A Divine Revelation of Angels (11 page)

I have seen God’s angels protect my family from injury. One time, my son traveled to work on his motorcycle. At about two o’clock that afternoon, I wasn’t even thinking of him as I prayed in my house. Suddenly, the Spirit prompted me to intercede in a special way, and I began to really pray in earnest in the Holy Spirit. I didn’t understand all of what I was praying, only a part of it.

At about five o’clock, my son pulled up in the yard on his motorcycle and said, “Mom, have you been praying for me?”

I said, “I have been praying for somebody. I didn’t know specifically that it was for you; God just prompted me to intercede.”

“Well, Mom, I just want you to know this. About an hour and a half ago, I was driving down Tropical Trail at fifty to sixty miles per hour on my motorcycle. As I came around a corner, a large semi truck turned across the street in front of me. Mother, I’m telling you that God was with me. As the semi turned, I realized I had to do something or I would crash into it. So I turned my bike on its side and went underneath the semi! I then rode off into a field unharmed!”

“Oh!” I gasped.

He said, “The only thing that happened was that my mirror came off my bike, and I hurt my leg a little bit. But it’s okay.”

I began to cry. I hugged him and thanked God for him. I have beautiful sons, and I have found that, many times, our children’s safety depends on us. If we will press into God in prayer, He is right there for us. We need to pray for our children that God will manifest Himself to them. I rejoice in the protection my family has received from His angels in action. I am thankful that the angels shielded my son that day so many years ago. To God be the glory, and praises be to His righteous and holy name.

Protection from Persecution

Angels often come to us in unassuming ways and in unexpected works. At times, we don’t even realize that a heavenly visitor is protecting us. Dr. Billy Graham, in his book Angels, relates a story first told by his wife’s father, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, a missionary doctor, of a Chinese bookstore operator and his encounter with an angel:

The incident occurred in 1942, after the Japanese had won control of certain areas of China. One morning around nine o’clock, a Japanese truck stopped outside the bookroom. It was carrying five marines and was half-filled with books. The Christian Chinese shop assistant, who was alone at the time, realized with dismay that they had come to seize the stock. By nature timid, he felt this was more than he could endure.

Jumping from the truck, the marines made for the shop door; but before they could enter, a neatly dressed Chinese gentleman entered the shop ahead of them. Though the shop assistant knew practically all the Chinese customers who traded there, this man was a complete stranger. For some unknown reason the soldiers seemed unable to follow him, and loitered about, looking in at the four large windows, but not entering. For two hours they stood around, until after eleven, but never set foot inside the door. The stranger asked what the men wanted, and the Chinese shop assistant explained that the Japanese were seizing stocks from many of the book shops in the city, and now this store’s turn had come. The two prayed together, the stranger encouraging him, and so the two hours passed. At last the soldiers climbed into their truck and drove away. The stranger also left, without making a single purchase or even inquiring about any items in the shop.

Later that day the shop owner, Mr. Christopher Willis (whose Chinese name was Lee), returned. The shop assistant said to him, “Mr. Lee, do you believe in angels?”

“I do,” said Mr. Willis.

“So do I, Mr. Lee.” Could the stranger have been one of God’s protecting angels? Dr. Bell always thought so.

Protection in Ministry

Many times, God protects His people as they minister the Gospel. In an earlier chapter, we read how the apostles were delivered from prison so they could continue preaching God’s Word.

I know the angels protect me as I am ministering. One time, a little boy came up to me after a service and said, “Mary, I saw an angel standing by you—a huge angel. He was standing behind you, on the back of the platform. He was so big that he was taller than the ceiling.”

I looked at the ceiling, and it had to be thirty feet high.

“Although he was tall, I could see his head,” the little boy continued, “which looked as if it was going through the ceiling. His arms were crossed, and he had a very determined look on his face. The angel had a sword of fire by his side, and if the devil or any of the spirits tried to come near you, he would pull out the sword and would cremate them.”

Cremate is the word the little boy used to describe what he saw. It reminds me of the Scripture, “You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet” (Malachi 4:3).

Protection from Our Enemies

Sometimes, God sends His angels to protect us when we feel most vulnerable. Corrie ten Boom, a spiritual hero of the twentieth century, spent many years after World War II traveling around the world telling about her sufferings and witness for Christ in a Nazi concentration camp. God often intervened in difficult situations by sending angels in answer to her prayers. One of those times was when she was being processed into the camp at Ravensbruck, as she described in her book Tramp for the Lord:

It was the middle of the night when Betsie and I reached the processing barracks. And there, under the harsh ceiling lights, we saw a dismaying sight. As each woman reached the head of the line she had to strip off every scrap of clothes, throw them all onto a pile guarded by soldiers, and walk naked past the scrutiny of a dozen guards into the shower room. Coming out of the shower room she wore only a thin regulation prison dress and a pair of shoes.

Our Bible! How could we take it past so many watchful eyes?

“Oh, Betsie!” I began—and then stopped at the sight of her pain-whitened face. As a guard strode by, I begged him in German to show us the toilets. He jerked his head in the direction of the shower room. “Use the drain holes!” he snapped.

Timidly Betsie and I stepped out of line and walked forward to the huge room with its row on row of overhead spigots. It was empty, waiting for the next batch of fifty naked and shivering women.

A few minutes later we would return here stripped of everything we possessed. And then we saw them, stacked in a corner, a pile of old wooden benches crawling with cockroaches, but to us the furniture of heaven itself.

In an instant I had slipped the little bag over my head and, along with my woolen underwear, had stuffed it behind the benches....

Of course when I put on the flimsy prison dress, the Bible bulged beneath it. But that was His business, not mine. At the exit, guards were feeling every prisoner, front, back, and sides. I prayed, “Oh, Lord, send your angels to surround us.” But then I remembered that angels are spirits and you can see through them. What I needed was an angel to shield me so the guards could not see me. “Lord,” I prayed again, “make your angels untransparent.” How unorthodox you can pray when you are in great need! But God did not mind. He did it.

The woman ahead of me was searched. Behind me, Betsie was searched. They did not touch or even look at me. It was as though I was blocked out of their sight.

A Protective Covering of Blood

There is something we must realize about calling on God for protection: Our salvation in Christ includes the protective covering of His precious blood. I have learned that when we are praying for people, and God impresses upon us to cover people with the blood, we should say, “I cover you with the blood of Jesus, the covenant of God!” This means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was sent from heaven. He knew His purpose and His destiny. He was sent to give His life on a cruel cross for you and me, so that we could have eternal life. He died so that our sins could be washed away. God has shown me the importance of the Cross and the blood covenant with its accompanying covering.

When we pray or command a covering of His blood, we are affirming that we believe Jesus provided a covering for us and our families through the Atonement. The angels go to us immediately and seal and protect us. Through the blood covenant, we build a hedge of protection around our families and ourselves!

Another thing was revealed to me. When we dedicate someone or something to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—when we really mean this and anoint the person or thing with oil—we are saying, “This is God’s territory.” In the Spirit, I’ve seen that angels fly down from heaven and erect crosses when we do this. When spiritual enemies try to come, they have to back up when they confront the crosses because that territory has been dedicated to God.

Look with Eyes of Faith

Rejoice, saints! God sends His angels to protect you when the devil would try to do you harm. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13). Look with eyes of faith and see the spiritual bodyguards God has placed around you. Believe in God and call on His name!

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When a believer is true to the Word and to the Lord’s witness, God sends His angels, in answer to prayer, to help and rescue him. Remember that Psalm 91:14–15 says, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him.”

The following visions and revelations illustrate how angels affirm God’s Word and how God helps us when we believe and obey His commands. In a previous chapter, we saw how the angels took part in the giving of the Ten Commandments and the sacred Law on Mt. Sinai. The Bible says that Israel “received the law by the direction of angels” (Acts 7:53) and that “the law...was appointed through angels” (Galatians 3:19). In the Scriptures, the angels have a special role in honoring God’s Word and conveying it to His people. Angels are involved in helping us to understand the Scriptures, as well.

God’s Word is True

On one occasion, I saw a vision of a large, white table way off in the distance. It was about six feet by twelve feet in dimension, and it was suspended in the air. I could see people standing all around the table, looking at it. The table itself was higher than the people were tall, so that some of those looking at it were standing on their tiptoes. Others were sitting in high chairs, gazing at the table; but they were all asking questions of one another.

As I drew closer to them, I could see angels standing behind them. Drawing closer still, I could suddenly see the vision clearly. I could see that the big table was an open Bible. The huge Bible represented the Word of the living God. The Lord explained to me that the various people looking at it had different views of what the Bible meant. One person would say one thing, and someone else would say another.

They were all curious about the Bible, and I was glad to see that. Many questions arose among them about certain things in the Word, and they were looking for answers. The angels standing behind the people seemed to be guiding them in their search for the truth. But the vision represented the fact that what God said, He means. We cannot change or alter His Word.

Pulpits of Fire

Often, in a church service, I will see angels writing in large books. Sometimes the angels are standing by individuals and sometimes they are not. At times, they are standing beside the minister who is prophesying, and they’re recording what he says. I will see an image of a Bible superimposed on the minister’s chest. I believe this means that the Word of God, the open Bible, is in his heart.

In the places where I have preached during the past few years, I have seen, in the spiritual realm, pulpits that had God’s fire upon them and pulpits that looked dirty and unclean. I have observed that behind the pulpits that were full of fire were holy men and women of God who revered and honored Him and who wanted things “done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40). These men and women had a holy fear of doing anything against God. They were afraid to harm or hurt Him or His cause deliberately in any way. These men and women truly exhibited the love of Christ. They were so wonderful to the servants of God who came in to minister with them. They would take good care of them and encourage them.

It also seemed that, in every place where I saw God’s fire on the pulpit, I would see angels touching the pulpit at various times and worshiping God. Often, I would see them holding one hand to heaven (sometimes both of them) as they magnified the Lord.

I kept returning to churches like this, and one day, during a service, the glory of God rolled in with a mighty revelation. I saw angels come into the church with a large cross that looked about fifteen feet high. They went to the pulpit, which appeared to be on fire. The angels seemed to dig around in the floor, and then they anchored the cross in front of the pulpit. The cross was solid, but fire shot out of both ends and the top of it. I saw this revelation several times, and each time, there would be a great deliverance. Many people would come to the altar, get saved, and be delivered in a marvelous way. It was an awesome sight.

I wondered about what I had seen, so I began to ask the Lord, “God, what is all of this? What does this mean in the holy Word of God?” He said to me,

These pulpits that you see with the fire upon them represent pulpits where My true Word is being preached. These holy, anointed ministers are purifying the flock with the Word of God and the cross that you see. Therefore, I have established the cross there, and the Spirit is with them for the purposes of deliverance and for the Word of God to be fulfilled. This is a sign that things will happen that they have been asking Me to do, and it means they are preaching the pure, holy Word of God through the eternal and mighty power of the Cross.

All over the land, I would see the same revelation. Again, as I observed the angels in action, it was almost like watching a movie screen. In many places, I would see angels come in like a cleanup crew and begin to sweep evil powers out of the churches. They would break the bonds of people and liberate them. At one service, some people took pictures, and when they were developed, you could see fire around the people we were praying for. It was a brilliant red in color, and I was excited because it showed the revelation knowledge of the blood of Jesus Christ. It was awesome for me to see these angels working in the spirit realm for God. While it excited me to see these things happen, they did not occur in all the churches or all the meetings.