written 3/7/12

Last week was a weird week of ministry. The girls that we had formed relationships with were very cold and standoffish to us when we went in to spend time with them. We even made a day date with April to get our nails done, and she was nowhere to be found when we showed up to meet her. Every time we saw her last week she was “sick” or seemed very sad; we asked her what was wrong and even offered to pay her “bar fee” so she could go home and rest, but she said she had to stay and work.

After a somewhat discouraging week (especially after such a hopeful and powerful first week here). Saturday came and it was our last night of bar ministry for the week. All day I just had peace about the situation with April that had been causing me such discouragement and heartbreak; I even felt that I wouldn’t be seeing her or going into her bar that night, which was strange since we would normally be there for much of the night.

It turns out the enemy had plans to attack, but the victory would be ours (and is already ours in Christ.) Both of my teammates for bar ministry became very sick and couldn’t go out for Saturday night outreach; I was going to join another group, but felt that God was telling me to stay back and intercede. Coincidentally, our ministry coordinator was also staying back for intercessory prayer, so we joined together in the basement and fought hard in prayer for hours.

We prayed for the bargirls by name. We begged God to have mercy on these women and change the course of their lives, to continue putting people in their lives to lead them away from this darkness and into the light.

These prayers- and all of our prayers- are powerful & are causing the enemy to fight hard for these women. There is a spiritual battle raging and we are in the middle of it, but we have victory with Christ on our side, and things on Bar Street are changing. Business is slow and bars are empty, many bars are for sale, and there are many girls who show signs of wanting change in their lives! It has been amazing to see what our prayers have accomplished already.

We have truly been able to carry the light into the darkness. When we enter the bars, the atmosphere changes. Some of the bargirls feel so loved by our team that they share their life stories & heartbreaks, they run to greet us, they ask us to stay in the bars so they won’t have to give their full attention to the men. I’ve watched as I pray for customers to take their hands off of these women & leave, and moments later they get up and walk out of the bar for the night. When we speak the name of Jesus and pray in those dark places, the Spirit moves.

Please join us in prayer, fighting alongside us in a battle that is affecting us in very real ways. Many of the girls on my team including myself have been struggling with sleeplessness, nightmares, fatigue, headaches and stomach problems. We are remaining strong and encouraged, but we need your prayers to help us fight against these plans of the enemy to distract us and keep us from doing the work we’ve been called to do!

-Mallory Martin (World Race X-Squad)
(Photo by Kimber Jean YWAM Orlando)