President's Day 2012, will be a day that I will not soon forget, if ever. It was just an ordinary Monday, at first. I slept in, checked all my emails, ate lunch and then left the house to go do ministry with the WellHouse. I spent the time in the car praying and worshiping, listening to my "ministry" playlist, which are songs that are about freedom and being a light in the darkness. One of my favorite songs is "Freedom Reigns" by Jason Upton. The lyrics are pretty simple:
Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom/Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom / If you're tired and you are, there is freedom /If you're tired and you are, there is freedom
Freedom Reigns in this place/ Showers of mercy and grace /Falling on every face /There is freedom
Jesus reigns in this place/ Showers of mercy and grace/ Falling on every face /There is freedom
Freedom Reigns in this place/ Showers of mercy and grace/ Falling on every face/There is freedom
Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom/ Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom /So we lift our eyes to Jesus, there is freedom /So we lift our eyes to Jesus, there is freedom
Simple, but so powerful, so profound, so prophetic. It's one of my favorite songs to sing while on ministry sites, and I found myself singing this song and proclaiming it at the truck stop where we were led to go on Monday. While I was singing, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that caught my attention. I saw a girl and two guys, in between two trucks, talking to one of the truckers. I asked one of my friends if she would walk with me to talk to them; she grabbed one of the men from our group and off we went. We approached the group and asked if we could pray for them. We prayed for the trucker. One of the guys was trying to sell DVD's and we told him what we were doing and gave him a flyer. He told us he was going to make lots of copies of the flyer and pass it to all the girls he knew. I really want to believe that he will. We offered the other guy a Bible, and he said that he didn't want it; he never touched the Bible. Why? I wondered. I started to talk to the girl and asked her name because I wanted to pray for her. She didn't have a specific request so I told her that I would pray that the Lord would guide her and I told her that she was in His hand. She was all "smiley" and I feel like she was encouraged by our conversation. Encouraged because someone wanted to talk to her, and get to know her, for who she is, and not what she can do. While the ministry group gathered together to pray before leaving, my heart went out to this girl. I don't know her life's circumstances that led to her to this current situation with this boyfriend/pimp. I wish she could see herself, like the Lord does, someone valuable and worth dying for. While we were leaving I had such an urgency in my heart to do something, anything. I got some of the flyers and my friend and I went to the bathroom to see if we could tape them on the walls in the bathroom stalls. There was only one problem - I didn't have any tape. But the Lord provided, there were remnants of tape already on the doors! My prayer was that if only she could break free, and have to go to the bathroom, she could be rescued!
It wasn't until I got in my car to head to accountability that the weight of what I saw hit me; and the tears formed and fell. I have been around the world and have seen pimps, have seen girls in bars and clubs, but I had never really seen the two together. How fallen is man? How fallen that we would abuse another human being for personal monetary gain?
It wasn't until I got to accountability that I realized how my sin, my lack of obedience affects other people. The past few weeks I had been so busy with work and social events that I had neglected spending quality in the Word, with my Lord. I couldn't help but wonder if only I had spent more time in prayer, and more time in the Word, I would have had a deeper conversation with this young girl. You better believe this realization has spurned me on to be in His Word. I write all this to urge you to be in the Word. To realize that we just read for our own benefit, but also for the benefit of anyone the Lord places in our paths. His Word is good, and in it is the power to transform lives. How can we do that if we aren't consumed in it?
Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom/Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom / If you're tired and you are, there is freedom /If you're tired and you are, there is freedom
Freedom Reigns in this place/ Showers of mercy and grace /Falling on every face /There is freedom
Jesus reigns in this place/ Showers of mercy and grace/ Falling on every face /There is freedom
Freedom Reigns in this place/ Showers of mercy and grace/ Falling on every face/There is freedom
Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom/ Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom /So we lift our eyes to Jesus, there is freedom /So we lift our eyes to Jesus, there is freedom
Simple, but so powerful, so profound, so prophetic. It's one of my favorite songs to sing while on ministry sites, and I found myself singing this song and proclaiming it at the truck stop where we were led to go on Monday. While I was singing, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that caught my attention. I saw a girl and two guys, in between two trucks, talking to one of the truckers. I asked one of my friends if she would walk with me to talk to them; she grabbed one of the men from our group and off we went. We approached the group and asked if we could pray for them. We prayed for the trucker. One of the guys was trying to sell DVD's and we told him what we were doing and gave him a flyer. He told us he was going to make lots of copies of the flyer and pass it to all the girls he knew. I really want to believe that he will. We offered the other guy a Bible, and he said that he didn't want it; he never touched the Bible. Why? I wondered. I started to talk to the girl and asked her name because I wanted to pray for her. She didn't have a specific request so I told her that I would pray that the Lord would guide her and I told her that she was in His hand. She was all "smiley" and I feel like she was encouraged by our conversation. Encouraged because someone wanted to talk to her, and get to know her, for who she is, and not what she can do. While the ministry group gathered together to pray before leaving, my heart went out to this girl. I don't know her life's circumstances that led to her to this current situation with this boyfriend/pimp. I wish she could see herself, like the Lord does, someone valuable and worth dying for. While we were leaving I had such an urgency in my heart to do something, anything. I got some of the flyers and my friend and I went to the bathroom to see if we could tape them on the walls in the bathroom stalls. There was only one problem - I didn't have any tape. But the Lord provided, there were remnants of tape already on the doors! My prayer was that if only she could break free, and have to go to the bathroom, she could be rescued!
It wasn't until I got in my car to head to accountability that the weight of what I saw hit me; and the tears formed and fell. I have been around the world and have seen pimps, have seen girls in bars and clubs, but I had never really seen the two together. How fallen is man? How fallen that we would abuse another human being for personal monetary gain?
It wasn't until I got to accountability that I realized how my sin, my lack of obedience affects other people. The past few weeks I had been so busy with work and social events that I had neglected spending quality in the Word, with my Lord. I couldn't help but wonder if only I had spent more time in prayer, and more time in the Word, I would have had a deeper conversation with this young girl. You better believe this realization has spurned me on to be in His Word. I write all this to urge you to be in the Word. To realize that we just read for our own benefit, but also for the benefit of anyone the Lord places in our paths. His Word is good, and in it is the power to transform lives. How can we do that if we aren't consumed in it?
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