7 Ways To Pray Against Sexual Exploitation
"In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6b)
VICTIMS
1. Pray For Rescue. Victims of sexual exploitation experience dehumanizing physical, emotional, and psychological violence. They need to know and experience the truth that they are valuable and loved because the truth brings freedom. Let us pray for freedom from the circumstances that would physically, emotionally, and psychologically enslave them.
SURVIVORS
2. Pray For Restoration. Heartbreakingly, survivors of sexual violence have suffered the deepest forms of shame, fear, despair, and brokenness. But we believe that a relationship with a holy and loving God can change everything. Pray that survivors would rediscover their identity, purity, and beauty in a loving relationship with a loving God that cares for them. Pray that they would be able to rebuild true relationships. Pray that they would move from shame to radiance, fear to trust, despair to hope, and brokenness to peace.
PERPETRATORS
3. Pray For Recognition, Repentance, and Redemption. Simply put, there would be no supply if there was no demand. Pray that the perpetrators of sexual violence and exploitation would be filled with the fear of God and recognize that they are committing terrible evil; pray for their repentance and for their redemption (I’m Proof That Sex Buyers Can Change).
LAWS
4. Pray For Law Enforcement. It is our hope that the law enforcement in every city and town would be burdened to come to the aid of victims of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. For those that don’t have training, pray for training. For those that do, pray for the stamina, insight, and protection.
5. Pray For Law Makers. Pray for laws that would favor and protect victims of sexual exploitation. Pray that judges, attorneys, agencies, and non-government organizations would rise up on their behalf, advocate for them, and do justice.
CULTURE
6. Pray That Mindsets Would Change. Sadly, pop-culture propagates the idea that a real man is a sexual stud, a real woman is a sexual object, and that sex is a recreational act. Mainstream porn is violent, dehumanizing, degrading, and markets the purchasing of sex. All of this is connected to the creation of a sexually violent rape culture (Is There A Connection Between Porn Culture And Rape Culture?). Pray for a restoration of true masculinity and femininity. Pray that mindsets would change. Pray that genuine love would overcome lust.
7. Pray For A Restoration Of The Family Unit. God created the family unit to be a protective covering for children; He intended marriages to thrive in examples of true love; He intended that in the home children would find all of their basic emotional needs met, be nurtured and protected, and be invested with the truth about their identity. Pray that God would “restore the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6a). Pray for a restoration of protection, nurture, and love. Pray for healing.
"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think . . ." (Ephesians 3:20a)