One of our biggest challenges when dealing with offenders is fighting the masks they tend to wear to cover their true identities. Of course, this is not only true of incarcerated men and women, but is also true about most of us in general. It is, however, especially prevalent in the prison setting. Satan has had a firm grip on the mentality of most inmates for the duration of their lives, and when you bunch them all together under one roof, it is not easy to pry loose his strongholds in their minds. If we were to think about their thought patterns, and belief systems, and what it is going to take to shake them out of them it would be too overwhelming to even want to try. I know because I’ve made this very mistake. I have learned that it’s going to take all of us and then some working together, and we can’t leave out the most important Person of all in the equation.
“But God,” are the two biggest words in the Bible. When we factor in the power of our Lord and the power of His word, then we can all exhale and realize it isn’t all up to us, and we can press on knowing He can overcome all they have learned in their past lives. Our biggest ally in the fight against the mask is the pain that living with a mask has racked up over time for them. Once they see that their ways just aren’t working, and the pain of staying the same starts outweighing the pain of change, we as ministers of the gospel start seeing the sunshine coming from over the horizon. We start seeing them show up for class with enthusiasm and hope, instead of gloom and drudgery. Instead of them looking like your about to extract some of their teeth during class, they begin to ask questions, and want to know where this verse is and that verse is, and they want us to stay a little later and pray for them, and slowly but surely the word of God starts bearing fruit, tangible fruit, just like He said it would (imagine that). However, this does not happen over night, but it does happen if we hang in there long enough by loving on them, accepting them right where they’re at, staying faithful to them, and allowing room for their mistakes. Funny isn’t it, that sounds just like what our Lord has done for us (imagine that).
Be blessed this week as you reach out to anyone and everyone with love,
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