"Instead of waiting until crisis problems develop which result in panic praying for others, we need to trust God to protect them as we pray Spirit-led, thoughtful, caring prayers before the problems overwhelm them, and they are unable to cope. We need to engage in major battles, not just minor skirmishes, moving from surface praying to in-depth praying. We need to pray both defensively and offensively."  -Dr. Will Bruce

South Africa is currently preparing for what will no doubt be an exciting time in the life of soccer players and fans worldwide. The FIFA 2010 World Cup taking place in South Africa this summer is creating a number of jobs for locals as they prepare to host the thousands of tourists who be arriving.

Unfortunately, there are a number of underground jobs being formed in preparation for those tourists as well. Months out from the sports event, human traffickers are securing residences to house the numbers of girls who will be brought into the area to meet the demands of the tourists for sex.  Right now these traffickers are bartering for girls both intranationally and internationally.

The time for prayer is now. Prayer is a force that’s strength we may never fully comprehend. As the quote above suggests, we can pray now for what will happen at the World Cup. We can pray now for the traffickers to recognize their actions as wrong and stop buying and selling girls like baseball cards. We can pray now for the protection of women of children who are most vulnerable to sex traffickers. We can pray now for the churches of South African to work together in combating the sex industry in their neighborhoods. We can pray now for the tourists who are making their plans to go to change from their wicked ways and embrace truth whole heartedly.

The Lausanne Pulse, which provides evangelism and missions news recently published this article on the situation. The article articulates the situation very well and offers ways that you and I can help. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.  Does your church have partners in South Africa that are working with this issue? I’d love to discuss what’s being done now and how others can help as well.