This blog post was written by Rev. Marian Hatcher.

Daily Prayer is a Must

Our connection to God through daily prayer and supplication is a must. God never promised us we wouldn’t face difficulties. He let us know we would have storms, encounter mountains and valleys; yet in the end He assures us He will bring us through in all of His sovereignty, mercy and grace.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This scripture brings us great comfort and encouragement and in the next verses, He points us to communication with Him to help us achieve and stand firm as His purpose plays out.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Spiritual Success through Daily Prayer

On a personal and corporate level, we maintain this connection with God to be successful in our spiritual lives and well as in the natural. When we ignore or do not nurture our prayer life, we feel weary and sometimes exhausted because we are trying to handle things on our own. But the Word of God tells us that such struggle is unnecessary once we have Christ. There is a source of abundant life and it is identified as the Spirit of God which indwells believers and demonstrates beautiful characteristics, or “fruits.”

Galatians 5:22-23: “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control…”

We must make it our business to tap into God as our source through daily prayer.  When we do this, we acknowledge our need for Him to maintain our “fruitfulness.” We acknowledge our love for Him. We acknowledge our thankfulness and gratitude for His grace and mercy. It becomes a “we thing”, God and His children against the evil of this world driven by the enemy of our soul. The battle was already won at Calvary, but the Word of God lets us know we must stay close to Him until Jesus returns.

Motivated by our Identity in Christ

The knowledge of our identity in Christ and His great sacrifice and love for us motivates us to acknowledge Him daily and ask for His help to demonstrate spiritual fruit in our daily lives.  Without it, we would have no hope of following the instruction in Paul’s letter to the Philippians:

Philippians 2: 1-4 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Caring for others more than for ourselves? This is a tall order without daily prayer, as our flesh wants us to focus on self and make our prayers and petitions about ourselves, our needs and wants. Without constant communication with the Lord we easily revert to that posture and fall short.  Even when we are consistent in our prayer life, we will stumble, but the odds of pleasing God are so much better when maintain focus on Him daily.

Pray Daily without Ceasing

Jesus himself gave us the mandate, model and example for prayer. The mandate is found in 1Thessalonians 5:17 where Paul encourages the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing.”

The model and example for prayer were given by Jesus directly to  His disciples.  Although we call it the Lord’s Prayer it is actually the Disciples’ Prayer. No doubt they wanted to understand how Jesus was speaking to and hearing from His Heavenly Father. It was the gift Jesus gave them in response to their desire to comprehend the mystery of prayer. Thankfully, these many centuries later, it is ours too.

Matthew 6:9

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

13And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

 

Jesus gave us the example, as He faced the cross. He asked God the Father to spare Him from having to go the cross. He ended that prayer, with “nevertheless not my will but yours be done”.

Let us likewise pray this for ourselves and our organizations as we continue working to eradicate human trafficking.

As part of our Faith in Action initiative, Shared Hope is mobilizing our faith networks and faith communities to fight sex trafficking and protect children. As we enter this new year, our 30 Days of Prayer will take place in January to coincide with Human Trafficking Awareness month beginning January 1, 2021 to culminate with a National Day of Prayer to End Child Sex Trafficking.

Due to overwhelming interest, our initial 4pm ET event has filled up, so we have opened up a second, earlier prayer event at 1pm ET/10am PT, also on January 31, 2021.

Sign up and join us here! https://sharedhope.org/what-we-do/prevent/awareness/30daysprayer/

Due to COVID-19, Shared Hope International had to shift our internship program to a remote experience. Despite losing the in-person experience, we maintained providing a meaningful for our interns, including our D.C. office interns Sapna Swaymapakula and Mariah Cabrera. Sapna gratefully shared with her and Mariah’s experience in this blog. 

Participating in a virtual internship was not in the plan for myself or my peer Mariah this summer. Both of us intended to move to Washington D.C. and have our full internship with Shared Hope International. For Mariah, it was her last semester for her undergrad, my second to last. While our internship program, The Washington Center, gave the option of reapplying for a different semester, both of us stuck through with the process and trusted that the internship would be as equally opportunistic and insightful. For both of us, Shared Hope International has been eye opening, making us both more aware of the reality of child sex trafficking.

 

Shared Hope International has educated us both more on sex trafficking’s origin, and in modern society. Through webinars, we have learned about the history of sex trafficking, and different factors that play a part: race, sex, age, status, and even education. We both are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Shared Hope International team. Both Mariah and I never imagined gaining so much from a virtual internship. The projects are at times challenging, but we enjoy that sense of accomplishment when turning them in before the deadline. Each project differs from the previous one, and allows us to strengthen our skills in every aspect we’re challenged in. Working on a wide range of projects has allowed us both to harness new skills, skills we otherwise would not have gained while supporting various programs and departments within Shared Hope.

 

Even though we are working virtually this summer, we still have been given the opportunity to interact with other members of the team, which we did not expect. Both Mariah and I communicate constantly and found that we work better together on our various projects. We have learned effective ways to professionally interview others, how to compose a professional cover letter, tidy up our resumes, and communicate effectively and professionally. These two months at Shared Hope International are passing quicker than either one of us expected, but we both know that we will carry these memories and skills with us wherever we go. Shared Hope International has helped us mature professionally and personally, and we can’t wait to use these skills to help build our future.

 

“20 years ago today, there was not a single country in the world with a comprehensive anti-trafficking law. We have since seen 154 countries pass anti-trafficking legislation.”

-Ambassador-at-Large John Cotton Richmond 

The 20th annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report was released on June 24th, 2020, celebrating two decades of the U.S. Department of State’s assessment of responses to human trafficking across the globe. Countries from around the world are invited to contribute information, highlighting their efforts, successes, and shortcomings in the fight against human trafficking. This year’s report not only marks a legislative milestone, but also an international one by highlighting the efforts and successes being made all over the world to fight against human trafficking. When the TIP Report was released in 2001, only 80 countries were signed on, and on the 20th anniversary it was announced that there are now 177 countries participating and 154 countries have passed anti-trafficking legislation.

Over the past 20 years, the U.S. Government has tracked its improvement in light of the historic passing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). In 2000, the TVPA was signed into law, creating protections for victims of human trafficking and allowing the government to prosecute trafficking offenders. Not only did the TVPA directly address the issue of human trafficking both domestically and internationally, it also established the creation of the annual TIP report, the first of which was published on July 28, 2001. Since then, the TIP Report has been an effective tool for perpetuating global change, leading to the increased number of countries enacting anti-human trafficking legislation.

The TIP Report required only a rating of governments based on how well governments followed or met the minimum standards of a three-tier ranking system established in the TVPA. Along with the three-tier rating system, each government provided explanations in an effort to bring “clarity and context to the report” (TIP Report, 2020). Today, the TIP Report has become a robust document, including tier placements for each country and in-depth country narratives. The TIP Report also includes, Victim Stories on Forced Labor, Sex Trafficking, and Debt Bondage.

The TVPA was also useful for shaping domestic legislation. In 2010, Shared Hope International used the TVPA when drafting for its Protected Innocence Challenge. Under the Protected Innocence Challenge, each state receives a Report Card and a grade based on a legislative framework that addresses six key areas of law related to domestic minor sex trafficking.

View your state’s 2019 Report Card here!

The Protected Innocence Challenge shines a light on each state’s efforts to eradicate domestic minor sex trafficking. Grading each state on how effective their legislative response is creates accountability, provides direction of issues to focus on, and equips states to better address the issue of domestic minor sex trafficking.

With so much to celebrate this year, we mustn’t forget that human trafficking is still an issue worldwide. According to the 2020 TIP Report, 25 million adults and children suffered from human trafficking this year. There is still much work to be done to hold countries and trafficking offenders accountable, but there is also a lot we can do here to stop domestic human trafficking domestically. Find more ways you can take action today!