“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” Luke 4:18-19.
This is what Gina preached on when we went to Maun Prison yesterday. This was my first time going to a prison. It was not really what I expected. Everything was very relaxed. The prisoners gathered around and we listened as they did to the message. Afterwards, Gina asked if anyone wanted to ask the Lord to be their personal Lord and Savior and four or five men came forward. It was really wonderful. After that we all stood in pairs and prayed for the prisoners who wanted to be prayed over.
When we began to pray, the Holy Spirit really just started to move. I was praying with Silas. Each prayer was specific and directed by the Lord. I cannot really describe it, but it was so cool. The man who had been translating came over and asked us to pray for him. Silas began to pray and as soon as he did, I felt the Lord saying that this man needed to be a minister. No sooner than I thought that, Silas began to pray that over him. After we prayed, I felt so strongly that I needed to tell this man that he was a minister. In prison and when he is free, he needs to spread the word of God to everyone he meets. It was such a strong impression from the Lord. After I told him this, he told us that he knew he was to be a minister and he is currently trying to pass his test in theology. This man was already working on becoming a minister! The Lord told us that before he did though. Man, I was just blown away.
The whole experience was just so awesome. God was moving and His spirit was touching the lives of these men in prison. They are physically in prison but many people are spiritually in prison. They are bound in their sin. Jesus came to proclaim freedom for them. His desire was to set them free from their bondage through the cross. He died so we could be free. Jesus passed that message on to us and I feel so privileged to be able to share this message with others and proclaim freedom for the prisoners!
