John's Story From Jail

Names have been changed in this account for safety reasons.

While teaching at the Osceola County Jail I met a young man named John. John explained to me that he had been arrested for dealing drugs in St. Cloud, and was trying to get his life back on track. Prior to being incarcerated John said that his life consisted of women, money, & drugs but now he had received the Lord as his Savior and had been attending the weekly studies for a few weeks now. John told me that something I had said the previous week had touched a cord with him and he wanted to share his experience with the class.

The previous week I had made a passing comment about fasting in response to a question that was asked. Not a long dissertation but simply a comment that fasting was one tool that helps a Christian tap into the power of God. Prior to this John said that he thought of fasting as foolishness and something only “fanatics” did. Nevertheless he decided to give it a try. John prayed and felt led to fast until midnight the following day. Breakfast went well, as did lunch time. By supper he was beginning to feel the pangs of hunger greatly intensify and by 11:30 he was getting sick to his stomach. He began to think that fasting was not for him, he was not feeling any closer to God he was just feeling sick. At midnight he ate some crackers and immediately vomited them back up. He was feeling very discouraged when he realized that it was not God that was making him sick it was Satan. John felt the overwhelming urge to pray and within 10 seconds of praying the nausea and hunger left him. John also said that he sleep better that night than he ever has in his life (sleeping in jail is not normally restful sleep).

The next morning John arose and walked out of his cell, looking down into the common area he said that he had a sense of clarity that he never had before. Instead of looking at the men below as a group of inmates he was looking at them now as individuals, each one precious to Jesus. Rules in the jail prohibit inmates from congregating in groups of more than 4 so he went and found 3 other inmates who he knew to be Christians and asked them to pray with him. By the time they were done praying their small prayer group had grown to over 25 men, huddled around praying out to Jesus. The corrections officers, unaware of what was going on broke in and began pepper spraying the prayer meeting. Even this did not dissuade John who said that knew that was also Satan clouding the minds of the guards.

Please pray for John and the others in The Osceola County Jail. Many are saved who have fallen to by the wayside and many more have never heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. Also, please pray for Jim and I as we continue to take the Gospel into this institution. We saw another 5 souls saved this week.