FREEDOM 21 DAY 18

DAY 18 - Border Towns: A Ripe Environment for Exploitation

 

Today we will focus our prayer and repentance on the issues unique to US-Mexico border towns.

No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. –Isaiah 60:18

A border town is a gateway into and out of a nation where people and goods continually cross back and forth. It is a place where cultures collide and blend to such a degree that it can be difficult to distinguish which country you’re really while you’re there.

A UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT

Border towns create an environment of opportunities where:

• Individuals find work either enforcing or avoiding the laws of the area.
• Companies use national differences in regulations to pursue their advantage and agenda.
• Societies thrive on the differences between both sides, of which people and institutions come to exploit the niches in the environment.(1)

The result is a culture of exploitation, conditions of hardship, and motivations for revolt.(2)

AN OPEN WOUND

As the cultures of the United States and Mexico collide at the border, a policy of both sides exploiting the other has caused a gaping wound between our two nations. US citizens look for a quick fix or a good time through cheap labor, prostitutes, drugs, etc., while unethical elements from the Mexican side sometimes exploit the residents of border towns to make fast money. In this environment, red light districts – and by natural extension, human trafficking – flourish.

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

PERSONAL REPENTANCE

Father, I repent if I lacked awareness, compassion, and intercession for the struggles faced daily by those living in border towns.

CORPORATE REPENTANCE

Lord, on behalf of our two nations, we repent for acting wrongly towards the people of our neighboring nation. Forgive us for harboring unforgiveness and resentment towards one another over the past and over the actions of government leaders and forefathers. We repent for all the ways we have not been good neighbors, and for all the ways we have exploited one another. Forgive us for not loving one another according to Your command.

INTERCESSION

• We pray that our two nations would commit to loving and unselfishly helping each other.
   
• We seek You for the grace to love and live as good neighbors, and for godly wisdom to overcome our differences.
   
• Father God, impart Your just and righteous characteristics to the hearts and minds of our local, state, and national government leaders.
   
• Teach us how to demonstrate Your humility and love for one another in meaningful and tangible ways.
   
• Lord, we bless our neighboring nation and their leaders with godly wisdom and passion for justice.
   
• Give our leaders and the people of our two nations hearts to know You and walk in Your ways.
   
• Father, I bless my nation with a spirit of mercy, reconciliation, and healing. I bless my neighboring nation with Your protection, provision, and economic stability.

TAKE ACTION

1. If you are a church or ministry leader, consider “adopting” a church in a border town. Find out how you can support them in prayer and other initiatives.

2. If you are a church or ministry leader in a border town, reach out to a church or ministry leader in the town you share your border with. Come together with prayer and activism in your communities.

3. Bless Mexico! Well of Life Ministries in Mexico City is working to restore rescued survivors and fight human trafficking on many levels in Mexico. To see how you can support this organization and its rescued survivors, please click here.