Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for Lo, I come,
and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
Zechariah 2:10
The Bible contains countless numbers of beautiful and inspiring passages…
and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
Zechariah 2:10
The Bible contains countless numbers of beautiful and inspiring passages…
And the above verse from Zechariah is one of them.
This morning, I am so happy to say that I have off from my work assignment. Because I work on Saturday mornings, I am allowed to take off Mondays, and this is a blessing. For I am thus able to spend the time praying and studying, or simply relaxing. It is my time for rest and recuperation.
During yesterday morning's worship service, however, God was once again touching hearts.
I have been telling my congregation that the Lord has great expectations for us. I am convinced, for example, that one day our choir is going to make a CD for God's glory. They are very anointed and can sing and play their instruments as good as any professional musicians, I believe.
Some of the choir members write their own songs, too. And I have often told them that the Lord did not give them such a level of talent just to stay confined to the prison's chapel. That at some future time they will become known outside these walls, not for human glory (God forbid), but because God wants to show the world what He can do with even the worst of sinners.
The Lord can take the worst of men, who once cussed and swore in every sentence, and make them into men who can sing like angels, and because they are now new creations in Christ, no longer swear but instead worship the Lord with clean lips and pure hearts.
On Sunday, we had a handful of Christians come to visit us from a church in Queens, New York. This same group comes to the prison every fourth Sunday of each month. And the congregation always looks forward to the intense preaching and the exuberant praise music.
My chaplain opened the service in prayer. Our choir played many beautiful songs. I was able to give a short ten-minute sermon from 1 Peter 5:8-10, on not allowing Satan to tempt us to give in to anger.
My message was about anger and the need to control it before we hurt someone when, in a second of carelessness, we strike another person with a fist or swear at him with our tongue, and then afterwards, regret it.
I know from the comments I received later that many of the men were helped and encouraged. One fellow told me after the service that what I had to say touched him. As only the night before, he said, he had almost come to blows with another inmate. Now, however, he told me that he was going to go and apologize to that man, and he's going to strive not to lose his temper anymore. I let him know that through Christ's help it can be done. We do not have to allow our emotions to control us, I explained. And I gave him a few Scriptures to look up in his Bible.
During the second half of our service, the Reverend Johnny Walker and his ministry team took over. He later brought forth a message about Christ's perfect sacrifice on the cross.
Altogether it was a blessed day as we sang and rejoiced, and as God came down to dwell in our midst.
D.B.
This morning, I am so happy to say that I have off from my work assignment. Because I work on Saturday mornings, I am allowed to take off Mondays, and this is a blessing. For I am thus able to spend the time praying and studying, or simply relaxing. It is my time for rest and recuperation.
During yesterday morning's worship service, however, God was once again touching hearts.
I have been telling my congregation that the Lord has great expectations for us. I am convinced, for example, that one day our choir is going to make a CD for God's glory. They are very anointed and can sing and play their instruments as good as any professional musicians, I believe.
Some of the choir members write their own songs, too. And I have often told them that the Lord did not give them such a level of talent just to stay confined to the prison's chapel. That at some future time they will become known outside these walls, not for human glory (God forbid), but because God wants to show the world what He can do with even the worst of sinners.
The Lord can take the worst of men, who once cussed and swore in every sentence, and make them into men who can sing like angels, and because they are now new creations in Christ, no longer swear but instead worship the Lord with clean lips and pure hearts.
On Sunday, we had a handful of Christians come to visit us from a church in Queens, New York. This same group comes to the prison every fourth Sunday of each month. And the congregation always looks forward to the intense preaching and the exuberant praise music.
My chaplain opened the service in prayer. Our choir played many beautiful songs. I was able to give a short ten-minute sermon from 1 Peter 5:8-10, on not allowing Satan to tempt us to give in to anger.
My message was about anger and the need to control it before we hurt someone when, in a second of carelessness, we strike another person with a fist or swear at him with our tongue, and then afterwards, regret it.
I know from the comments I received later that many of the men were helped and encouraged. One fellow told me after the service that what I had to say touched him. As only the night before, he said, he had almost come to blows with another inmate. Now, however, he told me that he was going to go and apologize to that man, and he's going to strive not to lose his temper anymore. I let him know that through Christ's help it can be done. We do not have to allow our emotions to control us, I explained. And I gave him a few Scriptures to look up in his Bible.
During the second half of our service, the Reverend Johnny Walker and his ministry team took over. He later brought forth a message about Christ's perfect sacrifice on the cross.
Altogether it was a blessed day as we sang and rejoiced, and as God came down to dwell in our midst.
D.B.
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