Daughter Diaries
Entry # 8
June 2, 2010
Bangkok, Thailand
We are leaving in thirty minutes to go to our ministry site in Phuket. I have mixed emotions about it really. Although I am excited to be diving in to our last month of ministry, I am anxious about the type of ministry we are doing. I am excited about going to Phuket, a place I have wanted to go since the tsunami in 2004. This isn’t relief work of red cross proportions, but relief for the Kingdom for sure.
We will be working with women involved currently or have been in the past, in prostitution. Sex tourism is common in SE Asia and many women are involved in it to support their families or because for whatever reason, they were sold into the business at a young age. We got a set up sheet yesterday and part of the description of our work included this:
Spiritual warfare is very real and can be felt quite strongly in Patong. The area we are entering is spiritually very dark, and there will be opposition to you walking in victory. Remember to put on the full armour of God, (Ephesians 6:11-19)
because there are many temptations that you will face in Patong, either real or imagined. The area is the pit of hell and we need to recognise that.
As I read those words I began to get nervous about what I was walking into. I began to worry about how walking into this area would effect me. Surely walking into the pits of hell won’t allow me to come out unharmed. There are lies that I believe that loom over me that are just waiting for Satan to use against me. There is sin in my life that is still prevalent that Satan can use to make me ineffective. Those things are true. But my God is bigger than that. My Father is a protector and a warrior. And He fights for me.
More than that, because of what Jesus has done on the cross my citizenship is in heaven. I am seated in the heavenly realms, with full authority to operate out of my identity in Christ. The identity of victory. The identity that promises that I am more than a conqueror.
Walking down the streets and entering in to such dark places will be hard, but I bring the light. I need to make sure that I am prepared but the battle that I fight, I win. Nothing can happen to me without the consent of the Father. I am not this person who has arbitrary things that happen to me. I am not the victim.
I can struggle with that sometimes but the opposite isn’t a sort of arrogance. The opposite is humility. Steve Korch, in My Soul Thirsts, explains it as “humility frees us to invest our life in others without feeling that we are on the losing end of the deal.” He continue to explain that “Jesus made no attempt to hide anything and exerted no effort to flaunt anything. He was not self-conscious. It must have been refreshing to be around Jesus. He made no attempts to impress anyone. There was no boasting, no arrogance, no demands that he be at the center of attention. He was never defensive or protective of some personal rights. He was never offended by careless comments or social snubs. People didn’t have to be cautious with what they said around him, fearing that he might misinterpret their words or misunderstand their intent. He wasn’t intimidated by the big shots or embarrassed by the little shots. Jesus was completely at ease whether in the home o a respected community leader, surrounded by successful business owners, or in the home of a notorious swindler, surrounded by prostitutes or criminals. He had nothing to prove and nothing to lose and everything to teach us.”
So, in addition to putting on the armor each day I will pray for humility. I will pray to have nothing to prove, nothing to fight for, but completely at peace with who I am and what God is doing on my behalf. In Acts 4:13, the people observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.
The people recognized their confidence and associated it with being with Jesus. That is amazing! That is bringing the light. That isn’t the victim mentality. That is victory. That is what I want. Please join me in praying for those kind of encounters with Jesus, with my Father, that people can see the confidence in me that exudes from those encounters. Please pray for humilty as I minister to these women who need to know they are worth it and loved.
