesus and plead with God on behalf of the prisoners as one pleads for a friend (Job 16:21). Plead not only for the physical freedom but also for the spirit of the Lord to stir the hearts of the people in the prisons for 'where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.' (2 Cor 3:17).

 

God showed me Heaven:

“The wolf will live with the lamb,

The leopard will lie down with the goat,

The calf and the Lion and the Yearling together;

And a Little Child will lead them.”

Isaiah 11:6