After Jesus confronted the attacks
of Satan in the wilderness, “Behold, angels came and ministered unto him” (Matt
4:11). Luke 22:43 says, “There appeared an angel, strengthening him.” If Jesus
needed the ministering of angels and the strengthening they could give, don’t
you think we do? Of course we do.
Jesus told Peter, “Thinkest thou
that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than
twelve legions of angels?” (Matt 26:53). Colossians 1:27 tells us it’s “Christ
in you, the hope of glory.” God is willing and able to do the same for the
Christ in us as He did for Jesus Christ in the flesh. Jesus said He could pray
for angels and so can we.
In fact, He gave this instruction:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth [is believing] on me, the
works that I do shall he do also” (John 14:12). Praying for angelic help is one
of the works. Two verses later He adds, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name,
I will do it.” Asking for angels is an “anything.”
Jesus reiterates this truth, saying
“, Whatsoever ye shall
ask the Father in my name, he will give it you” (John 16:23). Angelic help is a
“whatsoever.” Jesus could pray for angels and He expects us to do the same.
Philippians 4:13 tells us we “can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth [is strengthening] us.” It
doesn’t say all things except for asking angelic help. It says “all things” and
the understanding is they are “all good things” because Phil 2:13 tells us “For
it is God which worketh [is working] in you both to will and to do of his good
pleasure.”
There’s nothing in God’s Word that
says we have to get angelic help. But when we got born again, we made Jesus our
Lord. Shouldn’t we be willing to follow His example?
What’s our excuse? If we say we’re
unworthy of angels, Jesus says we are worthy. If we say we don’t need them,
Jesus did, so why wouldn’t we? Are we more equipped than Him? Of course not.
In this crazy world do we really
think we can get along by ourselves just fine without their help? Or maybe we
think it’s up to God to send them when He wants to. But He gave us the power to
look at a situation or circumstance and know if we need additional help. It’s
really not that complicated. Jesus said all we need to do is ask for help,
believe and receive.
Do we refrain from utilizing angels’
help because we don’t understand them? God’s Word is for the simplest of us.
Sometimes we get too intellectual and think we have to understand everything
first, but that’s not God’s way. Jesus
teaches us to believe first, act, and then the understanding comes later.
In this article I am pointing out
the additional value of angels to a believer. I am not in any way trying to
belittle the magnificent power of using the name and the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Nor am I denying the wonderful effectiveness of prayer or any of
the other ways the Lord helps us.
God is way more variegated and
majestic than we have yet to discover. He has provided us with many tools and
weapons for living victoriously. Why not employ more of what the Lord Jesus
Christ showed us and made available to us?
Psalm 103:20 tells us angels are
strong; they can strengthen us, and sometimes we just need that. We can believe
and ask the Lord for their help.
Love, Carolyn
My book WINGS: A Journey in
Faith is on sale in paperback
from Amazon and is available in stand-alone parts, sample sections, and also
the entire book of 61 chapters in e-book format.
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