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WORKING WITH ANGELS SERIES
MINISTERING ANGELS
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Hebrews 1: 14 Are they not all
ministering (leitourgikos) spirits, sent forth to
minister (diakonia) to those who will inherit
salvation. We have earlier mentioned that the Greek word ministering
is a very special word that comes from the word 'leitourgikos'
which means that they are spirits sent to minister in subordination to us. Not
that they are not great in power, or not great in position, but they were sent
to serve. The word ministering is not the word diakonia.
The other word diakonia in Hebrews 1: 14 is
the same Greek word for deacons as found in the book of Acts 6 who are
people who were appointed to minister to the widows. But the word leitourgikos as found in ministering spirits is a
stronger word than servant. It’s a word that implies somebody coming and
subordinating under you, coming under your command.
Not all the angels are in this category.
There are worship angels and they work differently. There are warring angels
and they work differently. There are messenger angels and they work
differently. There are angels that stand in the presence of God. All these are
different beings that God has made throughout his creation. Now ministering
angels are especially send to minister to all our
physical needs. All that we ever need in this life, food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, education. These necessities of this earthly life are in the
jurisdiction of these ministering spirits. And that means a few things here. We
have to respect them. We don’t just simply order them. Secondly they will not
obey our command when it is not in line with the word of God. We cannot tell
them to do something that is outside God's will. Now having fulfilled those
conditions, the angels are sensitive to our spoken words to what we confess.
And sometimes under the leading of the Spirit we will encourage you in your
life to lift up your hands and to say words like for example, 'go ministering
angels'. You are not talking to all angels. You are only talking to leitourgikos angels, the angels that are ministering
to you. And you could lift up your hands and say, "Go ministering angels.
Go forth and bring all that I need in my business, in my ministry." You
can say generally. You are not asking them to do some special assignment that
is up to God. You could say go forth ministering angels and bring forth your
clients if you are in the business world. If you are in the ministry you could
ask the angels to go forth and open all the right doors. Or if you are winning
souls you can ask the angels to go forth and prepare the souls that God wants
you to witness to, to share the Good News.
So we can do that only to this particular group of angels.
And sometimes people misunderstand our
position in two ways. One, they go over board and they do things that they are
not supposed to be doing. Or secondly, they tell the wrong group of angels,
warring angels or other angels which are in the
different group altogether. The other day I told you about somebody praying in
Hebrew although he doesn't know Hebrew. And a rabbi was there and he heard that person speaking in tongues, calling angels by name and
sending them forth to different places. That was the Holy Spirit speaking
through human lips. That can happen under the leading of the Holy Spirit. But
bear in mind that ministering angels minister to our needs. They are interested
to help you find a job, to find an open door in the ministry, to take care of
your food, clothing and shelter. And if we were to learn how to co-operate with
them, you will never ever lack of any good things. Because God will make sure
that the angels bring them across your path. He can ask the angels to bring
people who have those things into your path or He can bring them directly.
There are four different works of these
ministering angels. The first is what I call education. These ministering are
in charge of teaching us how to handle this life. If you are businessman they
will teach you how to do business. If you are in the ministry they will teach
you how to minister the way God wants you to. And the Holy Spirit is our
ultimate teacher. But some of those things the Holy Spirit have instructed the
angels to educate us and help us to function in those things.
Look at Genesis you see angels teaching Jacob
how to prosper. Jacob was actually struggling in his work. He was being cheated
ten times. His salary was changed by Laban. And it
looks like there is no way he could prosper in that situation. And God taught
Jacob what to do. In Genesis 30 we see Jacob doing a very strange thing. We
realize that we can be educated in this life. We receive an education in the
natural world. We receive spiritual education through
Jacob in Genesis 30 was not prospering. He was
working very hard but he was not prospering because he was under Laban who was cheating him all the time. And he did a very
strange thing. No human being taught him that. Look at Genesis 30: 37-39 Jacob
took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees, and
peeled white stripes in them, and exposed the white which was in the rods. And
the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flock in the watering troughs
where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to
drink. So the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth
striped, speckled and spotted.
Somebody taught him how to make those
things and put it there, the angels of God. In verse thirty nine so the flocks
conceived before the rods and the flocks brought forth striped, spotted and
speckled. An interesting phenomena where somebody taught Jacob to do that. The
angels of God will sometimes give you ideas especially in the line of your
profession or in your food, clothing shelter, education all these areas. A lot
of our physical work in this life have been assigned to angels to help us in those things. In chapter thirty Jacob
tells us how he learned all those things. Genesis 31: 6-12 And you know that
with all my might I have served your father. Your father have deceived me and
changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. If he said
thus: "The speckled shall be your wages,' then all the flock bore
speckled. And if he said thus: "The streaked shall be your wages,' then
all the flocks bore streaked. So God have taken all the livestock of your
father and given them to me. And it happened at that time when the flocks conceived,
that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, behold, the rams which leaped upon
the flocks were streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted. Then the Angel of God
spoke to me in a dream, saying, 'Jacob.' And I said, 'Here I am.' And He said,
'Lift up your eyes now and see, all the rams which leaped on the flock are
streaked, speckled and gray spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
And it is this same angel that is implied
that taught Jacob how to do these things in the physical realm. These are all
the little education that the angels are assigned to bring to us. They minister
to our needs. The first area of ministering is under education. They educate us
in our food, clothing shelter etc. And because the angels are working in all
these areas that the angels will make every good professional help in all the
different areas. Because they are skillful, God in all those different areas
assigns them. And if we were to hearken to those angelic help that is given to
us, it can come in a dream. It can come in an idea. And you experiment in those
things. You will find some new things that man has not discovered yet. Mankind
hasn't discovered everything yet. There is still a long way to go for many
different things. The world is still open to new ideas. There are still new
inventions that you can do. There is no end to it. Sometimes the world looks
like it is stagnant. That is because they lack fresh ideas. And if God call you
to a professional area. Be sure that the angels of God will teach you to prosper
in your profession. Their first role is what I call education. They teach us in
all the needs of this life.
The second area is direction. Turn to the
book of Matthew chapter one. This is a love story. Joseph loved Mary very much
and they were both engaged to be married. And suddenly Mary was found with
child of the Holy Spirit. And she had a tremendous testimony. But Joseph found
it hard to believe that it actually happened. An angel appeared to Mary and say
that she has a conception that is unique. In verse nineteen Joseph was
troubled. Then Joseph her husband being a just man and not wanting to make her
a public example was minded to put her away secretly. Now he was thinking and
thinking what to do. He still loved Mary but he couldn't accept her experience.
He couldn't accept what she was saying. And he didn't want to make her ashamed.
And in his mind he was thinking of putting her away. He probably has made up
his mind that he is going to do that the next morning. Verse twenty while he
thought about these things behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David do not be afraid to take to you Mary
your wife, for that which is conceived in her is that of the Holy Spirit. And
she will bring forth a son and you shall call His name Jesus. For He will save His people from their sins. Verse
twenty four Joseph when he woke up being arouse from sleep did as the angel
of the Lord commanded him.
So angels could be involved in our
direction. We need to be opened to them. Sometimes you may be making a wrong
decision in your life. And you have already made up your mind and the next day
you are going to take the action. That night God may speak to you through an
angel in some way or in some form. But sadly sometimes when we received those
messages we treat it as a dream and not an angelic message and we never follow
through and we suffer the consequences. The angels have been directing Joseph
also at other times in Matthew 2: 13 When the wise men had departed an angel
of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying arise take the young child and
his mother and flee to Egypt and stay there until I bring you word. For Herod
will seek the young child to destroy him. He went, who will want to shift
the location of your home just because of one angelic message through a dream.
Not many of us will want to shift to another city to live just because of an
angelic message or because of a dream.
Now we don’t just go by dreams or by
angelic message. It must be confirmed in our inner witness. These are all I
call supplementary messages to strengthen what God is already speaking on our
inside. If it is a major thing make sure you seek counsel and don’t just go by
every dream or vision. It has to be in line with the will of God. Some people
who are not solidly grounded in the word will just make a sudden decision which
is not in line with the word of God. On the other hand, some will just try to
follow a dream or vision which goes against other principles in the word of
God. The point we are making here is that it is significant that the direction
that Joseph received was all from an angel and it involved his entire life and
family. It meant pulling out his roots from his home town and going to another
nation to live until it was time and God send him back again through a dream.
Angels can give direction. In the book of
Acts 8 the Holy Spirit and the angel worked together. An angel of God told
Philip go and stand at the crossroad. So it was not the Holy Spirit who gave Philip
the direction here but it was an angel. As Philip was standing at the cross
road the Holy Spirit told him go and join himself to the chariot. So there was
a Holy Spirit and there was an angel. Why should we receive direction from
angels? It is still the Holy Spirit who happens to use what I call the means to
direct us. Some of us say when angels direct us we work. I don’t think so
because many times we doubt. We just cannot believe that God will want us to do
some of those things. In fact by the time angels moved and work they are
supplementary. It is because God has been working on our inward witness and we
are not fully flowing with it. God will always speak through the Holy Spirit
and direct us through the Holy Spirit. But God uses the Holy Spirit as a second
line of direction or second line of guidance to strengthen what we already
received in our inward witness. And this is where the angels come in. God knows that we don’t change easily. And we
are not creatures willing to change especially when it comes to a major area.
And He supplements the direction of the Holy Spirit through angelic help.
Number one education, number two
direction, number three protection. Lets turn to the book of Daniel 6: 7 There
was a law that these have come out with that says all the governors of the
kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the adviser have consulted together to
establish as royal statute. And to make a firm decree that who ever petition
any god or man for thirty days except you O king shall be cast into the den of
lions. We all know the story of Daniel and the lions' den. People can always
rationalize what took place down there. Sometimes people say the lions are very
old. Others say the lions were very well fed so they didn’t feel like eating
Daniel. But all these are wrong stories because we know in Daniel 6: 24 that
when the other people were thrown down into the lions' den, they were
overpowered and killed. When the other people were thrown in, (Daniel's
accusers) when they cast them into the den of lions and the lions overpowered
them and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of
the den. These were wild lions and yet when Daniel was thrown, Daniel was found
alive and he said in verse twenty two. My God send his angels and shut the
lions' mouth so that they have not hurt me because I was found innocent before
him. And also O king I have done no wrong before you. Angels were
protecting Daniel all the time.
Angels work in education, direction,
protection and number four provision. Angels guide us to find food, clothing
and shelter. Angelic help is always involved. Turn to the book of First Kings
19: 4, angels are interested in providing for us. Elijah was discouraged and
he was down. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came
and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die and said it is
enough, now Lord take my life for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a broom tree,
suddenly an angel touched him. Now Elijah didn’t realize the things he was
facing. Number one he had loneliness. Number two he was exhausted. God send him
an angel and the angel said, "Arise and eat." Look at what he ate in
verse six, then he look and there was a cake baked and a jar of water.
He never asked where it came from. Verse six tells you angels can be very good
cooks. Don’t go around your kitchen and order the angels to cook. They will not
obey your every whims and fancies. In verse seven the angel of the Lord came
back a second time touched him and said arise and eat because the journey is
too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank and he went into the strength
of that food, forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb
the mountain of God. I love that kind of food which allows you to eat once
in forty days.
There is an interesting incident in the
gospel of John 21: 5. The disciples were in the sea but the distance was near
enough for them to communicate and Jesus said to them, children have you any
food. They answered him no. Then he said to them cast the net on the right side
of the boat and you will find some. So they cast and now they were not able to
drag in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore the disciples of Jesus said
to Peter it is the Lord. And Peter dive in and swam to the Lord but the other
disciples have to slowly come because the boast was full of fish. In verse nine
and as soon as they come to land they saw a fire of coals there and fish laid
on it and bread. The Lord made breakfast for them. Jesus said in verse ten
bring some of the fish you have just caught. And Peter went and dragged the net
to land full of large one hundred and fifty three. Then in verse twelve Jesus
said come and eat breakfast. God is interested in our provision and he has
assigned angels to take care of provision.
In
some of the stories you see in Hagar there was no food and the baby was dying.
The angels were in charge of the provisions for them. Angels were in charge of
education and to teach us how to get the things of this life. Angels are in
charge of our protection and our provision and our direction. These are the
four areas that we are touching on, education, direction, protection and
provision.
Now lets look at the common element that
takes place so that these four areas of angelic help can work in our life. Lets
start looking again at Jacob and draw some pointers how he co-operated with
those angels in order for these things to work. In the book of Genesis 31: 10 He
lifted up his eyes and he saw in his dreams spotted, speckled, stripes and the
angels talking to him in verse twelve
saying, lift up your eyes now and see all the rams which leaped on the
flocks are stripes, speckled, spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. Now why did the angel work
in his life? Because in verse thirteen it says, "I am the God of
Lets look at Genesis 28: 12 as he was running
away from his brother he dreamt. And behold a ladder was set up on the earth
and its top reached to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and
descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the God of
Abraham your father and the God of Isaac the land on which you lie I will give
to you and your descendants. Jacob had actually been dedicated to God when
Isaac laid his hands on him. He had been covenanted to God. The covenant life
was now flowing to him. That's why the angels were now working in his life. Its
important to dedicate ourselves to God. And the message of the Lord continues
in verse fifteen. Behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and
will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what
I have spoken to you. Now look at what Jacob replied to God in verse
sixteen. Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. Is it
possible to have the Lord in a place?
Yes, it is possible to have something spiritual and not knowing it. It is possible to have some
special manifestation, visitation or blessing and not knowing it.
Verse seventeen he also prayed and said, how
awesome is this place there is none other than the house of God and this is the
gate of heaven. And he called the place Bethel house of God. That was a name given by Jacob and later on
in his life some twenty years later the God whom he had met here appeared to
him again. In verse eighteen he rose early in the morning took the stone and
put it on his head set it up as a pillar and poured oil on it and he call the
name of the place
Second is the work of anointing. He
anointed the pillar with oil. Oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. We must learn
from the Spirit of God who will teach us and lead us into all truth. In the
book of First John 2: 27 the anointing within you is able to teach you. We must be faithful to the anointing
within. Now angels will not educate us
if we didn’t do our best. We must do the best that we can first then we can
expect angelic help. You notice that when the angels came to Jesus at
Turn over to the gospel of Mark 1: 13 and this
is a similar thing in
Number three Genesis 28:20-22 Then
Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way
that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I
come back to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar
shall be God's house, and of all that you will give me I will surely give a
tenth to you." He made a covenant with God. A tithe is a symbol of
covenant you have with God. And that is
why the angel came to help him. In the book of Genesis an angel appeared in a
dream when he was being cheated. Jacob had obeyed God as much as he knows how.
And he was at the end of himself and then God started working in his life
through the angels.
Joseph's life in Matthew 1 the angel gave
him direction. There are certain conditions for angels to direct us. Matthew
1:19 Joseph her husband being a just man. Number one we must want to do
right. If in our heart we intend to do wrong don’t expect angelic direction. We
have to deal with our own flesh. Joseph was a just man and he really wanted to
do what was right. But what was right in his mind and in his calculation
happened to be wrong. He didn’t understand why these things were happening. He
didn’t understand and couldn't accept Mary's experience. But he was a very
righteous man and was true to his conscience.
He didn’t want Mary to be put to shame. And he just wanted to cover and
protect everything and just quietly go off.
Number one the direction will come if we are
desirous to do the right thing. Verse nineteen being a just man not wanting
to make her a public example: he was, number two, a man of love and
compassion. When you always seek the ways of compassion and the ways to walk in
life God will direct your path. The way
of love and compassion is the best way. He could be angry with her and do
anything. He never did any of these things because he love Mary. Joseph was a
man of love and compassion. When we have hate, anger and all the other things,
angels cannot help us because our life is not right. But out of love you want
to do the most loving thing possible and sometimes the most loving thing may
also be the wrong thing; it may actually cause more hurt, even though your
intentions are right. All of us can make mistakes like that. Sometimes the way
they express their love to you is not received.
Just like sometimes a man may have his good intentions misinterpreted
when he gives something to his wife on a special occasion like her birthday or
anniversary. Instead of buying her flowers he bought her a washing machine. You
may have remembered all the times she slaved in washing clothes but she can be
very upset. "Who do you think I am, a washerwoman?" When a man does
that he may be doing it out of love. Sometimes we intend something in love but
it is not expressed in a way that the other person understands. Sometimes our
heart is full of love but when we express it, it is not received as love. It is
received as interference, received as busybody, received as all kinds of wrong
things. So here Joseph had good intentions, what he wanted to do was wrong in
God's sight. It was the wrong method because he got the wrong understanding.
But basically he loved Mary still. If he didn’t love Mary he would have chased
her out. That is number two he had a heart full of love and wanted to put her
away secretly.
Number three verse twenty four Joseph
being aroused from sleep did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and
took him his wife and did not know her
till she had brought forth her first born son and he call his name Jesus. Now
he was a very upright man. He respected what was going on here. And the third
point in receiving direction was he was willing and obedient. When you are
willing and obedient you will eat the good of the land. It is important to note
that to receive direction we must have righteousness in our conscience. We must
have love and compassion and we must be people who are willing to obey. And
because of these things the angels found it good to work with him. That is why
sometimes angels don’t seem to direct our life because we didn't fulfill all
these conditions.
Let's look at Daniel 6 for God to protect
you it should never be a last minute thing. There are principles behind God protecting
in our lives through angels that we must adhere to. I mean Daniel didn't start
his prayer life as he was about to be thrown into the lion's den. He was thrown
into the lion's den because of his prayer life. So sometimes people start their
prayers too late. They don't look for God all their life and suddenly they are
in trouble. At the last minute they look for God for protection. It would just
be like Daniel being tied up and about to be thrown into the lion's den. As you
are being thrown into the lion's den, you start saying your prayers. You got
only a few seconds from the top of the pit to the bottom of the den to say your
prayers. I don't think you would have much time. There must be some principles
behind angels protecting us. Number one consistency. A consistent prayer life
and word life. That means whether there is danger or no danger, whether there
is crisis or no crisis, you maintain a good devotional life with God. Don’t
wait till the last minute. In prosperity or adversity you maintain your prayer
life with God. You watch how God protect people with angels. You will find that
those are the same people who are very consistent with God. In season and out
season they are very consistent in their prayer life with God. In revivals and
between special revivals they will always be consistent. Number one consistency. Daniel was
consistently praying all his life. Lets look at verse ten. Daniel knew that
the writing was signed and he went home and in his upper room with his windows
opened towards
Number two look at verse twenty two. My
God send his angels and shut the lion's mouth so that they have not hurt me.
And he give his reason: because I was found innocent before him. Number
two obedience to God's law and God's command. He has not broken any of God's
law. When you break God's law you don't expect angelic protection. If they ever
protected you it is because of His mercy and His grace that will cover you for
sometime until you reach a point where He will not cover you any more. Number
two Daniel was obedient to God's law.
Number three is also important. Also in
verse twenty two. Also O king I have done no wrong before you. Number
three blameless. He has not broken man's law. These are the kind of people that
God loves.
Finally in First Kings 19 we see angelic
provision. The angel provided Elisha with special food.1 Kings 19: 3-4 When
he saw that he arose and ran for his life, and went to
Do you know that two Christians can do the
same job differently? You can do the job with zeal and without zeal. When you
look at Christians doing a job without zeal just like they got no heart to do
it, they never prosper. God don’t open more doors to bring prosperity. Christians who are zealous, whether to sweep
the floor or even if they are working in a little job that earn them a few
hundred dollars a month, they do it with great zeal, with great joy. They do it
not onto man but onto God. God prosper them. So why didn't God prosper because
we are half hearted. We don't give our whole heart to do whatever needs to be
done. If you are a road sweeper make yourself the best road sweeper. If you are
an engineer make yourself the best engineer. Not because of your company but
because you are serve as if you are serving onto God. Whatever job you are
doing you are doing as unto the Lord and that is in the writing of Paul in his
epistle we do it as unto God. So if we don’t do what we need to do zealously,
we will have no promotion, no blessings, no more open doors, no more prosperity
coming. Whatever we have we are stuck, we are stagnant.
Number one is zeal for God. Why did God
love to provide for Elijah? He had zeal.
Even his prophetic ministry was because of his zeal. Look at 1 Kings 19:
7 The angel said to him, "Arise and eat because the journey is too
great for you." Number two you must stretch yourself to your limits
and then God will provide the extra. If you believe God for anything and you
have not stretch yourself to the best of your limits. God doesn't seem to
operate through his angels in provision. But when you have done all you know to
give away and to do the right thing. I don’t mean giving just foolishly. Or by
whims and fancies. The best type of giving is planned giving. When it becomes
too great for you the angels will come and supplement. Because planned
stretching is stretching which is for a consistent period. It is just like once
in a blue mood you go for a marathon run. You don't do it that way. You should
be running a little bit every two days and building your stamina up. That is
better for your body and for your health than once a year go for marathon run
when you never run before. That kind of over stretching is wrong. It is not
planned not disciplined and not proper. Sometimes people stretch themselves
without planning. So when we stretch ourselves to the limits and we have done
our best God will add the extra grace. That is number two.
And number three in 1 Kings 19: 11 Then He said, "Go
out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord." And as he stood there
different things happened but finally in verse twelve after the fire a still
small voice and he ask him the same question in verse thirteen. What are you
doing here Elijah? This is not the first time. The first time was found in
verse nine. What are you doing here Elijah? And He revealed to him
special things in I Kings 19: 15-18. He reveals His will for him, what he must
continue doing. So our third point is the will of God. When we do the will of
God and keep consistently doing the will of God, God will provide for you. When
we are outside His will then we run into trouble. So the angels of God work in
providing education, direction, protection and provision. And each has its
proper principles to bring us to the position for the angels of God to work in
our lives.
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