Our team had three different opportunities to visit the local prison in Vilanculos. I did not have the chance to be a part of the first visit. The story that was recounted to me was amazing though. Jaco took about 8 members of our squad into the prison. It smelled of death. Erin would later tell me that there was a spirit of hopelessness and death was over the entire prison. The battle to even enter the prison was one of great struggle. The local government had not been to keen on Jaco going to the prison to share Christ with them. Finally after much prayer, the wall came down and the government conceded to giving Jaco 2 days a week where he could only visit for one hour. The team entered as the guards had assembled the prisoners into a large meeting room.
Jaco began by sharing the gospel to which the prisoners seems pretty unresponsive at first. Jessica felt the Lord prompting her to speak as well. She shared about how Paul was a murderer of Christians, how Moses killed a man, how David committed adultery and God still not only pursued them but used them greatly. All of a sudden the Lord opened up their eyes to see that God actually loved them regardless of their broken past. They saw a God who they could put their faith in who offered a life of hope and one free from condemnation. 120 of them put their faith in Jesus Christ in that moment. It was amazing. I remember seeing the faces of the group as they returned rejoicing over what the Lord had done. And everything in me was so excited about Thursday and the chance to go the prisoners and the life change that Jesus had taken place.
When we arrived at the prison a few days later, I felt an impression from the Lord to talk through a section of Philippians 1 where Paul rejoiced in God using him greatly in the midst of his Roman prison. The guards opened up the doors for us to enter and before us was a dirt courtyard with a few small rooms that connected to it where the prisoners would sleep. We were led to one of the larger rooms on the left where the 120 men and a few women were sitting down waiting on us. There was a spark of life in the eyes of these people that could only be described as the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Yet there was a still a spirit of hopelessness over the lives of the people there. They had met Jesus but for most looked at their lives as being over. I felt the Lord saying that He wanted to them to know that He still had a purpose for them. So I walked them through Philippians 1 and how Paul was able to not waste his life even though he was in chains. The attitude of the room began to shift. Those with short terms realized all of a sudden that if God could make something out of a terrible situation like Paul’s, then He could redeem them. And then a huge light went off for the rest of them as well. The countenance on the faces of the rest changed. The Holy Spirit was revealing to them if they ran after Jesus and did everything they could to lead people to Him, then their lives, despite their external prison bars, could count for something great. Their hearts came to life in a brand new way and the room was covered with smiles. I asked the men and women in the place if any of them wanted to make their lives count for an eternal God and all but about 3 hands shot up immediately with joy. I was blown away. The team went away rejoicing.
Yet the work here was not finished. It was obvious that Satan made another run at tearing this group of people down. When we arrived for our last visit on the following Tuesday, there was still a glow from the life change the Holy Spirit did a few days before. Yet there was a sense in many of disbelief. Satan had been speaking over their lives all weekend that they are worthless and that there is no way God could redeem their situation and their lives. One of the worship leaders for Jaco’s church was with us and translating this time. We had the chance to worship with them and the atmosphere began to shift. All of a sudden, the cross and the goodness of God was in the eyes of the people there instead of the lies of Satan and their situation. We had a chance to walk them through Ezekiel 37 and the Valley of Dry Bones. This was a prophecy of God to a “dead” nation that God would indeed restore, rebuild, and bring life to His people. As we talked through this, the hopelessness faded and was replaced with worship. Their situation was not to deep or dark for God to bring life out of it and they finally understood. We began to sing again “hosanna halleluiah” and they rejoiced in their God who is Mighty to Save. This was followed by one man in the back yelling out “Whose the Name above all names” and the men shouting JESUS!!! “Whose the Name that heals us” JESUS!!! It was beautiful.
