This past Sunday, we had a special guest speaker at our church. Reverend Nick Pirovolos, aka “Nick the Greek”, brought an awesome Word and timeless wisdom for our congregation. Nick the Greek was a hit man, con man, thief, and full of hate. He hurt people for fun and used numerous people simply for entertainment. An out of control act of revenge perpetrated upon him sent him spiraling toward one of two places death or prison. Sometime shortly after that a botched robbery attempt landed him in prison. That prison sentence saved his life, and God breathed new life into him. Almost 40 years later, Nick the Greek is still spunky and still passionate about helping prisoners. You can read more about Nick the Greek in his book, Too Mean To Die, available through his website: http://www.insideoutministries.net/. Nick’s passion is to spread to Good News to the lost, however, the lost that are his greatest passion are those in prison.
God loves prisoners as He loves those in the free world. Many of those prisoners found their cell by searching for something they could never find. They were likely searching for love, acceptance, kindness, patience, grace, or mercy. These are all things that we humans crave in our lives, even the tough guys. I know because I was one of them for years, scrappy and nasty, with a bad attitude. The Lord Jesus Christ offers all of us these feelings and emotions, if we only ask. Those who are in prison are not free, spending sometimes the rest of their existence behind bars. However, they can be free! They may still be behind those same bars, but they will be free from the burden of their past sins, cleansed and washed by the Blood of the Lamb. They will be loved, accepted, given kindness, grace, mercy, and treated patiently by our Lord. They will be given a new purpose in life, because God has a purpose for us all. Often those prisoners who receive Christ are zealous to speak to others about their new found freedom. Many prison ministries are birthed in this manner.
I write this article asking you to contribute in some way to a prison ministry. First and foremost, I ask you to pray for prisoners around the globe, as well as prison ministries on the inside and outside of prisons. Pray for the Lord to call on these prisoners lives, to seek God’s face. Pray for the ministries to receive God’s blessings, His abundance, so that they may go forth and share the Good News. Brothers and sisters in Christ, I ask you to contribute monetarily to a prison ministry, if you can. These ministries are not free to run, and expenses in today’s economic crunch can be difficult to cover. Another massive contribution to any prison ministry is bibles. Every speaker I hear and every story that I read involving prisoners and Christ speak of a shortage of bibles. These inmates that receive Christ need His Word to stand on, to grow with, and to feed them. I implore you to do your part to spread the Gospel to those in chains. If you are not sure which ministry to give to, pray, ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, and if so led, give to Nick the Greek’s ministry. Or you can Google prison ministries. I am positive that any ministry would appreciate anything that you can contribute, especially prayer. Money is great, and bibles are necessary, but prayer changes things set the hand of God in motion, the windows of Heaven open and blessings pour out. I pray for you all and until next time, God bless you and keep you, and may His face shine upon you.
God loves prisoners as He loves those in the free world. Many of those prisoners found their cell by searching for something they could never find. They were likely searching for love, acceptance, kindness, patience, grace, or mercy. These are all things that we humans crave in our lives, even the tough guys. I know because I was one of them for years, scrappy and nasty, with a bad attitude. The Lord Jesus Christ offers all of us these feelings and emotions, if we only ask. Those who are in prison are not free, spending sometimes the rest of their existence behind bars. However, they can be free! They may still be behind those same bars, but they will be free from the burden of their past sins, cleansed and washed by the Blood of the Lamb. They will be loved, accepted, given kindness, grace, mercy, and treated patiently by our Lord. They will be given a new purpose in life, because God has a purpose for us all. Often those prisoners who receive Christ are zealous to speak to others about their new found freedom. Many prison ministries are birthed in this manner.
I write this article asking you to contribute in some way to a prison ministry. First and foremost, I ask you to pray for prisoners around the globe, as well as prison ministries on the inside and outside of prisons. Pray for the Lord to call on these prisoners lives, to seek God’s face. Pray for the ministries to receive God’s blessings, His abundance, so that they may go forth and share the Good News. Brothers and sisters in Christ, I ask you to contribute monetarily to a prison ministry, if you can. These ministries are not free to run, and expenses in today’s economic crunch can be difficult to cover. Another massive contribution to any prison ministry is bibles. Every speaker I hear and every story that I read involving prisoners and Christ speak of a shortage of bibles. These inmates that receive Christ need His Word to stand on, to grow with, and to feed them. I implore you to do your part to spread the Gospel to those in chains. If you are not sure which ministry to give to, pray, ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, and if so led, give to Nick the Greek’s ministry. Or you can Google prison ministries. I am positive that any ministry would appreciate anything that you can contribute, especially prayer. Money is great, and bibles are necessary, but prayer changes things set the hand of God in motion, the windows of Heaven open and blessings pour out. I pray for you all and until next time, God bless you and keep you, and may His face shine upon you.
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