ANGELS

 Psalm 34:7 NIV The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

The other day as I thought about our surprise robin visitors, it reminded me of other surprise visitors we might have, of a more powerful nature! Hebrews 13:2 NIV Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. The thought of entertaining angels unawares has always fascinated me because I think I’d like to know!😊

Hebrews 1:14 NIV Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? That’s us! God has given us angels sent to serve and help us every day which is wonderful.😊

Psalm 91:11-12 NIV For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. They’re assigned for our protection as well and I’m sure they have rescued us out of dire situations we may never have even been aware of!

Psalm 103:20 NIV Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. When angels hear God’s word coming out of our mouths they’re assigned to go and make it happen. They obey His word which is a huge encouragement to us to believe and speak God’s word!

Daniel 10 reminds us they are sent in response to our prayers. And if we’re allowed to see an angel, it says in 1 John 4:2-3 to check if they are from the Lord, and not Satan disguising himself as one. Ask them if they acknowledge Jesus came in the flesh as a man. If they say yes then we know they are of God. If they don’t, they’re not!

So while Paul reminded us in Colossians 2:18 we’re not to worship angels, there’s definitely more to them than we think, especially when we read one angel wiped out 185,000 of Israel’s enemies in one night (2 Kings 19:35). How wonderful these powerful beings are, sent to minister to you and me!😊 Amen.

Photo by Duncan Sanchez on Unsplash

LOOK AT THE H’S!

Psalm 33:20-22 NLT We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.

As I was reading these verses I noticed there are lots of God’s ‘H’ words - Hope, Help, Him, Hearts, and Holy! 

I like that the first one starts us off and ends with ‘Hope’ because our faith won’t work unless we’ve allowed ourselves to keep hoping! So just in case you’ve given up on hope this is a little nudge, to dig it up again and put it back firmly in place.😊

‘Help’ is next and we all need the daily help of the Holy Spirit who is our Helper around the clock. No matter what is happening, or where we are, or how often we may have tried and failed, we can try again with His help.

In ‘Him’, that is Christ, we live and move and have our being. We’re reminded we can only live our Christian life successfully when the Spirit of God is living on the inside of us because in’Him’, in Christ, we are forgiven and made righteous in God’s sight.

Which brings us to our ‘Hearts’. Scripture reminds us, whatever else we do, to guard our hearts above all things because all the issues of life come from there. When our heart is right with God we can rejoice, and Romans 5:5 tells us the Holy Spirit has filled our hearts with His love. What a wonderful thought!😊

Last of all is ‘Holy’. Our God is holy, His name is holy, and so are we! Ephesians 1:4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. How astounding is that!

So as we go about our week, remember the ‘H’ words in scripture and I pray they will be an encouragement to you.  In Jesus name. Amen.