“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate.
Open your mouth, judge
righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.” ~Proverbs
31:8-9
Justice; a word that stirs passion
deep within my soul. The thought or sight of injustice or mistreatment of
others has driven me to do or say some crazy things from a very young age. This passion is what has lead me to Thailand
as I study more and more about the growing world injustice of Human Trafficking. I’ve spent the past year learning about the
injustice of Human Trafficking in the Sex Industry and Fishing Industry in
Thailand. I’m left seeking God for the answer to the prevention and solution of
this growing injustice. For the right tools to work smarter, not harder.
For almost
20 years now missionaries and NGO’s have been in South East Asia fighting the
injustice of slavery but it keeps getting worse. I’ve asked many people their ideas about
solving this issue and I get a various amount of answers from tighter government
regulations, to family restoration and cultural cures, to bringing awareness to
the customers of brothels and stricter penalties for pedophiles. With so many potential answers to my question
I’m left seeking God for the true answer.
I believe that God is beginning to open
my mind with a new way for fighting these injustices. This may not be new to some of you but it is
to me. As I researched more on Justice Discipleship I realized this is something that has been put on the hearts of others as well. I am after all at a YWAM Justice DTS but the more I think about this concept the more it makes sense to me. During the 3 weeks of Faith
Outreach I had so many ah-ha moments and realizations about how to fight
injustice in Thailand and throughout the rest of the world. There are two things I walked away with from this experience.
SOUL RESCUE FIRST, HUMAN
RIGHTS SECOND
My team and I went to Surat Thani,
Thailand for 3 weeks on our Faith Outreach and connected with “Stream of Life
Church.” We were able to help the church
with a 3-day college ministry camp. The
goal of this camp was to build up the youth as disciples and encourage them to
stand firm in their faith.
One thing I heard many times from
the youth and college students was about the pressure they go through daily
being the only one in their families who are Christian. Surat Thani is a province of over 1.04
million people and only 0.2% of them are Christian (2,080 people give or
take). Their parents give them a hard
time about going to church activities.
Some are being persecuted, treated as outcast at school because they
left the traditional Thai way of Buddhism for some “foreign, western,
God.” The students feel alone and
helpless often as they live out the light in a dark and pagan nation. But yet they remain firm and seek shelter in
the comfort of the church body, which is small in number but strong in unity
(Ecclesiastes 4:12).
During this camp I began to see the
importance of incorporating Justice with Discipleship when fighting against injustice.
With the exception of this current DTS, I don’t remember any of my discipleship
experiences involving learning about things that break the heart of God. I
learned how to grow stronger in my relationship with God, his Character and
Nature, and how to find my purpose in life, but never did I learn about what’s
at the center of God’s heart.
THE GREATEST INJUSTICE
The greatest injustice in the world
is people not knowing their Creator God. Not knowing the Absolute Truth. Truth is a powerful weapon and can change
anything. Truth can literally set a
person, community, or culture free. I’ve
seen it in my own life and the lives of so many exploited and vulnerable people
I have worked with over the years.
“There really can be no peace without justice. There can be no justice
without truth. And there can be no truth unless someone rises up to tell you
the truth.”
~Louis Farrakhan
God is Truth. God is Peace.
God is Just. If people truly turn
their hearts to God they will be changed and then they can begin to impact and change
the things around them. If they truly
love God they will desire Truth. They
will desire Peace. They will fight for
Justice because their hearts match those of their Father.
STOP NEGLECTING THE WEALTHY
UNBELIEVERS
“I love wealthy Thais too!” ~God
The gospel is for everyone, not just the poor. This was a conviction I got earlier this year when praying about my next steps in Thailand. I couldn't think of any
organizations that reach out and share the gospel with the wealthy in Thailand. Every organization I collaborated alongside
of in North Thailand involved working with the poor, marginalized, and needy in
Thailand. I also hadn’t met very many
wealthy Thai’s during my 10 months in Chiang Mai and have no idea where I could
begin looking for them. So I asked God
to show me where I could find them. After all they are part of the 99% unreached too!!!!
If you think about it, wealthy
people have the financial means and influential power to help the poor,
exploited, vulnerable, and needy. If their hearts are truly turned toward God,
who has a heart for justice, then their hearts can be turned to righteously helping
others in need.
Also, wealthy people are big
influencers on society and government.
If their hearts are truly turned toward God, who has a heart for Justice,
they can begin to influence the government and society. Not only that those
empowered with the gospel have the best weapon of all to fight injustice.
I have come to realize that the
south of Thailand is one of the wealthiest places in Thailand I have seen so
far. They are also some of the hardest
working people I have seen in Thailand.
The culture of South Thailand is so
different from anywhere else I’ve been in Thailand. They are a people with a hard outer shell of
pride in their abilities and accomplishments.
Since they are so hard working and good about taking care of themselves
and family, why would they need to rely on God?
It’s hard to convert South Thailand people because of this pride. But once they realize their need for a
Savior. Once they realize their need for
God and choose to follow Him, they will be some of the strongest, most loyal
people you will ever meet for the gospel, as I witnessed in my young college
friends this past 3 weeks.
For this reason I believe it is
important to reach out and work with the children and youth in South Thailand. They
are still dependent on their parents and therefore have an easier understanding
and transition of becoming dependent on God.
By instilling in them a heart that pursues justice we instill them with a desire to fight against the injustices of
their own nation they will hopefully begin to influence the future of Thailand
and generations to come after them.
SUMMARY
I have no idea where God will lead
me when this DTS is finished. This realization of equipping wealthy people with
the gospel message as well as discipleship that includes a strong focus on
justice and mercy is something I am going to be praying about a lot over the
next several months as I continue my training.
It’s a technique that can be used in any country around the world. I'm not sure if this is the answer, but it's worth a shot!
Discipleship needs to be about
giving those you disciple hearts that break for the things that break the
Father’s heart; things like Justice and Mercy.
Justice was a quality that was displayed in Jesus life and ministry on
earth. It is something He also taught
His disciples. If it is something Jesus
did then it's part of the Gospel and we should do it as well. Also,
Jesus didn’t just visit the poor and sick while on earth. He also made time for the wealthy, and those
in political power. We have to see justice as part of discipleship in order for the discipleship to be fully effective.
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