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A Letter from Prison

  • Dr. Ray Pritchard
    Dr. Ray Pritchard is the president of Keep Believing Ministries, an Internet-based ministry serving Christians in 225 countries. He is the author of 29 books, including Stealth Attack, Fire and Rain,… More
  • Published Jul 06, 2004

Not along ago I got a letter from a friend named Paul. I know Paul is my friend because he writes me all the time, even though we’ve never met. He is an inmate in a North Carolina prison. A few months ago he read my book and wrote to say how much it had helped him. I wrote back and sent him a printed copy of one of my sermons. The book and the sermon touched him so much that he started a Bible study for the men on his cell block. They started with four men but it grew quickly to six, then eight, then ten, and now 15-20 men from his cell block get together to study the Bible. Paul sent me a greeting card signed by all the men in the Bible study. They wrote all over the card so I had to turn it upside down to read all their notes. In the center Paul wrote this message:

 

Dr. Ray, we just wanted to show you our gratitude and thank you for all your support. We were the worst of the worst at one time but ministries like yours have given us hope when we thought all was lost. We just want you to know that the Holy Spirit is alive and well in jail. And we thank you. God bless you.

 

Paul enclosed a personal letter with the card. He wanted to make sure that I got the message:

 

The people that signed this card range from misdemeanor crimes to drugs and even murder, but we have all figured out that God is the only way. We just wanted you and your congregation to know that the Holy Spirit is alive and well in jails and prisons and that if any member of your congregation has somebody in that situation to keep on preaching the Word and stand on it. Never doubt that God can handle it. One word from God can change everything. If God can forgive a group of men like us, he can save anybody. We are living proof that God is in the miracle business. We give all the praise to the Almighty God who sent his Son to the cross to bear the burden of our sins. He showed us just how much he loved us. Tell your congregation about the miracle happening. The Holy Spirit is upon us. God bless you.

 

Note what he said: Never doubt that God can handle it. One word from God can change everything. That sounds like something the Apostle Paul would write. My friend Paul and the Apostle Paul would agree--one word from God can change everything.

 


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