Years ago, when I was performing concerts at churches, coffee shops, etc., I met a man who opened the door to a whole new level.  He invited me to perform my music for inmates in the jails and prisons around Lansing.  This man showed me how to interact with the inmates, how to shake their hands, what to watch out for, and most of all how to not be afraid.  When I began, my prayers covered me in ways I didn’t even consider for the church concerts.  I began to reach for more power than just remembering my words and not screwing up.  Prayers for a successful concert changed from hearts being opened to straight out supernatural breakthrough.

I was given the opportunity to perform before rooms full of people who have broken the law in various ways.  Some of the prisons were quite hospitable, others at different times were hostile.  It’s a different kind of rude when you know your audience has very little to lose if they decide to silence you after the guards leave, and one particular time it almost came to that.

The event room had both the males and females together, and I began to play for them.  Now I played acoustic guitar and it’s highly likely my folk/whatever style was not what most of them would have chosen to listen to.  And it wasn’t long before I started to lose them.  Any semblance of order was gone the minute the guards left.  At that point, it was just me and them.

I kept playing and singing in the mic while they started laughing and shouting things over me.  I want to tell you about something that happened in me that I don’t believe was from myself.  As these days get darker we may find ourselves in front of all kinds of mobs.  Luke 12:11-12 speaks of how the Holy Spirit will give us what to say during such times.

A fire rose up in me when I thought about what I was missing out on with my wife and kids that night while I was wasting my time with those ungrateful reprobates.  A thought to just pack up and leave passed my mind and I almost did that, but I believe the Spirit kept me there.  I stopped playing and just looked around at all of them.  As I did, a portion of silence came over them.  It was then that I began to talk, saying such things like, “If you can’t sit and listen for 1 hour why don’t you go back to your cells,” etc.  I don’t really remember all I said because at that point I’m not sure I was speaking.  I do remember my heart saying, “I came in hopes that you would be blessed in some way.”  I think something about my family and what I’d rather be doing got in there too.  Mentioning Matthew 25:36 and how Jesus invites us to go to them finished out my impromptu sermon.

All I can really remember is the absolute silence when I finished and some of the looks the more unsavory characters gave me.  I looked right back, I didn’t back down an inch.  I started to play again when the guards came back and called me out of there.  I had to walk down the center aisle through all the prisoners to get to the exit. Some of them didn’t let up their glare the entire way, but as I made my way the fire did not leave me and the rest gave me a standing ovation.

As the days pass and bring us closer to His 2nd coming, take a breath and relax.  He’s got us.  We may lose our seat of honor in this nation, but not in His Kingdom.