Freedom 21 Day 10

DAY 10 – Poverty

 

Today we will focus our prayer and repentance towards the crisis of poverty that makes people vulnerable to exploitation.

Do not exploit the poor because they are poor, and do not exploit the needy in court.
–Proverbs 22:22

Poverty creates the perfect storm for traffickers to find easy prey and for impoverished individuals to grasp at any thread of hope, no matter how fragile.

In the United States, this can be hard to understand because even our impoverished are often better off than the average international family. And when it comes to domestic trafficking, family dysfunction and abuse are far more common stateside catalysts.

ACROSS THE BORDER

In Mexico, an estimated 60 million people (46.2%) live below the poverty line.(1) These tough economic conditions cause migration for employment to be a necessity. This, in turn, increases the vulnerability of the population to the lures and lies of traffickers.

The cycle often looks like this:

• A trafficker approaches an impoverished family, offering one of them a job and/or passage to the US, all expenses covered.
• Desperate to feed their families, a family member will agree to leave his or her home.
• Upon arrival, they are told they have to work off the cost of their trip. They are threatened with deportation, harm to their families, etc. Traffickers confiscate paperwork (i.e. passports, travel cards, and documents) and keep the individual in isolation. Money earned rarely makes it into the hands of the victim.

Variations of this cycle are continuously being discovered, not only in Mexico, but around the globe. This indicates that a critical component required to end human trafficking is addressing the issue of poverty.

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

PERSONAL REPENTANCE

Father, forgive me when I have failed to be generous to those in need around me. Forgive me, for everything that I have comes from You and is intended to be used for Your Glory.

CORPORATE REPENTANCE

Forgive us, Your Church, for not being compassionate toward those in our midst who need food, clothing, and medical care. Forgive us for our lack of prayer and lack of focused attention on finding solutions for eradicating poverty in both Mexico and the USA. We ask forgiveness for all the ways our two nations have opened the door to the curse of poverty by enacting unrighteous laws, worshipping other gods, and dishonoring You with our words and actions. Have mercy, Lord, forgive our sin, and heal our land.

INTERCESSION

• Heavenly Father, we ask You to impassion and equip Your Church to meet the needs of the poor and vulnerable by providing food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care.
   
• Empower Your Church to create employment opportunities for victims and survivors of sex trafficking, that they would not be tempted to return to their previous life out of desperation.
   
• Holy Spirit, speak to Church leaders about ways they can offer biblical and practical training to help the impoverished break free of financial difficulties and become stable stewards of Your blessings.
   
• Reveal strategic solutions for problems in our education systems, so more of our populations will be equipped to find fulfilling careers and to adequately care for their families.
   
• God, raise up Christians as tutors and mentors who will come alongside young people who are struggling or thinking of dropping out of school.
   
• Father, impart wisdom to our government leaders to enact legislation that helps break the poverty cycle, and empowering our nations to prosper.
   
• Pour out Your Spirit upon our two nations, drawing people to Jesus Christ and the principles of the Bible, which leads to abundant life.

TAKE ACTION

1. Work diligently to get yourself and your family out of debt, breaking the cycle of the debtor being a slave to the lender. One well-recognized resource is Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.

2. Get involved in helping the poor in your immediate community. Find a food pantry you can donate to or volunteer at. Participate in a back-to-school drive that helps struggling families get the needed supplies for their children.