The walls of Jericho

Walking the streets of another city we found a new area. It took a while to really take in the scene before us.  Instead of this place being hidden from sight, it was in the middle of a residential area.  Very scantily dressed young girls sat in the windows.  They wore the shortest skirts and the lowest tops.  In between the brothels where scattered convenience stores, clothing stores and electrical shops.
We felt from the Lord to walk up and down this street and pray for 7 times, just like the Israelites at Jericho.   The scene reminded me of how the streets in the red light district in Amsterdam used to be, with girls for sale in the windows, so blatant, so gaudy.
It was 5 pm in the afternoon  and the local middle school rang their bell for the end of the day and hundreds of school children aged between 10 and 15 poured out onto that street.  As the young boys walked in front of us our hearts where grieved to see so many of them looking into those brothels, before our eyes the devil was at work corrupting the next generation of this land with this "eye candy".  It used to be that kids this age would press their noses against the sweet shop window or the toy shop window in hope and wonder at the tempting things inside.  We thought about Timothy 3 1-2, where it talks about in the last days how people will be.  It was so disturbing to us so that this whole neighbourhood was tolerant or numb to what was going on right next door.  We prayed for the neighbours, for the blindness to be lifted and for them to rise up for the sake of righteousness.  For the sake of their children, and for the sake of their marriages. Proverbs 14.34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

We prayed with greater fervour for the young people of this land, the young girl students walked by hanging their heads as their fellow kind was displayed like produce.  It was a tough area to break into, when we looked into the girls eyes they seemed glazed over and the bosses cold and hard.  "Lord show us the way!" We completed the 7th time walking and praying and began to worship God.  One of the team saw a picture of 2 girls and their specific clothing.  Another of the team saw a picture of steps leading into a wider brothel than the others.  As we walked back we found the stairs going down and in faith we pushed open the glass door and entered.  "Is the boss here?"  We asked and the girls that we had seen in the picture with the same clothing called for a plump older lady who seemed to welcome us with curiosity.  With faith rising that this was the place Father had led us to begin we began to build relationship with her and arranged a visit with her and her girls for the week after.