Friday, July 17, 2009

Prayer Focus 2009: Human Trafficking


Starting in October 2008, God began revealing bit by bit the item of prayer we would be focusing on in 2009.

It began at the 6 day conference in The Altar IHOP, Meadville when Billy Humphrey of the Atlanta IHOP shared some of the things his team had been led to pray regarding Human Trafficking in their area.

The adventure that ensued was an intriguing series of conversations, website finds, news articles, magazine articles, pod cast topics, facebook videos, networking connections & links highlighting "human trafficking" as a common thread. It became quite apparent quite quickly this was a series of events the likes of which, none but God could orchestrate.

The final two confirmations coming on January 14th, our second session of the new year. I had asked specifically for God to show us when to start praying on this matter and also for Him to show us who we were up against. Two items that I strongly felt were important as this was no small prayer petition and knew it mean we'd be coming up against some very serious strongholds in Asia as well as Japan.

The answer came during our time of worship when our worship leader for the evening started praying on these things within the first 5-10 minutes of our session. We had not discussed any matter on this topic beforehand and his worship was very much being led by the Spirit.

"Start praying on this from today," was the message loud and clear. So, that's what we did.

Within two weeks from the day we started to pray, we were connected with one of the most active organizations in Japan that deals with the human trafficking issue. Polaris Project Japan 

Within a few months, a report was prepared for Exodus Cry (a ministry born out of IHOP-KC dedicated specifically to prayer over human trafficking) and the altar IHOP, tokyo on the status of human trafficking in Japan. The report looked at the history of the nation as a whole and drew connections to generational iniquities and spiritual dynamics in addition to the facts taken from the standard record keeping offices.

In May/June a report was sent out from Polaris Project Japan stating Amazon.com- Japan has agreed to pull 84 items out of a requested 136 items from their website. The items on this list was essentially soft-porn picture books, DVDs and other print items depicting minors aged 8-17. For more information on this, please click this link: Polaris Project Japan Issue No. 24

Opportunities have risen to pray for and with individuals who have been involved in the sex entertainment industry in Japan in their past.

And, as of today, God has brought several individuals to the altar IHOP, tokyo who have a passion for working with very broken people. Especially women who have been prostitutes and who have come from some very tough backgrounds. 

We have also started talking about preparations for starting an Exodus Cry chapter under the umbrella of the altar IHOP, tokyo which, if all goes well, will be launched sometime before the end of the year... but- we'll see how things go.

Looping back to the human trafficking report on Japan for a moment, that will be posted in multiple parts on the blog shortly. Please stay tuned!

grace & glory
jg.

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