These are all true stories that demonstrate how God can use a person in an ordinary job for His purposes. We can all take heart from this, realising that no matter how menial our job may seem, if it is done as to the Lord, it will bring glory to Him.
All the names used in this series are not the people’s real names for obvious reasons, but the events all happened as described.
We will call our prison worker Harold….he started off his career in the police force for some years, and then moved on into prison work looking after the welfare of the prisoners and seeing to their needs. He had always had a desire to speak for the Lord whenever he could and in his younger days on his time off, went with an experienced Christian worker, watching and listening as this man talked with people.
One time he attended a weekend retreat learning how to use the “Navigator” booklet called “The Bridge to Life”. This booklet was widely used by the “Navigator” organisation, and clearly showed how a person could become a committed Christian. This retreat was specifically for those who wanted to learn how to use this booklet effectively.
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Harold Explains…
I was a Police officer for one or two of these stories. But the others I was a Prison Officer but doing the duty of what as known as ‘a Welfare Officer’ which was done whilst wearing ‘civvies’. I had an office, so I had privacy to witness to the prisoners on a one to one basis. This was not part of the job description, as the Prison had a Chaplain; however, I knew most of the prisoners and saw many return to prison on new sentences. This was a door opener as it were, to suggest that they needed something more positive than mere willpower to remain out of gaol. This lasted for a period of nine months, during which time three home groups were upholding me in prayer, and God certainly gave me many opportunities during that time and subsequent to that period also.
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Answered Prayer…
A typical story happened early in his career as a young police officer, when he was given the job of supervising a young man who was sent to prison for attempted murder. The prisoner was adamant that it was purely accidental. He might have been trying to hold a man up while handling a shotgun, but he had never meant to kill him. But it had gone off and fortunately for them both, the other man was not actually killed.
Harold was given the job of watching him overnight as the authorities were afraid that he might be suicidal. It was normal practice in such cases to assign a sergeant to be with the prisoner in his cell.
Harold talked with the guy for a while and heard his story, then turned the conversation around to spiritual matters. He invariably found that prisoners didn’t need to be told they were sinners….they already knew that or they would not be in jail! This man was very receptive to what Harold was telling him, and by 2 a.m. he was not only convicted of his sin, but convinced that he had to do something about it. He confessed his sin to the Lord in a simple prayer and asked Him to be His Saviour.
But he still had the trial to face and the heavy charge of attempted murder. Harold told him that he believed his story, and that he would pray with him that that charge would be dropped. They did this, and when the time came for his trial, the murder charge WAS dropped, with a lighter one of armed robbery being given. This was a wonderful answer to prayer for both Harold and the prisoner, and it was something they never forgot. Nevertheless, the prisoner still had to face the consequences of his actions, and he had a prison term to fulfill.
But in spite of that, the prisoner found that God did indeed hear his prayer and deliver him from his fears just as the Bible says in Psalm 34:4; not only that, but he also found that God is near those who have a broken heart and saves those with a contrite spirit as it says in the same Psalm in verse 18.
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Before they call, God will Answer.
Before Harold went into the prison service, he was working at selling life insurance. As he was going on his rounds in a certain area, he heard of a family who was wanting to take out life insurance on some of their family members. He decided to make them a call and see if he could help in this way at all. When he knocked on the door, a lady answered it and she appeared to be in tears.
“I’m awfully sorry,” Harold said, “I seem to have come at a bad time. I’ll come back another day.”
“No, no”, she said, “I really need someone to talk to.”
And so the story came out. Her marriage had just broken up, she said, and her husband had taken the two older girls, leaving her with two young sons. Harold listened sympathetically for a while, and said, “Well, there’s not much I can do to help, but do you have a Bible in the house?”
“Yes, there is one here,” she said, “It belongs to one of the boys,” and she went off to get it.
Harold took it, and showed her one or two verses. After he had been talking for a while, she said that she had been going to church for over twenty-one years and never realised that she needed to have personal dealings with God. She could see now what she had been missing out on. Harold was not one to ever miss an opportunity, so he asked her if she would like to pray the sinner’s prayer of confession of sin. She was glad to do this and became a new person in spite of her continuing circumstances.
Harold lost touch with her after that, and eighteen years later, two women came into the prison to visit an inmate. Harold immediately recognised the older lady as this same person.
He reminded her of this occasion and asked her how things had been with her over the intervening years. Her face lit up, and she told him how one of her boys was now serving as a Youth Pastor in a church in Australia. This story bears out the verse that says…..Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the
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The Right Place at the Right Time .
Harold was ready for the day’s trial, but the prisoner he was assigned to had pleaded guilty, and he was told that he wasn’t needed for that particular case. However, a message came through from the lower court saying they were short of staff there, so Harold was sent off there.
He was put in charge of two young prisoners who were being charged with a vicious assault. As he listened to their story, he realised that they had been acting in self defence. They were security officers and had been on duty together when they had to move on a man who had had too much to drink and was acting in a very belligerent manner. They used a certain amount of force and the man had turned on them and reported them. Now here they were being up for vicious assault.
Harold went into the cell with them while they were waiting and after he had heard their story, he felt quite sure that they were telling the truth. He told them that he would pray for them that the truth would come through at the trial while the evidence was being given, but first he would like to explain to them what the Lord had done for them. As he spoke to them, he noticed a third man sitting at the back of the cell who was also listening intently. He told them how the Lord Jesus had died to pay for the sin of the whole world, but that it was only effective if they responded to Him and confessed their sin. As he spoke to them, he had the wonderful experience of finding that many more verses came readily to his mind concerning these things. They were convicted of their sin and their need of God’s salvation as they listened and both made the decision to turn to the Lord with true repentant hearts.
Later in the day, they were taken into court where the complainant gave his evidence. It wasn’t very convincing, and the judge stopped the court and dismissed the case.
Harold went home happy after work that day, realising that he had been in the right place at the right time for the Lord to use.
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Important to God.
Several times Harold had the experience of seeing the power of prayer in altering the so-called course of justice. One time in court, there was a young man who wouldn’t plead guilty of the crimes that he was being accused of.
“Anyway,” he said defiantly, “Who would believe what a little dark boy said?”
Harold was touched by this. “It doesn’t matter what you look like, you are still important to God anyway”, he said. He went on to explain in what ways he WAS important to God and how he could take advantage of this. The young man was willing to listen and responded, praying the sinner’s prayer of confession.
“Now,” said Harold, “I’m going to pray that the truth will come out in the trial for you”.
He did this and to their great relief, it DID come out and the young man was released. Harold felt that this a real proof of God’s intervention and preservation for His child who was wrongly accused.
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God’s Peace
Another time, a man was brought in for murder. He and a mate had been drinking heavily one night, and in a drunken stupor an argument had broken out. He lashed out at his mate, who fell over and hit his head as he fell. Nothing more was said between them, and so he rolled over and slept it off. To his horror the next morning when he woke up, he found his mate was dead on the floor. As a result of this, he was charged with murder.
Because he was visibly upset about the whole thing, Harold spoke to him about spiritual things and showed him that he needed to repent of his sin. (He didn’t need to be told he was a sinner, he already knew that!) He responded by turning to the Lord and asking for forgiveness.
Harold kept in touch with him in the system, and when it was time for his trial he prayed with him that justice would be done. The trial dragged to the next day, as trials tend to do.
“What sort of night did you have?” Harold asked him the second morning.
“I felt very much at peace,” he replied, “What has happened to me is really for real.”
“That’s great,” Harold responded, “Let’s go.”
As the trial progressed, it became clear that the death of this man’s mate was purely misadven ture, and not a pre-meditated murder.
“You’ve been given a second chance,” Harold told him after the trial was over, “God has made you a new person in Him, and now you can start living in a new way.”
Harold never saw him again, but went on with the assurance that what God begins in a person’s life, He and will finish it to His glory.
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God’s Word Speaks.
At the time of this story, Harold was a welfare officer in plain clothes with his own office at the prison……
Jake was serving a two year sentence. One day, his wife rang in wanting to speak to him. Harold apologised, saying that this wasn’t permissible. She went on to say that she had just come from the doctor who had diagnosed that she had cancer.
“Just hold on a sec”, Harold said, “If you ring back in five minutes, I’ll have your husband here in the office with me”.
He immediately went and brought Jake to the office. When the phone went again, Jake’s wife was on the other end. She told him the bad news and he was visibly upset when he got off the phone.
“Yes, it’s bad news alright”, Harold said, “But if you would only turn to the Lord, He will give you the strength and comfort to bear this bad news. Maybe she will come to know Him too and you will have the strength to get through this time together.”
He pulled a small Gospel of Mark out of the draw of his desk.
“Here, take this and read it, it will help you”.
A few days later Jake asked if Harold had any other books like that one. He had a John’s Gospel booklet which he gave him, and he took it away to his cell to read in his spare time.
A short time later, another inmate came in and handed Harold a Maori/English Bible saying, “I don’t need this, but you might know someone who does”.
Later, Harold looked out of his office window and saw Jake along with others working across the yard, so he picked the Bible up and took it out to him. More days went by and one day Jake came into Harold’s office.
“I can see from what I’ve been reading, that I need to make a decision for Christ for myself”, he said, “Can you help me?”
It gave Harold great joy to take him through the sinner’s prayer and hear him pray it with a sincere heart. He then gave Jake some Emmaus Bible courses to do and send away the answers. Jake went through several of these, and when he came up for parole, he was able to tell the members of the Board who were interviewing him that he had changed his ways as he was a Christian now. He showed them the certificates he had gained for doing the lessons, and they were quite impressed and gave him his parole with no trouble.
Meantime Jake’s wife had noticed the tremendous change in him and wanted to know how it came about. So Harold took one of the elders’ wives with him and went to visit her. They were able to explain to her exactly what had happened to Jake and what had brought about the great change in him. After hearing this, she and her daughter who was with her, both gave their hearts to the Lord.
But even though they had taken this step, troubles still came their way. They had got themselves into financial troubles, and their house had to go up for a mortgagee sale. This left them with nowhere to live. At this very time, Harold heard how one of the members of the church that he attended had a house up for rental, so they were able to move into that. They found that it had a basement room with a lot of seats in it, so Harold suggested that it would be ideal for a home group with others of the family members. This was started and the result was that six couples became Christians and also a gang member was convicted of his ways and turned to the Lord.
Jake told Harold that there were two things he wanted to do now that he was out of prison.
“Yes”, said Harold, “What are they?”
“Well”, said Jake, “I want to get married and then I want to be baptised”.
Harold had never said anything to Jake about either of these matters, in fact he didn’t even know that Jake and his wife were not legally married! Jake had simply seen it for himself from reading the Bible. This was another case of the Scriptures speaking to people without any human prompting. There were a few more dramas before the wedding could take place, but they were able to be sorted out and the day came to pass.
What a joy it was for Harold to see both Jake and his wife baptised after that and continue to go on for the Lord in their daily lives!
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Peace and Victory….
These are two short stories about two different men and the how they found victory over their drug addiction and peace with God……
One day as Harold was in his office, a guy came in looking quite agitated. His face was bright red, and he was perspiring profusely.
“Whatever is wrong with you Dave?” Harold asked.
“Aw, I’m trying to quit the drug habit cold turkey, Boss”, he said, “And it’s dreadfully hard”.
“Well, that’s all very well,” said Harold, “But you won’t be able to do it on your own. You will need some inner strength to help. Look, I’ll give you this little book which will show you how to do this”.
He pulled out a copy of the booklet “The Bridge to Life” from his drawer, and showed Dave what it said. He drew a sketch of a deep chasm on his pad, and put “GOD” on one side with “DAVE” on the other and explained how there was no way Dave could cross over without going over the bridge of the cross of Christ. He explained how Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, had died to pay the penalty of man’s sin, and how man had to repent and confess that he was a helpless sinner before he could cross that bridge.
Harold watched Dave’s face as he was talking, and saw it change from one of interest, to one of understanding and conviction.
Dave did this before he left Harold’s office, and left a changed man. He found that he did indeed have the strength to kick the addiction with God’s help. After Dave left prison, he wrote to Harold saying that he had been given complete victory over this habit and that he was still praising the Lord for it! *** *** *** Another prisoner named Alan saw Harold one day, and said, “Boss, I’ve just been down in the chapel and I had this feeling of great peace while I was there. I’ve never known anything like it before. Then when I went back to my cell, it all disappeared. Why can’t I keep that feeling all the time?”
“Come to my office after, and I’ll tell you about it,” Harold said.
When Alan turned up, Harold explained to him how he could have the peace OF God all the time, but first he must make his peace WITH God before this could happen. Alan didn’t need any persuading, he was happy to do this and then found that he did indeed have God’s peace with him all the time. Sure, there were times when fears and doubts would creep in, but all he needed to do was to take it to the Lord in prayer and read His Word to dispel them. What a difference it made to Alan’s life after that!
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A Box of Chocolates.
As Harold was going around on his duties one day, a prisoner name Glen met him carrying a large box of chocolates.
“Hi Boss,” he said cheerily to Harold, “I’ve won this box of chocolates and I don’t know what to do with them. Do you know any children’s charities I could give it to?”
Harold knew that a lot of gambling went on among the prisoners with the prize usually being chocolates, but he had never had this request before!
“Well, as a matter of fact, I’ve been talking to some people involved with handicapped children a short while ago, and I’m sure they could do something with it Glen,” he said.
“Oh, that’s great! I’d like that”, Glen said as he handed them over.
Harold made the arrangements, and Glen had to sign a paper saying he was doing this of his own free will. So the chocolates were soon on their way.
This incident made Harold wonder if Glen might be trying to turn over a new leaf, so he brought the subject up to Glen the next time he was talking to him.
“No, I’m not ready for that yet Boss”, was his reply.
“That’s fine,” said Harold, “I want this decision to be one of conviction, and not just because I’m telling you about it,” as he walked away.
Some time later Glen came to Harold and said he’d like to get with him again for another chat. Unfortunately this never happened as Glen was transferred to another prison.
About twelve months later, Harold came across Glen’s younger brother.
“How’s Glen doing?” he asked.
“Oh, Glen’s a changed man now, he’s become a Christian,” he said, “He even gets on with Dad now!”
This story shows that seed that is sown is not always lost and in this case the harvest had been reaped by someone else. It shows that as Jesus said, “And he that reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit unto life eternal: that both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, one sows, and another reaps. I sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and you have entered into their labours” (John 4:36-38)
*** *** *** The Devil Dogged His Steps…..
A few times Harold would greet a prisoner newly come in and recognize him from a previous time. This was the case with John.
“Well John, I didn’t expect to see you back in here”, Harold said.
“Aw, it’s pretty tough outside Boss,” John replied.
A few days later, Harold was talking to him again.
“Have you ever thought about God?” he asked him.
“Yes, I have”, John replied, “And I’d like to know about Him because I’ve met the devil!”
“You have?” Harold asked, “Tell me about it”.
“Well, one night I was walking home after drinking and taking some drugs”, he said, “And as I was going along, I heard some footsteps behind me, so I walked a bit quicker. The steps got quicker too, so I started to jog along, but the steps started jogging too. I thought, that’s queer, so I turned around to see who was following me so closely. You know what, Boss, there was a green thing like a person with its arm stretched out beckoning me to follow it! I tell you Boss, I ran home as fast as I could and dived through the partly opened window into my bedroom; I don’t know how I made it but I did.
“So that’s why I say I’ve met the devil, and now I’d like to meet God!”
Harold talked with him a bit longer, explaining about spiritual things to him and how it was indeed possible to meet God. He told him how it was necessary to turn to the Lord Jesus before this could happen, confessing his sins and then his life would change around.
“I’ve had a pretty hard time”, John said after a bit, “I’m going to need a lot of prayer and help”.
“Well, just remember that with God you have everything, and I’ll help you too as much as I can too,” Harold said.
John did this and found it made a big difference to his attitudes and way of thinking. Unfortunately Harold lost touch with him when he was transferred to another prison as often happened, and he just hoped and prayed that John continued in the faith he had found in Christ Jesus.
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Kicking Bad Habits.
As new prisoners came into the system, Harold always had an introductory chat with them, finding out why they were there and filling in forms. He wasn’t always able to introduce the matter of spiritual topics at the beginning of their time in prison, but did it whenever there was an opportunity.
This particular man was in for child abuse, and as the conversation moved along, Harold was able to bring it around to spiritual things. The man was convicted while Harold was talking with him and admitted that what he had done was sin in the sight of God, and he realised that he had to do something about it. Harold was able to tell him how to pray and confess his deeds as a sin against God, thus becoming born again.
The next day, Harold saw him again and asked how he had slept now that he had made his peace with God.
“You know Boss”, he said, “It’s fascinating! I woke up as usual and lit up a cigarette like I always do, and it tasted terrible! I threw it away and haven’t wanted one since!”
Harold was so pleased to hear this, and encouraged him further.
Not every one who turned to the Lord had such an immediate deliverance from this debilitating habit…..some men indeed, had quite a struggle to give up smoking.
But Harold kept in contact with him and was able to encourage him to continue reading his Bible and doing the Bible Study Courses he was able to get for him.
The prison population was around 400, and over time, Harold was able to see forty men do the Bible Courses. Other than that, there wasn’t much follow-up work done with the men, especially when they were transferred elsewhere or moved out of the prison system altogether. When he could, Harold would contact the local minister where they were going and hope they would follow them up, but there was no guarantee that this would happen.
Those who were able to, would find a church they could go to, and continue with their daily readings of the Bible. This would continue to feed them spiritually, and they would grow in their faith.