January 2019
Dear Friends,
In our last update, we ended with the same challenge to you that we gave the inmates.
That challenge was,
“Lord, what is Your word for me this year?” (and / or) “Lord, what would You have me do for You this year?”
In the prisons we gave this challenge to, several of the men responded wanting to do just that. One inmate told us that he had done that 4 years ago but did not follow through. He had always regretted that he did not, but with the fresh challenge he was going to go back to what the Lord had told him and follow through this time. Others told us that the Lord had stirred within them that they too needed to pray this. We were able to tell them, from personal experience, not to be surprised with how the Lord answers them, but whatever word He gave, they can rest assured that it will turn out to be an amazing adventure with Him.
We love Isaiah 55:11 which says, “So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: It shall not return unto Me void, but It shall accomplish that which I please, and It shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” In the parable of the sower and the seed, Jesus tells us that there are 4 kinds of soil (heart). We see each of these “soils” in every ministry opportunity the Lord opens to us. How thankful and overjoyed we are whenever we see the seed of God’s precious Word, fall on good soil. In one of the prisons we go to, the men have been fed a steady stream of a watered-down version of the gospel. With much prayer behind him and surrounding him, Jay preached boldly, the undiluted gospel to these men. Salvation is not just saying an empty, meaningless prayer; but humbly asking the Lord to forgive you of your sins, choosing to follow Him as your one and only Master for the rest of your life. Jesus is not looking for people to go through life with just a head belief in Him, but those who will conform wholly to His will and His ways in word, thought, and action. As a result, when the Lord’s invitation to come to Him went out, 17 men responded.
A life given wholly to the Lord is an amazing adventure – even through the hardships and trials of life.
Only the Lord knows what He will accomplish in and through each of these men we minister to in our prison system or even the people in our community the Lord sends us to. It is with gratitude that we say thank you for your financial gifts and/or your prayer support. It’s all…
For God’s Glory Alone!
Jay & Elizabeth
