Witnessing Hope Inside a Texas Prison | Mornings with Mico

Good people, what's going on? How we doing this morning, man? We back at it, man. We still on our world tour right now. And I find myself in the great country of Texas, right? I'm out here visiting guy behind bars at that ranch. And earlier today, we went on a visit to a prison, an all-red prison down here in Texas. And got a chance to take a look inside there. It's a TUMI dorm. There'll be more and more popping up around the country, I'm sure. But it's like a dorm set apart within a prison. It's a faith-based dorm, and he's been actually going through discipleship as well as seminary course three to four years long. And shout out to the men in that TUMI dorm in all red. I'm just in awe as I'm just reflecting on just the experience, you know, stepping back inside of a prison or whatever. You know, all of the thoughts and emotions that come in that. But then actually walking into this space, this TUMI dorm, there's about 80 residents living there. I can tell you, like, I've never seen anything like that. Not just what the dorm is, but actually the integrity. You know, I mean, I've seen faith-based dorms, but the integrity in this dorm and the men and how, you know, solid they are in their walk and in their faith. And how serious they are about, you know, what they're doing in this dorm and how serious they're taking this course. Because it's not a course that you could just pop up in and pop up out. You know, it's three to four years long. So it takes a level of commitment. And just hearing the heart from some of these guys and just some of their stories and testimonies. I'm just so encouraged, man. And definitely just kind of been outside walking, just kind of reflecting about this. And something that I believe in all of this, that the Holy Spirit was really placing on my heart. A number of things, but just a few things that I want to share here with everyone. Just this idea of being set apart. I think seeing it in prison and seeing people embracing that call to holiness and embracing this walk with God in that setting. In prison, where they're now like being poured into and they're getting fired up in these dorms and then going out into the prison and having an impact on the rest of the prison. And how the prison, like they respect and they honor that dorm and that space for what it is, man. And it's just it just spoke so clearly to me, just our call to be set apart that we're all called to. And it's just a few verses that's just been burning into my heart, man.

And I'm going to just I'm going to just rapid fire and share them with you. But 1 Peter 2, 9, it says, You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. It's like you're not random in this space, right? These people that are part of these dorms, you're not random. You are chosen and set apart for a purpose. You're being groomed. And God is taking this time that you have where you're like, you know, with inside the prisons or whatever. But he's taking his time and he's doing a thing with it. Right. Such an honorable thing with it, where he's raising you as this royal priesthood. Romans 12, 2, it says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world. And I can't help but think about how, you know, of course, we have the whole world. But even in that prison, even in the prison world, it's like, don't even don't conform to this. So easy to get draped off into prison culture and just doing the things that are being done in prison with the smoking, drinking, getting a bunch of tattoos, gangbanging, fight, whatever the case is, stealing. But it's like the idea of these people choosing to be set apart and not conforming to the pattern of this world. It's like don't blend in with everything around you. We're called to live differently. And that doesn't matter where you are. There's not a there's not like a boundary on, you know, where that rule applies. Like no matter where we are, we're called to live different. Second Corinthians 617 says come out from them and be separate. It's like that's a clear distinction in how we live. There's a choice to even in these prisons, even in these prison places to decide to like, OK, I need to separate myself from from from everything that's going on around me. And it's like God calls us to come out of those spaces, come out of the when this general population, whatever it is, amongst, you know, other nonbelievers, like surround yourself with more believers, lock in with some more believers, come out of the spaces and be OK being separate from everyone. Earth Peter 115 and 16 talks about be holy for I am holy. It's this holiness, man. It's like God calls us to this holiness. And we're which literally means. set apart, and we're called to embrace that. Leviticus 20, 26, it says, you are to be holy to me because I have set you apart. I'm paraphrasing a lot of it,

but it's God set you apart to belong to him. He doesn't just set you apart just to isolate you, but you belong to him. And it's like, I'm calling you, be separate from the things around you and become one with me. I'm calling you to be set apart because I'm calling you to myself. 2 Timothy 2, 21, it says, set apart as holy, useful to the master. This is how we render ourselves useful to God, by choosing to be set apart, by allowing, you know, his statues, or his statues, his stature, his, you know, his standard of living to allow that to inform our beliefs and the way that we show up in the world. Being set apart, it makes us useful to God for his work. There's something that while God's grace covers our imperfections, that doesn't permit us to just live in this squandering life, to just squander our life away and live aimlessly. Like, no, like his grace covers us as we're still pursuing after him, as we're operating and moving in repentance. Like that's what we're called to. And that's what I saw so much in that man there. And honored to still be amongst these men

as even behind bars, the way that they're gathering together and daily, you know, routines, once in the morning, once midday. And I'm not sure what they do in the afternoon, but it's like choosing this to be set apart, choosing to lock in with God, even under these conditions, or in spite of whatever's going on in the rest of the world, choosing to remain locked in with God, man. And the world, even in a free world, like there's just so many things that can just try to take your distraction away from God. There's so many things that can, or take that can try to distract you from God and take your attention away from God. There's so many things that the enemy is using to try to pull you away from God with. And that doesn't, it's like, that's not exclusive to the world out here. Just like, it's not exclusive to the world in there. Like this is just a tactic that the enemy uses. And just wanna just send a word of encouragement, man. And just also let you guys know, like, bro, like you blessed me. You blessed me. I'm so honored to be amongst you guys and see what it is that God is doing in these prisons behind, you know,

in Texas and down in Florida. I plan on making my way around to a lot of different prisons around the country, man. And just seeing what it is that God is doing behind bars. So just shout out to what you're doing. Big encouragement. Anything else, any other places around the country, if y'all are, you know, also having these dorms and things like that, where it's, you know, you're gathering or whatever, we would love to hear about it. Please, when you write us, write us emails, write us letters, you know, and let us know, let us know what's going on in there. And eventually, hopefully we can make our way to there as well, man. But be encouraged. I'm blessed. And even if you don't have these dorms, even if you're not in these dorms, this is one thing I wanna leave you with. You can still choose to be set apart where you are, whatever that may look like. His words says, where two or more are gathered in my name, present. And the idea of choosing to step away from cultural norms and embrace this call to holiness, no matter what your situation is, you're still called to do that as well. So just because you may not have access

to some of these dorms, some of these, you know, whatever it is that some prisons may have that other prisons may not have, even if you don't have access to that, you are still called to be set apart, still called to be holy and walk worthy. Just wanna leave y'all with that. Y'all have a blessing.