“Ever thought you might be martyred???”

God has rescued me from dangerous situations more than a few times. I’ll be sharing three of these harrowing experiences in the next three entries.

Part of my purpose in sharing these events is to focus on one thing I’ve learned by trial and error—no two methods of deliverance will be exactly alike. Trust me—I’ve tried to use the method you’ll read about in the following account as my go-to “deliverance-from-danger” formula, but God wasn’t having it. More on that tomorrow.

Here’s the main thing I’ve learned. When you are confronted with impending trouble or disaster, you must lean heavily upon the Spirit of God. He always has a way of escape for you; your job is to stay hooked up with Him in childlike trust to find out what—if anything—He wants you to do. When you are facing sudden danger, you must let Him lead.

Tale One: Deliverance from a creepy guy in a corduroy shirt

Many years ago, I was handing out tracts with a group of friends outside of Busch Stadium, home to the St. Louis Cardinals. In front of the Stan “the Man” Musial statue, my friend Cat and I were attempting to share the gospel with a scraggly young man. He stood, facing us, his back to the curb, with something obviously hidden under his maroon corduroy shirt. A strange look came over his face as he leaned in toward us and snarled, “Have you ever considered that you might be martyred for your faith?”

Without a thought, up from my insides Scripture thundered. I spoke the words I heard: “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:11 and 12 just rocketed up from my spirit and flowed out of my mouth! The sword of the Spirit was in operation.

But the next thing that happened left Cat and me with dropped jaws. The man, leaning into us and threatening one minute, collapsed backward the next, falling onto the hood of the car parked behind him at the curb. Just then, some of the guys in our group approached us and asked if we wanted them to take over. Cat and I, who were punching each other in the thighs, both in shock, both thinking—that really happened?—left the fallen man to the guys.

Tale Two tomorrow.

Until then,

Dorothy

…the word of God … performs its work in you who believe. 1 Thessalonians 2:13b