Pornography: a gateway to trafficking

Many people may not know this, but pornography is also a gateway to human trafficking in the world. In fact, many porn stars are victims of human trafficking. This huge industry also fuels men's desires to buy women and children for sex, thus multiplying human trafficking abundantly. I feel led to pray for the men and women enslaved in the addiction to pornography and as I was praying I saw three eyes. 

I asked the Lord to show me what these were, and He showed me that these were the three eyes of pornography. The first is the eye of desire. Desire is the lust of the flesh, or men's eyes desiring what they see. The second is the eye of lust for money. The love of money, the desire to be rich, and to simply attain wealth is in this eye. The third is the eye of pride/ego. Pride or ego is the desire to be seen as important or to be noticed. These three eyes of desire are what is driving the pornography industry currently out of control. 

Let's pray for the men and women addicted to pornography:

Dear God, we ask that you would cause those addicted to pornography to delight in You that You would reveal the true desires of their hearts that You might grant these desires to them. I thank You that in You all our desires can be fulfilled. I pray that You would change these desires from the flesh what the Soul truly longs for. I pray against the love of money, that You would replace it with generosity. I pray against the lust of the flesh that You would replace it with true love for You and our neighbors. I pray also that You would cast down the desire of pride and ego and replace it with the desire to bring glory to Your Name. You are the Way the Truth and the Life, Jesus. We are nothing without You. Please reveal Yourself to all these men and women as the "Desire of all Nations" (Haggai 2:7). Thank You Father for Your power at work in these hearts already. In Jesus' Name amen. 

Let's agree in prayer for this addiction to be eradicated in Jesus' Name! Keep the faith.

Return

"So you, by the help of your God, return; observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually." Hosea 12:6

So there again God calls me. Here again God seeks me out. I am a sheep, I follow what I do not know, I avoid what is not there, I feed on that which is refuse. I seek after the things which I can see, the things which will fade away, and God breathes, "Return." But I cannot return of myself. I must return by the help of my God. I cannot do it on my own. He pulls me, coaxes me, puts thorns in front of me and bars the way until I see Him again. Until I again behold His beauty and return. And when I do I "observe mercy and justice." I observe mercy by forgiving unabashedly, without prejudice or pride, without thought, I forgive. And justice. For justice I pray day and night that God would set the captives free, for justice I make all efforts to tell the world what goes on behind closed doors, what they don't see when they see a girl selling her body on the street is the eyes of a child-scared-cold-alone. I seek, then I forget. I get hurt. I don't forget the pain. I hold grudges, I think of only myself, I indulge and delight the daydreams of things I would like to enjoy. Only by the help of my God can I return again to mercy and justice. And then, "wait on your God continually." He doesn't come when I thought He would. He doesn't come how I think He should. He is late. He doesn't seem to be doing anything, and aren't they fine anyway? Without Him aren't they okay? I am blinded by greed and selfishness. I want this now. I don't think I should have to wait any longer for this. It's not fair. "Return." Again He breathes on me. I hear His voice, I know His voice because I am one of His sheep. "My sheep hear My voice and they know Me." Again He reminds me. "I have better for you. Greater for you. Just wait on me. I AM FAITHFUL." 

Pray:

I believe You are FAITHFUL God. Help me to return, to observe mercy and justice and to wait on You continually. You are coming. Coming for your people. Coming for Your lost sheep and I KNOW You are faithful. I know You will come. I know You will save. I know You will set the captives free because of WHO YOU ARE. So make bare your holy arm in the eyes of all the nations for all creation waits in eager expectation for your sons and daughters to be revealed. Cut the chains, oh God, that bind. And I want to continually return. Help me to continually return and wait for You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Encounter to Salvation

In this is the beauty ~ as we encounter the least of these, we encounter Christ, and they encounter Christ through Him alive inside of us.

"Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." John 4:42
"You search the Scriptures; for in them you think You have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." John 5:39-40

Salvation is a person, an encounter with the One who changes lives and hearts. The people heard the testimony of the Samaritan woman at the well, but they didn't believe until they themselves had an encounter with Jesus. They said, "we ourselves have heard Him." 
One chapter later Jesus claims to be God's Son and says to the religious leaders they search the Scriptures, but will not come to Him to encounter Him. Salvation cannot come apart from an encounter with the person, Jesus Christ. 

When praying for the captives of human trafficking across the world, I cannot pray for them passionately until I have an encounter with Jesus. Where is Jesus? He is waiting on the street corner, in the brothels, plastered in a picture window of a red-light district wearing nothing more than sexy lingerie, in the men-pleasure bars, in the business rooms. The orphan. The homeless. The most hardened atheist. Loving the least of these means encountering them, to know Jesus.

Prayer: Jesus I pray that I would truly encounter You this week. That as I see the least of these in front of me that I would stop and encounter them, love them in Your name. It doesn't matter if I look crazy or stupid. Loving the least of these means loving You, and I pray that the captives would encounter You through Your presence in me. Encounter Your daughters and sons in slavery throughout the whole world that through encountering You their salvation would come. Jesus' Name, Amen.