Update On Joseph!

This post is about Joseph, the young man who is living with us from the boys home. A few weeks back I posted about him and many of you prayed for Him. God hears, He answers and He amazes me.

Joseph is really striving to grow in Christ. I told you previously, he was a drug addict by the time he was twelve years old and he had no hope of being drug free. Well, today he is drug free. He is volunteering at the Juvenile Correctional facility where he was incarcerated for two years. Every Monday night he goes to talk to the boys incarcerated there to share with them how they too can have a new life, and God is using him incredibly.

This week he wanted to share his testimony and some of what God was teaching him. He shared these verses....1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted the Lord is good.

He began by saying how he had been half stepping, he said he knew what God wanted him to do, but he had to be honest about it, that he had been lazy, but God wanted him to crave pure spiritual milk. He said if I weren't half steppin, I would have been in the word every day this week instead of two or three times. He then broke this scripture down to the boys of what God wanted them to do...1) Get rid of all Malice, 2)deceit, 3)Hypocrisy, 4)Envy and 5)slander of any kind, 5)like newborn babies...CRAVE pure spiritual milk, so you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted the Lord is good. He explained how God was telling us what He wanted us to do, that He wanted us to spend time in the Word because HE IS THE WORD and the word has every answer we need, that we are always looking everywhere else for the answer when the answer is in front of us in God's word. He broke it down by showing how God wants us to get rid of these things, so we can GROW UP in our salvation. I was sitting there thinking, wow and he is just a baby Christian and God is opening the eyes of His understanding in a very dramatic way.

After he spoke, he asked if anyone wanted to give it up and give their life to Christ. There were three boys who came forward that had never asked Christ to come into their hearts, then another boy asked if he could pray again with the three and when he got up to come forward, six more got up with him. So here is Joseph in a circle with all these boys aged 13 to 18 praying and asking God to change their lives and to forgive them for their sins and allow them to be a light to their families. I was so moved!, I still am.

On the way home, he leaned up on the seat and he said, I get so mad at myself because I know what God wants me to do and I still sometimes want the old things of life. We ministered to him, then when we got home, he comes in with his bible and wants me to sit at the table so he can show me how he is learning to break down the scriptures through a bible study he is doing called Bible Study Methods and Interpretations. He was so enthusiastic and excited he could barely contain himself!

All I can say is Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! The greatest miracle of all is a changed life. He has taken a boy out of the projects, put him in a correctional facility for two years, broken him and is now leading and guiding him, so he can use him for His glory. I am so happy to get to just watch, as God carefully constructs His masterpiece!