PRISON FELLOWSHIP: Garland Hunt

As we enter a new fiscal year, we look back on one of the biggest moments of 2013 – God’s miraculous work behind bars at Easter!

Over Easter weekend, Prison Fellowship CEO Jim Liske and Prison Fellowship President Garland Hunt shared the Gospel with prisoners in Florida and Texas.

What is passion? I think of it as an extreme, almost ungovernable emotion. Passion is when you feel so strongly about something, it’s difficult to keep it inside. When you feel passionate about something or someone, no one has to convince you to take action.

When Jesus was ministering near the Jordan River, a messenger came with the news that his friend Lazarus was sick unto death in the town of Bethany. But Jesus was not in a rush to get there. He waited two more days, saying, in essence, “Lazarus is just asleep.

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.” – 1 Peter 2:11 (NIV)

It’s easy to go around believing that this life is the only thing that’s real. As followers of Jesus, though, we are called to a higher vision – like the heroes of faith in the book of Hebrews, we must keep our eyes on the eternal promises of God, even when we cannot yet taste, touch, or see the fruit of those promises.

Recently an asteroid, caught in the earth’s gravitational field, came crashing through the atmosphere and landed in Russia. Hundreds of people were injured.

In a similar way, spiritual gravity – our flesh, our bad habits, our character – keeps us from walking in spiritual liberty.

When God works on the inside of a person, the transformation of their heart inevitably overflows into their life. In the same way, if we are doing God’s work inside the prisons, we will effect change on the outside. What begins behind bars will bear fruit in homes and communities.