This week was a definite improvement over last week but I guess pretty much anything would have been!
Going to Marquette Branch Prison this week, I was a little apprehensive to be honest. I did a lot of praying for this time and really wanted God to break through the hard hearts. I wanted the men to taste and see that the Lord is good!
The service went like normal with just a few very quietly talking. The man that had told me to shut up last week was also there, he did not say much. The one thing he did say was so crass and horrible that it is not worth repeating it. All he was trying to do was to annoy me or to get me off track. One other man ( who always tries to get me off track ) who has a pretty extensive amount of Bible knowledge was also trying to interrupt by asking "questions." These questions are not done out of a sincere heart, usually, but after about six "questions" I took the bait. He had asked about lust. Obviously this is a problem in prison. These men for the most part have no idea about what the Bible says about lust except that we are just not supposed to lust. The reason I took the bait on this question was to give some answers on what the Bible said about that subject and some tools on how to have victory against it. I tried to share with them that God says to take "every thought captive." By then the men had degraded the talk to the point of me having to stop it entirely.
Specifically for Marquette Branch Prison I started fasting on Wednesday for the men inside. Jesus said to his disciples in Mark 9:29 after they had asked about a demon that they could not cast out, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." I strongly believe that that is the case with the prison in Marquette. The enemy has had such a stronghold here for so long that he will not let go easily. Please consider joining us in that time of prayer and fasting for those men to be set free and to know Jesus!