Free From Prejudice

My brethren, have not the faith

of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Lord of glory,

with respect of persons.

(James 2:1)

My heart was changed this weekend. I've been in Texas for almost three weeks visiting my roommate from Ellerslie this past summer. It's been such an awesome time. We've really come alongside each other and pushed each other closer to Jesus. This weekend we had the opportunity to be involved with a ministry called Kiaros. This is a prison ministry, and they were having a weekend conference this weekend. We had not been planning on doing this, but the night before the event (Wednesday), God opened up all the doors for us to go and be apart of it. Katy, Katy's dad, and I left early Thursday morning. I knew that it would be an awesome time to serve the Lord, but I had no idea the depth of what God wanted to do.

For this weekend event there are two teams. There is an 'inside' team and an 'outside' team. I was part of the outside team (only men were apart of the inside team because it was an all men's prison). The outside team was in charge of so many tasks. I cannot tell you how many cookies I packaged, or how many posters I drew and colored. Those things were neat to be apart of... but God asked something of me that was way outside of my comfort zone. He asked me to intercede. I was so nervous about doing this; I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to identify with them; I was nervous that I wouldn't have faith; I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to do what He asked of me.

There were 42 prisoners that were attending this weekend conference. I had never met them. I had never seen their faces. I didn't know anything about them. All I had was a piece of paper with all of their names on it (at least for the first two days). There was a beautiful prayer room set aside for those who would be praying. There was always supposed to be someone in there. I remember going in there for the first time to begin praying for those men in prison. I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that I was being obedient to what God had asked of me. For some time I sat there in silence... asking the Holy Spirit to lead me. The next thing I knew, God was flooding me with His heart for these men. I had no idea where this was coming from! These men were prisoners, and I didn't even know them... but God flooded my heart with His love for them. He showed me what He longed to do in those men. He enabled me to see past their label of 'prisoner' to see what He saw in them and felt towards them.

Over those next few days I spent hour after hour in prayer. I thought that I would have trouble praying for just 30 minutes at a time for them, but there where times where God would keep me in that room for 3 hours (but it seemed just a few minutes). He was speaking promises of His faithfulness to my heart. He gave me glimpses of what He was longing to accomplish. Friday night was when I came to faith. It was when I was able to truly believe that what God promised He was able also to perform. I spent Saturday in worship, praising Him for what He was going to do. I couldn't wait for Sunday (the closing ceremony). I was just bursting with great eagerness and expectation.

Sunday was the closing. We were able to actually go to the prison and see the men and hear their testimonies. All of us filled the gymnasium. There in front of me (I got front row since it was my first time working Kiaros) were 42+ empty seats where all the prisoners would be sitting. To our left was 100+ seats filled with men in prison who had gone through this conference before (They were only able to attend this ceremony if they had remained consistent in their classes, bible studies, and church and if they wrote a letter expressing why they wanted to go). The only thing separating us from them was the table in front of me.

As those men in white (as they are termed) began to walk in... everyone was cheering, clapping, shouting, worshiping God. The gym was flooded with excitement. I could not contain my joy. I had a smile plastered on my face that could not be pried off! I finally got to see face to face all of the men I had spent hours praying for! The 42 had received word of all that us 'outside' workers had been doing for them all weekend. And they had gotten letters from us. Somehow, they knew how much each one of us loved them. When they got the chance to thank us through applause, they stood up (many of them with tears in their eyes)... the look on their faces... I can't even describe it. All I know is that I could not contain the tears! My heart was so flooded with love. I did not see these men as prisoners. I did not see them as men who had done some terrible crime that was worthy of being locked up for years on end. I did not see them as men to be afraid of and keep my distance. God freed me from all prejudice. He gave me His eyes to see. May I never look with my own eyes again!

Nearly every man that went through this conference had tears filling their eyes throughout the entire service. There were men who were freed from hatred. There were men who had never known love before and found it in Jesus Christ. There were men who were angry at God and turned their backs on Him, who turned back to Him. And there were some who were already Christians who received faith that Christ could enable them in their walk. Testimony after testimony declared the work of the Holy Spirit in that place, setting people free. I cannot quite explain it, but I know that everything that God promised me in that little prayer room was accomplished in that prison.

With men this is impossible;

but with God all things are possible

(Matthew 19:26)

To God alone be the Glory! Hallelujah!