Ted always felt the sad power of the prison walls as he walked into the state penitentiary. He went nearly every week to that prison to tell the men who lived there the good news about the Lord Jesus who could save them. In his heart was a deep desire to help those men. He knew they were prisoners, not only behind prison walls, but prisoners to sin. He knew the Lord Jesus Christ was the only One who could set them free from that prison.
As the prisoners walked in to hear his message that evening, Ted noticed that one man, named Jim, had a look on his face very different from the sadness on the faces of the others. Jim’s face almost glowed with joy. Ted felt that something special must have happened to him. Perhaps he is going to receive a parole or something, he thought to himself.
But after the meeting, Jim came up to Ted and said he’d like to tell Ted something about his life. This is the story he told that day.
“When I was only five years old, my parents abandoned us kids. After that, we were cared for in foster homes. As time went by, I was moved from one place to another. Sometimes a couple would come to visit these places, looking for a child to adopt so they could have a boy or girl to raise and love as their own child.
“As I watched these people looking over the group, I always hoped that I’d be the one they would adopt and give a home to, so I’d have someone to call ‘Mom and Dad.’ As the years passed, that hope grew into a burning desire to ‘belong.’ I would ask the matron, ‘Will somebody ever adopt me?’ She would have to say, ‘Well, I just don’t know, Jim. Maybe someday you will be chosen.’ But it never happened.
“In all those foster homes, no one ever told me about Jesus. The only thing I remember in the way of prayer was what one housemother taught me: ‘Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep. Amen.’ It seemed the Lord answered that simple prayer in spite of everything.
“As I grew older, I got into trouble and was put in detention homes, then in reform schools, then in jails, till finally I landed in the penitentiary. God saved me about two years ago while I was being held for trial in the county jail. A man came there with a Bible and spoke to us about the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I accepted Jesus as my Savior.
“The other day as I was reading in my Bible in Romans 8:14-17,14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:14‑17) I suddenly realized, I have been chosen! I was adopted into the family of God, and God is my Father. I am His child! No one else would have me as their child, but God adopted me, and I belong
to Him.”
Children, maybe you are from a happy home with a father and a mother who love you. But maybe you are not. We are so glad we can tell you, whatever your home is like, that God loves you with a love even greater than the love of mothers and fathers, and He wants to be your very own Father. He gave His only Son to come here to die for our sins and rise again from the dead, because He loves us so much. Because of the work of the Lord Jesus, God can forgive sinful men and women, boys and girls, and adopt them into His family and give them a happy home forever in heaven. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that [whoever believes] in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”
(John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
Memory Verse: “Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Romans 8:15-16
Messages of God’s Love 12/17/2023