Fit for the Kingdom (Beyond These Bars) Vlog #3

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Fit for the Kingdom (Beyond These Bars)

“But Jesus told him, ‘Anyone who puts a hand to the plow 

and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:62 NLT)

As Pat and I prepare our music for our upcoming prison tour this spring of 2026, we must also prepare our testimonies for some of those songs we plan to share.

Each song was born of the struggles and challenges tied to learning how to reach beyond a survival mentality and into a mindset of victory as the word of God instructs and insights. 

I’ve started writing a book with the same subtitle of this blog, “Beyond These Bars”, purposed to be a collection of testimonies pertaining to the inmates we are currently working with and how our SoulCorde Music correlates with the process of their healing and growth.

As I was reflecting on this the other day, I was reminded of a blog I wrote in 2015 entitled, “Victim or Victor?” It’s about my elementary music students and it parallels with the message I hope to convey here.

As such, I will share that blog now and additionally share how it resonates with the opening scripture from Luke, chapter nine.

Victim or Victor? 

(Blog from March 1, 2015)

“Tell me not, in mournful numbers, 

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers, and things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art; to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.”

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Recently, in acknowledgement of Black History Month, I had my intermediate students write a rap.  The framework for this project was for the class to imagine that the music room was a time capsule.  That said, I wanted the students to imagine travelling back to the late 1800’s a few short years following the abolishment of slavery.  I then posed these questions: What would you say to the African Americans just coming out of slavery that would encourage them to keep going?  What would you say to them – knowing what you know of their futures with music, political and social achievements, etc. – that would bring them more courage to carry on?

Most students spoke from a place of empathy, writing things like: I’m sorry for your suffering and pain.

As the students worked in their small group settings, I began to hear a dialogue that was different than the normal “girl” talk or “boy” talk… or, “he said” “she said” chatter.  This assignment caused my students to think on a deeper level than their daily routines would cause them to think on.

So, I decided to take advantage of this frequency level of thought consciousness and I opened a discussion on being a victor versus being a victim.

I made it clear that we have two choices in life: We can either become a victim to our circumstances, or we can be victors to our circumstances.  There are no other clear choices.

Many of my students come from very challenging situations, being raised in a lower socio economical setting.  So, this would especially resonate with some of the ones struggling with an absent parent/s or struggling with financial stresses in the home.

I opened with this: I know some of you come from very painful situations that challenge you to keep your head up each day.  But, you don’t have to become or succumb to that setting yourself.  You don’t have to succumb to your pain, and repeat it again and again beyond this very moment.  You CAN be the victor to it rather than the victim that repeats its pattern.  

It was in the instant when I uttered the word “painful” that I could see a sense of relief from some of my student body.  

It was as though I gave them permission to feel emotional trauma, by acknowledging that I knew that they were possibly experiencing such pain.  Then, I repeated: What would you say to someone coming out of a painful situation, if you knew they could rise above it?  What would you say to yourself, if you were courage staring you in the face?  Would you choose victim or victor?   

The room was its most silent with this group of kids, since September.  If only they could see the victorious rise I see in each child who is victim to circumstance.  Or maybe, just maybe that’s why the room was its most silent.  Maybe they could actually see a glimpse of themselves as victors through my eyes.

(End of Blog)

When we consider guilt as one of those ball and chains keeping us from moving forward, less painfully perhaps than we ought, I consider the inmates we work with and how despairing it seems when they consider moving beyond the bars of their penalty.

How do they “fit [themselves] for the kingdom […] by not [looking] back” and spiritually remove the stamp mark or the Scarlet letter that’s been placed upon their life’s record or the documents containing their name; where they can see themselves as Victors rather than Victims? And, how do they pull themselves from the scaffold put on display for the world to see?

One could easily argue “They’re not victims, Paula. They’ve made victims at the hands of their own choices.”

Absolutely they have!

When someone stays in the trauma of having been victimized, and thus stays in the victim mentality, they often begin to victimize others.

But, this victim pattern was stamped upon their lives when they were personally victimized by someone else. It’s learned.

Only, no-one taught them how to become victors. That too is learned.

What’s even more challenging is their surroundings when incarcerated; where everyone carries guilt and condemnation and it finds its own twisted comfort in its community collective.

The conversations and thought patterns feed the evil imprints upon their soul’s record.

The bars remind them that they cannot escape punishment and so it becomes a spinning record stuck on rewind.

Again, how do they shake it off and step forward into God’s plans and purpose, and most importantly, accepting their identity in Christ?

I believe it comes down to changing the thinking patterns, by placing a new neuroplasticity birthed from the sword of the Spirit; speaking the word of God and seeing themselves as victorious in so doing and as God has promised them to be.

“When I feel surrounded and the battle’s closing in. I shake off the darkness, call out the warrior within. My suit of armour is a spoken word away. I wield the sword of the Spirit, carry my shield of faith.” (“Let Me Be Love and Light”, ©Paula Walker) 

I pray that you, as I pray for the inmates, see yourself beyond the bars of victim or trauma; “[holding fast] to the plow and [never looking] back [as you become] fit for the Kingdom of God.”

In Love,

Paula