I Believe in Angels!

I believe in angels! I have had a personal encounter. “We must be aware that angels keep in close and vital contact with all that is happening on the earth. Their knowledge of earthly matters exceeds that of me. Let us believe that they are here among us.”—Billy Graham

Angels are referenced in the Bible 273 times. They are in God’s control, angels are subject to Christ. They serve the purpose of messengers, military (war and protection) and ministry. They are not meant to be worshiped. I love to read all the accounts of angels in the Bible. Satan is a fallen angel, “Lucifer,” who was thrown out of heaven because he wanted to be “God”.

God’s angel appeared as a messenger to Joseph when he discovered that his “promised wife” was pregnant. Matthew 1:20, “But after he had considered this an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.'” (messenger)

The angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar in Genesis chapter 16 to comfort her and instruct her and the angel actually had a conversation with her. (messenger) God’s angel spoke to Gideon to encourage him. Judges 6:12, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.” (messenger and military)

And in Daniel 6:22, Daniel testified, “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions. They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight.” (military of protection) In Psalm 34:7 it states, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown in the fiery furnace because they refused to bow down to false gods, an angel of the Lord was in the furnace with them and they were unharmed. In Daniel 3:25 King Nebuchadnezzar stated, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” He continued to say in verse 28, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the kings command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.”

In Acts chapter 12 it tells that God sent an angel to wake Peter when he was in prison. When Peter awoke, his chains fell off and the prison door was opened. There are so many wonderful stories of God’s use and command of angels. In Mark chapter 1 it tells of God sending angels to care for Jesus in the wilderness after he had fasted for 40 days and was weak and being tempted by Satan. Angels were in the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection, sitting where his head and feet had been. There are angels around us and we don’t even know it as stated in Hebrews 13:2, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by doing so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

This is such an encouragement to me. There have been many times in my life I believe there have been angels that I haven’t seen around me, especially while driving, that have protected me from accidents. But I know of one time in my life that I have no doubt an angel spoke to me and was present with the sole purpose of protection of our son, Thomas. Allow me to share. He was 5 years old and had just been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. We were just days into caring for him on our own at home. I was green from lack of experience and knowledge and Thomas was too young to communicate his physical feelings or have an understanding of what was going on. We had enough new knowledge to know that “night time and sleep” were dangerous times because he could be asleep and have a diabetic “low” or “high”. Either one can be devastating and deadly. We set the alarm to get up in the night to check his blood sugar around every 2 hours. We stayed exhausted. When I laid down, it didn’t take any time to fall fast asleep. WE were downstairs and Thomas was upstairs.

One night, 2 weeks into being home from the hospital, shortly after going to sleep, I woke up and thought that Bill had called my name. I sat up and said, “What?” Bill was breathing steady and was clearly sound asleep. I looked around to see if anyone was standing by the bed, and then I got up. It was an eerie feeling. I knew I had heard “someone call my name!” I immediately decided, since I was up, that I would check on the boys upstairs. It wasn’t time to check Thomas, but since I was up, I decided to check. His glucometer read “LOW!!!!!!” Understand, since Thomas was diagnosed we had had low numbers of 20’s and 30’s but it never read “LOW” and was flashing. I sprang up and grabbed the emergency gel and frantically started squeezing it into his closed mouth. I massaged his lifeless cheeks as tears started to flow down my cheeks. I then rechecked, and it read “20,” still dangerously low. There was no time to get Bill. I had to keep administering gel and massaging. I checked a few minutes later and it was “30”. After 2 hours of gel and massaging his cheeks, his blood sugar slowly, very slowly came up to a normal level of “120”.

I sat up for the rest of the night. It took a long time for my heart to calm down and my emotions to stabilize. But in the dark of the night, or wee morning hours, I began to find comfort in the fact that “I had heard my name. It was an angel sent from the Lord to wake me up, for the protection of Thomas!” God knew that Bill and I were not equipped to know all that we needed to know to manage Thomas. And He certainly knew Thomas was too young. Hundreds of people had been praying for “T” and for us. God sent His angel (messenger/protector) to encamp around Thomas. I have spent the last 16 years being comforted by that, especially when Thomas started to drive on his own, get on an airplane by himself (with no one who knows he is diabetic) and to go off to college on his own. God was so gracious to comfort me with HIS ANGEL when Thomas was five. I even reflected that I had heard my name, Sherry. Not mom. The kids would have said mom, and I knew that Bill was quietly sound asleep beside me. Someone had called my name and it was an “ANGEL!”

It is my hope that you will read and study God’s word, that you will know it for yourself. It will come “Alive to you”. You will easily see God’s hand in your life by knowing His word and applying it to your everyday life. You can be encouraged, comforted, and directed for anything that life brings your way. Know that God watches over you.

I leave you with Hebrew 2:9. “But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death; so that but by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

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