D4: Release

In the Year of Jubilee, God commands all Israelite slaves to be set free. They are to be released back to their home and family. They are servants of God delivered from Egypt and are not to be sold and oppressed as slaves. Today, slavery is still prevalent in our society. One of the worst forms of slavery is human trafficking. Children, women and men are traded and entered into forced, often sexual, labour. It has been reported that Malaysia is a well known destination and transit point for human trafficking. Poverty is also a form of slavery. Despite rapid national development, there are still many in both rural and urban areas who are enslaved by poverty, unable to provide for themselves and vulnerable to abuse. Slavery is also alive through unjust and repressive laws that deny personal freedom and promotes injustice. Let us pray that God will send release as we enter into our Jubilee.

‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. (Lev 25:39-41)

Prayer Suggestions: • Pray for all who are bound in sin and the evil one to be liberated and set free. • Pray for the human trafficking network to be busted and those bound by it to be set free. • Pray for the cycle of poverty to be broken. • Pray for enslaving laws to be repealed.