Chris' Story--The power of a changed life at St. Louis County Jail...

Recently, I was at St. Louis County Jail to lead a worship service on the 7th Floor. For the last couple months, I have been ministering there each Tuesday and I have the joy of seeing the Lord change lives as the truth of the Gospel permeates into the hearts of many of the men who come each week. After an opening prayer and singing a few hymns we get into the Word of God. We are currently working our way through the Gospel of John. Two weeks before two of the men at the service committed their lives to Christ. I shared about one of these men in our last prayer letter. The other man, I'll call him Chris, was someone I had never met before that service. Chris was the first to arrive for the service and after I introduced myself and shook his hand he sat down and we began to talk. The conversation quickly shifted to spiritual matters and I asked him if he had ever personally received Jesus as his Savior. Chris looked me straight in the eyes and told me that he had as a child, but that he never had lived for Jesus. He then continued saying that he knew that he needed to get right with God, said he was ready to do so, and wanted to give his life to the Lord. Chris shared all this information freely with me and wasn't really seeking to direct the conversation at all. He was just pouring his heart out confessing that he understood that he lived for himself, knew his life needed to change, and that he wanted to follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit clearly had prepared his heart and Chris was ready to yield control of his life to the Lord. At this point other men began coming in for the service, and I let Chris know that he would have a chance to commit his life to Christ at the end of the message. As I preached through John 1:10-18, I focused on verses 11-12 where the Apostle John writes, "He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." I explained our need to respond to Jesus by receiving Him describing that repentance is required for us to come to Christ. When Chris heard the invitation to surrender control of his life to Christ, he gladly responded inviting Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. Two weeks later when I saw Chris, he was a different man. I asked him how he was doing and he said, "Everything's different! God has done so much in my life. I've never experienced anything like this before." Joy and hope filled his face and when I asked him to share with the guys what the Lord had done in his life, he enthusiastically encouraged the guys telling them how the Lord has completely changed His life, saying how God is in control and that he had nothing to worry about because he is in the Lord's hands. He said that he found God in jail, (we know that God is the seeker, drawing us to Himself), and that this was the last place he would have expected to come to faith. He continued saying that the Lord has given him complete peace and that he told his wife not to worry, just trust the Lord because everything is in His hands. He then exhorted the men who were struggling to hold on and not lose heart, that the Lord would bring them the breakthrough they needed. God will work in their lives, just wait on Him and trust Him. Chris is on fire for the Lord, reading and growing in the Word of God and telling those around him what the Lord has done in his life.
Wow! I wish I could adequately describe the joy of seeing the transformation God has brought in Chris' life, what a night and day difference. If you are a follower of Jesus and you have never had the privilege of being used as the Lord's instrument in seeing someone come to faith in Christ, let me encourage you today to pray and ask the Lord to give you boldness and clear opportunities to share your faith and watch and see what the Lord does. Chris is on fire for the Lord, reading and growing in the Word of God and telling those around him what the Lord has done in his life. One of the most amazing blessings that the Lord gives us here on Earth is the opportunity to tell others about Him! My prayer is that we will be faithful today, this week and this month to do just that!