Wednesday, December 1
God's Messengers
Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.
Psalm 103:20
Recommended Reading
Daniel 10:12-14
When someone in authority gives a directive, that command finds its way to the appropriate person who makes it happen. Commands don't execute themselves--it takes a person to carry out the authority's desires.
Isaiah 55:10-11 pictures God as an authority who sends forth His word. And it is always carried out: "It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." But how does that happen? Who carries out God's words and translates them into action? Angels do--like the angel found in Daniel 10. This angel was dispatched from heaven to deliver to Daniel the answer to his prayers. The angel was delayed for three weeks by an evil angel, the power behind "the prince of the kingdom of Persia." Only the angel Michael, "one of the chief princes," was able to defeat this evil angel and see the messenger on his way to Daniel.
When you pray, realize that angels are at work to execute God's answers. And they may be opposed by "principalities and powers in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 3:10).
Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Timothy 1:1–3:17
How interesting it is to realize that in the case of Daniel, a more powerful angel needed to be dispatched and intervene in order for the original angel to deliver the answer to his Daniel's prayers! Think of this scenario the next time you feel that your prayers aren't being answered. Remember that the answer might be "yes," "no," or "later."
Examine your prayer request to see if it lines up with what Scripture teaches. Sometimes prayer requests are turned down because they aren't right for you or do not agree with God's righteousness and/or His Word.
But in the case of a prayer request being appropriate, perhaps in due time, in God's Perfect timing, such a prayer will be answered. I have experienced this in my own life. I have had answered prayers in a timely fashion, and in other cases, it took years - sometimes decades for a prayer to be answered. However, the decades-long prayer was answered at just the right time for the individual being prayed for. How awesome is that?
In our imperfect state here on this earth, we see as through a glass darkly and cannot even fathom the tapestry of salvation being sewn by God through His mercy, grace, righteous judgments and eternal promises. Sometimes it is very hard to wait and we want to yell, "God? What are you doing?" But when we enter into eternity, the appearance of the underside of a ragged-looking tapestry of colored threads will be replaced by the view from heaven of the gorgeous tapestry being created as we head into the Millennium, and then into eternity. What a joyous day that will be! We will see Christ face to face - we will see him "as He is." At the culmination of all of human history, what is not known by us while in existence on this earth will be made known! Imagine! All of our questions will be answered and we will be in the presence of the Living Lord - Jesus Christ! I cannot even picture, in my mind's eye, how glorious that will be!
Therefore, we must be patient and remain diligent in our evangelizing efforts so that more people on this earth will learn of Jesus Christ, his sacrificial death on the cross for our salvation, and the resurrection that is to come for all who believe in His Name.
Hat Tip:
David Jeremiah.org