As the holiday season approaches, I’m directing my attention to the men and women incarcerated in jails and prisons around the world. The bible says ” the way of the transgressor is hard ” and this is a certain truth, so hard to be locked up, no freedom, no felowship of family, and so difficult to have hope in your heart. Dusty Howard Ministries goes into the jails to be a light in a dark and dismal land. We bring Isaiah 42:1-8 into them and lift them up where they can see the eternal love of God. When we show them that Jesus was sent for them specifically..” a bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: HE SHALL BRING FORTH JUDGEMENT IN THE EARTH ! They can see themselves like He sees them, valuable and called of God, not something to be discarded or snuffed out because of past errors. The past has NOTHING to do with their destiny in God, it WILL NOT determine their future ! What will determine it ? What Almighty God has spoken over them before the foundation of the world ! What they dare to believe in their hearts now ! Listen to verse :6…” I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and will GIVE THEE FOR A COVENANT OF THE PEOPLE, FOR A LIGHT UNTO THE GENTILES ! Verse :7…” To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house ! ” AWESOME ! When prisoners see that God our Father sent His Son Jesus with specific instructions and Holy design, to open their eyes and free them from the bondage of the devils lies…..the response is always overwhelming, tears of joy and repentance and suddenly hope arises and vision produces a future with Him…..a new song is born in their hearts ! This Thanksgiving and Christmas season, take time to thank God for opening your eyes and bringing you out of bondage into the Kingdom of Light, and lift up those who are locked up and without hope…. this is why I keep going back into the jails, ” I was in prison and you came unto me ” Matt. 25:34-36
Fear is Faith in Reverse
Just as faith is a powerful force, there is also a force opposed to faith called fear, it’s actually faith in reverse. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, or earnestly expected. Fear is the substance of things NOT DESIRED but are still expected, you believe it will happen. If we don’t eliminate fear it will bring the very thing we do not want. Job is the classic example of this, ” For the thing which I GREATLY FEARED is come upon me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came. ” (Job 3:25-26) Job rehearsed his fears until he GREATLY feared, and trouble came. When we speak our fears they grow and contaminate our faith. These thoughts will die unborn if we do not speak them, fear filled words give the enemy license to operate in your life. When you talk fear, doubt and unbelief your words are speaking into existence things you do not desire. Just as faith comes by hearing, fear also comes by hearing the wrong things. Jesus said, ” Therefore take no thought SAYING, what shall we eat ? or what shall we drink ? or wherewithal shall we be clothed ? ” ( Matt. 6:31) These thoughts will die unborn unless you TAKE them by SAYING THEM ! Ephesians 6:16 says ” Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be ABLE to quench ALL the fiery darts of the wicked. ” Taking the shield of faith is the same as taking fear filled thoughts, by speaking it. Speaking the word of God produces an aura of faith around you like a SHIELD ! If you have been taking thoughts from the enemy by speaking them aloud then you are stuck in reverse and you need to change gears ! Put your life in forward drive by confessing the truth of God’s word about your circumstances, your finances, your health. Believers don’t fight thoughts with thoughts, you extinguish them with faith words. We don’t fight fire with fire, we use a hose filled with the water of the word !!
COMMAND PERFORMANCE
This past Christmas as I was meditating on Luke chapters one and two, the Holy Spirit directed my attention to chapter one verses 39-45. Notice that when Mary went to visit Elizabeth and called to her, the baby ( John the Baptist) leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was FILLED with the Holy Ghost. And she cried out with a loud voice and said ” Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb !” Now look at verse :45…..” And blessed is she that believed; FOR THERE SHALL BE A PERFORMANCE OF THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE TOLD HER FROM THE LORD ! When a person is filled with the Spirit of God, He will use you like a loudspeaker, a megaphone, to announce some things ! A person will begin to proclaim some things with a LOUD VOICE, in this passage it was ” Get ready world , there’s going to be a performance like never seen before ” A virgin birth, and the child will be the Savior of the world! ” I was reminded of Psalms 57: 2…. ” I will cry unto God MOST HIGH; unto God that PERFORMS all things for me ” The Holy Ghost shouted ” Blessed is she that BELIEVED !” As an act of the ” God kind of faith”, Mary believed the word and recieved it in her spirit by faith as a seed, saying ” be it unto me according to thy word” We all have this capability to believe Gods word and conceive in our spirit! She declared ” He that is mighty has done to me great things” Now what evidence did she have? None, she simply believed the word and the Holy Spirit then made His announcement, ” There’s going to be a performance! ” Remember the account in Matthew 14: 14-21… how the multitudes were fed with five loaves and two fishes? Jesus told the disciples there was no need for them to depart, ” you give them something to eat ” They said ” we have here but five loaves and two fishes ” He said ” bring it to me “…… then He COMMANDED the multitude to sit down on the grass, took the loaves and fishes, and looking up to heaven He blessed and brake them and gave them to the disciples and the disciples to the people. We know the rest of the story, they were all FILLED and there was much left over ! Notice what Jesus did…. He commanded everyone to sit down, get comfortable, relax, there’s going to be a PERFORMANCE, A COMMAND PERFORMANCE and you all have VIP seating ! Faith performs ! Faith fulfils ! Faith Commands ! As I rejoiced and meditated these scriptures, the Holy Spirit said ” Read Philippians 1: 6 ” ” Being CONFIDENT of this very thing, ( you could say being full of faith, being fully persuaded and sure of this very thing) What thing ? ” That He which has begun a good work in you WILL PERFORM IT until the day of Jesus Christ ! If there is anything we need to be confident of it’s this, Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith, He promises that He will perfect it , He will honor it, He will PERFORM every act of faith right up until the day He returns !!!
Put Your “But” in the Devil’s Face
Has anyone ever said this to you, ” I know the Bible says that…. but that won’t work for me .” I’m amazed how many people believe the word is true ” but” for some reason it isn’t true for them personally. This ” but ” is the devils’ “but” and he sticks it right in your face to blind you to the blessing, the promises, the truth and victory in God’s word. He knows if you can see it, you can possess it and put him under your feet where he belongs! The worlds’ way of thinking says, “Seeing is believing”, but faith says, “Believing is seeing.” Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The Amplified Bible says, “Where there is no redemptive revelation of God, the people perish.” The enemy uses pressure in this world system to block your vision.” “I know the Bible says that ” but ” I don’t have a job”, ” I don’t have a car”, “I don’t have an education”, “I have a jail record.” “It’s too late for me to try faith, I’m too old.” Now these things may be actual facts, but there is only one TRUTH and the truth you know will make you free. You can’t change the truth “BUT” the Truth will change every fact in your life!! I’m not going to tell you to ” get your butt in there and read the Bible.” I’m saying to get in the Bible and find YOUR “BUT!” Matthew 14:15 tells of Jesus seeing a great multitude and being moved with compassion, He healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, ” This a desert place, and the time is past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food” :16- “BUT” Jesus said unto them, “They need not depart; you give them something to eat” :17- And they say unto him, ” We have here “BUT” five loaves and two fishes.” :18- “He said, ‘Bring them here to me’. Jesus blessed it and gave it to His disciples. Thousands were fed with much left over.” You see, whatever circumstances you may find yourself in, Jesus said “BUT” “there’s no need to depart from faith, from God’s word, from the the Kingdom to find the answer. If you have a seed you can meet your need, if you use your faith you will have the victory, if you stand on the word of God you won’t be defeated!! It may be like a “desert” to you now, dry and barren, it may seem like “the time is past”, it’s too late for you to start over, “BUT” Jesus said bring it to Him, “I’ll bless it and increase it.” “BUT” I only have a few fish and a little bread, “Thats OK, just give me something to work with, something as a seed of faith!” We don’t have to go elsewhere, to lie, to go deep into debt, to compromise our integrity and principles because we don’t see another way. Find “YOUR” “BUT” and stick it right in Satan’s face!!
Paul worked this revelation of faith in 1 Cor. 15:9,10. He said I am the least of all the Apostles, because I persecuted the church; “BUT” by the GRACE of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain; “BUT” I laboured more than they all; yet not I, “BUT” the grace of God which was with me!! He said, “Yes, I did mess up bad and yes, I was a lowlife “BUT” by the grace of God I am what I am now, BLESSED, WELL-BELOVED, CHOSEN, FORGIVEN!!! Rise up in faith and tell the devil Eph. 2:4 , “I may have a history of failure “BUT” God who is rich in mercy; for His great love, wherewith He loved ME, even when I was dead in sin, has quickened me together with Jesus, ( by grace am I saved); And has raised me up and made me to sit with Him in Heavenly places!!!!!
Spirit Life
Jesus said in John 6:63 ” the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life “. Notice He said the words that I SPEAK are spirit and life. ” RHEMA “, The words of God when spoken in faith are transmitters of spirit life ! This is ” Zoe “, the spirit life of God that He proclaimed in John 10: 10 ” He has come that we may have life ( Zoe ) and have it more abundantly. ” Peter understood this anointed principle as recorded in Acts 3 as He looked down upon the lame man at the Gate of the Beautiful. In verse 6 He SAID ” Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have I give thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk ” ! Faith in the name of Jesus was transmitted by faith words! ( RHEMA ) The spirit life force of God entered into this man’s spirit, and quickened his mortal flesh. Peter again in chapter 9 said to the man sick of the palsy ” Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed,” and he arose immediately ! Faith words are transmitters of spirit life and we have the same calling as Peter, to speak God’s word in faith and transmit this life. Jesus said in John 7 :38 ” He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Out of our heart the mouth will speak and transmit the living spirit life of God. It will change people’s lives, renew their minds, make their bodies perfectly sound !
Peace
Jesus said to the disciples in John 14:27 ” Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” This word is the same word He spoke to the woman with the issue of blood, ” Go in peace and be made whole” It’s the same word! ” Wholeness” The world can’t make you whole, only faith in Jesus brings wholeness. In the Hebrew it is “Shalom” The peace of God, ” nothing missing and nothing broken”. That’s what Jesus purchased and provided for us on the cross. Nothing missing, no sorrows,no regrets, no longing to go back or “what if’s”, no empty bank accounts or lack of fulfillment, No broken relationships or infirmities!! Oh the redemptive power of the cross!!! All these things are now available to you by FAITH and faith alone! In John 21 after Jesus had not been seen of them for eight days, Peter said ” I go a fishing” and the others said ” We go also”. They were saddened by His absence and decided to go back to what they used to do before they walked with Him. We can never go back to the world’s way of existing, the world’s way of thinking. They fished all night and caught nothing! Suddenly He appeared to them on the shore of the sea of Tiberias and called out to them ” children have you any meat?” They said “no”. He said to them ” cast the net on the right side of the ship, and you shall find”. They did this and the net was filled to overflowing, so much they could barely make it to shore! There were 153 great fish and the net DID NOT BREAK. Recently a study did by marine biologists revealed there were exactly 153 different species of fish in the sea of Tiberias, one of every kind had to obey Jesus, and the the net didn’t break, ” nothing missing, nothing broken.” The peace He gave us is wholeness , but it is available only by faith, the ” right side of the ship”. There is only one right side for the believer, and it is the side of faith, the victory that overcomes the world.
Grace of God
One day of favor is worth more than a lifetime of labor. His willingness to use His ability on your behalf is multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God. To ” know ” Him is to experience the blessing ” firsthand”, as Jesus said ” You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. You will experience the truth, not talk about it or agree it is real. The truth is we are the blessed of the Lord and HIGHLY FAVORED of our Father!! I want to encourage you to in all your ways to acknowledge Him ( Truth) and to do that you must openly declare ” I am well-beloved, blessed, highly favored and chosen in Him” Thats the Truth.
Your Life as a Seed
Jail Ministry
God, unlike the world, has always chosen to identify closest with those who are isolated and broken. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison, and you came to visit me . . . I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:35-36, 40).
Dusty Howard Ministries reaches out to prisoners at the Boyd County jail as an act of service to Jesus Christ and as a contribution to restoring peace to our cities and communities endangered by crime. For the best way to transform our communities is to transform the people within those communities—and truly restorative change comes only through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
DHM’s jail ministry is representative of Isaiah 42:3: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice.” This reminds us that while society may cast aside those people it deems useless and unworthy, God continues to pursue them with His steadfast love, offering forgiveness and restoration.
