Reflections of Grace 49: Living from the Heart - The Ministry of Angels

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Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. Matthew 4:10

Our simple trust is that He is there and those assigned angels are busy every step we take. I prayed many times for God to protect my children in the foolishness of youth, and to allow them to learn from their mistakes, but to also keep them from being harmed along the way.
One evening my son Jason had gone to a drive in movie with a group of teens. I was woken up around midnight and had this urgency to get up and pray for him.
The only words that I could get out was Psalm 91:3 that says “He will keep us from the snare of the enemy”. I prayed, “Lord, keep Jason from being caught in a hidden trap or danger, and deliver him from the snare of the enemy.” I prayed this over and over until he arrived home.
With a look of shock on his face when he saw me, he wanted to know why I was up. I explained that I couldn’t sleep because God had woke me up and told me to pray for him. He had a very strange look on his face as he disappeared into his room.
The next morning he explained that as I was praying at midnight he had left the car to visit the rest room. As his back was to the door a bunch of gang members approached him and hit him in the back of the head with a large slat of wood. Stunned, he turned, and as he stood there he was infused with supernatural strength and proceeded to fight off his attackers. He threw them into walls and watched them slide down to the floor, (picture it). As he stood there waiting for them to get up they all jumped up and ran from him in terror. He said when he walked out of the rest room he didn’t see them anywhere.
I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t been obedient to pray. I know there must have been a band of angels in this case, posted as sentry’s all around that rest room giving Jason supernatural strength. Or maybe he just thought he was doing the fighting and it was really a warrior angel. Simple obedience when we are called to pray is key.
My step-daughter, Christina, was a new driver and she and her Dad had bought a Miata convertible for her to drive to and from school. She was driving down the freeway one day with the top down and leaned over for a brief second to adjust the radio, and lost control of her car and over corrected. It hit the dirt on the side of the road and flipped upside down on the side of the road, which was a slight incline. The car just continued to turn over and landed right side up. There was no explanation when the Highway Patrol came as to why the car continued to roll uphill and land right side up with her still sitting in the passenger seat stunned but unharmed. Where was her head as it hit the ground upside down with no top on the car? I instantly recognized the work of her angel keeping her sitting in that seat and not being thrown out of the car.
When I was a young mom I remember one Christmas that there was no money. My kids were around twelve and eight, and I could barely pay the bills, let alone buy presents for them. I had them gather with me in prayer that God would provide a Christmas for us miraculously. I told them that God would provide for fun Christmas for them.
We believed together that God would send an angel our way. One night around bedtime there came a knock at the door.
We all three ran to the door, expecting.
There was a lady standing there whom we did not know. She handed us an envelope with $200 in it and said it was from God. I looked at the kids and then back at this heavenly messenger and all I could see of her was her back as she hurried down the street and then she was gone.
If only we would live in expectancy for His constant intervention we would experience true kingdom living at its best.
I was very intrigued by the concept of angels and their role in protecting my children. I had read in Matthew how the angels that watch over our children were special angels that always behold the face of our Father.

“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you that in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father who is in Heaven” Matthew 18:10

These angels have special access to the face of God.

Didn’t He say that if anyone harm a child, it would be better for him if a millstone is tied around his neck, and he be cast into the sea, than to have to face God’s wrath? Oh yes, God is very watchful over our kids and they have their own very special angels that reports back to God.
There was the time I walked out into the front yard to check on my 4-year-old, and witnessed him riding his Hot Wheel Trike like a hot rod from driveway to driveway across the street.
It happened so fast I didn’t have time to even scream.
He was heading into a driveway with a hedge that blocked his view. There was a pickup truck backing out at the same time and he was heading right into its path. In a split seconds time I witnessed an unseen force grab the wheel of his trike and jerk it into the curb and stop his ascent into the path of the truck. An angel stepped in at that moment to keep him safe
I had to leave my two-year-old little girl with a friend one day so that I could attend a seminar. The friend was to pick Heather up that morning and drive to her home. On the way, Heather was sitting on the passenger side happily eating a dry bowl of Cheerios.
A car came out of nowhere and plowed into Heather’s side of the car, totaling the car, and sending my friend to the hospital on a stretcher. It happened to be in front of a church, and my husband was called immediately to come. When he arrived an EMT was sitting in the church holding our baby on his lap. Heather was laughing and had totally charmed the young man.
I was told that somehow, miraculously, she did not leave her seat upon impact, and was totally uninjured (that was in the days before car seats or seat belts were required and that horrifies me now).
Her Cheerios were scattered all over the car– but she never left the seat! And whereas a child is usually traumatized by this kind of accident, she wasn’t shaken in the least.
When I finally arrived back home I had to examine her myself, of course. There on her little back was one bruise in the shape of a thumb print where her angel held her in place as the car was crashed into. I think God allowed the thumb print to be there to allow me to see His protection for my children. There could be no other explanation.

Angels are mentioned at least 108 times in the Old Testament and 165 times in the New Testament. They have all kinds of jobs to do and one of them is to assist those of us who are heirs of salvation through Jesus. If you care to do your own study of angels and their purposes here are some places to look:

They are vast in number (Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 5:11).
•They do not die (Luke 20:36).
•They are spirit beings (Hebrews 1:14).
•They are without bodies (Luke 24:39).
•They can assume bodily shape as people (Genesis 19:1-5).
•There is gender among them (Zechariah 5:9-11).

They are wise, powerful, have personalities, are moral beings, and vastly inferior to God (2 Samuel 14:20; 2 Peter 2:11; Mark 8:38; 1 Peter 3:22; Hebrews 16).