Do you ever wonder if God actually hears your prayers? Not just the ones that you cry out when you are feeling on fire, but the ones that you say inside your head and heart? Being in Thailand, ministering at the bars has brought up these questions. Standing in the red light district of Bangkok, surrounded by flashing lights, and feeling like your body is convulsing from the bumping Western music, you wonder God can you hear the prayers that I am whispering to You?
We have been in Bangkok for over a week now, ministering during the day to women who have left the sex-trade, and to the women and men in the red-light district at night. One of the nights, Jenny Brown and I went to one of the bars in the area. (Bars are places for men to meet bar-girls/prostitutes). And we met Kai. She sat at a table by herself. Nervously fixing her hair and make-up, while we sat with a few other bar girls at the next table chatting. She made her way over and offered a little information about herself. It was her 3rd day at the bar, she had a daughter, she lived in the country, came to the bar to make money. She gradually became more comfortable, but could barely look us in the eyes. Jenny and I sat and talked with the girls for a while and then said our goodbyes. That night we came home and prayed for the girls. But specifically for Kai, we prayed that God would take her out of there. Just a simple prayer.
The next few nights we circuluated to different bars, making friends with girls from different bars in the area. And just last night, I went back to the same area. I was sitting at the bar nextdoor to where Kai worked, scanning her bar to look for familiar faces. But couldn’t make out faces very clearly. So I walked over and said hello to all the girls we had met earlier and realized that Kai wasn’t there. “Where is Kai?”, I asked. “She went home.” Home? “Her home in Bangkok?” I asked. ” No, home home”, they replied.
I was just silenced. By how He, the Maker of the universe, the Shaper of the stars, the King of kings, and Lord of lords heard little old me. He is so good, so faithful, so intimate, that He hears even our faintest whispers. His love for us is profound.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?
Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity,
or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-romans 8:35-39
