Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We just celebrated the most significant Holy Days on the Christian Calendar, commemorating the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. I pray you all had a wonderful weekend remembering and celebrating the empty tomb! He is risen, He is risen indeed!
We reminded the men in Chester County prison of these significant events and their meaning at both services last night. Then we settled into our prayer time focusing on another excerpt from Psalm 119:
Teach me, O Lord,
to follow every one of your principles.
Give me understanding and I will obey your law;
I will put it into practice with all my heart.
Make me walk along the path of your commands,
for that is where my happiness is found.
Give me an eagerness for your decrees;
do not inflict me with a love for money!
Turn my eyes from worthless things,
and give me life through your word.
Reassure me of your promise,
which is for those who honor you.
Help me abandon my shameful ways;
your laws are all I want in life.
I long to obey your commandments!
Renew my life with your goodness. (Psalm 119:33-40)
Jose continued the Holy Week theme in first service with his message “Today you will be with me in paradise”, teaching how salvation came to Old Testament people through faith in the promised Christ as the sinless ultimate sacrifice. It’s not all that different than today- we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus our Messiah, like the thief on the cross in Luke 23:32-43. His faith looked forward to King Jesus and fulfillment of His promise of paradise with the Lord forever. Christ’s intercession for us began on the cross and continues at the right hand of the Father.
In 2nd service, Matt gave a great object lesson on transformation with the “coffee bean story”, suggesting when we experience pressure, heat, and turbulent times (like a pot of boiling water), we can choose to be a carrot – getting soft and falling apart – or an egg – getting hardened throughout – or a coffee bean – transforming our environment from the inside out. He provided 5 life lessons from the story: 1) work out spiritually, mentally, and physically, watching what you feed yourself, 2) the secret to life is humility in servant leadership, 3) control what you think, say, feel, and do, 4) your past doesn’t define you, and 5) the importance of how you look – positive body language and attitude are contagious.
It was definitely another evening of encouraging the men in prison to seek eternal life with Christ and living a transformed life while we’re still here. As always, we appreciate each one of you taking the time to lift up these men and their prayer requests below. We hope serving these men draws you ever closer to our God and King. Have a blessed week!
Grace and Peace,
Rick
PS- We still have 11 email addresses to manually add to each week’s email due to not accepting the group email invitation. New invitations will be sent right after this email, if you receive one, please accept. Thanks!
Inmate Prayer Requests from Medium Security (7:00pm service):
- Joshua– for friends.
- John– safety for all the volunteers, for those who pray for us, our families, children, and for love, peace and harmony in here. Also pray that brothers and sisters can put on the full armor of God.
- Joseph– for all those not able to come out to the worship service tonight, and those upset over what is going on with their case.
- Phil T– for my son-in-law Rob and his mom Evelyn – Rob’s Uncle John is on a ventilator.
- Jose– for Rony’s salvation and also dealing with addiction. For salvation of Johannes and Benjamin. For friend Tim whose 5 children are lost, but praise that 2 are showing some change.
- Joshua– for the court system – seems like nobody knows what they’re doing.
- Joe– for continued faith when out of here, discipline to stay in God’s Word, and thankful to God for getting the deal I wanted.
- Phil– for Tony who had his hip replaced today.
- Saunders– family of former employee Robert Auch, who also served at City Gate desk – He passed away recently.
- Evan– for my kids, and all our kids who are missing us, pray their lives not impacted by our mistakes.
- Rick C– for my friend Jen’s father- stroke recovery. Also for my friend Jimmy who had emergency appendectomy surgery this morning.
Inmate/volunteer Prayer Requests from Minimum Security (8:30pm service)
- Craig– for all 5 of my daughters and my grandkids (several have birthdays coming up soon), my family at large, and my VOP (violation of parole) court date in Philly on Wednesday. And for the strength to be not just a hearer of the Word, but doer of the Word.
- Martin– for my successful and full recovery, my family, thankful for a letter from my 97 year old grandmother, also thankful for my 1-1 session with volunteer Matt, and for all the volunteers who come in each week.
- Harry– for those struggling with addiction and strongholds, pray the court goes well tomorrow – I’m leaving it totally in God’s hands – and for all of us to keep seeking the Lord and walking in faith.
- Joshua– I’m supposed to be released tomorrow, pray I can find a good church in Oxford, and for my daughter, son, and family.
- Jeremiah– for family, specifically for my niece in a bad situation.
- Andy D– thankful for successful Easter service in Kerr Park, Downingtown, where we had over 245 guests. Pray for those guests and for one woman (and potentially others) who said she’d never been to church before- may this be the first step of her faith journey towards Christ.
- Ryan– for my sister Elizabeth struggling with addiction, I saw her for the 1st time in 2 years. Pray she stays clean and comes to know the Lord, and may our relationship be healed.
- Matt– for Megan, wife of my coworker Shaun, she has stage 4 colon cancer and was about ot be in hospice but just experienced a major turnaround – she has energy and eating again- praise God – pray for full healing. Also pray for my wife who has anxiety with a job situation.
Prayers from Onesimus Ministries
- Traveling mercies and a safe return of our brother Dan and his wife who are vacationing overseas.
- God bless our wonderful chaplains Rhonda and Heinrich as they serve the inmates, staff, and families connected to Chester County Prison. May they continue to bless everyone in their path.
- For the leadership of Chester County Prison, and for the selection process for a new Warden – may the person God has fore-ordained be installed to the top office.
- For Pastor Jack Crans as he continues to serve amidst his late stage cancer, may the Lord strengthen and restore him.
- For guidance and open doors as Onesimus board members search out a new location and catering services for the annual banquet in October.
- For the prison staff working long hours due to staff shortages, may God bless them and their families with safety and refreshment.
- For the volunteer organizations serving the aftercare needs of recently released women and men. May these ministries have all they need to effectively witness and serve the needs of clients, and may all who come there be refreshed and experience significant growth on their faith journey.
If you’d like to find out more about mentoring and discipling a man or woman coming out of prison, drop us a note at outreach@onesimusministries.org.
These weekly prayer requests are also posted on our website – https://onesimusministries.org/category/weekly-prayer-requests/
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