Understanding Angels
(week 12, 2007)
Olubi Johnson
Hebrews 1:14(NIV): 14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
Here, the Bible tells us that angels are ministering spirits sent to serve us: heirs of salvation.
Why do we need angels to serve us?
We need them because they can interact with both the spiritual and physical worlds at the same time.
So they can use spiritual power to protect and provide for us physically.
There are different kinds of angels:
1. Angels with wings like cherubims (2 Samuel. 22.11) and seraphims (Isaiah. 6.2-6).
2. Angels that look just like men (Judges. 13.8-21).
3. Arc-angels like Gabriel, Michael (Jude 9) and Lucifer (Isaiah. 14.12-15) who fell and became Satan.
4. Angels of God’s presence which are actually the Lord projecting a part of himself as an angel to interact with man at his microscopic level relative to God (Revelation 1.1, 13, Genesis 18.1-8, Exodus. 24.9-10, Isaiah. 63.9).
All men have angels assigned to protect and serve them:
Matthew 18:10(NIV): 10 “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
Psalms 91:11-12(NIV): 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Now, since all men, especially Christians, have angels to protect and provide for them, how come Christians are still killed in mishaps?
This is because most Christians do not understand how to enable their angels to operate optimally.
Our angels operate through our words and prayers.
Negative words and words of unbelief hinder our angels from executing the will of God for our lives while positive words in line with the Word of God authorize and empower the angels to execute the will of God for our lives:
Ecclesiastes.5(KJV): 6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?
Psalms.103:20(NKJV): 20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His Word.
Also when we pray power is released to enable the angels to bring the answers to our prayers. Satanic angels try to hinder our angels from bringing answers to our prayers: this why we need to be persistent in prayer until the answers come and sometimes have to add fasting to prayer to release more power:
Daniel 10:2-3, 12-13(NKJV): 2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 3 I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. 12 Then he said to me “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.
Observe that Daniel was fasting and praying. God sent the answer the 1st day in response to the words Daniel spoke in prayer, but it took 21days for the angel to bring the answer because he was withstood by the prince of Persia (a Satanic angel over the physical Kingdom of Persia). In fact God had to send Michael to help the angel to overcome the opposition.
This shows us that for our angels to operate optimally and bring our answers to our prayers we need to:
1. Walk in love, by the blood, the Word and the Spirit, because love is the condition under which our prayers can be answered (1 John.3.22-23) and the angels can do their work of protection and provision:
Psalms 91:9-11(NIV): 9 If you make the Most High your dwelling– even the LORD, who is my refuge– 10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
1 John 4:16-18(NKJV): 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
1 Cor 13:1(NIV): 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Many times when we are praying in tongues, in the love of God, God is giving instructions to angels through us in the language of angels!
2. Speak God’s Word in faith and bind the devil and loose the angels.
3. Pray in tongues frequently and fervently.
So the more effectively you walk in love, the more you speak His Word and pray in tongues frequently and fervently the more effectively your angels will operate in protecting and providing for you!
