Isn't God good? Sometimes, when you are struggling in your life and caught up in your own woes and despair and find yourself in a place where you catch yourself doubting the power of God in your life, you will just get a fresh dose of the reality and power of God thrown right in your face -- sort of like a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning that wakes you right up.
At our weekly Emmaus reunion/accountability group, I was reminded once again of how awesome the power of our God is as we reminisced about our experiences with the Kairos Prison Ministry. For those who aren't familiar with Kairos, it is the prison version of the Walk to Emmaus, a three-day spiritual journey/retreat designed to move people closer to God through a series of talks and experiences.
If there is one place where Satan holds sway, it is in our prison systems today. The men and women in these places exist without hope, without life, without love. They are faced with horrific conditions and most live in fear for their safety on a daily basis. Gangs, murders, crime, rape -- all of this are common every-day events in such a setting. But, as He has shown time and time again, there is no place where God's power and authority cannot be made manifest.
During the first Kairos held at our local prison, we were confronted with extreme opposition. The correctional officers didn't want us there. The inmates didn't want us there. The chaplain didn't want us there (he felt we were trespassing on his turf). So, since the chaplain was the one who selected which inmates got to participate in the program, he picked the worst of the worst and sent them to us. The guards had a pool going to see how long the team would last in the prison before fleeing for the exit. But, the power of God descended on that place and the team watched as these men, hardened by years of hate and abuse and neglect and self-damage, turned to God and had their lives transformed into new creations. Overnight, the prison was transformed into a different place and none of the usual stabbings or murders that occur on a full-moon weekend took place that weekend. One of the inmates there, who was the most-feared man in the prison because of his brutality and violence to others, became saved that weekend and serves Christ by ministering to and serving his fellow inmates at Kairos and chapel events. No one ever believed that the same hand that once held prisoners down and stabbed them brutally would shake with emotion as he prayed for God's blessings to flow down on others in that place.
During another Kairos, the team began the practice of anointing the doors to the gym (e.g. "chapel") before the inmates came that day. Two of the inmates were self-professed devil-worshipers. When they got to the door, it was like they hit a barrier. They refused to pass through the door. They said they couldn't pass through the door and became very nervous and very apprehensive and asked to be locked up again. We are still praying that God would touch these men, but it shows that the powers of darkness are no match for the power of our God!
As I write this, another team is preparing to enter our local prisons for two more Kairos weekends. The mood of the team is vastly different from that of the first. Where we entered with trepidation, these teams enter with confidence and with the authority of Christ. They have seen the power of God at work and have no doubt that He can do what miracles in the hearts of all who attend, inmates and team alike.
Remembering these great stories of the past help me when I am feeling down and hopeless. It gives me renewed strength and vigor and hope, knowing that the same God that defeated the darkness is with me in anything I might face. Perhaps this is the reason why the stories of the Passover, of the parting of the Red Sea, and the lighting of the lamps in the temple are told each year in the Jewish communities? Perhaps we need to make more of a practice in our worship services of remembering the greatness of our God in the past and thanking Him for His faithfulness to us in the future and in the problems that we are currently facing. Nothing is impossible with God, and we are all more than conquerors through Him!
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