Over this past
year, I have been stepping into this idea of walking in power of the Holy
Spirit. Before setting off, I
attempted to meditate on Acts 1:8, “but
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be
my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the
remotest parts of the world.”
I say attempted because I didn’t realize how much left I still had to
learn.
So this past year
has been an incredible adventure in learning how to walk in this power and
seeing God move in unbelievable ways.
He has blessed me with some of the greatest testimonies over this past
year that I could spend days speaking of.
However, there have been a few times where it seems like my power source
has had a complete black out, and I’m left standing (if I’m lucky) with no
direction or idea of what to do next.
This hasn’t happened all that often, but one moment sticks out above all
the rest.
On one of our
last nights in Malaysia, I was invited to join with a group from our squad to
experience a new type of ministry.
Throughout my life I have experienced a wide variety of ministries and
have been to some intimidating places, but nothing prepared me for this night. We were headed to a bar called The
Beach that doesn’t specialize in cocktails or its wide variety of beers on tap,
but in human lives. Typically,
this type of ministry is withheld for the girls, but Warren and I decided to
tag along for prayer support and maybe even talk with a couple of the men to
see if we could convince them to go home alone.
While Warren was
geared up to chat with the men, my heart just broke for the women in this
bar. I knew it was inappropriate
to talk with them, but what could I do?
How can I help these girls and convince them there is a hope? Many of these girls are the oldest
children in their family and are from Cambodia, Vietnam, or the
Philippines with no real way home. While most of these
girls were tricked or sold into this lifestyle originally, for many to stay in
their line of work is a choice. There’s
no way out anymore.
Finally, they can
support their families financially, so they make the sacrifice. Their bodies, for their family’s well
being.
So what message
can I bring them? I know the
Gospel is more than enough, but I can’t even talk to them. In the flood of all the Scripture going
through my head, I feel a little irreverent the song that pops into my head (it
may be because Moulin Rouge is fresh on my mine, I know, I sold out…) but the
lyrics to Roxanne by the Police pop
into my head…
Roxanne
you
don’t have to put on the red light
those
days are over
you
don’t have to sell you body to the night
Roxanne
you
don’t have to wear that dress tonight
walk
the streets for money
you don’t
care if it’s wrong or if it’s right
They don’t have to do this anymore. But what can I do? I know there are people all over the world rescuing girls out of this industry, but there’s a reason you brought me here. God, please save your daughters because I’m powerless on this one.
To be continued…
