Parable Of The Lost Coin

This is a true story, and as much as I am given to writing hyperbolic I am expressly telling the truth.  The bulk of this story happened in and around September of 2020.

We were new campus pastors for our church Victory. Two weeks before we were going to launch we had all the volunteers over to our home for a taco party.  It was a blast!  We ate, laughed and got to know each other.  All of our new friends went home and we launched our campus a couple weeks later.

Pam is one of our amazing volunteers.  After church one Sunday she asked me if we had seen her key fob.  She lost it and thought maybe it was at our house from the gathering we had the month before. I can empathize with the frustration of lost keys.  I told her we would look and she told me she would keep looking too.  I looked around but with no luck.  I figured she would find it soon and didn’t worry about it further.  The next week I asked Pam if she located the lost key, but disappointedly she said no. All of the sudden faith rose up in my spirit and I began to minister to my friend.  This is what I told her.

“I know it’s not the end of the world that you can’t find this key, but it upsets me.  The devil comes to steal, but Jesus came to give abundant life.  Did you hear about Saul last year? 

In 2019 Victory did a trip to Cuba that Pastor Saul (our Spanish pastor) led.  I didn’t realize the turmoil that was happening for a couple weeks before he was to head out on the trip.  He and his wife had misplaced their passports and it was going to put a serious hurt on the trip.  His wife is a Mexican national and if she left the United States she would not be allowed back in.  As you can imagine this caused a lot of stress.  I was oblivious to the whole story until one day a week before the trip I heard Saul talking to another pastor about his dilemma.  My heart broke for him and Gabi as he explained the situation.  I jumped up out of Divine frustration ‘No! We are going to pray and see a miracle today!’  A few of us gathered together and I prayed what was in my heart. ‘Lord I thank you that you delight in the lost being found.  In Luke 15 you tell us the story of the woman with the lost coin and the celebration that came from her finding her treasure.  Today I thank you that Gabi is going to find the passports in the same place she has looked before and it is going to be a prophetic act of the lost being found.  Angels, locate it and put it in a place she will easily find it.  As Saul leads this team to Cuba they are going to uncover treasures, people you love and want restored to you. Thank you Jesus! Amen!’  Later that night as my wife and I were in bed I got a call from Saul. ‘Dude!  We found it exactly as you said!!  Oh my gosh, God is good and we are excited to see what He’s about to do in Cuba!’  Man was that fun!  I was so encouraged that I had been led to pray and we saw the breakthrough.  The trip was full of glory, Saul testified of many encountering God’s love and what was prophesied coming to pass.

I believe I am sharing that with you Pam because God wants to return your lost item as a sign of His love for you.  Let’s pray right now that you find it today!”

I prayed full of faith in God right then.  I asked that an angel would pick it up and deliver it to her.  I felt the warmth of the Holy Spirit as I declared scripture over Pam, I was confident that today she would get her key back.  

We got the reception hall we were holding our campus at cleaned up and headed home.  My wife AdriElle had gone ahead of me with a few of the kids and called me when we she got to our house.  One of our beloved cats, Bones, had gotten out and we couldn’t find him.  If you know me or my family, you know we are crazy cat people.  To say we love cats would be a complete understatement.  Other than the actual human family members our cats are the most precious things we have.  My heart sank and I became completely fearful.  I got home, changed my clothes and immediately started looking for the cat.  My oldest daughter Rapha was worried as well and came with me.  We looked all over the backyard, looked around the front and by the neighbors houses.  Once we had found Bones in the neighbors backyard, so we decided to go knock on their door and see if we could go check it out. As I rang the bell I saw a key fob on their ledge.  The neighbor answered and told us we could check the backyard. I asked him if this was his key, but he replied ‘No. I saw someone put it there on the video bell about an hour ago.’  WOW! So I texted Pam right away with a picture of her keys and we celebrated that the lost was found!

We didn’t find Bones in the neighbors yard.  The entire family was anxious, even though we had just experienced in real time the hand of God moving on someones behalf.  Rapha and I decided to check in the field behind our house, which is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  As we walked toward the field I felt such conviction that I started to confess to my oldest daughter.  ‘I have such faith for other people, but whenever it comes to praying for myself I feel weak as a dying cat.  I can hardly bring myself to pray real prayers when it comes to seeing Holden get healed of his dangerous allergies or losing something precious.  I can pray little passive prayers but that’s not pleasing to the Lord.  We need to repent right now and pray like the Bible tells us to!’  Rapha and I stopped, held hands and prayed like real Christians.  We declared scripture and God’s goodness, and asked specifically for  Bones to be returned.  I asked that God would send another angel to put the cat in our yard.  The very second I said amen AdriElle called me.  I answered to a very excited wife; Bones had just appeared at the front of our house and was meowing to be let in.  Rapha ran and wept all the way home.  I slowly walked and tuned into the voice of the Lord.

“It’s not about keys or cats, it’s about people I love.  This is a season for the lost to be found.  I want you to ask me for souls the way you asked for the passport, the key and the cat.  Get ready to uncover my treasures!”

In the last few months I have had the biggest altar call responses of my life as I preach the gospel.  People I have poured into for years are turning their lives over to Jesus.  A few of those I had grown hopeless about, but God is bigger than my weak faith.  We are going to see God stretch out His hand to heal; signs and wonders will be done in the name of Jesus.  God is going to grant us boldness!  I believe with all of my heart the church is getting ready to reap the greatest harvest in history, and I am honored to be a part of it.  Gone are the days of weak ineffective pity prayers; we are going to believe and petition heaven with God’s heart. Whether people have walked away from Jesus or never knew Him, they were made for Him.  They are precious and valuable to Him.  It’s time to look for them and join heavens party. 

Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

…when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

(Luke 15:8-10, Luke 18:8)