Angels, do you ever feel like God doesn't answer your prayer right away, this could be why

createdtoworship

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I want to post a verse I was reading the other day in daniel regarding spiritual warfare.

This passage makes it clear that angels are dispatched as soon as we pray, but sometimes they are prohibited by spiritual strongholds (demons fighting). It also says that there are angels designated to areas, and cities to battle demons designated to the same territory. Read this elightening passage into spiritual warfare...



"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. 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."

Daniel 10:12-13 NKJV


Then a few verses later it says this battle scene: remember michael is the head prince the arch angel on God's side, He asks for backup and Michael helps...


"Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.

Daniel 10:20-21 NKJV


ANGELS (two sermons delivered in 2017 by pastor Tony Perez)

PART 1

Throughout his long history, man has often wondered whether he is indeed the only intelligent being in his universe, and whether life as we know it is confined to the earth alone. One of the most recent scientific attempts is the search for extraterrestrial life. Coded messages are now being transmitted into the distance recesses of outer space by means of radio telescopes. The scientist then anxiously awaits the results of his bold probe. Will his signals be picked up by nonearthly ears? If life is out there, will it prove friend or foe?

In light of all of this, it seems tragic that man does not turn to the Word of God in his search, for the Bible clearly answers this question, as it does with all other questions which confront humanity. Is there intelligent life in the universe? Are there other living and rational creatures “out there” besides man? There are indeed. Are they friend or foe? They are both. Is there “civilization” older than ours? It is. Will we learn to communicate with them? We not only will, but a number of human beings already have met and talked with them.

No I’m not talking about little green men, I’m talking about angels. Belief in angels is found in the history of all nations. Every one of you around my age and a little younger used to watch cartoons on Saturday morning (we didn’t have a cartoon channel) you know the good cartoons “bugs bunny, Yosemite Sam, Willey coyote and road runner, fog-horn leg-horn. Cartoons they took off the air because they were too violent, anyway, we always had the example of a good angel and a bad angel one on each shoulder, both trying to get you to go their way. The people who follow Mohammed believed this. They were believed to be assigned two angels to each person, the angel on the right recoded all your good deeds and the angel on the left recorded the bad ones.

The Hebrews taught that there were four great angels

1. Gabriel, who reveals the secrets of God to men.

2. Michael, who fights and avenges God’s foes.

3. Raphael, who receives the departing spirits of the dead.

4. Uriel, who will summon everybody to judgement.

So let’s find out what’s really true of angels. Angels are mentioned in 34 books of the Bible for a total of some 273 times. So, there’s lots of evidence of their existence. But what do we really know about them?

• Angels, like everything else in the universe, were made by God the Father through Jesus Christ in the energy of the Holy Spirit. And they like man were created by a special act of God, they did not evolve into being. They were created.

• Their number once completed it was forever fixed because we never hear of God making more of them and Jesus said they do not reproduce themselves For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. (Mat.22:30) and we know they cannot die. So it is safe to conclude the original numbers of angels will never increase of decrease in size. Unless God decides to create more at a later date which I don’t think he will. But think for a moment how many angels did God create. In Job, Psalms, and Revelation their described as stars. Could stand for their number or even the brightness. Ok let’s think about this for a moment or better yet turn to Mark 5:1-13

• If Satan could spare 6,000 demons on one man; How many does he have it’s only a third. Jesus at the Garden right before He is arrested could call 12 legions to protect Him I talk more about this next week. How many angels were created? A lot.

It is believed that all angels were originally created without fault and, like Adam in the Garden, placed on a probation of some sort. They were theologically, during this time, (able not to sin). But the probation period ended when heavens chief angel, Lucifer by name, instigated a great revolt against Jehovah God himself. It is suggested by Revelation 12:3-4 that he was able to persuade one third of heavens angels to side with him in this terrible rebellion. The verse says

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

From that point on the faithful angels are referred to as holy and elect, while the fallen angels are known as the Devil’s angels and sometimes as demons.

Characteristics of the Faithful Angels.

There are actually two Archangels. The first is Michael his name means “Who is like God” this is in no way to be compared to Satan’s evil desire to be like God. Michael is found in Daniel 10:13-21, Daniel 12:1, Jude 9, and my favorite Revelation 12:7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,


The second is Gabriel his name means “The mighty one of God.” He predicts the birth of John the Baptist (Lk.1:19) He predicts the birth of Jesus to Mary (Lk.1:26)

He assures Joseph concerning the purity of Mary (Mt.1:20) He warns Joseph about the plot of Herod (Mt.2:13) He will sound the trumpet at the rapture (1Thess.4:16)


Cherubim and their description: each one has four faces. The face in the front is as a man, the face on the right is as a lion, the face on the left is as an Ox, the face on the back is as an eagle. Each has two pairs of wings. One pair spreads out from the middle of the back and the other pair is used to cover the body. These wings make a noise like waves crashing on a seashore. They have legs of a man but their feet are cloven like calves feet which shine like burnished brass. They have four human hands one under each wing. You have an incredibly creative God. I tried to picture this and even though the description seems a little odd to us, I would have to imagine it is absolutely gorgeous to God


The cherub was placed in front of the garden along with a flaming sword to keep Adam from the tree of life after the fall, there were two fashioned out of gold on top of the Ark of the Covenant lid in the Holy of Holies, and prior to his fall Satan was the chief cherub angel.

Seraphim: Is a Hebrew word meaning “burning ones” and it probably speaks of their burning devotion to God. These beings are only mentioned once in the Bible.

Isaiah 6:1-4 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

The whole earth is full of His glory!”

4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

When we think of angels we don’t usually think of something with 6 wings or 4 heads on one body. The general appearance of Angels that we are used to are usually referenced by these verses….

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. Mark 16:5


His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. Matthew 28:3


And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Luke 24:4


And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. Revelation 15:6


After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. Revelation 18:1


Excerpts from Dr. Gene Edward Veith

The new popularity of angels not only crosses religious lines, it crosses religious and non-religious lines. New Age devotees are doing a lot with angels. So are the growing number of people who say, “I am not religious, but I am very spiritual.” The angels people believe in, however, are not necessarily the cherubim and the seraphim of the Bible, the messengers of God and hosts of His army, which sometimes appear in dazzling, light-filled humanoid form and sometimes as incomprehensible beings with multiple eyes and wheels within wheels. In the Alabama song, the angel is “a kind old man” who brings home a lost boy. Many of today’s angel sightings involve someone who helped a stranded motorist change a tire.


Some say angels are people, either dead or, as in someone who helps others, living. Others do believe angels are supernatural beings who, however, are like people, travelling around doing good, like Della Reese in the show Touched by an Angel. For others, angels are the equivalent of the “spirit guides” in animistic religions, your own personal deity who leads you on life’s pathway.


If angels in the popular mind are becoming more personal, the opposite seems to be happening with demons. Just over two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) believe in the devil. But, according to Barna poll, well over half (59 percent) believe that Satan is not a living person but is only a symbol of evil.


Interestingly, teenagers have a different view. In a poll taken just a year ago, George Barna found that 89 percent of teenagers believe in angels, which is significantly more than their parents’ generation. Moreover, well over half (58 percent) believe that “Satan is a real spiritual being and the enemy of God.”


You know I think my favorite part is Seraphim not only because when he speaks the door post were shaken but when you meet someone with that name and he is your advocate for Social Security. Do I believe in angels? Absolutely! So as we go out this week we need to be careful how we treat other people because we never know when we might be entertaining angels.
 

createdtoworship

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ANGELS

PART 2

The Reverend John G. Paton, a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands, tells a thrilling story involving the protective care of angels. Hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning the Paton’s out and killing them. John Paton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see the attackers unaccountably leave. They thanked God for delivering them.

A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Jesus Christ, and Mr. Paton, remembering what had happened, asked the chief what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, “Who were all those men you had with you there?” The missionary answered, “There were no men there; just my wife and I.” The chief argued that they had seen many men standing guard - hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords in their hands. They seemed to circle the mission station so that the natives were afraid to attack. Only then did Mr. Paton realize that God had sent his angels to protect them. The chief agreed that there was no other explanation.

If start searching you will find hundreds if not thousands of stories were people were protected by angels. This story is pretty vague in my mind because I heard it so long ago but a man either an ex-convict or and escape convict was going to rape and murder a woman who was walking down the road. He never attacked her and was arrested shortly after. When asked why he did not attack the woman, his response was “Didn’t you see that big dude that was walking with her?”

Before we get to guardian angels I just want to recap what we learned last week: we talked about angels were created for and by God, Lucifer took a third of them when he was cast out of heaven, we learned the names of a few angels; what I didn’t share with you last week is the order we were going through, when we see Michael and Gabriel the arc angels of God if it were todays military they would be like generals. Cherubim and seraphim would be like sergeants and so on. We also learned that “seraphim” is only mentioned once in the Bible (Isa.6).

We read Mark 5:1-13 and asked the question if Satan could spare 6,000 demons on one man; how many angels does he have? And keep in mind it’s only a third. Jesus at the Garden right before He is arrested could call 12 legions to protect Him I talk more about this next week. When we pull scripture out of the Bible and only use one verse it’s easy to lose the context and meaning, I don’t believe it would happen with this verse but never the less let’s read it in it context. Matthew 26:47-54 emphasis on verse 53.

Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?

The word “legion” is a military term that was taken from the Roman army. A legion consisted of at least 6,000 Roman soldiers though the total number could be higher. We see that Satan has enough fallen angels to impart a legion of then on one man. And Jesus makes the statement while he’s being arrested in the garden that he can pray and His Father would give him MORE than 12 legions. So simple math is 6,000 X 12 = 72,000. So Jesus said his father could give him more than 12 legions, no telling how many additional thousands of angels were available to Jesus that night. 72,000 doesn’t seem like a massive number until we discover what kind of power 1 angel has. The answer is found in Isaiah 37:36…

Then the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.

Now if you multiply 185,000 (which is the destructive power of one angel) by twelve legions or at least 72,000 angels, which is the number Jesus could have used the night of his arrest. We find that the combined strength of 12 legions of angels could have annihilated 13,320,000,000 men. (That’s thirteen billion three hundred twenty million men) which is more than twice the population of the earth right now.

As we continue our study on angels I believe it’s safe to assume that their pretty powerful beings.

Some angels are known simply as “Living Creatures” These special heavenly beings are in some ways similar to both the cherubim and the seraphim, but seem to be in a separate class by themselves. Their number appears to be limited to four. John the apostle sees these four standing before the shining crystal sea in heaven surrounding God’s throne.

• They are covered with eyes, both in front and behind, and each of the four has a different face. One has the face of a lion, one has the face of an ox, one has the face of a man, and one has the face of an eagle. Each creature has six wings.

As it has been observed, there are similarities here between the cherubim and the living creatures. But there are some differences as well. The cherubim have four faces while the living creatures only have one, the cherubim have four wings, while the living creatures have six. Without ceasing day or night, they proclaim God’s praise, saying “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” (Rev.4:8)

The most common angel that everyone seems to recognize whether saved or unsaved is the “Guardian angel.” Used to see a bumper sticker that says “never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly” didn’t like the saying then and can’t say I care for it much now. The Bible does not say whether each believer has a specific guardian angel, or whether various angels on occasion simply protect and aid the heirs of salvation. Either way both are logical possibilities.

What do angels do? Are they active in the world around us? I believe they are and here are some examples of how they help us…

1. They protect us.

Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him,

And delivers them.

Psalm 91:11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.


2. They Comfort us

Read 1 Kings 19:1-10

For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ Acts 27:23-24


3. A angel delivered Peter from chains and bondage

Read Acts 12:5-11


As we have studied the angels there is no telling how many there actually are; Revelation 5:11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, some day we will witness it for ourselves. We have something the angels will never experience, it’s the conversion from death to life through Jesus Christ, forgiveness, and grace (getting what we don’t deserve), it must just baffle the angels how anyone could refuse the love of God.
 
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Al Touthentop

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I want to post a verse I was reading the other day in daniel regarding spiritual warfare.

This passage makes it clear that angels are dispatched as soon as we pray,

It makes it clear that Gabriel was dispatched when Daniel prayed. That's all the text says. To extrapolate that to mean that every person who prays has a squadron of angels dispatched to him is beyond the scope of that text.
 
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createdtoworship

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It makes it clear that Gabriel was dispatched when Daniel prayed. That's all the text says. To extrapolate that to mean that every person who prays has a squadron of angels dispatched to him is beyond the scope of that text.
What I was saying is that typically angels are over cities and regions and demons are also over areas. In demonic strongholds like new york, LA and San franscisco there is probably a higher ratio on demons to angels and backup is needed. I do firmly believe in guardian angels over people. I think those who intercede and pray regularly have more angelic interaction simply because more spiritual work is requested. I do not think a single prayer will send a squadron of angels. I think fasting and praying gives a higher priority to your prayers. But obedience is far more important a factor in answered prayer than fasting. The Bible says "obedience is better than sacrifice."
 
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Al Touthentop

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What I was saying is that typically angels are over cities and regions and demons are also over areas. In demonic strongholds like new york, LA and San franscisco there is probably a higher ratio on demons to angels and backup is needed. I do firmly believe in guardian angels over people. I think those who intercede and pray regularly have more angelic interaction simply because more spiritual work is requested. I do not think a single prayer will send a squadron of angels. I think fasting and praying gives a higher priority to your prayers. But obedience is far more important a factor in answered prayer than fasting. The Bible says "obedience is better than sacrifice."

What is your scriptural basis for what you're saying about where angels and demons hang out? Clearly Paul and James let us know that God will send angels occasionally. But as to their array and as to what cities suffer "demons" we are not told as far as I've read. In fact, don't you think it's odd that in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, there isn't even a hint of demons?
 
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createdtoworship

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What is your scriptural basis for what you're saying about where angels and demons hang out? Clearly Paul and James let us know that God will send angels occasionally. But as to their array and as to what cities suffer "demons" we are not told as far as I've read. In fact, don't you think it's odd that in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, there isn't even a hint of demons?
Sorry sir I made this thread to encourage us to pray, not really to debate theology, I posted it to theology yes, but I personally don't debate theology anymore. But if you are interesting in angelology I think there is an article by j hampton keithly of Dallas, remind me to find it.
 
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Al Touthentop

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Sorry sir I made this thread to encourage us to pray, not really to debate theology, I posted it to theology yes, but I personally don't debate theology anymore. But if you are interesting in angelology I think there is an article by j hampton keithly of Dallas, remind me to find it.

I wasn't intending to start a controversy. But frankly, I'm not interested in what men write about things but what the scriptures say.
 
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createdtoworship

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I'm not interested in what men write about things but what the scriptures say.
Angelology: The Doctrine of Angels | Bible.org

I copied the above article to word and will save it to my cloud. Eventually I will convert all these documents to word so I can read them in succession and do a study out of it.

I know you only read the word, this is for others that are wanting to dive into this topic and need a study aide.

But yeah the purpose of this thread was to encourage people to pray, and I mention angels simply because they minister in answering prayer. If I could have left angels out, I would have. But it's important to see the spiritual battle around us.
 
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createdtoworship

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What is your scriptural basis for what you're saying about where angels and demons hang out? Clearly Paul and James let us know that God will send angels occasionally. But as to their array and as to what cities suffer "demons" we are not told as far as I've read. In fact, don't you think it's odd that in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, there isn't even a hint of demons?
but to answer your question i think their are spiritual strongholds over cities and demographics, most evangelicals do. The verse in the OP is one text that mentions it. IT says that there was a demon or prince of greece and persia. That is a locality. And in revelation it mentions that somewhere on the earth is "Satan's throne." Revelation 2:13
 
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createdtoworship

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Do you know that in order for demons and angels to inject thoughts into our mind, that they have to be able to interface with our neurons some how, that means accessing our thoughts. So every little wicked thought of the heart, is literally broadcast among thousands of angels and demons. I thought I would mention that little gem. Thank you for the discussion on sunday night about the fact that there is more space than solids in the world, and that there is more spiritual realm. But also something to think about, atoms are mostly space. What keeps at atom solid is an electrical simulation. So even technically the chairs in church are just an electrical simulation, something from Chuck missler. So if you align your atoms correctly you can walk through walls like Jesus did in the upper room. Chuck missler said that 1 part in 100,000 is solid. That is how much of an atom is solid, versus space. Angels could possibly be able to align electrons, or simply be in a non physical dimension all together.
 
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createdtoworship

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I was also thinking that angels have a free will, but don't have a fallen nature of flesh to tempt them to sin. So they have it easier than we do. That is why when we judge them, we will be able to judge them as one who has been tempted by not only free will, but also a fleshly nature that is fallen.
 
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