I’m sure you’re aware of the staggering numbers of women and children who will be trafficked this weekend into Indianapolis as a result of the Super Bowl. If you are not, Google it. Several major media channels have articles posted. (Links: USA Today, Fox News, Chicago Tribune, CBS News) The number of victims will break your heart.
As believers in Jesus Christ we can pray, plead, and beg for God’s mercy and justice to be poured out on these victims.
Would you please write a short prayer for these victims and post it below? I’ve asked a number of authors and publishing professionals to write prayers too. I’ll be posting them here throughout the weekend. Updates will appear on this post and on Twitter. Together we can try to flood the ‘blogosphere’ and the throne of heaven with prayers.
I’m simply compelled to try and do something to aid these victims. You and I have the ability to pray and to pray without ceasing. That may be small, but we know how powerful prayer can be.
Will you pray with us?
A prayer from Dan Kimball
Psalm 36:12 ”See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!” Please Lord bring safety to your children and cease the evil happening.
A prayer from Scot McKnight
Father of the fatherless and Protector of the unprotected, our prayer is that you will act through your Spirit, through your people, and through our law to block, prevent and end the destructive and injustice of trafficking innocent and young girls and boys and the abusive exploitation of women in our culture. Through Jesus our Messiah and Lord.
A prayer from Jim Sheppard
Father, I lift up those who have been victimized by the heinous acts of these people who have led them into trafficking. For many of them, they have no idea how to be free from this evil lifestyle. You alone know their plight so I am coming to you on their behalf. Father, would you rescue them and bring them to yourself? We pray for mercy for them. Free them in Jesus’ name.
A prayer from Teresa McBean
“Surely you know that you are God’s temple, where the Spirit of God dwells. Anyone who destroys God’s temple will himself be destroyed by God, because the temple of God is holy; and that temple you are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
Father God, You know our coming and going, our inmost being (Psalm 139)…a truth too amazing to comprehend..and yet, we continue to desecrate your work…as we practice the habit of loving things and using people. You have warned us of this misbehavior (Luke 17) and yet we continue to practice the debasing of self and others. Oh, how we judge this when we see it in others; how blind we are to the sins of self-destruction in ourselves. You, holy God, are a God of both compassion and justice. For any of us to turn from you and stray from our call to love others as you love us – somewhere along the line, someone stole from us our child-like delight in trusting you, believing that you are our good shepherd, and because of who you are, we want not (Psalm 23). If we remembered whose we were and all that you provide – we would not need to grab, steal, rob, cheat, and debase others for our own personal pleasure. Have mercy on us Lord, in accordance with your great compassion. Protect others from us, as we continue down our personal paths of unrighteousness. Interfere, oppose, frustrate the plans of those who seek to use the orphans, the widows, the marginalized, the vulnerable in our culture today for evil purposes. Put your hand of protection over those at risk – and save them, and those who seek to harm them, from further harm and judgment.
May this weekend be yours in both Indianapolis and our own hometowns.
“I will unfold a mystery…we shall all be changed in a flash, and the dead will rise immortal…” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) Amen.
A prayer from one of our editors, Madison Trammel
Sovereign Lord,
You know about the human trafficking that accompanies Super Bowls, and you know the story of every single woman and girl entrapped in it. Please, Lord, disrupt this evil. Confuse, frustrate, and disband the trafficking rings that would shuttle women to Indianapolis this weekend. Alert authorities to pimps and potential johns. Fight against those who would harm and exploit these women and children. We pray that you’ll intervene and rescue thousands of victims this weekend, Lord, and that a weekend sex traffickers expected to be a financial windfall would instead be a weekend of arrests and permanent damage to their wicked networks. Bring hope and freedom to the hopeless and exploited, Lord. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
A prayer from Kevin Harney
God of grace and power, You are a mighty tower, a stronghold in the storm, and our protector. Draw near these women and men who have been broken and abused by the sin of others. Show them Your presence and reveal your love. Set them free from their oppression. I pray that those who are abusing and controlling these women and men (and girls and boys) will come under conviction and stop, or be caught and prosecuted. Bring light in the dark places that surround the sex trafficking. Remove the market for this sinful practice by convicting the “consumers of human brokenness” of their wrong and causing them to repent. May this be so, in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen!
A prayer from Robert Peterson
Dear heavenly Father, the author and sustainer of life,
We cry out to you on behalf of those in great need, including victims of human trafficking. Please move your people and all who care about human life to pray and act to stop this enormous evil. Please bring your gospel to sexual and economic slaves and in mercy convict the hearts of those who participate in this great evil that it might stop. We thank you for anti-human trafficking efforts, including rescues and legislation. Please work to bring human trafficking to an end, we pray.
Through Jesus Christ the Mediator, Amen.
A prayer from publishing veteran, John Topliff
O Lord God, Righteous King, your people raise their voices and cry out on behalf of the poor, the children, and all who are in need. Save children! Crush oppressors!
May your salvation of the poor and the children extend to the city of Indianapolis this weekend. Protect and defend the poor and the children, O Lord God!
Let the king bring justice
to people who are poor;
let him save the children
of those who are needy,
but let him crush oppressors!
(Psalm 72:4 CEB)
A prayer from one of our publicists, Emily Varner
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending you Spirit to convict the world of sin. Thank you for your Spirit’s work in our hearts and lives and for pointing out my own need for your forgiveness and healing. I pray that you would prick the conscience of those involved in the human trafficking surrounding the Super Bowl, that you would expose the brokenness it speaks to, and that you would provide a way out for those involved.
A prayer from a good friend at Leadership Network, Stephanie Plagens
Lord Jesus, You make all things new. Please comfort the victims of human trafficking and give them hope for escape and restoration. Help us to shine Your light into the dark places and expose the traffickers. Protect those that are out on the streets waging war against this evil, and protect those who are trapped right now. Give us the courage to speak out, act and do whatever we can to help. Do not let us look away. Let our hearts break as Yours does for the forgotten and helpless, and give us the strength to do something about it. Amen.
A prayer from Jonathan Morrow
God, may your justice roll down like water from the heavens and your righteousness show forth on the earth as you protect, comfort, and care for those who are oppressed and abused. Amen. (Amos 5:24)
