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Listening to angels does not take us away from Jesus, but actually
brings us closer to Him and allows us to worship and serve Him even more
.
We don’t have to be afraid of honoring angels in our
lives, having conversations with them like Mary and Zacharias did, or even
following their instructions like the shepherds did. We know God is the same yesterday, today
and forever and what He did through angels in Scripture He wants to do in our
world as well. May we be open to receiving His blessings, direction, protection
and revelation however He sends them, whomever He sends them through!
Written
By Destiny Image
Christmas is an especially supernatural
time of year.
I love reading the Christmas story in
Scripture and discovering all the different ways God intends for Heaven to
break into our world and our hearts.
Obviously the birth of our Savior, Jesus,
is the reason we celebrate Christmas.
The gift of His Presence changed
everything!
But what about some of the other key
players in the story: Is there anything we can learn from their examples and
apply to our own lives today?
We have already looked at Joseph’s dreams
that saved Jesus’ life.
In addition to heavenly direction through
visions of the night, there was another supernatural intervention quite common
in our Christmas story: Angels.
We can’t read more than a few verses of the
first couple chapters of Matthew and Luke without tripping over an angelic
visitation.
Angels were showing up everywhere – in
church, at home, even on the job!
Everyday
Angels
A key revelation the Bible makes clear is
that angels are for everyone.
We might think only pastors or prophets
interact with angels, and mistakenly assume that happens exclusively in “holy”
places like church.
We see an example of this in Luke 1 where
the angel Gabriel converses with the priest Zacharias in the temple (see Luke 1:1-25).
So yes, it is true, angels minister to our
priests and pastors and they are definitely with us when we are at our places
of worship.
But that was only the beginning. Then we
see Gabriel showing up at Mary’s house.
Mary wasn’t a priest or a pastor; she was
just a teenager.
And she wasn’t in church. This shows us
that angelic interaction is not just for adults nor is it reserved for
“professional ministers”.
No, Mary proceeded to have a revelatory
back and forth conversation with Gabriel, just as Zacharias had done,
demonstrating that angels minister to us in our homes as well (see Luke 1:26-38).
We see angels are for both old and young;
they are with us at church and they are with us at home.
Is that all?
Next, we find angels showing up and
delivering God’s message to the shepherds while they were watching over their
flocks at night (see
Luke 2:6-16).
So angels minister to us while we’re at
work too. Isn’t that encouraging?
Truly, it is outside the four walls of our
church that we need their assistance the most!
Angels
And Worship
In fact, there is another incredible
revelation hidden in this passage of Scripture.
Upon hearing the extraordinary angelic
announcement of their Savior’s birth, what was the shepherds’ immediate
response?
“When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the
shepherds began saying to one another, ‘Let us go straight to Bethlehem then,
and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ So
they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He
lay in the manger”
(Luke
2:15).
Some Christians are afraid that if they
begin interacting with angels, that will detract from their relationship with
Jesus and worship of Him.
However, biblically speaking, that fear is
not justified.
There is no record anywhere in Scripture of
a believer ever accidentally worshiping a fallen angel.
Instead, we see the opposite.
The shepherds glorified and praised God for
all they had heard and seen (Luke 2:20).
Was it okay that the shepherds listened to
an angel?
What was the result of their obedience to
the angel’s instruction?
Because the shepherds honored the angelic
message, they were the first ones to worship Jesus.
We see that listening to angels does not
detract from our relationship with Jesus; it strengthens it.
Listening to angels doesn’t take us away
from Jesus; it brings us closer to Him.
The reason we listen to angels is because
they are God’s messengers.
In fact, the word “angel” actually means
“messenger.”
So we understand that many angels are
“communication specialists” in the kingdom and their job is to bring us God’s
word.
When we honor angelic messengers, we are
really honoring the One who sent them to us.
We see this clearly in our Christmas story
in Luke 2, for who was it who gave the shepherds revelation about Jesus being
born?
I’ll warn you, that’s a trick question.
We might say it was
an angel, but that’s not what verse 15 reveals: “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has
happened which the LORD has made known to us.”
The shepherds considered a message from
angels to be a message from God Himself.
To make it more relatable, we can imagine
it like jury duty.
When we receive a summons in the mail, we
show up at the courthouse at the time and day specified.
Because we report for jury duty, does that
mean we are obeying the mailman?
Obviously not, as he is simply a carrier
delivering a message.
We know we are obeying the higher authority
of the one who sent the message.
And so it is with angels.
Why
It Matters
We understand then that we don’t have to be
afraid of honoring angels in our lives, having conversations with them like
Mary and Zacharias did, or even following their instructions like the shepherds
did.
We see that listening to angels does not
take us away from Jesus, but actually brings us closer to Him and allows us to
worship and serve Him even more.
From these biblical examples we are
encouraged that angels are for everyone.
If we are older ministers in church, or
younger believers at home, whether we are male or female, at work or at school,
awake or asleep…angels are with us!
We know God is the same yesterday, today
and forever and what He did through angels in Scripture He wants to do in our
world as well.
May we be open to receiving His blessings,
direction, protection and revelation however He sends them, whomever He sends
them through!
If you’re passionate about hearing God’s voice, walking with Jesus, and experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit, then you’ve come to the right place.
Destiny Image is a community of
believers with a passion for equipping and encouraging you to live the prophetic,
supernatural life you were created for!
We
offer a fresh helping of practical articles, dynamic podcasts, and powerful
videos from respected, Spirit-empowered, Christian leaders to fuel the holy
fire within you.
And
best of all… it’s FREE.
https://www.destinyimage.com/blog/2019/12/20/angels-we-have-heard-on-high
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Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious!
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