God’s Angels Watch Over You.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews states that God knows in advance who will receive the gift of salvation (Hebrews 1:14). Because of His foreknowledge, God assigns an angel to them even before they commit their lives to Christ. The creator God, the Lord of all the Earth, exists outside of time while acting within it based on what He knows you will do with the gift of God—the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus. If you are a believer, an angel of God has been assigned to you. You might have noticed that the following passage says that angels are sent to those who will inherit salvation—future tense.

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14).

For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways (Psalm 91:11).

The angel sent to you is a ministering (serving) spirit tasked with serving you. The Bible contains numerous instances of angels serving God and His people throughout the ages. We don’t communicate directly with angels or reach out to them; instead, we speak to God about our circumstances, and He instructs His angels on how to respond. Of course, there are also evil angels. Satan is a corrupt angel who leads an army of demonic spirits that oppose God and seek to corrupt and destroy God's greatest creation—Man. Most of the time, these evil entities remain unseen, but God has occasionally allowed people to witness how many are on our side in the fight against the demonic spirits.

For instance, in the Old Testament book of 2 Kings, there is a story about a king reigning in Aram who was angry because his actions and intentions were somehow being revealed to the armies of Israel. He could not understand how Israel knew his plans (2 Kings 6:8-10). He suspected he had a spy among his leaders. The issue was that Israel had a man of God, Elisha, who lived in such a way that, by the Spirit of God, he could know the words that the King of Aram spoke in secret to his generals (2 Kings 6:11-12). Elisha developed a powerful prayer life and was acutely aware of the unseen realm, as the Lord revealed to him what Israel's enemies were doing. When the King of Aram discovered Elisha's gift, he was so enraged that he sent his army to the town where Elisha lived, hoping to kill or capture him:

14Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. 15When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. 16"Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them" 17And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked (2 Kings 6:14-18).

When Elisha’s servant looked at the size of Aram’s army surrounding the city, he began to lose heart. Things appeared hopeless when viewed solely from an earthly perspective. However, all was not as it seemed. There were spiritual forces around Elisha and his servant that the young novice in the ways of God was unaware of. Elisha prayed for God to open his servant's eyes to the unseen angels in the spiritual realm surrounding them. Suddenly, at Elisha's prayer, he saw beyond this physical world the reality of God’s spiritual forces that had previously been hidden from him—angelic beings much more powerful than the army of Aram. He saw the armies of heaven protecting and surrounding the prophet of God, ready to serve him in whatever way the prophet prayed. One display of God's power defeated all the enemies of Israel at Elisha's prayer. As servants of the Living God, we also have angelic hosts protecting us. In whatever you are experiencing today, call upon the Lord to assist you. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (delivered) (Joel 2:32). Keith Thomas