A Letter to an Inmate

An Inmate Doing Time

A Letter to an Inmate

I thought it right to share this letter written to an inmate, seeing that much, if not all, of what is contained in it may be timely, be it directly or indirectly, to many, if not all of us, inmate or not... self included, of course.

Hi *****,

I hope that this note finds you doing as well as possible, considering your present circumstances. I am sure that there are many other places where you would rather be doing an extended stay than in the ***** County Jail; I know that it is certainly not on my top 5 list of places where I would want to be for any amount of time at all, even in the dreary days of mid-January, even when it is as cold as it is now! [Are they keeping it at least reasonably warm for you all in there?] I think it would be safe to assume that you would rather be just about anywhere else than where you are currently. However, very often God has a way of working out some extraordinarily great plans with even greater purposes for people's lives (and for the lives of others) when they are in places and situations that they would much rather not be in. Please read Genesis 37 and 39. You will see how this played out with a guy by the name of Joseph. This was a guy who had been horribly mistreated by his own brothers (one might say that he came from an abusive family). For all intents and purposes, he became a victim of human trafficking. He was wrongfully accused, found guilty of, and punished for a sex crime. He was also wrongfully passed over for parole/release, etc., from prison. As we can see quite clearly from this, there really aren't any new crimes or ways of doing wrong and violating people; the only difference is the names and faces, and some of the specifics are just continually repackaged over the centuries. Nonetheless, Joseph remained faithful to God and sought Him (not perfectly, however; he was still a sinner just like you and I are). It is important to note here that while he was living in a way that was obedient to God, in a circumstance that would seem very difficult and extremely unfair, he went from being a prisoner to a man of extreme power in just one day (actually, within an instant); by God's own doing and in God's perfect design and in His perfect timing. By the way, perfectly is the only way that God can do anything... He can't make mistakes; any mistakes; He isn't capable of it; it's just not in Him. If it were, then He would not be perfect; common sense.

Sometimes it is pretty easy for us to forget that God is exactly the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). This means that He is exactly the same as He was in the time of Joseph as He is right now in your time, and will forever be. The reason for this is that there is absolutely no room for improvement or change regarding being perfectly righteous, perfectly all-knowing, perfectly all-powerful, and perfectly omnipresent (everywhere, all of the time); absolutely perfect in every way; these are properties that only God possesses, and that He must possess in order to truly be God. Also, He is every bit as interested in your life and circumstances as He was in Joseph's, Abraham's, Moses', Peter's, James', John's, or anyone else's, for that matter; He is not at all distant and far off. This may seem hard to grasp, but Scripture is clear that God is near (Jeremiah 23:23), and not a respecter of persons (Romans 2:11); in other words, He does not play favorites with His love (a love which is far beyond our comprehension). He became a man and laid down His own life (no one took it from Him [John 10:18]) to pay the demanded price for the sins of the world; that means everyone; which includes you and me. Each of us is unique and has a different God-appointed niche (place/purpose/job). He did not make any two of us the same; He did not create any two of us for the same purpose. He works everything out for the good of those of us who love Him and who are called according to His purpose; that means for anyone who has trusted Christ as Savior and has thus been born again (Romans 8:28).

I would sincerely encourage you to please come out for as many of the church services/Bible studies as you can, as well as for the Celebrate Recovery meetings, if you haven't been doing so already, while you are at ***** Jail (Celebrate Recovery is by no means only about drugs and alcohol). Also, please consider kiting for 1 on 1 sessions (if you haven't already been doing so), if you feel that they would help you at all (I have a serious hunch that they would); if nothing else, these sessions give you an opportunity to get some of the baggage and junk you may be carrying around out of your system and off of your chest, so to speak, without being watched and "sized up," or scrutinized by those who are locked up with you. None of the men that you talk to in a 1 on 1 session are going to hold anything you say against you, belittle you, try to take advantage of you, nor are they going to talk to your fellow inmates about what you talk to them about.

I would also strongly encourage you to study the Scriptures and other positive Bible associated literature, and to use your time at ***** Jail as opposed to just doing (wasting) it. When you leave ***** Jail, please get involved with, and stay involved with positive and structured things; perhaps even strongly consider doing some volunteer work, perhaps with a reputable organization or through a church. Ask the chaplain for a list of the Celebrate Recovery meetings in ***** County as well. Having a minimal amount of idle time on your hands will be extremely important for you when you are released! Idle time seems to get a lot of people into trouble; including giving them excess time to be getting involved with things that wind up getting them put back in jail. Over the years I have seen WAY too many guys leave ***** Jail with the best of intentions, then get idle, then get bored, then do something stupid in a moment of weakness and temptation, and then wind up back in jail within a short amount of time, once again away from their families, their work, etc., sometimes for a long time with a brand new set of charges and stressful situations to deal with...and more chances to earn money missed out on, as well as more money that has to be spent on court costs, fines, legal fees, etc.; the type of stuff that I myself REALLY detest spending any of my money on at all! I really don't want that to be you. The same principle applies if you are going to prison (I am not familiar with the details of your case); there are good things to get involved with in those facilities, and there are many bad things, of course that will easily avail themselves to you, as well. Idle time all too often lends itself all too easily to these bad things finding you, that could easily wind up getting you more charges, more time...or perhaps worse.

The Good Lord has something eternally important prepared specifically for you to accomplish, and He wants to give you what you need to accomplish it (Ephesians 2:10). I have no idea what that may be, or where that will be; God most certainly does. You'll need to ask Him and seek Him about that; you may have to listen very closely and be truly open-minded to His will in order to hear His answer. If you have truly trusted Christ as Savior and have taken Him at His word about what He has done for you, then you have the Holy Spirit living within you, which means you have at the very least one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, perhaps more. I have no idea what that gift or gifts may be, but God certainly does (these gifts come from Him), ask Him (James 1:5). He also may not give you all of your gifts at one time, just as my earthly father did not give me the gifts that he gave me as an adult when I was an infant; as I was not yet ready to receive them. I also know that if we submit ourselves before God and resist the devil, he will flee from us, he has to; he has no other choice but to do so (James 4:7). We want to resist Satan, the devil, because his desire is only to harm us; to ruin and destroy us; he hates us. If we are saved, he can't do that, however, he will indeed settle for making us miserable and robbing us of blessings, both here and in the hereafter, and if we let him do it, he will do it (I can attest to this from firsthand experience). We always have to be on guard in this respect. We stay on guard by the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26, 2 Timothy 2:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:17; READ THESE). Satan may make a lot of things that are quite detrimental to us look satisfying, fun, and attractive...and they may be, but they will be only for a season; a little while; a very short time. After that, they will cost us much, much more than the pleasure those sins were ever worth. They are very bad investments of our time and resources that often keep on paying their "dividends" for a very long time. Again, this is something I know from firsthand experience. To say that giving in to temptation (Satan) isn't worth it, is a massive understatement; there are NO good deals with the devil. Remember, he is a liar; there is no truth in him whatsoever, thus there is no value in him whatsoever! He has nothing of any value to make any deals with him worthwhile or even be a little bit valid. If perhaps you have somehow made some sort of deal with him in the past, it is not binding in any way, shape, or form, despite whatever lie he may tell you saying otherwise; just walk away from it; you do not owe him any sort of explanation at all; you owe him nothing at all. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes unto the Father but by Him (John 14:6). Going after what Satan offers us is very much like a [actually worse than] a fish gnawing on a worm that is on a hook and line with someone closely watching the bobber that it is hanging from; obviously something that is not designed to turn out well for the fish.

There are quite a few copies of a small book called "Angles and Aspects of Salvation" at the jail. If you don't have immediate access to one, I would respectfully and strongly urge you to please request one, or ask one of the ***** volunteers for one; they often have one or more copies of it in their totes that they bring to Church/Bible studies, or one-on-one meetings. I believe you will find it to be a blessing. Please be sure to take it with you when you leave the jail as well. Also, please visit and make use of the website whose address is printed on the front of it as well.

Prayers for you and for your family. Hang in there. God bless.

*****

Angles and Aspects of Salvation