The purpose for my writing this article is to express the heart of Jesus concerning Prison Ministries. If I can correctly interpret one of the main issues that Jesus is emphasizing to his Body throughout the world, it would be this. “I was in prison, and you came unto me.”

In the 12th chapter of Mark there is a conversation recorded between Jesus and some scribes. As Jesus was asking and answering questions, Jesus was so touched by the way one scribe answered Him that it compelled Him to say, “Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God.” (Mark 12:34). I believe that if Jesus were here in the flesh today, He would say that the men and women in prisons are not far from the Kingdom of God. In fact, I would venture to say that some are so close that all they need is a little shove.

I know that is a bold statement, but I would like to give you 3 reasons why I believe that Jesus would say that:

1. Most people in prisons have realized that they have got to change. I was in prison for eight years of my life and Ican honestly say that most of the men in prison have come to the realization that they have got to change. They know that the kind of life they were living before is what got them in there and they know that if they do not change in some way that they will be back. Believe me that men and women in prison know that they need to change, they want to change, they cry out to change, but for the life of them they do not know how to change.
So, in this respect, they are a lot closer to the Kingdom of God than most people. Any Pastor can tell you that if they could just get people to see that they need to change then half the battle is won. For once a person has realized that he has got to change, then it is easy to introduce them to the one who makes eternal changes – Jesus Christ.

2. People in prison are diligently seeking to change. Most men and women in prison are deeply involved in some type of activity that they feel will help them to change.

There are men in prison who do nothing but build up their minds. All they do is study and read. They spend most of their time seeking knowledge, because deep down they feel that if they could just get their mind right then their life will get right.

There are men in prison who do nothing but try to develop their skills, skills in sports, skills in vocational trades,and skills in music. For they feel that if they could just get their ability right then their life will get right.

But you know and I know that until they get their hearts right then their lives will never get right. There is only one person that I know who is in the heart changing business and that is Jesus Christ.

Now we come to the third and most important reason that people in prison are not fare from the Kingdom of God.

3. Jesus takes great Joy in loving the unlovely, for Jesus knows that it is the people that deserve Love the least that need it the most. Believe me, loving the unlovely, the ugly, and the wicked is not an easy thing to do. Surely it could never be described as a joyful experience. I was an inmate for eight years and I found it very hard at times to love my fellow inmates and there were times I could not understand how God could even love them. But the Holy Spirit allowed me to experience something one day that drove all my doubts away. It was a day when I was going through some trials and tribulations in my Christian walk. I was really being persecuted and threatened by my fellow inmates. A Christian brother of mine had been knocked out and robbed, and I just heard about a
friend of mine being raped. All these things together started to stir up some real hatred in my heart for all these wicked and perverse people. In a sense I was praying that God would strike them all dead. But as I was sitting on my bunk with my head bowed and feeling all this hate, I felt compelled to lift my head and as I did, I saw all the inmates that were in my dormitory. As I looked at them the Love of God came upon me and completely overwhelmed me to the point that I was crying. It was as though I was looking through the eyes of Jesus and I was seeing these men as He sees them, and I was feeling for them as He feels for them. No longer was there any doubt in my mind as to whether God loved these ugly and wicked people. I knew almost instinctively that the love I was feeling had the qualities in it that would make it possible for their ugliness to be turned to beauty
and their wickedness to righteousness.

It seems that throughout scripture that the Lord takes special pains to reveal Himself to people who seem least important to society. It was significant that the first person Jesus revealed Himself to was the woman at the well, a Samarian and an adulteress. It was also significant that the first person to enter the Kingdom of God was the thief on the cross. And it was also very significant that the first person that Jesus revealed Himself to after He was resurrected was Mary of Magdelene, a former prostitute in whom seven demons were cast out. I will say it again, Jesus takes great Joy in Loving the unlovely.

There is a reason why the Lord goes to such lengths and pains to bestow His love on the outcasts of this world. The Lord knows that he or she that is forgiven of much, the same loveth much, Luke 7:47. That is a truth that has been worked into my own life. For I am a man who loves much, but only because I am a man who has been forgiven of much by both God and man.