During the month o February I (Caleb) had a wonderful opportunity to minister to inmates in the Dubuque County Jail. Myself and a couple of other guys were able to go in during the four Sundays of February to hold Bible Studies. There are two sides of the jail with women on one side and men on the other. The two other guys went to the men's side and I went the women's side.
Before going each Sunday I would come before the Lord in prayer, seeking His guidance as to what passage of His Word He wanted me to do a study on. I also prayed for strength and wisdom and power for myself and for tender hearts that were ready to receive the words of the Living God. Lastly I prayed for grace in the eyes of the prison guards, that they would not only cause no hindrance but that they would be very favorable towards us and even draw to Christ themselves through our being there.
After being buzzed in through several locked doors, I would be taken to a visiting room with a glass (with little holes in it so we could talk) dividing it in half. Each week I had between two to three groups of about two to three women in each group. I would arrive around 6:00 p.m. and not leave until about 9:00 p.m.
God is great! I love to see Him at work and He has certainly been at work in the Dubuque jail! I got the whole range of women, from those that were kind of interested but not really, to those who were hungry for truth but knew nothing, to those who knew a lot but had all knowledge and no faith, to those who had found Christ while in jail and were wholeheartedly following after Jesus and desperately hungry for more of Him!
Each Bible study began with prayer and then we would go through the passage one verse at a time, taking it for what it said, and trying to bring as little of the rest of the Bible to it as possible, simply letting the passage speak for itself. It is awesome how faithful God is to show Himself through His Word! We try to bring so much "wisdom" and "logic" to the Bible to exlpain it when it explains itself so well already! The passages we looked at throughout the 4 weeks were: Ephesians 2:1-10, Philippians 2:1-11, Colossians 1:13-23, and Isaiah 53. It was AWESOME each time! The only passages outside of the texts that we went to were to reinforce or expound on the truth that was found in the texts.
With the window of opportunity now closed, there are a number of ladies (from my side) and men (from the other guys' side) who are reading the Word, hungry for God and drawing nearer to Him! Praise the Lord! Is He not so incredibly awesome!!!! =D There are three ladies in particular that I want to share about. These three had all found Christ before I came to the jail, and are following Him with all of their hearts each day. My coming was a huge encouragement to them and they hungrily listened and participated in the Bible studies, which usually went for about 60 to 90 minutes. God is using them mightily too within the jail as they shine Jesus everyday through their words and their actions.