Psalm 91:11-12
For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
Over the years, I have heard more messages about demons than about angels, about casting out demons in the wonderful name of Jesus than about harnessing the angels to assist with enlarging and extending the kingdom of God. Hebrew 12:22 tells us that we “have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels”. Note the past tense “have come”. This is something that has already happened. And the number of angels is “innumerable” – far too many to count.
1. A testimony regarding angels
When I look over the past in my life, I can see there were many instances of the angels serving me, ministering to me, protecting me, comforting me. Whenever I faced hurdles in overcoming handicaps associated with this profound deafness and I decided to press on, I invariably found that there were no hurdles where and when I expected them. Because the angels had cleared my path free from hurdles. How else could I have ever been able to speak very much like a normal person? How else could I have ever managed to become a veterinarian? How else could I have ever got an unrestricted pilot’s licence to fly an aeroplane? How else could I have ever helped to solve the problem Australia faced with proving its freedom from the dreaded mad-cows-disease? How else did I end up meeting and marrying the woman who fitted in every detail my prayer request? How else….?
I recall one time during the 1980’s, I wanted to travel to Cronulla, Sydney, for my first visit to a FGBMFI outreach activity where Bill Subritsky was the guest speaker. I was under a lot of pressure with veterinary work and had just returned home in Walgett from conducting veterinary clinics in Bourke, nearly 200 kms away. I had stayed overnight with friends there and left my toiletry pack behind in their bathroom. My friend had just rung to let me know his daughter saw them in their bathroom. Annoyed, I went to my bathroom to put together another toiletry pack as I was to leave next day. To my total surprise, my toiletry pack was there, in the bathroom cabinet! I realised it was God’s plan for me to go to Sydney, and He had sent His angels to retrieve my pack and deliver it to me, as a comforting sign confirming that I was to go to Sydney. I rang my friend in Bourke to let him know what God had done.
2. Our angels have charge over us
There is something awesome about the angels having charge over us. There are many of us who, when we were children, can remember our parents going out to an evening function, a movie perhaps, and leave us in the charge of a babysitter. Typically, while under the care of our babysitter, we would have no idea how to get in touch with our parents, but our babysitter would as our parents invariably leave their contact details with the babysitter. The same with angels – Matthew 18:10 tells us, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Our angels always see the face of our Abba Father. They are always in contact with Him on our behalf.
3. Our angels have duties to perform
Angels have a duty to perform. Hebrews 1:14 tells us, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” The Greek word for minister is “diakonia” which means to attend as a servant (and is the same word used for “deacons” in 1 Timothy). There are many of us who have watched programs like “Downton Abbey” and “Upstairs Downstairs”, which relate to the days when it was common for the rich to have household servants, including valets who helped the gentlemen get dressed. These days there are many of us who don’t need anyone to help us get dressed. Unfortunately, this is the attitude of many of us believers who have the attitude that we don’t need angels to help us. It takes true humility to recognise that our loving Abba Father in heaven has provided us with ministering spirits and that he wants us to keep them busy, make them useful. He has made us to be as Kings and He treats us as such, providing us with His servants to enable us to function as kings.
4. We have duties to perform to our angels
A true servant of Christ serves even angels. Acts 27: 23-24 tells us Paul the apostle recognises this when he said, “For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve”. We do not have charge over our angels. Just as we couldn’t tell our babysitter what to do, as they acted under the instructions of our parents, so too the angels, all acting under instructions from God.
But what duties are we to perform to our angels? Primarily, we are not to offend them or provoke them to anger, for they depend on our faith, trust and obedience. Exodus 23:21 says, “Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.” There are several other scriptures warning us not to offend them. For example, we are not to speak negative words for they respond only to His Word. Psalm 103:20 says: “Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.” The amazing thing is that when we pray in the spirit, we speak the tongues of angels (1 Corinthians 13:1).
5. Our angels comfort us
Acts 27: 23-24: “For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’” They are with us in times of great dangers, and angels assure us with comforting words of our destiny in Christ.
6. Our angels direct our activities as believers, leading the way for us to go
They direct the activity of believers. Acts 8:26 tells us “Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
I am amazed by the number of believers who refuse to follow the angels, instead preferring to do things their way, according to what they perceive to be in compliance with biblical principles. But yet the battles that we fight are never ours, always the Lord’s. It is His Kingdom and He is the one with all the plans for enlarging and extending His kingdom. Whenever He goes out to fight these battles for us, the angels are always in the front lines and there is always victory. We do the mopping up, collecting the spoils. Whenever we do things our way, we do not have the true victory that the Lord has for us. Scripture after scripture, especially those relating to battles that Israel faced in the Old Testament, is clear on this.
I could go on and on about angels, but this message is to introduce you the wonderful servants of the Most High God, Jesus being the Lord of the Hosts. They are there, our reinforcements, to work with us, to see God’s plan come to pass, to see His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Praise God for His angels.
As Psalm 103:20-21 says:
“Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.
Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure.”
Shalom and with every blessing to all,
George
George Perry
National Chairman
Full Gospel Business Australia