God’s Triple Play for a Hundreth Sheep

I’m not much of a baseball fan but I know a triple play when I see one. Especially when I see it played out in my own life. God has worked in painful yet amazing ways in and through me in the last three years. He orchestrated a miracle. Let me share with you God’s triple play for a hundreth sheep.

 

My Strikeout

Back in the summer of 2019, I allowed myself to get into a perilous situation by not standing my ground with a misguided friend on something she wanted us both to do. I knew was wrong for me but allowed myself to get sucked into it anyway. It’s a long story and for all sorts of reasons I’m not going into all the details here but I am accountable- and not the friend – regardless of how I landed there. Paul describes a “thorn in my side” in 2 Corinthians 12:7 in speaking of a challenge he had. I believe one of the reasons he was vague is so we could all envision our own thorns as he spoke of areas where he struggled. It’s my hope the same will be true for you as well here.

 

The extended fallout in my situation was significant because I was not diligent in taking my thoughts captive as we are told to do in 2 Corinthians 2:5. A well-meaning evangelist friend (you’ll meet him over at second base) who sees into my life later told me the entire series of events and “players” leading up to my stumble were carefully orchestrated by Satan to undermine my ministry and attempt to discredit my work and my reputation.

 

 “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

 

I’m glad God didn’t put a time limit on that verse for me because apparently I’m a slow learner. In the last three years, the battle to win back my spiritual focus has been excruciatingly hard. But God began the showdown fight for first base in a triple play in my life last June. I prayed about attending the podcasting and NRB conference back in 2020. While there, I was promoting my book “The Trap Door: Embracing God’s Divine Deliverance.” The Enemy put up many things against it, including missing my special needs child’s graduation. Still, I obeyed God and went to the conference.

 

First Base

I was on the escalator one morning headed to a breakfast to honor Israel when a couple of ladies started chatting with me. They were from a small lake town of 18,862 people. Turned out we knew some of the same people. We quickly parted ways and I went on to the breakfast they did not attend. When it was over, I ran into both of them again. They then asked me about my work. I gave them a book. Their mouths fell open. They later told me it was because of the subhead “Embracing God’s Divine Deliverance.” One said to the other, should we give her our book? The other nodded and before I knew it, I had a book in my hands called “Tormented.”

 

They then asked me if I was indeed tormented. I started to cry and explained about my mistake. How I was sitting in my shame because of it. They told me point blank that they believed I had a demon resting ON me not IN me (that’s an important distinction because we all know it says in John 10:28 that once we are saved no one can snatch us out of His hand once we repent and accept our Jesus Messiah.) They asked me gently if I wanted the demon off of me. Believe me, this was a moment. I had no experience with anything like this whatsoever. Was there really a demon on me? It was scary to think perhaps there was but also seemed a little farfetched. But some leading from God inside me told me to trust them so I went over to their room.

 

Timeout Chair

They sat me down in a chair and laid hands on my shoulders and began to pray, some in English and some in their individual prayer languages. Five minutes into it, one stopped and said, wait a minute. This isn’t really about your thoughts, it’s more about you and your friend.” She was referring to the misguided friend I spoke of earlier. In that moment, my intercessors told me God revealed to them that a demonic spirit was bouncing off of me and onto her and back on to me again in an endless, torturing loop.

 

I found this a bit hard to believe but I was too wrapped up in the moment to fully unpack it all. A few minutes later, one of them asked me about my mother. She saw my mother’s cancer (I didn’t say one word about that to either of them.) The curse, they said, was generational, going back even to a time long before my mother.) Their prayers of deliverance continued for 45 minutes until they were finished and the tormentors had departed.

 

I was exhausted. They then asked me if I wanted the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Honestly I should have taken them up on that right then and there because even though I felt free at that time (and truly was,) but the resulting vacuum ended up with a loose portal that didn’t bring me the full closure I still needed. So instead I said, “Honestly, all I really want to do is go back to the room and order room service macaroni and cheese and hit the hay.”

 

They laughed. We said our goodbyes for the moment. I did eventually go back for that baptism, too. But that’s a whole devotion for another day. Let’s get back to the triple play.

 

I followed up with my deliverance peeps in the coming months, praying and receiving support and mentoring. These ladies told me later they asked God that morning to show them who they were supposed to deliver that day and I was the one He pointed out. That alone is nothing short of amazing.

 

Pinch Hitting to Second

My second base run came about from across the globe. A Nigerian man in his 30s began following my social media and video content as did a good number of international ministry professionals. There was something different about him, though. He never asked me for money and he wanted to discuss many of the theological issues of the day. One afternoon he sent me a message saying “Ma – that’s what Africans often call their female elders – God has told me to say something to you but I’m not sure how you are going to receive it.”

 

I told him it was okay to proceed. Like a modern day prophet, he peeled back the layers of abominations in my life dating back to the stumble. (In Ezekiel 8:9 a similar thing is recorded by the prophet.) This evangelist saw my past wrongdoings, knew my emotional struggles, it was all revealed to him by God. I was astounded, not to mention embarrassed. So I cried and confessed yet again. This evangelist continues to be a steadying presence in my life. He continually corrects me with gentleness and respect,  holding me accountable across the miles in a most unusual yet sincere and effective manner.

 

About a month ago my pastor told us in a sermon that God will a readily use a broken vessel but He won’t use a dirty one. That stung. I kept feeling like I was never going to be able to eradicate the root of my sin that kept springing up in my thought life and needed continual cutting down. At the time, I could envision getting rid of what seemed to hinder me.

 

Rounding Past Third

Finally, it was time for God to propel me to third base, though like the other two runs, I didn’t see the assist coming. I was helping my friend and colleague out at the Spark Podcasting Booth in Nashville when a young man in his 40s stopped by. He showed us an amazing technological tool designed to exponentially spread God stories using links and QR codes on social media pages. He’s a well-groomed, non locust-eating John the Baptist who’s not afraid to go right up to people in the mall and talk to them about Jesus.

 

We sat down away from the crowd so I could hear more about his ministry and evangelistic inroads. I told him I could imagine my church blasting such links on their big screens. I told him about the mini Jerusalem prayer wall we have at our church and even shared that a friend just went to Israel and put another prayer slip in the original prayer wall. Suddenly, an uncomfortable mini silence arose. He looked me in the eyes and then said, “what prayer did you put in the wall, I’m supposed to ask you that.”

 

My heart stopped. I mustered up some courage as my eyes unexpectedly welled up with tears and gave him a thumbnail on the situation. This John the Baptist non-locust eater then looked me right in the eye and proposed a perfect solution. God had sent this pinch hitter with clear marching orders at the right place and time in to get me to third base so I would make it a little closer to the home plate of freedom. He made some suggestions and I took some long overdue steps toward healing and we prayed together. At last, I felt like God ushered me through the revolving door like the one at the airport that you can’t re-enter and go back where you came from.

 

We exchanged a warm brother sister hug and he went off on his way. A friend standing nearby came over and asked me, “Did that guy wreck you?” I laughed and said, “well, yeah he did but in a good way.” I haven’t communicated with that pinch hitter since. God appointed him for that moment alone, I believe.

 

The following morning the floodgates of God’s favor washed over me like a tsunami. I made connections at Global News Alliance, an outfit similar to Newsmax. I guested on a radio show on The Truth Network where I made some more important connections. Then I secured two more podcast guest appearances. Also, I’m ruminating over a fourth book that piqued the interest of a book agent. It may have a shot at a publishing deal. I also significantly expanded my social media channels while on the trip.

God, who through His son Jesus, refused to leave his hundredth sheep on its back on all fours. How amazing is his love and lengths of intervention”

 

Eradicating Sin Plutonium

In Luke 15:4, Jesus says “what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays on his shoulders, rejoicing.” Jesus walked 70 miles out of His way to rescue the Samaritan woman. Likewise, He literally appointed willing hands and feet to do the same to help save me.

 

In journalism we learn the importance of the “who, what, when, where, why and how. “ God is my “who,” “what” is my wretched life. “When” is in HIS timing, when He sees fit.  “Why” he saved me is because even a little sin plutonium is enough to contaminate and grow a sin cancer. And how? Well, by the shedding of His precious blood. And through His immeasurable love for us, I’m redeemed from the pit. For years I have underestimated and did not fathom the scope and depth of God’s love and commitment to me and all his other children. His love is real, tangible and truly life altering.

 

The treasured love verses in Ephesians 3:18 have taken on an even deeper meaning for me now. Paul writes this of his desire as a Christian encourager for all of us to embrace the inimitable love of Christ Jesus: “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is.” Oh how I needed to internalize that!

 

I faithfully prayed that verse over and over for a year in the early 2000s. I thought it was a “one year and done” prayer. But I now realize that I can never fully embrace and experience God’s perfect love in its entirety this side of eternity. Our enemy, Satan, continues to suggest, tempt, rationalize and present sinful alternatives. He carefully wraps them in sheep’s clothing.  He tries to persuade us to take our eye off of the only one who truly completes us.

 

Guarded but not Gated

I feel in this moment like I’m on the other side of a revolving door that cannot revert backwards. Yet I’m keenly aware that I’m not. I’m not naïve enough to say I’m forever free from future sin and temptation. But I’m more on guard when it comes to what the enemy wants to destroy. I used to dismiss that kind of talk until Satan’s traps threatened to undo my own life. I’m obeying and trusting when I can’t see the end of my trajectory. I no longer beat myself up when temptations to sin still arrive. Instead, the armor of God sits at the foot of my bed. I try to put it on when I wake up so I will resist the devil and flee from him.

 

And I’m more mindful than ever that light and darkness cannot coexist inside me. I can find strength through Him (Phil 4:13 I can do all things…) to stand against diabolical undermining.

 

Most of all, I know if I trust God for my next steps, I won’t wander too far ahead of Him. I can stay inside His shepherd’s crook. I can walk close enough to the path He sets before me. That way, all He’ll need to do is make a gentle tug. Then, I elect the minor course correction I need as He leads me in His paths of righteousness and away from my paths of recklessness.

 

My game is far from a no hitter. game But my umpire continually extends me His amazing grace. I run the race marked out for me in His strength and not my own. That’s all He asks me to do. I just need to tap into His strength to go the distance. I need to choose close companions who help me come up higher. And not ones who drag me down. Most of all, I want to remain on guard in recognizing anything and anyone who tries to distract me from my calling. And from my ministry and an ever closer walk with Him.