Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing." (NIV)
I do a lot of correspondence with the men in the units and with offenders who have been released. It is a valuable part of our ministry because these men need to know that there is hope . . . And that someone cares! As part of many letters I send to these men I include a Biblical text with a positive message similar to the text quoted at the top of this article. Pollyanna, in the Disney movie of the same name, came up with the figure of some 856 different Biblical texts that carried with it a positive message. I don’t know the accuracy of the claim but I do know that our God is a God of love who cares for the ones who struggle for acceptance in a world of closed-door.
Communicating with these men with a positive, cheerful message takes well-spent time. The importance cannot be measured. All of these men, indeed, all of us, have an eternal soul that needs to know someone cares. It is the message that God has given in John 3:16; Romans 5: 6-10 and in many other passages. It is a powerful message. When the men respond, and many of them do, they frequently mention their appreciation of the Biblical message they have received.
With all of the junk mail the average person receives letters are not important things. Email, the internet and cell phones make letters old fashion. But to the prisoner a letter is a lifeline. It’s a joy for me to be a part of a ministry that that do things that matter: something as small as a letter matters.
Ray Clyde
I do a lot of correspondence with the men in the units and with offenders who have been released. It is a valuable part of our ministry because these men need to know that there is hope . . . And that someone cares! As part of many letters I send to these men I include a Biblical text with a positive message similar to the text quoted at the top of this article. Pollyanna, in the Disney movie of the same name, came up with the figure of some 856 different Biblical texts that carried with it a positive message. I don’t know the accuracy of the claim but I do know that our God is a God of love who cares for the ones who struggle for acceptance in a world of closed-door.
Communicating with these men with a positive, cheerful message takes well-spent time. The importance cannot be measured. All of these men, indeed, all of us, have an eternal soul that needs to know someone cares. It is the message that God has given in John 3:16; Romans 5: 6-10 and in many other passages. It is a powerful message. When the men respond, and many of them do, they frequently mention their appreciation of the Biblical message they have received.
With all of the junk mail the average person receives letters are not important things. Email, the internet and cell phones make letters old fashion. But to the prisoner a letter is a lifeline. It’s a joy for me to be a part of a ministry that that do things that matter: something as small as a letter matters.
Ray Clyde
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