Day 4: Praying for those trapped in human trafficking

By Gia Hughes
LIA Director of Human Trafficking Outreach

Pray for commercial sex workers who are attending church in one red-light district in Thailand. Pray God will give them courage to share the Gospel with their co-workers and families.

". . . but (Jesus) said to him, 'Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.'” Mark 5:19

Many times I hear people say that their witness is in how they live their lives and they don’t actually have to speak it for people to know. You’ve heard that saying, “You may be the only Bible some people read… You may be the only Jesus some people see.” As believers, it is extremely important in how we carry ourselves and in the way we live, but throughout the Gospels Jesus commands His people to “tell” or “proclaim” or “preach.” That is a command to be verbal.

In the above scripture verse, Jesus is not speaking to a preacher or an evangelist; he is speaking to the one He had just delivered. While this man did not have a history showing he knew Jesus by his lifestyle, he could immediately tell others of the one who had come and changed him. It is true that our world looks at us, waiting to see our mess-ups and our failures and use them to promote their disbelief in Christ. However, we cannot continue to justify that “only right living” is the path that will allow others to meet our Jesus face-to-face. We have to introduce them to Him. We have to let them know what the Savior has done for us. We - the believers, the transformed, the delivered --- have to “tell.”

A red-light district is part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theatres, etc. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand, although officials with commercial ties accommodate and even promote it for financial gain. The following excerpt is by Bethany Brueggen as she and other missionary students served in a red-light district in this country in 2010. It gives us insight to the very ones these sex workers are called to “tell.” (Location of prayer need undisclosed.)

“I'm trying to figure out the best way to explain the flashing red lights, the ladyboy prostitutes, the "girls for sale" signs, the streets lined with pole dancers, the broken women, and the lonely, desperate men of Phuket, Thailand. I can't. There is no way to adequately communicate and convey the depravity and perversion that I have seen the last two nights in the bars here. I have seen families with young children walking down streets filled with prostitutes. I have seen girls walking with their boyfriends into strip clubs and married couples hanging out with prostitutes. I have seen fathers with their sons laughing about picking out girls for the night. I have seen bars where they raffle off a girl every night. You can buy a cheap ticket and if your name gets pulled, you win her for the night.”

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” - Romans 8:32

We all need Jesus and to hear of His great love for us. I thank you, Lord, that these sex workers in Thailand have found you among their demoralizing conditions. I thank you that you give courage to all who ask so we/ they can go tell.
Is there someone you need to tell?

“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” - Acts 4:29