Inmates Go Free!

The Spirit of God ministers through His nine gifts to melt hardened hearts and cause sinners to repent. God always knows exactly what to do to get the job done, whether He’s planning a revival for one person, a whole city, or an entire nation.I used to minister in penitentiaries often. One time I was called to Colorado State Penitentiary, where the inmates had been killing each other. Several prisoners had been killed with knives, and the officials couldn’t catch the murderer. So, they called me and asked if I would come and speak to these men. I agreed to come.Before I went into the prison, they took everything out of my pockets and warned me, “You enter at your own risk. You could die in there. Those men have already killed several people.”“Well, I’m going in anyway,” I said.

The inmates began to laugh at me as soon as I walked in.

I got up on the small platform to speak and started talking about Jesus. The men just kept laughing at me. I don’t mean one or two of them. I mean they all started laughing and pointing at me. I just acted like I didn’t see or hear their heckling. I had to shut my mind off from them, which is easier said than done. I just kept on preaching, acting like I had a one-track mind. That lasted about 20 or 25 minutes, until God got tired of it. God gave them every chance in the world to shut up, but they didn’t do it.Αll the sudden, the power of God fell on me! I’m talking about supernatural power. Ι wasn’t a regular Bible teacher anymore, speaking with authority and teaching the Bible. Glory to God!

Mighty power came on me! God changed me into another man.

I looked at the prisoners, straight in the face, and said, “Why are you fellows laughing at me? I’m not in prison. You’re the ones who are in prison, you dummies! I came in here to give you life, so you could go to heaven and live forever. But you’re sitting there laughing and making fun and heckling. God doesn’t like it. God knows where you’re sitting! He knows who you are! He knows exactly what happened to you! But you don’t even know, you are so ignorant!”If it had not been for the Holy Ghost, I never would have said that. But God had come on me, and I continued: “Now, you sitting there, you’re so dumb you don’t even know why you raped that woman. You’re 24 years old, and you raped a 60-year-old woman. You don’t even know why you did that, but you got 64 years.

“You, over here, you don’t even know why you robbed that bank, but you’re sitting here with a 25-year sentence.

"You’re so dumb. You don’t even know what made you rob the bank."“You, why did you shoot that man? You don’t even know why you shot that man! You’re so ignorant. You don’t even know why you’re in here.“Nearly every one of you sitting there like a little lamb is thinking, When Ι get out, I’m going to be better. No, you won’t be better, you evil hard-hearted rascal! You will be meaner! That same demon from hell that put you in here this time will put you in here again! Records say that 87 percent of you will come back again. But Jesus sent me to tell you how to stay out of jail forever! Do you understand that? Now, Ι want you to sit there and be quiet!”That power—the gift of faith—caused me to have supernatural faith in God and say words I wouldn’t dare say without the Holy Ghost. I’m pretty bold myself, but I’m not that bold. But when the Holy Spirit came on me, I didn’t see anything except victory. I forgot about some of those men being killers and other types of criminals. It didn’t even enter my mind. I could see nothing but victory.There’s nothing but victory in the knowledge of the Holy Ghost. He lives in you, waiting and hoping you will trust Him. If you will trust Him according to the Word, He will manifest Himself. The gift of faith gives you an abundance of power to do something that God wants done. You couldn’t do it before — sometimes you don’t even have the knowledge of how to do it. But when God comes on you and gives you the faith, you just do it.The prison officials had already told me, “You can’t give an invitation to receive salvation, Mr. Hayes. You can’t touch anybody. And you can’t call people down front to pray.”I asked, “Well, can I say anything I want to then?” They told me that was okay. So, I had the prisoners bow their heads.I told the whole prison, “God is looking for men with backbone. God does not want any weaklings. Any of you guys got any backbone about you? If so, bow your head and close your eyes right now.” They did!It’s a good thing I had the Holy Ghost with me! I said, “Any of you who want to accept Jesus and get a brand-new life, hold up your hand.” As God is my witness, when I said that, one of the prisoners, a big guy who had been laughing and pointing his finger, was the first one God hit. A glory cloud came in over that prison. Those prisoners began to weep everywhere.

All over the room, those prisoners held up their hands all over the room to get saved.

After the meeting, a prison official said, “We have a banquet set up for you. You can talk to the prisoners for one hour in another building.” So, I went over there and talked to them. I was warned to meet with only two prisoners at a time because the murders had occurred when five or so people were in a group. Then as four of them would walk away, one of them was left with a knife in him, lying in a pool of blood. The murderer had never been discovered.But the whole hour I was alone with all those prisoners, they came up to me, shook hands with me, and said, “We want you to come back. You tell us the truth.” “I sure appreciate those words you said.” “Oh, God, what you said helped me. I could see myself.”Someone might say, “That’s a pretty good prison ministry, Brother Norvel.” Yes. That’s the ministry of the Holy Ghost. Those men laughed at me for 20 minutes, but when the power came on me, they stopped laughing. Then they were like little lambs listening to every word. I guess they learned a little bit from me, but they learned mostly from the gifts of the Spirit.You may go for months and nothing like this happens. Then, all the sudden, God can manifest the gift of faith through someone, it could cause salvation to come to one person or to thousands of people. One manifestation of the gift of faith—or any one of the gifts of the Spirit—can cause the course of one person, many people or an entire nation to be turned.Think about this:

One gift of the Spirit can change history.

Are You Available?

Are you available for the gifts of the Spirit to work through you? Would you like to have them working in your life? Are you available to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and say, “Yes, Lord!” and deliver God’s message? Are you available to walk over to a woman, and speak the truth to her? Are you available to deliver God’s message under the gift of faith—that abundance of power that gets the job done and knocks people out of darkness by making them think straight?If you’re not available, God will never give you the gifts. You have to be available now. You have to be available to deliver God’s message — what He wants done, when He wants it done, and how He wants it done. He’ll try you a few times, but if you don’t yield to Him and do it, He won’t bother you anymore. It doesn’t mean you’re not a Christian, but it does mean you’re just not available.If you want God to use you, tell Him. Ask Him. If you’re available for the gifts of the Spirit, God will use you to be a tremendous blessing!

Prayer

 Jesus, I make myself available for the gifts. I will obey You if You want to use me like that. I will obey You in the gifts. Lord, send the power to me. Cause me to do something that’s in Your will that I couldn’t do before. Thank You, Lord, for the gifts of the Spirit. In Jesus’s name, I receive them with thanksgiving. I accept them. And I accept being used by You as the Spirit wills—not as I will. In Jesus’s name. Amen.