News & Stories

Fighting Sex Trafficking: Prayer Warriors Needed!

September 24, 2009

By Betsy Blanchard, serving in Granada, Spain

The following is an adaptation of Betsy Blanchard’s recent update about the Cinderella’s House ministry, her God-given vision to address the overwhelming needs of Spain’s sex-traffic victims.

An estimated 350,000 women in Spain are hidden behind the doors of more than 2,000 legal brothels called “Alternative Clubs.” Mostly illegal immigrants, these women are enslaved to satisfy the appetites of an estimated 40 percent of Spain’s male population who seek their services regularly.

Prayer!

I have been doing intensive research and strategic planning to best meet the needs of these women in crisis. God has given me many important insights. What has been overwhelmingly clear is that when God calls one to this ministry:

• He opens doors that no man can close
• It’s slow and hard work; and
• In order to succeed PRAYER, PRAYER, PRAYER is needed.

If you embark in this type of ministry, make sure you have many praying people supporting you in this spiritual battle! This is the only way forward, for it is only Christ who can break the bondage and bring new life among those ensnared in the sordid sex-trafficking business.

As I continue to learn about the horrors of sexual exploitation and the situation in Spain, God has reminded me as well of two things I’d like to share with you.

Our Biblical Heritage

In the late 1800s, Alliance founder Dr. A. B. Simpson was moved by the unmet needs of the marginalized. Leaving a lucrative pastorate in a well known church, he established the Gospel Tabernacle in New York City. God led the church to embark on new approaches for that day to reach the lost, including a number of street prostitutes. Many of these destitute women found new life and hope in Jesus as a result.

My prayer is that Cinderella’s House will follow not only this heritage, but the mandate of our Savior, who also loved and cared for prostitutes!

Divine Healing for the Whole Person:

Dr. Simpson also believed whole-heartedly in Jesus as our Divine Healer; this, too, is part of our Alliance heritage. Women caught in prostitution and sex trafficking-the overwhelming majority of whom have suffered physical, emotional, and especially childhood sexual abuse-desperately need Jesus’ healing touch.  

Lied to from their earliest memories, many of these women have distorted thinking that has trapped them in a cycle of hopelessness and vulnerability hard to understand and harder still to break. Since their life experiences define “love” in destructive ways, the “Good News” is a concept almost beyond their comprehension. A lasting demonstration of God’s love through a deep, divine touch from the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of their hearts and to heal the most damaged places in their lives is desperately needed.

Prayer and Fasting

In order to break such bondage our Heavenly Father calls us to fast, “to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness,” (Isaiah 42:7).

The 4th Annual International Weekend of Prayer and Fasting for the Victims of Sex Trafficking is September 25-27. Will you join me and believers worldwide to fast and pray for at least one meal that weekend on behalf of the victims of today’s slave trade-sex trafficking? If you are led to do so, please pray for 

• God’s leading in the building of the Cinderella’s House ministry, and
• Freedom through Christ amongst the 350,000 women caught in sex trafficking in Spain.

Your faithful giving to Alliance Great Commission Ministries allows me the privilege and joy to serve in Spain, as we “Live the Call Together!” 

You can also donate online to the Cinderella’s House project to help make this vital ministry a reality!

Learn More

Read another article about the Cinderella’s House ministry.

For additional suggestions on how to pray Sept. 25-27, check out the Salvation Army Web site
Please note that by clicking this link you will be leaving The Alliance website.