"Does God Care About My Intimate Relationships: Within My Sex Life?"

Prison inmates filled the room! "Is the church really going to talk about this?" 
We need to because sex is... powerful, wonderful, natural, dangerous, fun, healthy, steamy, stressful, risky, confusing and abused.


Does God care about my Sex life? God cares 100% about your sex life.
In fact... God created it, God encourages it, God writes about it, God knows it, God respects it, God can redeem it, God can restore it... 



God is relational - look at the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. - uniquely individual yet "one". How creative of God to put a deep longing and desire in us to seek Him in a relationship. God then mirrors that "oneness" in sex within the protection of the covenant of marriage; husband, wife and Holy Spirit - uniquely individual - yet "one"... The power of one flesh!

On one hand it is mind-bloggling, on the other, "How awesome God!"
Should we be surprised that Satan uses the God-given beauty of sex to distort and pervert what mirrors the Trinity of God?

"For it says; The two will become one flesh. But anyone joined to the Lord is one with Spirit with Him." 
1 Corinthians 6:16-17

"What happened in the prison service?"

The "Sex" talk was full of laughter for the inmates and revelation of God's "oneness". It was filled with all female inmates (and more officers than usual) anticipating this hot topic. 

We were shut down! The service was going great - scripture was shared (Genesis 1-2 and 1 Corinthians 6), balanced with God's truth and tons of laughter... when all of a sudden... we were cut short 3/4 of the way through by the prison officers. They stopped the service and told the inmates to line up and leave with no explanation. Later, we asked why we were shut down. The officers told us that they suspected women passing (possible contraband) items in the back row. 

I wish you could have seen it... in the cold dark parking lot our team was not defeated, but instead persevered in lifting up worship and praise for an awesome evening!  


No doubt, God is transforming hearts with His truth and Satan is trying to stop it. 

I am confident that the officers were doing what was necessary and right. Prison is a culture of it's own and we need to respect that. 

The next talk on Saturday, November 12 is on Homosexuality. I handed out index cards for the women to write down their questions regarding this topic. This is is their church and it enables me to add Biblical answers to their questions during the service. 

There is a lot of judgement and rejection amongst the inmates and the church regarding homosexuality. I feel the church has not done a good job of showing the love of Christ to incarcerated women struggling with same sex attraction. Let's keep the communication open, reaching out to everyone right where they are. As a church we urgently need to teach truth with loving kindness. I encouraged the inmates to invite friends and attend November 12th with an open mind and heart. 

Will you please pray for our team and the November 12th topic on Homosexuality? 


Isn't it exciting to be on the front lines for Christ!


Shug

Does God Care About My Intimate Relationships: With My Rebellious Children?

Hardwired! Prison inmates are not the only people "hardwired by God" to connect with others. God created all of us to be relational, first in a loving relationship with Him and then in loving relationships with others.

I asked the inmates a simple question and I was surprised at the response: "Have you ever rebelled against your parents or God? Surprisingly, maybe 60% raised their hand...where are the other 40%? I had to look around the room and remind myself I was speaking in prison!

Have I turned a blind eye to my own rebellion?

What a different world this would be if we all were to survey ourselves against what is right in God's eyes. I encouraged the majority of mothers (including myself) to actively demonstrate a teachable heart to their own children.

"Jesus, please show me where I am rebelling against your lavish love?"  

Christian author Josh McDowell struggled years with this and then the light bulb went off... Here is his reasoning:

The rebellious behavior you see is the tip of the iceberg. There is a whole lot more going on beneath the surface. Think about it... our relationships lead to beliefs, our beliefs form our values and our values drive our behavior (rebellion). We only see the behavior. However, what is below the surface originates with our relationships. 

Psalm 26:3 
For I am constantly aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to your truth. Build your relationships in God's truth.

"How do I build a relationship with my children from prison?"

It is not too late! We discussed ways to parent from prison? How to teach God's truth by living it out in their own lives? How to make their child feel special? How restore and rebuild broken relationships? Humbly, we began this new journey in prayer. Asking God to "hard-wire us" in an intimate relationship with Him.

You could feel the spirit's power, as the inmates ended the service by lifting up over 90 scripture verses in prayer. These beautiful women earnestly prayed to break the strongholds of rebellion in their own lives and in the lives of their children.

Isaiah 30:21
Whether you walk to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way, walk in it."

Powerful! You could feel the Holy Spirit melting away the strongholds from praying scripture.

Shug