Exodus Cry.

Isaiah 58:6-9 "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness."

If I had to guess, I'd say everybody who has grown up in the church or has any interaction with "justice" has heard these words before. And so many NGO's and ministries have something along these lines in their Missions Statement. But the last few nights these words have come to life, not because I've read them more, or because I received some sort of "eureka" moment in my quiet time, but because THERE ARE PROSTITUTES IN THAILAND.
Big shocker right? The first few things that come to mind when someone mentions Thailand are: jungle, rainy season, white beaches, buddhism, and of course the not-so-hidden sex-tourism that drives this country's economy.
So far I've been here for 3 weeks and until a little bit ago it seemed that prostitution was just something you only found if you really went looking for it, kinda like you have to look really hard to find a coffee shop that still uses manual espresso machines in a big city, or a surf shop in the mountains. But such is not the case here. The streets that are all but empty during the day linking the cafés and markets together suddenly become lit up like Vegas' main strip as soon as the sun goes behind the mountains.

The tuktuk drivers come out in force.

The overweight foreigner men who are all but extinct during the daylight hours suddenly appear out of nowhere.

And of course, the poor women who have no other choice but to offer themselves to those men in order to satisfy their pimps so they can pay back a little of their "debt" or have a meal the next day line the streets on bar stools wearing the least amount of clothing they possibly can.

And I, as someone who carries the Holy Spirit inside me, upon seeing something so repulsive causes a combination of emotions at the same time:

The desire to VOMIT. (My stomach feels uneasy, even as I write this.)

ANGER at the disgusting selfishness of the men, the opression of the pimps, and the entirely corrupt system.

The sensation that you get when your sinuses open and you know tears are on the way, and the only thing to do is WEEP. (Weep for the girls, the men lost so blindly in their sin, and the ease of just looking the other way or becoming numb to it rather than deal with the issue.)

So that's what life has been like here in Thailand since the euphoric stage of living in an exotic place has been like. The pit in your stomach that sits knowing that God's children are lost in their own sin. And the only comfort comes from knowing that God has things under control, somehow. So please pray with me for the girls who are oppressed, the men who are trapped by their own sexual sin, and the system that seems content to see these women only as valuable as what they can profit from their bodies.

Psalm 146:5-7 "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the captives free."

P.S. The reason why this post is titled "Exodus Cry" is because it is a website you should check out: exoduscry.com. It is a movement of modern day abolishionists and intercessors beseeching our Father to end trafficking around the world. Be sure to watch "The Mission Briefing" video and the trailer for "Nefarious."