THE FORGOTTEN ONES

THE FORGOTTEN ONES

                “For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down. “Ps. 91:11-13

                There has been an upsurge in talk about angels in recent years. They are pictured as anything from New Age Fairies to nice caring people who do angelic things. At any rate, most talk about angels pretty much ignores the biblical account of them and so we mentally write them off as not being an integral part of our existence on this planet.

                Angels are mentioned specifically in Scripture roughly 296 times. Their primary assignment is to carry out God’s bidding and their charges are humans. Guardian angels are assigned to those who fear God, who are destined for salvation, for as it says in Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”

                Angels occupy many various ranks of power and authority. Some are personal guardian angels who accompany those who are in covenant relationship with the Lord. Others are high ranking Arch angels that preside over nations, over cities, over churches and so on. Some are recording angels and some are messenger angels. The messenger angels convey messages from heaven to God’s prophets, priests and kings. Recording angels keep a complete record of every life on earth. Everything is known about you from the number of hairs on your head to your specific DNA, to the level to which the gift of Christ’s death and resurrection has permeated and animated your life.

                The work of the angels is so closely related to the work of the Holy Spirit that it is very difficult to differentiate between one’s work and the others. There is a very big difference though. The Holy Spirit is the very Spirit of Christ, come to dwell in our hearts. The Holy Spirit’s work is internal while angel’s work is external. Angels can’t dwell in the heart of a man, but Man was specifically designed from creation to house the presence, the very Spirit of God.

                We were designed to function with God on board and so, for that reason, it is only when we are born again that we become fully human. This is precisely why our tattered lives come into peace when the Spirit of Jesus Christ comes in and takes up residence in us. Jesus was the first fully human person to walk this planet since the fall of Adam. He came to bring that wholeness to us as well.

                We see this fact physically demonstrated by Jesus while on earth. He went into the temple with stinging cords and flaming eyes and He drove out the money changers. You see, God has a fierce anger, not against us, but against our spiritual enemies. When we invite Him in, He will drive out our enemies and restore peace. If only we could see God’s fierce anger as being directed against those who trouble His children, we would begin to take more comfort in His presence. Our God is a consuming fire. He doesn’t burn us… He burns the ropes that bind us and He stands with us in the midst of our fiery trials so that when we get through them, we don’t even carry the smell of smoke.

                All of heaven is involved in the salvation of mankind. God gave His Son… His Son gave Himself… His Holy Spirit gives us a new heart and a new spirit so that we become new creatures and the angels become the ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? If you have received Jesus Christ then you have His Holy Spirit and you have a guardian angel specifically assigned to you to keep you in all your ways. “In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Prov. 3:6

                Psalm 34:7 says: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them.”

                “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. O fear the Lord, you His saints; for to those who fear Him, there is no want.” Psalm 34:8, 9.

                “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked; and those who hate righteousness will be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His servants; and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.” Psalms 34:15-22.

                God is for us. He has engaged all of heaven to bring forth His Bride… His Remnant… His wise virgins, to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He is preparing a Bride for His Son. “Those who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14. If God is for us, then who can stand against us?

                “He who did not spare His own son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?  Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes rather who was raised who is at the right hand of God, who interceded for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Romans 8:32-35a

                Angels cannot save us, but they are most certainly engaged in every aspect of our salvation and they, along with the great cloud of witnesses are cheering us on to the finish line.

                As Christians we often suffer from the delusion that we are alone in our struggles, but nothing could be further from the truth. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are guided and guarded by heavenly angels. Jesus, as our High Priest is interceding for us before the Mercy Seat in heaven. The Father sees us as complete in Christ. Daily we are learning how to live by faith in the forgotten ones… the ones we think are far away… the ones we think have left us here to slug it out alone.

                We don’t need more help from heaven. What we need is to have our eyes opened to see that those who are for us are more than those who are against us. We need to place our faith in that which is unseen. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

                In reality, we as born again Christians need to come to a place in our lives where the unseen realm is more real to us than what we can see. We accomplish this by really believing what the Bible says. Truth is not theoretical. You see, that is how the scribes and Pharisees treated truth. They kept it in the theoretical realm. But when Jesus came along He treated truth as a living reality. He spoke with authority simply because He spoke truth as being reality rather than theory. He operated in that reality and demonstrated that reality calling it the Kingdom of Heaven.

                Our problem today is much like that of the Pharisees. We treat truth more like a theory. The Bible is full of good ideas which we believe on a theoretical level, but never quite experience as fact.

                We ARE saved through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! That is both a historical fact and a personal fact for everyone who has received Jesus as Savior and Lord. We HAVE BEEN sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. We HAVE guardian angels ministering unto us as the heirs of salvation. We are not alone. All of heaven is engaged in our salvation. We just need to start believing it.

                God can only work with us on the basis of faith. It was by faith that He created everything that exists. Faith is God’s way and therefore, since God is invisible, we must by all means learn to operate by faith in that which we cannot see. But this faith in what is unseen requires a response from us. We must act on it in obedience. Hebrews 10:36-39 says:

                “For you have need of endurance, so that WHEN YOU HAVE DONE THE WILL OF GOD, you may receive what is promised. For yet in a very little while He who is coming will come and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”

                Then it goes right on from there to describe what faith is in chapter 11: verse 1 and in verse 6 He says: and without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

                Like I said in my last article, the Christian life is not a matter of trying, but believing. When we truly believe that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and surrounded by angels and being cheered on by the great cloud of witnesses, and represented to the Father by Jesus and when we begin to truly believe that what the Bible is telling us is not theory, but reality; then we will begin to walk in the realm of the Spirit and that is pleasing to God. So stop trying and start believing. Put your efforts into believing rather than trying. Trying is of the flesh, while believing is of the heart and the spirit.

                You live in a covenant that Jesus has signed in His own blood. If you believe in Him, then out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Just believe it and realize that as a born again Christian, your very presence in a room ministers healing, love, joy, peace and all of the fruits of the Spirit to those around you. In promising the outpouring of His Holy Spirit at Pentecost Jesus said, “You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses.”

                In a very real sense, witnessing is not so much something that we do, but something that we are. We ARE His witnesses because His Holy Spirit has been shed abroad in our hearts. “So arise, shine, for your light has come, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”

                From now on you must remember the forgotten ones. We are surrounded by the very powers of the age to come. We dwell in the invisible kingdom of God. All heaven is vested in our salvation. The very river of life that flows throughout the Bible now flows from our innermost being. He is the Vine and we are the branches. And so that connection to Jesus Christ must become more real to us than anything we see in the visible realm for indeed it is more real. It is eternal while the things we see are temporary.

                Start believing that God is with you and in you at all times. Begin to hold conversations with Him. Learn to live with a continual awareness of His presence in you and with you. It will change the way you pray and the way you live. Selah.