Wednesday Night Prayer June 26, 2024

Human Trafficking

This concern is impacting every area of influence in our culture and around the world. 

According to the Department of Homeland Security, human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide – including right here in the United States. It can happen in any community and victims can be any age, race, gender, or nationality. Traffickers might use the following methods to lure victims into trafficking situations: violence, manipulation, false promises of well-paying jobs, and/or romantic relationships. 

Language barriers, fear of their traffickers, and/or fear of law enforcement frequently keep victims from seeking help, making human trafficking a hidden crime.

We come together today and believe James 5:16, that the intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful.  

1^st Prayer Point: Pray against root causes of human trafficking.

• Pray for mammon and greed to be broken off our community, state, and nation.                

1 John 2:16 (HCSB) For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 

Luke 12:15 (HCSB) 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

• Pray for poverty to be broken off of our community, state, and nation.
• Pray for rejection to be broken off of our community, state, and nation.
• Pray for addiction and perversion to be broken off of our community, state, and nation.

2^nd Prayer Point: Pray for awareness in our community, state, nation, and around the world:

• Pray for more strategies to get the word out, and that people of all nations would hear about warning signs and how to spot victims. 
• Pray that more people will develop a passion for ending human trafficking and be stirred into action. 

James 1:22-25 (HCSB) But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror; 24 for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts-this person will be blessed in what he does.

• Pray that the Lord will show us how to use our gifts and talents to help advocate for the cause of anti-human trafficking, to the glory of Christ.
• Pray that in the Media and Entertainment Mountain: prostitution, adult entertainment, and pornography will be exposed and eradicated. 
• Pray for a cultural shift that opposes the glamorization or normalization of pimping, pornography, and prostitution to come to our community, state, nation, and all around the globe.

3^rd Prayer Point: Pray that traffickers and buyers:

• will find their transactions interrupted and their wicked plans frustrated. Psalm 9:16 (NKJV) The Lord is known by the judgment He executes; The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. 

Psalm 146:9 (NKJV) The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.

• and their trafficking operations, masked by false facades, will be exposed. We are asking that you continue to expose, correct, and remove Lord.
• will see the reality of what they are doing and seek help. 

1 Corinthians 6:18–20(NKJV) Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

• will encounter effective outreach that will bring them into a relationship with Christ. 
• who are trapped by greed and power to break free.
• to turn to God for help living lives of sexual integrity.
• caught in addiction to repent, be delivered, and change their harmful behavior.

4^th Prayer Point: Pray for our government officials, law enforcement, and first responders. Since the last time we prayed about this, Florida has created a new hotline for Floridians to report directly to law enforcement any suspicions of human trafficking 855-FLA-SAFE (855.352.7233). They also created the Florida Human Trafficking Strike Team (HTST). They use collective resources, equipment, and expertise of multiple law enforcement agencies to reduce human trafficking in Florida and provide victims with the necessary support for their recovery. Their motto is “We Fight As One.”

• Pray for increased training in all sectors.
• Pray for our law enforcement to identify victims and to be able to rescue them.
• Pray for our law enforcement to identify, arrest, and prosecute traffickers.
• Pray for wisdom and strength from God in daily encounters with victims/survivors.
• Pray for protection for our law enforcement and first responders and their families (physical and spiritual). 

Psalms 5:11-12 (NKJV) But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. 12 For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

• Pray for laws to favor the most vulnerable. 
• Pray for appropriate funding to follow existing and new legislation.
• Pray that our local city council, mayor, and community leaders are empowered and inspired to bring change to our community and make trafficking a top priority.
• Pray for all corruption in our government concerning human trafficking to be exposed and removed. 

Deuteronomy 16:19 (NKJV) You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

• In addition, pray that God will bring confusion into the enemy’s camp so that his schemes are unorganized and ineffective.