During the past few weeks, the Lord has provided me with a handful of good opportunities to share my faith with some of the prisoners...
And to encourage them, too.
Earlier today, I was talking to a young man who was born in El Salvador, a country in Central America. He came to the United States when he was a child, but as he grew up in New York City he fell in with some gang members. Now he's doing a sentence of 7 1/2 to 15 years for robbery.
He was stunned when I told him that he was only one year old when I came to prison, and that I have already been incarcerated for more than twenty-six-years. We had a good conversation, however, and he admitted to me that he needs to repent of his sins and place his faith in Jesus Christ.
He did not make a decision to trust in Christ when we were speaking together. But he promised to consider and carefully weigh all that I told him. This 27-year-old man struggles with depression, and he misses his family. Yet I made it clear that it is God whom he needs above all else. Furthermore, I kindly told him that, if he places his faith in Christ, that the Lord would give him the ability to survive his years of imprisonment, and to successfully endure each day.
As a Christian, I am thankful to be used by the Lord as an instrument of His peace as I minister to the hurts and needs of my fellow prisoners. However, it is simply the Lord Jesus working through me, the same as He does with every one of His servants (Philippians 2:13).
D. B.
Earlier today, I was talking to a young man who was born in El Salvador, a country in Central America. He came to the United States when he was a child, but as he grew up in New York City he fell in with some gang members. Now he's doing a sentence of 7 1/2 to 15 years for robbery.
He was stunned when I told him that he was only one year old when I came to prison, and that I have already been incarcerated for more than twenty-six-years. We had a good conversation, however, and he admitted to me that he needs to repent of his sins and place his faith in Jesus Christ.
He did not make a decision to trust in Christ when we were speaking together. But he promised to consider and carefully weigh all that I told him. This 27-year-old man struggles with depression, and he misses his family. Yet I made it clear that it is God whom he needs above all else. Furthermore, I kindly told him that, if he places his faith in Christ, that the Lord would give him the ability to survive his years of imprisonment, and to successfully endure each day.
As a Christian, I am thankful to be used by the Lord as an instrument of His peace as I minister to the hurts and needs of my fellow prisoners. However, it is simply the Lord Jesus working through me, the same as He does with every one of His servants (Philippians 2:13).
D. B.
