Prison to Praise

Ministry Update: January 12, 2009

Last night Joel and Caesar Morales travelled to the Cabarrus Correctional Center - a minimum security prison for adult males - in Mount Pleasant, NC. Joel had somehow forgotten about being scheduled to minister at the prison and he and his wife, Pat, had accepted a dinner invitation with their good friends Caesar and Lisa Morales. While Joel and Pat were in Georgia on Monday, Pat had risen very early for prayer and when finished around 6am came to Joel and said, "Honey, while in prayer, the Lord reminded me you're scheduled to minister at the men's prison in tonight!" "That's right!" he realized, "Perhaps brother Caesar would like to go along as well." Upon calling to explain and invite Caesar to come along, the immediate response was "Absolutely!"

Joel says: "We had some business we had to attend to before we could leave the Atlanta area, and because of several delays it looked as though the enemy was trying to prevent me from getting back in time to minister at the prison. This let me know that God was going to move mightily in the service. In hind-sight, I'm glad I forgot about it so that the Lord could remind me through Pat. The fact that He reminded her was (also) a strong indication to me that God was going to move mightily in the service at the prison. And He did!

There is a chapel where services are provided by volunteers and at last night's service about 35-40 men attended. Now (for those who know Joel) he is skilled at - or should I rather say given to - extemporaneous utterance! Praise the Lord. Joel preached and proclaimed the Kingdom of God, then gave a call to unconditional surrender to every sinner and backslider. Seven men ran forward, fell on their faces, and began to call to God for mercy.

They then ministered to all those in need of healing and five imates testified of healings - three from torn rotator cuffs, one from back injury, another from pain on the left side of his torso. Joel called those forward who desired to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit and about 1/4 of the men came forward and began speaking in new tongues!

Caesar and Joel were very encouraged seeing what the Lord did for these precious men. Several who were present shared a witness of the deep sense of conviction of the Holy Spirit that they experienced during the ministry of the Word. They testified of experiencing the fear of the Lord.

To God be the glory!