Former NFL star and outspoken Christian Tim Tebow recently spoke about how he and his team fight spiritual warfare in their quest to combat human trafficking. The former Heisman Trophy winner leads the Tim Tebow Foundation, which aids victims of human trafficking and child exploitation while spreading the Gospel.
Tebow cited John 16:33 as a verse that inspires him and his team to stand up evil in spiritual warfare. “The night before Jesus goes to the cross, He tells His disciples, and they don’t really get it,” Tebow said. “A lot like me! Sometimes, you just don’t really get it. But He said, ‘For in Me you have peace. In the world, you will have trials and tribulations, but take heart, I have overcome the world.'”
The activist noted that they fully expect to encounter trials and tribulations in their mission, but they find peace in Jesus Christ. “And we need to remember that where we find peace is in Him; we know there’s going to be trials and tribulations, but we can take heart,” he added. “We can choose courage.”
Tebow’s father had inspired him to fight against human trafficking when he had previously freed several girls who were being sold at an auction overseas where he was preaching. “And he called me afterward, and it’s hard to explain. I just knew that this is one of the areas that we’ve been called into and that I knew I was called into. And that we had to step up and stand up for those four and the rest like those sweet, poor girls.”
Speaking about his efforts, Tebow stated, “It has to do something that’s enough for people to say, ‘Oh my goodness! Look at the number of kids in the country and around the world. Around the world and in our backyard, so many boys and girls are in their darkest hour of need. That’s the heart of why we care so much about this and why we are trying to rally people to this.”
Tim Tebow also made other recent comments calling on men to live a purposeful life centered around God. “We’re called to be protectors, and one of the reasons that this evil is so great is the protectors have been the perpetrators,” he said in a recent social media post. “For my 37th birthday, I was reminded that David…had approximately 37 mighty men. These mighty men were protectors. They were warriors. They were fighters for good.”
Tebow went on, “In Hebrew for mighty man, the word is ‘gibbor.’ For just a male, just a man, it was ‘ish.’ And I want to say that, as a challenge to all of us because I believe that the Bible challenges us and calls us to be protectors.”
Tebow wrote in the caption, “These men were willing to put it all on the line to protect and serve their king. In the same way, would we be “mighty men” today, willing to put it all on the line for King Jesus? Would we fight for those who can’t fight for themselves? Would we, as men, stand in the gap for hurting people? Will you help identify and rescue children who have been sexually exploited?”
Featured image credit: Jeffrey Beall from Colorado, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Tebow_(5040576290).jpg