We were standing for a few moments in the prison yard filled with African men hanging about, shabby concrete walls with barred windows and a rather pathetic gate keeping them from getting out, and us too. Emily turned to me and asked, “so how do you feel?”
“Like I have nothing to say,” I replied.
A few days before when Ashlee, one of our contacts at the Iris base in Dondo, asked me if I’d like to preach at a prison, I had no qualms about it. No real hesitation, to be honest. I thought, “What a great opportunity!” and went about planning what I might say. It did not take me long to realize how little I felt I could say to these people. I had no idea what to expect with them or what they might need to hear, and so I spent hours attempting to piece together words that would be captivating and moving. As it turns out, I am not very good at this.
After a few days I did what I should have done from the onset: I decided to pray. I did not pray for words to say, though. I simply prayed for the men of that prison and asked to know God’s heart for them. I was struck heavily with a deep sense of loneliness and prayed for the men and the loneliness they may experience. I spent some more time confirming with God that this was the Word He wanted to share with them, and went about planning how to present it.
We walked into a large empty room where the men sleep on the concrete floor huddled next to one another at night. There were over a hundred men fitting into a space I would never have guessed was possible to accomplish. They were singing loudly and the concrete walls caused a booming echo that was both amazing and the most intimidating thing of my entire life. Go speak to these men? What does a 23-year-old white woman from suburbia USA have to say to them?
Luckily, God had already removed me from that position. He was going to speak and use my story to do so.
With Lovemore (our translator) by my side, I began to share about my time on the Race. I shared how I left home six months before with strangers to go share the Gospel with the world. I explained how I felt very alone and unknown to those around me for a long time. Fortunately, God in His mercy showed me somewhere around month three that knowing who I am in Christ and knowing who He says I am changes everything.
I explained that now I know I am called a child of God and that Christ calls me His friend. I furthered this by explaining the things I have learned about what it means to be a child of God and what it means to be His friend.
The Gospel of John reads, “yet to all who received Him, to those who called on His name, He gave them the right to be called children of God” (John 1:13). As I began to unpack this passage, I noticed that being a child of God means at least the following three things: (1) I belong to someone, (2) I am loved and (3) I have intimacy with God. Simply from the truth of God’s Word we must accept the truth that if we know Christ personally, we belong to God, who will take care of us as His own. He will guard us as a good father would guard his own children. I am also loved deeply. I explained how a lot of father’s in the world do not love their children well. Sometimes they hurt us physically, emotionally or spiritually. They even reject us or leave. God is not this way. He is the good father, the father that sacrifices for us, provides for us in every way, and longs to be there for us. Likewise, a good father has intimacy with his children. Since we were made in His image, His very character and being is reflected in us. This creates an intimacy that is not known in many other relationships.
Secondly, as Christ’s friend Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). This means that (1) I have a relationship with God and (2) Jesus shares His heart with me. A good friend is loyal, will never leave you or betray you. Jesus, in this sort of relationship, opens the opportunity for us to be friends. He will be there for us through thick and thin, just as a good friend does. He longs to have a relationship with us that is give and take: where we share our hearts with Him and He shares His with us. There is depth of intimacy here that removes loneliness in a profound way.
I had not intended to give a Gospel invitation at the end, but I explained the good news to them that though our sin separated us from God, Christ died for us that we might come to be in right relationship with Him again. I also explained that this is an invitation, though, and we must accept it to gain our status as God’s children and His friends. I invited them to receive Christ if they so chose.
I am not experienced in giving alter calls, and to be quite honest, they intimidate me a great deal. Thankfully, a Mozambiquan man came and followed my almost hypothetical invitation with an immediate one. He explained again that in order to receive the identity God gives us, we must receive Him. Our identity is founded in Christ. He is the only reason we are able to be called children of God and His friends.
I was humbled and amazed to see dozens of men come forward, kneel before us, and pray to receive Christ. Wow. I have never had anyone say “Amen” when I’ve preached before! In fact, the last time I preached in the states I caught a teenage couple kissing while I’m trying to share from God’s Word. Here in Mozambique, though, God’s presence was moving and people understood and were coming into relationship with Him!
You may be like me and do not have anything to say to a certain group of people. You may have absolutely nothing in common with them. But maybe God has something to say by your story. I once had a friend say to me, “It’s amazing how God recycles our garbage, isn’t it?” As for me, I’m going green and recycling the garbage in my life.
I’m finding more and more in my life that the difficult experiences are exactly what God wants to use to turn around into His glory.
