a copy of an email. prayers for Bangkok and Pattaya.

Greetings!  This email is both a quick reference and also a prayer guide for Wednesday, January 15.  Please forward as you wish.  Whether or not you participate in a day of praying/fasting for Thailand, I encourage you to take 5 minutes to pray over this material.  There are political protests that are shutting down the city this week, but for me it is just a sign that people long for change and look to politicians for the answer.  We can look to a kingdom that is not of this world. 


First, some stats/facts.  Granted, this is from Wikipedia, but take it at face value and it speaks volumes:

It has been suggested for example that there may be as many as 10,000 prostitutes on Koh Samui alone, an island resort destination not usually associated with prostitution, and that at least 10% of tourist dollars may be spent on the sex trade.[7] According to a 2001 report by the World Health Organisation: "The most reliable suggestion is that there are between 150,000 and 200,000 sex workers."[8] A recent government survey found that there were 76,000 to 77,000 adult prostitutes in registered entertainment establishments; however, NGOs believed there were between 200,000 and 300,000 prostitutes.[3]

Also, someone just shared a video with me today that perfectly captures what this is about.  Timely?  I think so:  change men's hearts

Prayers for Bangkok and Pattaya (sex tourism capitals of Thailand and most of the world):
—Begin by confessing your sins so that you can enter into this time right before God.  “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).
—Meditate on the song that was written in Pattaya on a mission trip:  “God of this City”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5rbA2k4JwM
Let the words be your prayer for Bangkok and Pattaya.
You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

—Pray for the spiritual condition of the city.  Idol worship is on every corner, bringing a spiritual heaviness and darkness.  Many Thai Christians are still bound by fear of evil spirits and there is a propensity to believe that being Christian also so means earthly wealth—the prosperity gospel is heavy here. 
—Pray for the tourists who come to these cities.  Many come for work trips, but some come to stay longer term because the cost of living is cheaper.  Many come solely looking for girlfriends or quick nights.  Some fall into it unwittingly.  Pray for marriages and relationships of people who are coming to this city.  If those are in a good place, people will not be looking for entertainment elsewhere. 
—Pray for Western Christians to have a purified understanding of the gospel and sexuality.  Western and Christian are often synonomous and it has done a lot of damage to the power of the gospel message.
—Pray that GOD WOULD PROTECT THE INNOCENT.
—Pray against human trafficking—that people being manipulated into these roles would have insight and education to not enter unknowingly into these situations.  Pray that God would foil the plans of the wicked.  Pray for the prosperity of organization helping fight trafficking. 

Most importantly, PRAY that God would change hearts.  I heard an amazing testimony recently where I guy was with his friends in a bar and suddenly he felt a shiver and his eyes were open and he thought, “what am I doing?”  He dusted off his Bible and started reading to disprove it.  Instead, he was convicted and changed.  Timothy Keller says, "The gospel will find a way. It is the most powerful and vital force in the earth.”  Many people have come to Bangkok only to realize their own brokenness.  Once God changes hearts, a city can change.
 
Lord, What wondrous power is the gospel that it cannot be stopped! May its power awaken our hearts and hopes when we wonder whether things in our lives or our cities have grown bleak. For when Christ died, his followers wept, not knowing what was to come. Yet he rose from the dead and defeated the sting of death itself. Fix our eyes on redemption and may it be on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.