If you have been following me and my teammates in our blogs you
know that we are in the middle of a spiritual battle. Since we have arrived
here in Ho Chi Minh City we have been involved in many different ministries but
the one closest to my heart is the one right where we are living. There
is prostitution going on every night on the floor below where I sleep. A floor
is all that separates me from a completely different world from what I have
ever been around. We asked God to challenge us this month and that we would go
to battle for Him and we are doing exactly that. I am truly learning what it
means to be armed for battle and putting on my spiritual armor.
The 1st floor has hand written numbers taped to the outside of
the doors. There is a harsh blue light that shines over the beds. A young boy waits outside the room incase the people inside need anything. Men and women
disapper into the darkness of these rooms only to come out looking emptier than
before they entered. These women have lost the light that I imagine used to
shine out of there eyes. There is an overwhelming sadness now.
Our hotel employs about 30 girls. A man pays about $15 for around
20 minutes with a girl. Some of that money goes to the hotel and some to the
girl. A teammate found out the girls receive around $1.25, about the price for
a cup of tea. It breaks my heart that these women no longer know the value of their worth. They are priceless in God’s eyes.
We have now become “Fire in the Night,” an all night prayer
meeting where 2 people from our squad sign up for each hour of the night
to battle the spiritual warfare and prostitution in the rooms below. We have an
intercession team that meets daily to pray for protection, boldness, and truth
to fall over our squad and Vietnam. Satan is attacking our squad anyway he can,
especially physically and emotionally. The battle is raging and we can not drop
our defenses.
We asked God to use us here and He is doing just that. Life today
looks nothing like what I have ever known. How do I go back to a life of day to
day and just living for the weekend. We are called to live boldly and not for
ourselves. I want to battle for this city and these women, I want dive deeper
into Christ and His authority. I ask you to join me. Let God open your eyes and
challenge everything you have ever known, come to battle with us.
This Sunday night we are having an all night
worship/prayer/prophecy/communion service to reclaim this place as Kingdom
land. We will start praying at 11 pm and then have corporate worship as a squad
at 12 am. After that we will have different rooms set up for all the different
stations. We will also be renting a room on the 1st floor to have open for
prayer all night long. I invite you to join my squad in this battle. Fast, get
on your knees, cry and scream your prayers out to the Lord…God needs His
warriors to rise up, join us. On east coast time that would be from 12pm – 4pm
on this Sunday afternoon. So Sunday is the night that we are going to light it
up and shine our lights like Vietnam has never known. We are standing on His
Holy ground, didn’t you know!
“Love the Lord your God, and love one another. Love one another as he loves. Love with strength and passion and no matter what comes against you. Don’t weaken. Stand against the darkness, and love. That’s the way back into Eden. That’s the way back to life.”
Francine Rivers, ‘Redeeming Love’
