Prayer walks through Red Light Districts are never similar. No two walks are the same. Ever.
The reason for this rests in the fact that the spiritual activity is very evident and very unstable. At times on our walks through Seoul’s RL districts we can feel the darkness begin to tremble, or panic, if you will.
This, of course, is the reaction felt when you intercede and bring the Kingdom of Heaven into these levels of darkness. We, as vessels of God, bring light instantly and even if we cannot see it, we bring change in that place. These are things we feel on almost every walk we go on.
Well, on one late-morning walk in particular, we actually witnessed the impact of our intercession and presence. After about ten minutes of strolling through the streets and contending for a very large, but isolated, RLD in Seoul, we had to make a decision. Finish the walk, turn right and head back for the subway, or continue a little further through the RLD and take a longer route back to the subway.
One of us in the group simply said, “Let’s keep walking.” So we did.
We walked down the closest alley. It spanned about one city block and at the end connected to another alleyway that lead to the subway. We walked and prayed for the Lord’s light to penetrate and for Him to show us what we needed to see. We asked for his love to permeate through the walls, and for the women behind the closed doors to have visitations at night from Jesus. And as we walked, some of us felt led to slow down, look into a window, peer down a connecting alley or simply reflect. I remember our pace being slower than usual. Awkwardly slow, in fact.
When we were nearing the end of the alley we could have either turned left or right because it was a T-style intersection. We decided to turn right but as we did, my leader and I looked briefly to the left and saw a Middle-Eastern man being led by a “madam” (an older woman working in the RLD’s to take care of the girls, clean, draw customers in, etc.). At times we see men, but considering we usually walk in the mornings, they are mostly the pimps or business owners in the areas. Rarely costumers.
Customer "window shopping" through the RLD
We both immediately discerned that he was a customer and we began to intercede. We slowed our pace even more. Neither of us knew we had, it just simply happened. The moment was unfolding very quickly and our cries to the Lord for him to leave were under our breath but very direct and loud in spirit. We walked forward and did not know if he had already gone into a brothel behind us, but we continued to pray anyway. Then, like older Korean women sometimes do, the madam slightly shoved her way through us. They had made contact as we were interceding. She hustled up to a brothel window a few steps ahead and began knocking, but as she looked back, she stopped knocking. She looked passed us and her shoulder’s sank. Both my leader and I looked back as well, only to see the man disappearing out of the RLD.
The Lord turned this man away. The Lord, in the moment, squeezed his heart, changed his mind and froze his desire. The Lord intervened and we witnessed it happen!
At times in this fight, we as God’s children and warriors, feel the urge to put it on our shoulders. We want to see change. We want to act. We want to abolish. But from our own, and many other testimonies, it’s clear that much of the time we are called simply to intercede. And in doing so, God’s miracles will be readily revealed.
