9 January 2019 —
We walked in to the music of loud but mangled drums and joyful but confined men. They gathered to one side of a dirt field, surrounded by tall concrete walls that had dried with broken beer bottles poking out of their rims. I presume the officers thought to kill two birds with one stone: a buzz and a makeshift barb wired wall. The inmates danced and sang loudly, making their own melody that could be heard a mile up the steep mountain we had braced ourselves each step walking down. Looking around I caught glimpses of Bibles with pages dyed red to match the inmate outfit: decade old body suit with tears from shin to thigh. I was encouraged. Lesotho Correctional presented itself much more like a disciplined brotherhood than it did anything that the States convinced me prison ought to look like. Madison, Stella, Jones, and Miguel shared stories and encouragements. Turns out they each had incredibly relevant words to share, even though their names were drawn out of a hat to speak. My name was just as likely to be drawn, but Holy Spirit had a plan since each of their stories built upon each other, each one becoming more and more relevant to the inmates lives. They were undoubtedly empowered knowing plenty of the white missionaries had gone to prison or had both parents in confinement at the same time, been abandoned at a young age or had parents deported. At least that’s my assumption since five men gave up their lives to King Jesus. Yesterday Macy shared more of her story with a local woman. At then end, she responded, “I didn’t know Americans struggled with things.”
That same morning, my name was drawn to share a word at the hospital. I wanted them to know that they were invited. Here’s what the Lord gave me to share:
“‘Many are called but few are chosen.’ Matthew 22:14
In other words, ‘Everyone is invited but few come through.’
The spilling of Jesus’ blood and resurrection from the dead is the very act that invites you into eternal relationship. All you have to do is RSVP.
There’s nothing you’ve ever done, nor anything you could ever do that could disqualify you as a recipient of his love. Only you have the authority to disqualify yourself. God will never disqualify you.
You are the most qualified you ever have been and will ever will be right now. The King of kings went to the cross with your shame, purposely placing every last bit beneath the nails that pierced his hands. He purchased every fear, lie, and shameful thought at the cross, meaning that these things are no longer qualifiers that expel you from his presence.
When you quit disqualifying yourself, you’ll begin walking just like Jesus walked. But you can’t take my word for it. Actually, please don’t take my word for it. Trust me when I tell you that you are desperate to read the Bible. You need to know what God thinks about you. You need to hear what he has to say, because otherwise you’ll never know how loved you are by the Creator of the universe. You’ll never know how free you are. You’ll never know how many billions of trillions of Rand that God says you’re worth. Actually, forget the money. He says you’re worth the Son of God dying on your behalf. But you can’t afford to take my word for it. If I can convince you into it, the enemy can convince you out of it. Only true encounter with your Heavenly Father can sustain the life that he invites you into.
When you occupy every room of your heart with Truth, there will be no vacancy for lies when the king of lies knocks on the door. The best way to vacate your heart is to know what the Word of Truth says about you. Then you’ll know anything else is a lie.”
We get to share a word at the hospital every morning for 15 minutes. Sometimes we only have 7 minuets to make it 12 minutes down the road, so we run. I have asthma and we’re at 8,000 feet elevation so I get winded pretty quickly. The rest of my team is super fit so I have to play it cool.
