perfect love casts out fear- 1 John 4:18
Last Wednesday evening, the girls in our group went on an anti-trafficking/prostitution prayer walk. The idea of this prayer walk is to go to different places in Jaco known for prostitution, try to start conversations with the girls there, and bring the hope of Jesus to them. In Jaco, prostitution is very common, and people are very open about it. Our group is going to do this every Wednesday evening that we are in Costa Rica, so I ask for your prayers; that hearts would be opened and that we will have the opportunity to share God’s love to the women. I’m going to tell you a little bit about my first experience doing the prayer walk, and what God is revealing and teaching me through it.
Walking towards the bar in the dark with my group, my legs felt numb. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling, but I’m pretty sure it was EXTREME fear that I’d never felt before. But I pressed on towards the destination, one foot after the other, all the while believing that at any second I could breathe my last breath. Fear consumed me. Once we got to the location, my group and I didn’t feel like it was the right time to go inside yet, so we sat outside the bar and prayed.
Evil loomed in the air. It felt like it was choking me, like there was nowhere to escape its grasp. I’ve never felt the presence of evil so strongly before.
But as we continued to pray, the paralyzing feeling of fear began to exit my body, and I heard this truth whispered to me:
Perfect love casts out fear
Perfect love casts out fear
Perfect love casts out fear
That’s one of those Bible verses that I’ve always known but never fully understood or applied to my life…until now.
I began to feel bold and courageous, the Holy Spirit rising up within me, knowing that the task God had given us for that evening was unfolding, and we confidently walked inside the bar.
Some girls in the bar were sitting together, and a couple girls sat alone at tables as older men loomed over them. My eyes were drawn to the tight crop-tops, neon mini-skirts, and glittery heels in every corner. But once I looked more closely, their blank stares and frowns were heartbreaking…not a smile to be seen. The sadness and emptiness was pouring off them, and I wanted so badly to hug each one of them and let them know they have a Father who is waiting to give them real love and abundant life.
Our group had a few conversations with women and other people in the bar, and somehow Jesus made it into each conversation without us having to force it. How cool is that?! And one girl commented to me that I was ‘glowing.’
“Glowing?” I asked, shocked that she said this due to the low lighting in the room.
“Yeah,” she said. “You girls are radiating, just glowing. Hmmm.”
“Wow, thank you” I replied, now smiling ear to ear.
This comment filled me with joy. I had been given the word “radiance” by God before I went on the World Race, and here I stood, literally radiating in the darkest, most evil place I had ever been. The way God works is simply amazing.
Once the fear of going here had left me, I now felt a new emotion…a combination of sadness and anger because I couldn’t do more to help the girls, and I felt like I didn’t do enough. But God is revealing a lot to me through this:
- Sometimes, putting one foot in front of the other is all you can do. Let God do the rest. He’s got you. Just put your faith and hope in Him. He will use you. Even when you feel like you haven’t done anything, He sees the bigger picture.
- We should never let fear cripple us and keep us from spreading His Kingdom wherever we go. Fear isn’t from God…it’s from the enemy. God is revealing so much more to me about fear in my life, so I will have to go into more detail about this in another blog post.
- We have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead living inside of us. We have the victory over the darkness. It isn’t us who should be afraid of the darkness…it’s the darkness that should be afraid of us. We make the darkness tremble.
- Remember who the enemy is. Those women and men living in the darkness, no matter how bad or terrible they may seem, are not the enemy. They are lost people…yearning and searching for something. They haven’t found Jesus yet, and until they do, they will continue to seek out a temporary high to fill the hole in their lives. God loves these people in the dark places as much as He loves people living in the light. We are all sinners. It’s only by the blood of Jesus that any of us is cleansed and made whole. I am no better than those people in the bar. I am a sinner, saved by grace.
Thank you Lord for being present in the dark places. Thank you for allowing me to witness and experience your love for these women and men who are searching for something more. Thank you for breaking my heart for these women. I’ve prayed the part of the song Hosanna that says “break my heart for what breaks Yours,” and I’m so honored you answered this prayer greatly for me. Open doors for us this coming Wednesday. Give us words to speak and ears to listen intently. Thank you for my supporters back home, because without them I wouldn’t be able to be your hands and feet in these dark places. Thank you Lord for this uncomfortable, exciting, dangerous, bold, adventurous life You have called us each to live.
