I am doing something that is really hard for me to do right now. I want to take a risk and be honest with you. I want to be transparent. I want to be real. I don’t want you to look at me and see a perfect Christian facade. The truth is I am someone just like you. I make good choices and I also make bad ones. I have incredible highs where I feel like I am top of the world, but there are also times when I really struggle.
Yesterday is a day when I really struggled and it was only my second day here.
Yesterday we had our first race day. We could only have 4 racers, so Danny, Colleen, Sarah, and I were the lucky ones that got to race.
I am not even going to tell you about the race because it is completly in the shadow of something else that happened…something that rocked me to the core.
I guess that I can tell you that it all started out great. We did a great job completing the first half of our tasks. Our teamwork was incredible. We were in a zone. We were really having a great time. We were laughing. We were having fun. We thought that Thailand was just an absolutely fun and great place to be.
So after we had about half of the objectives done, we had to head to Starbucks to meet up with some people to drop off a birthday present. We were supposed to meet up with them at one of the three Starbucks in the area. We drove by one of them on the way into the area and took note of it. Our taxi cab driver dropped us off at another Starbucks. We ran inside. Nobody was there. So we ran back outside…
We saw another team and it seemed like they were following us. We were laughing about how we were going to get Colleen to distract them. We were thinking some pretty rediculous things such as taking them out at the knees as we took off or distracting them by puking on them.
When we looked back they were gone…which was awesome because we could see the other Starbucks across the street and we saw the people we were looking for.
We crossed the street and ran up the steps to give them the gift, little chocolate cookie type things. Then they gave us a sheet of paper and told us to read it and complete the task on it. The piece of paper said this…
“You are currently in the center of one of the most famous red light districts in the world, Nana. It is estimated that in Nana plaza alone (a 3-story complex down the road containing dozens of bars) there are between 2,000 and 3,000 sex workers present on any given night. Tourist from all over the world flock here to purchase Thai women for as little as $15 dollars a night.
Your task is to spend 20 minutes praying over this district, its workers, and its customers. Pray for the tourists you see on the street–that there eyes would be opened to the deception they have fallen into. Pray for the workers–that they would come to know their true identity in Christ. But most importantly, ask the Lord how he would have you pray.”
Smile…instantly gone. We walked outside to see a lingerie stands, some of the garments were made from chains. We over heard guys talking about how great the Thai girls were. We saw older men, younger men, people of all races walking around with Thai women. My eyes instantly hit the concrete.
I had to grab the piece of paper again to read it. This time it said…
“You are currently in the center of one of the most famous red light districts in the world, Nana. It is estimated that in Nana plaza alone (a 3-story complex down the road containing dozens of bars) there are between 2,000 and 3,000 sex workers present on any given night. Tourist from all over the world flock here to purchase Thai women for as little as $15 dollars a night.
Your task is to spend 20 minutes praying over this district, its workers, and its customers. Pray for the tourists you see on the street–that there eyes would be opened to the deception they have fallen into. Pray for the workers–that they would come to know their true identity in Christ. But most importantly, ask the Lord how he would have you pray.”
I couldn’t believe it. It said the exact same thing. I wasn’t dreaming. This was real. It wasn’t a joke. The race instantly went from fun to something that totally rocked me. It was our second day in Bangkok, and I realized that what we as World Racers are doing isnt a game, it isn’t fun, it is serious…it is life.
I followed my teamates through a little market on the street and we sat down beside a little fountain in front of a hotel. We started to pray as a group, but I couldn’t say anything. I never really realized the seriousness of something like this, much less been in the area of some thing like this. My heart was completely broken. I felt a heaviness on my chest that I have never felt in my life. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t look up at people walking by.
And I finally realized why…Lust.
Lust–An intense sexual desire or appetite.
When I think back to high school and college sexual desires were cool. In fact, it seemed like if you didn’t have them you were the odd man out. We were always talking about sex. We would joke about it. We would talk about who scored with which girls. We would talk about hooking up with girls. It was a game. We would go get drunk and then try to meet girls and take them home with us and see where it would lead. Then I started to wonder if I had been in this place in Bangkok when I was in that stage of my life…what would I have done.
The answer devastated me.
I am not 100% certain, but I believe that I would have been the one in the clubs. I would have been getting drunk with my buddies. I would have been high-fiving them, encouraging them, helping them pick out the hottest chick while taking shots. I would have been the one taking home a Thai girl for $15. I would have been listening to and telling stories the next morning with a huge hangover…all the while joking and laughing and preparing for the next night at hand.
It seriously makes me sick to my stomach.
I was completely blind to what I was doing. I really had no idea. It was just what I did. I never meant to hurt anyone. No one told me anything different, in fact, I was encouraged. I was completely consumed by this sin. I was a slave…bound and chained to the spirit of lust.
But there is hope…Jesus says in John 8:34-36—“Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Jesus can set me free from this sin. But even with that, I have to accept that freedom. Satan knows that I have this choice and he knows that it is one that I have to make daily and he knows this is a weakness for me, so he attacks me with it a lot. He wants to take away my freedom. He wants to keep me bound and chained. So I get spiritually attacked with this stuff all the time. But with Jesus, I am set free. He gives me the strenght to resist the spirit of lust.
But even though I am set free from the spirit of lust, I was still having a hard time dealing with it. I knew how I was, and I was beating myself up because of it. A new friend reminded me of a verse. The verse is this…Romans 8:1–Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. To me this means that even though I have done some really bad stuff. I am set free. I wont be condemed. Instead of recieving sin and death, the spirit gives me life.
So brothers around the world, I extend to you an invitation. A invitation to freedom, an invitation to accept Jesus into your heart. If you choose to do so, He can set you free from your sins. He can give you life. This is an opportunity to bring ways of old to an end, and to become someone new in Jesus. Corinthians 5:17—“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone, the new is here!”
God I pray for men around the world right now that are bound and chained to the spirit of lust. I pray in Jesus’ name that you would set them free from these chains that hold so many people captive. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. I pray that you would open their eyes to you. Open their eyes to the pain and the injustice that this causes. You are the light…penetrate the darkness so that you can bring freedom and a new life. I pray that if anyone reads this and feels in their heart that freedom and a new life is something they desire, I pray that you give them that new life. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Set them free. Release them. Destroy that spirit of lust and give them a new desire for you and your love. I pray this in your son’s name.
