Last night was one of those nights where I could feel a bit of the oppression of the enemy. The young guys were very distracted from the start. When we arrived, some of them were working on their "programs", others were watching football on TV and others were doing some counseling in another room and came in shortly after we came in. It took quite a few minutes to greet them all, and get them settled into their seats.
We had decided before hand to skip straight to the message, then to prayer, then to having more time with the three of us talking one on one or with small groups. So I started by talking about prayer.
I talked to them about how prayer doesn't appear in the Bible until Genesis 4:26. I asked them why they thought that was. We had a few different answers until one of the young guys said, "Because they talked straight to God." I told them that was pretty close. That opened the door to talk about how Genesis 1:26 talks about Man being in dominion over all living things. About how in Gen 2:16-17 God commanded them to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How that was the only restraint on them. Then we talked about Genesis 3:1-7, how Satan deceived them. And how they fell for the deception and how they died spiritually at that point, when they disobeyed God. One of the young men kept just saying how dumb Adam and Eve were and how they messed it up for everyone else.
Then we talked about Gen 3:8-13 where God was walking in the Garden and said, "Adam, where are you?" How Adam did what most honorable men would do. He said, "It is Eve's fault!" They thought that was pretty funny. One of the young guys asked, "Didn't Adam say Eve Deceived him?" I said, "It says that Satan deceived her in Gen 3:18." I talked a little bit about how Satan is still up to the same thing, still using tricks about how one time won't hurt, how no one will know, those kinds of lies we hear in our head all the time.
We talked a bit more about after they were out of the Garden how Adam had to work etc. Then we talked about Mark 6:7 and Ecclesiastes 5:2 being the kinds of prayers God wants from us. Not memorized prayers or prayers with many words, but straight from our hearts. We talked about praying to develop a relationship with God. We used John 15:7 as an example. We talked about Matt 26:41 and Luke 18:1 as times Jesus told us to pray and why.
Finally we talked about not knowing how to pray. I talked about Romans 8:26-27 as how the Holy Spirit takes our groanings and uses them for prayers - IF we have the Holy Spirit in us. In closing the talk I told them how important prayer was and that we literally have people all over the world, praying for them - people in Germany had prayed for them the night before. They were a little surprised by that, and they liked it.
After that we had a very good prayer circle, with lots of prayers for Michael who may get to be released next week. Many of them prayed for him to be strong before the boards and that they would grant him release. It is very touching to see them pray for each other, for health issues and to know how badly they want release and freedom for each other. Still many prayers for Kyle who doesn't know what his health issue is but does feel like it isn't cancer at this point. What a blessing that was. Prayers for the move from Norwalk, prayers for their families, and always lots of prayers for the volunteers. It was one of the quietest time in prayer in a long time, very respectful of each other. What a blessing that is.
After that we had a very good prayer circle, with lots of prayers for Michael who may get to be released next week. Many of them prayed for him to be strong before the boards and that they would grant him release. It is very touching to see them pray for each other, for health issues and to know how badly they want release and freedom for each other. Still many prayers for Kyle who doesn't know what his health issue is but does feel like it isn't cancer at this point. What a blessing that was. Prayers for the move from Norwalk, prayers for their families, and always lots of prayers for the volunteers. It was one of the quietest time in prayer in a long time, very respectful of each other. What a blessing that is.
From Susie:
Last time we visited Gibbs, it was the most respectful and orderly visit we'd ever had. Last night was the opposite! They were rambunctious, full of profanity with lots of bantering going around the room. Troy was playing his guitar in the corner until I asked him to stop. Like Mike said, it was obvious that there was a battle going on last night. But I always love the hugs and hellos! We had 19 last night so the room wasn't quite as full as it has been recently. It's a good thing, with the way they were behaving!
They were fairly quiet during Mike's message and did ask a couple of questions. When Mike asked them to define prayer, Mark answered, "Staying on contact with God." I liked that!
The prayer circle was wonderful, as it has been for quite awhile now. So many prayers for one another. They have come so far. It was quiet during the prayer circle, even though they had been out of order so much during the evening.
I had the opportunity to speak with Lamour for a long time after the prayer circle. Lamour is reading the Bible from cover to cover and I love hearing his updates about where he is, what he's reading and what it means to him. He said he's now in Psalms 140. He talked about how much he likes the Study Bible he received because of the notes and comments. He said it has helped him to understand more of what he's reading.
Lamour continued to share with me that he has a problem being angry and violent. I told him I can't imagine him being violent, and he smiled back at me. He talked about how he should have gotten out by now, but has had continuing problems with the anger and violence. He talked about how frustrated he gets with the antics of this group of boys; that they're never serious about anything.
I had the same conversation with Lamour that I had with Manuel a couple of weeks ago. About change being too hard for us to do on our own, but that we can ask God to change us - and transform us into His image. We read Psalm 139:23-24 which says "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." We talked about the process there - 1) Asking God to search our hearts. 2) Asking Him to find our offensive ways. 3) Asking him to lead us in His ways. What a great conversation. I can see relief on the boys faces during these conversations when they start to understand that they can take their sins and sorrows to God and ask Him to handle them - that they are not alone.
We will be back at the facility on Saturday for what may be the last family event before all the boys are moved. We look forward to spending as much time as possible with the boys before they leave in October.
Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!
Learning to love like Jesus,
Mike and Susie
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Prayer Requests
- Can you pray for my Uncle Steve because he has nemenya (pneumonia) and has a pocket in his lungs.
~ Christopher - To give me strength and knowledge to go to board and give me the right words to say and let me just be truthful and very insightful. I ask to get the strength to return back to community and live the rest of my life the right way. Pray over my family and girlfriend also bless over my caseload who has been hurt for some time know. And keep me focus.
~ Michael - Michael goes to the parole board on Monday afternoon. Please pray for his release!!!
- Please continue to pray for the staff at the facility as they learn what their future holds with the facility being closed by the end of the year.
- Please continue to pray for Kyle. He expects to have another biopsy done soon as the results thus far have been inconclusive. Pray for his healing!
- Pray for Gilbert to qualify for A-Level. He only has ten days to go!
- Pray for Steven who was moved to Marshall unit and has been on suicide watch.
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