Angels, 6of27

~ 7 P’s of Angelic Ministry: PULL ~ 

Prolog  ~  Angels are God’s special undercover agents who bring messages from God and minister to God’s people.  “But to which of the angels has He ever said: ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool’?  Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:13-14). 

#6 – Angels PULL Us Out (of difficulties)  ~  “When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, ‘Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.’  And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.  So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, ‘Escape for your life!  Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain.  Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.’

“Then Lot said to them, ‘Please, no, my lords!  Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.  See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.’

“And he said to him, ‘See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken.  Hurry, escape there.  For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.’

“Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

“The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar.  Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.  So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (Genesis 19:15-25).

“Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.  But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ‘Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.’  And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught.  But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought” (Acts 5:17-21).

“Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.  And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.  Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, ‘Arise quickly!’  And his chains fell off his hands.  Then the angel said to him, ‘Gird yourself and tie on your sandals;’ and so he did.  And he said to him, ‘Put on your garment and follow me.’  So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.  When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.  And when Peter had come to himself, he said, ‘Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people’” (Acts 12:5-11).

Epilog  ~  Angels are spirit beings and invisible.  However, sometimes in Scripture they appear in human form.  Scripture reminds us: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels” (Hebrews 13:2). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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