FREEDOM 21 Day 2

DAY 2 – CHILDREN:
A THROWAWAY GENERATION

 

 

Today we will focus our prayer and repentance towards the mistreatment of children in our society.

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. –Psalm 127:3-5a

We have allowed children to be the victims of traffickers. They should be treasured members of our society, but increasingly they are viewed as merely inconvenient. The evidence of this attitude is revealed in several areas:

ABORTION

In the United States, nearly 1.2 million women have an abortion every year.(1) In Mexico, studies estimate 880 thousand abortions are carried out every year.

FOSTER KIDS & ORPHANS

On any given day, there are 400 thousand children displaced from their homes. A significant number will age out of the system without ever being placed with a family, increasing their odds for poor health, homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, and other negative outcomes.(2)

In Mexico, where there is no foster care system, 2 million orphans are available prey for traffickers and cartels.(3)

ON THE STREETS

Although the numbers are harder to pinpoint, the National Runaway Switchboard estimates there are between 1.3 and 2.8 million runaways and homeless youth in the US. Over 70% of these young people are at significant risk of physical and sexual abuse. Most of them will be approached by a trafficker within 48 hours of being on the street.(4)

In Mexico City alone, there are approximately 1.9 million children and teenagers are underprivileged or living on the streets as a result of abuse, violence and abandonment. Because of their precarious living standards, many will try on their own to find new opportunities, usually attempting to get to the United States, making them very vulnerable to “coyotes,” or smugglers and traffickers. Unfortunately, an average of 8 children are killed daily in Mexico.(5)

To read the full USRPN article on this issue, please click here.

PERSONAL REPENTANCE

Lord, forgive if I have seen children as a bother or a hindrance to my own plans and desires. I repent if I have been too focused on my own world to notice the hurting kids around me.

CORPORATE REPENTANCE

The Church has been slow to engage this issue in a practical way, often finding it easier to send money to feed and rescue the rest of the world’s children rather than making the necessary sacrifices to rescue our own. The growing movement for adoption has often focused on babies, resulting in many older children growing up without families.

Lord, forgive us for not protecting the most vulnerable among us, our own children, to whatever degree. We repent for not revealing the Father’s heart to them.

INTERCESSION

• God, we ask You to uproot the selfishness in our hearts that causes us to not see the enormous value of the next generation.
   
• We pray You would help us to not miss out on the opportunity just because it is inconvenient to be Your hands and feet to children who desperately need to know You.
   
• Help Your body to actively make a place for those who need a family. Open our eyes to see that children truly are a blessing from You.
   
• We pray that You would expose the mistreatment and abandonment of children in our nations. Raise up men and women willing to be counselors and adoptive parents, who see the importance of healing this wound.

TAKE ACTION

1. Prayerfully consider adoption or foster parenting; if you’re not in a position to do this, contribute financially to someone who is in the adoption process.

2. Put your local school district in contact with Traffick911 and encourage them to have the prevention training, called “Traps of a Trafficker,” presented to students.