Hebrews 13:3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

This is a call to intercession. The writer of the Book of Hebrews was addressing Jewish Christians at a time when they were being persecuted for their faith. We are aware today that Christians in many parts of the globe are also being persecuted. This takes the form of mistreatment, denial of basic human rights, and confiscation of property, imprisonment and even beheadings. Various other people groups are ostracized, rendered homeless and neglected. We are called to identify with these people in their suffering and to remember them. We do so best by praying for them and their loved ones and giving to provide help when the opportunity is presented.

And what about closer to home where you know of someone who is imprisoned? Sometimes the individual might be guilty but at other times there has been a grave miscarriage of justice. In any case, we do not abandon them. We should visit them if permitted to do so, and we ask for mercy in their behalf knowing that God forgives and saves. We pray with confidence in a God who can turn circumstances upside down and bring deliverance. God never meant for the human body and spirit to be bound, deprived of decency and left to languish. No, he created us for excellence; he created us to be like him.

Did Jesus not say he was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-2?  “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  (Read Luke 4:14-21). Never accept the diminishment of a life as normal. The right hand of God can move in behalf of the incarcerated to bring glory to his own name.