January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month
Strengthen, Rest & Restore
Every year globally, the equivalent to the population of Austin TX is recruited, kidnapped, sold and trafficked into slavery and exploitation often to never be seen again into the worst living hell on earth.
Psalm 32:8 NIV
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Read it, Live it…
How should we treat others?
Exodus 22:21
Do not oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Ephesians 2:12
In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.
At some point, we have all probably felt like an “outsider”. We should remember our experiences and how we felt and use them to be truly empathetic.
Job 31:19-20
Whenever I saw the homeless without clothes and the needy with nothing to wear, did they not praise me for providing wool clothing to keep them warm?
Isaiah 58:7
I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
3 John 1:5-8
Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God. For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers. So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.
Genesis 23:4
“Here I am, a stranger and a foreigner among you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.”
Here I am, a stranger in a foreign land, with no place to bury my wife. Please let me have a piece of land for a burial plot.
Outsiders have the same basic physical needs for shelter, clothing, and sustenance as everyone else. Begin by helping to meet these needs. Then, through that relationship, you may be able to discover and minister to their emotional and spiritual needs as well.
Leviticus 19:34
They should be treated like everyone else, and you must love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I, the Lord, am your God.
Deuteronomy 10:19
So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Treat outsiders lovingly, using the same respect and kindness you would use towards anyone else.
Job 31:32
I have never turned away a stranger but have opened my doors to everyone.
Hebrews 13:2
Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!
Matthew 25:35-38
For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me. Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?’
Treat outsiders with hospitality.
Leviticus 23:22
When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I, the Lord, am your God.
Deuteronomy 24:19-21
“When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all you do. When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don’t go over the boughs twice. Leave the remaining olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, don’t glean the vines after they are picked. Leave the remaining grapes for the foreigners, orphans, and widows.
Treat outsiders thoughtfully and generously. Think about how you can use your resources (money, time, skills) to help those on the outside feel accepted and cared for.
Zechariah 7:9-10
This is what the Lord Almighty says: Judge fairly and honestly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And do not make evil plans to harm each other.
Deuteronomy 1:16
I instructed the judges, ‘You must be perfectly fair at all times, not only to fellow Israelites, but also to the foreigners living among you.’
Job 29:16
I was a father to the poor and made sure that even strangers received a fair trial.
Exodus 23:9
Do not oppress the foreigners living among you. You know what it is like to be a foreigner. Remember your own experience in the land of Egypt.
Jeremiah 22:3
This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!
Jeremiah 7:2-7
I will be merciful only if you stop your wicked thoughts and deeds and are fair to others; and if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; and if you stop your murdering; and if you stop worshiping idols as you now do to your own harm. Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.
Ezekiel 22:29
Even common people oppress the poor, rob the needy, and deprive foreigners of justice.
Deuteronomy 24:17
True justice must be given to foreigners living among you and to orphans, and you must never accept a widow’s garment in pledge of her debt.
Deuteronomy 27:19
Cursed is anyone who is unjust to foreigners, orphans, and widows. And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’
Treat outsiders fairly, justly, and not oppressively. Justice and fair treatment should not be based on social status.
Deuteronomy 31:12
Call them all together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living in your towns—so they may listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the terms of this law.
Joshua 8:33-35
Every command Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 29:9-15
But you are not the only ones with whom the Lord is making this covenant with its obligations. The Lord your God is making this covenant with you who stand in his presence today and also with all future generations of Israel.
Exodus 12:17-20, 43-49
Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent regulation for you, to be kept from generation to generation . . . The whole community of Israel must celebrate this festival at the same time.
Leviticus 22:17-19
And the Lord said to Moses, “Give Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites these instructions, which apply both to native Israelites and to the foreigners living among you. “If you present a gift as a burnt offering to the Lord, whether it is to fulfill a vow or is a voluntary offering, you will be accepted only if your offering is a male animal with no defects. It may be a bull, a ram, or a male goat.
Colossians 4:5
Live wisely among those who are not Christians, and make the most of every opportunity.
1 Thessalonians 4:12
As a result, people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others to meet your financial needs.
1 Timothy 3:7
Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not fall into the Devil’s trap and be disgraced.
Include people who are not believers in worship and share God’s good news with them. Assist them in finding God’s love and acceptance.
Romans 12:4-5.
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
We can try to make a difference in the world by going it alone. But there is strength and power in numbers. God designed one body with many parts, all working together and interdependent upon each other. Make sure you’re part of one.
Be the One!
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