Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Another absolutely gorgeous day God provided for us all! I think we often take for granted things like going out and enjoying the nice weather. When it gets this nice out, the inmate’s opportunity for church can sometimes be in competition for yard time. And can you blame anyone for wanting to be outside enjoying God’s creation, with some fresh air and sunshine after being cooped up inside a cell all day long? A tough choice for sure.
We rejoice with whoever comes out to the services each Monday night. We enjoy worshipping alongside our incarcerated brothers with prayer, singing, sharing testimonies, and hearing a message from God’s Word. Last night we began praising God with Psalm 146:
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, I tell myself.
I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.
Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
there is no help for you there.
When their breathing stops, they return to the earth,
and in a moment all their plans come to an end.
But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
He is the one who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He is the one who keeps every promise forever,
who gives justice to the oppressed
and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts the burdens of those bent beneath their loads.
The Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever.
O Jerusalem, your God is King in every generation.
Praise the Lord!
Dan gave the message in 1st service, challenging the men with two questions – is there a God? And if so, is He the God of the Bible? Two of the biggest questions for the human race. For those unable to believe without seeing the evidence, how does one explain over 500 billion galaxies? If all that matter and energy wasn’t created by a superior being, how’d it get here? Most would agree it was created, and if created then there is a creator. Dan offered proof of the Bible’s validity through major prophesies in Daniel and Zechariah coming true hundreds of years after they were spoken. Since God is real and the Bible is true, we all have a decision to make.
In the 2nd service, Bill offered 3 great pieces of advice – Believe the Gospel, Be a friend, and Walk like Jesus. He offered many Bible passages in support of such wisdom, but centered it on one particular passage. He walked us through Jesus healing the paralytic in Mark 2:1-12 and Luke 5, where the man’s friends lowered him through the roof to get to Jesus. Believing the Gospel and accepting Jesus is the most important decision anyone can make, and friends are so important, especially ones who help us get there. Then living out the life God calls us to is best modeled after how Jesus walked in perfect concert with the Father, abiding in His love.
Together with you, we prayerfully lift up this ministry, our chaplains, the inmates, and their prayer requests below. Thanks for continuing with us on this weekly journey of faith, seeing where our Heavenly Father leads. May your prayer time be rich with blessing, and may God’s peace rule in your heart. Have a spectacular week.
Grace and Peace,
Rick
Prayer Requests from Medium Security (7:00pm service):
- Brent– for my friend’s daughter (Natalie, 16) who is very sick, my family recently lost our uncle, and I just lost a good friend (Paige, 24) who passed away after severe brain damage.
- Vincent– my grandmom (96) who had a stroke just passed away last week, pray for my family.
- Josh– family
- Dave– strength for each day, to stay sane in a place where we have control over absolutely nothing.
- Eric– myself and others dealing with depression, keep my family healthy, pray for stability in my life. Also praying for financial increase in my life.
- Andy L– my neighbor was almost killed by a big dog who had her by the throat. Nobody would help her with the situation, so she took matters into her own hands and fed a big handful of tranquilizers to the dog, then got arrested for it and sent to jail.
- Terran– for compassion and God’s grace.
- Phil T– my daughter Brooke has yet to accept Christ, and has a hard time handling pressures when her kids are sick, pray she would experience God’s grace and peace and accept Jesus in her heart.
- Joshua– for my retainer to get lifted, and for my Parole Officer (Robert) who sustained a back injury.
- Josh– mercy
- Dan T– my brother-in-law with PhD won’t let go and accept Christ. Also for God’s will on my health and for my life after radiation treatments – will find out if effective on 5/9.
- James– want to center my life on God and be consistent once out of prison for the sake of my kids. Help me to walk in faith.
- Matt R– to be the spiritual leader in my family as God calls me to be. Grant me strength, knowledge, and wisdom to do it effectively, and help me break any generational curses and establish generational blessings instead.
Prayer Requests from Minimum Security (8:30pm service)
- Craig– for my wife (Kay), my youngest daughters (Brianna and Brielle), and my family at large. For everyone inside Chester County Prison, and for the strength to carry on. Pray for my situation in Philadelphia where Judge Taylor Smith wants reconsideration of my sentence to add 6 months, praying for mercy, compassion and that God would touch her heart.
- Jeremiah– for my children, church, and a female friend who just turned herself in.
- Harry– for my domestic relations case coming up over custody of triplet boys (no agreement), and for those of us with drug and alcohol addictions. I get out in 60 days and I’m worried about walking in faith so I don’t go back to old habits and old friends and bad choices that led to this place. I only have my fiancé and a home, I need to find work but not among old friends.
- Andy D– my friend Herb was in Paoli hospital in a coma after he fell and hit his head (brain bleed/damage). The Lord seems to be healing him- the ventilator tubes were removed and he seems responsive to visitors. Pray for continued recovery and God’s will for his life.
- Matt R– for coworker Shaun and wife Megan headed to NY for late stage cancer treatment. Pray for my friend Aaron battling addiction and divorce. Pray for Martin – didn’t get to meet one-on-one this week, keep his mind sharp and in a good place.
Prayers from Onesimus Prison Ministries
- For Chaplains Rhonda and Heinrich as they minister throughout Chester County Prison to inmates, staff, and families. May God bless them richly to be a blessing to many others. And continued strength and healing for our friend Pastor Jack Crans with late stage cancer.
- Blessings of wisdom and strength for Warden Howard Holland as he assumes the permanent role as Warden of Chester County Prison. And God bless all levels of prison leadership with everything they need to become an effective team after all the personnel changes in last few months.
- Blessings upon all prison staff and their families, that their lives would be filled with peace and joy.
- For all the inmates and their families to make the wisest choices possible, and experience the fullness of God’s blessing in their lives. For strength and sound bodies, minds, and spirits.
- For the aftercare ministries helping ex-inmates in their return to society as productive and God-fearing citizens. God bless the ministries with all they need to be effective in the mission God calls them to, and may it bear much fruit with changed hearts in clients and within the whole community.
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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