DIVINE PROTECTION FROM HARM
The following is a wonderful testimony of God's caring protection. The bible teaches us that children have angels, who always behold the face of the Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:10) As they are in God's presence, He sends them forth on His errands of mercy. The angel of the Lord encamps around about those who fear Him and delivers them. (Psalm 34:7)
After three years of trying to adopt a child, and going through a miriad of trials with adoption programs with countries opening and closing, and other red tape; we received an adoption referral for a 4 1/2 old baby girl in the autumn of 1999. The case went to adoption court, and there was a 20 day rescision period, following the court date. Understandably, we wanted to be on the European side of things with Y2K approaching, and the end of this recision period, when our baby would become legally ours. We purchased tickets for Europe wanting to spend time with our friends in Italy, before flying on to Romania. But it was not till after we got the tickets, that the adoption agency said: Offices are closed for the holidays, and that we weren't expected there till the end of January. We decided that this was too much of an imposition on our ministry friends in Italy, for us to stay for so many weeks; so we changed our plans. We flew out on Christmas day, into hurricane gale winds over Paris. The pilot had to land in England for 4 hours, before the winds died down sufficiently to fly on and to return to Paris, which was the gateway city that our non-changable tickets were purchased for. Our friends in Scotland said: Come on over here, so we took a plane from Paris to Glasgow, spent a few days there. The evening we arrived, our host was in an auto accident, when his car hit a patch of black ice on the highway. Even the ambulance slipped on the ice. Our friend Richard received major trauma to his spinal column, and the drs. were predicting surgeries, and paralysis. But as prayer went forth, God healed Richard and he was out walking around within a week, from the time of the injury. We rented a white-washed cottage in a lovely little glen in the Trossachs, where the highlands and lowlands meet; and waited till time to fly to Bucharest. The morning finally arrived and as we packed our rented car with our belongings at about 3-4 in the morning, and as we prepared to leave for Glasgow Airport, my spirit was burdened. It was as if God's Spirit was weeping, and He was saying: The airplane. Pray for the airplane. Mechanical failure. We prayed as we drove, and prayed it through, dispatching angels to help the ground-crew discover the mechanical failure. Just as we arrived at the departure gate, we learned that our flight had been canceled, due to a "major mechanical failure." The airlines put my husband, daughter and I in a hotel in Amsterdam, and gave us breakfast the next morning, and sent us on to bring our newly adopted baby daughter home. With our tickets, everything was routed through Amsterdam, and we saw the place 4 times, in our 11 scheduled flights, before we got home. But not enough time to visit any of those wonderful churches, and to spend time sharing the sweet presence of the Lord in one of those worship services over there. Or taking a trip out to one of the cities that some of our ancestors came from. How many times in my spirit, I've walked along the canals, and smelled the sea air, and looked at the boats, and dreamed of what it was like for my immigrant ancestors, and what they suffered to know Christ. We should have brought some of those infamous Holland tulip bulbs home from one of the stalls selling them at the airport. But we brought something better! We brought our baby, because our God is a miracle working God!
DIVINE PROTECTION FROM WALKING IN WISDOM:
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her and she shall keep thee.
Wisdom is a wonderful thing. God tells us in His word, that "if any man lacks wisdom to ask of God who gives to all men liberally and upbraideth not." (James 1:5)
How many sorrows can be prevented if people will walk in wisdom. Often times this means simply following the safety rules, such as those on the job, or the rules for driving safely, such as not going through a red light, driving to fast, or while on certain types of medication, or remembering to buckle the seat belts of us and our children.
THE PROTECTION FROM HEARING GOD'S VOICE:
The early church suffered severe persecutions, and a good portion of this was instigated by a Pharisee by the name of Saul of Tarsus. It was no secret to the Christians of Damascus that this man, so filled with bitterness and hatred; was out to destroy the people of God. The scriptures tell us of a certain disciple dwelling at Damascus named Anamias, and the Lord appeared to him in a vision. And Ananias said: "Behold I am here! And the Lord said to him: Arise and go to the street called Straight," and enquire in the house of Judaas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for behold he's praying. And he's seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand onhim, that he might receive his sight. And Ananias answered: Lord, I have heard by many of this man, and how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem: And here, he has authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on your name. But the Lord said: Go your way for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great of things he must suffer for My names sake."
PROMISES OF ANGELIC PROTECTION
Angels are not a substitute for walking in wisdom. You do not say: I won't supervise my kids, I'll just let the angels take care of them. But angels often intervene and protect us, when we need it.
The angel of the Lord encamps around about them that fear Him to deliver them. (Psalm 34:7)
The angel of His presence saved them. (Isaiah 63:9)
An angel of the Lord gives Philip direction to go to the Gaza Road. When he went, there was a servant of the Ethiopian Queen Candace, and he shared the gospel with him. (Acts 8:26-39)
You must not invite angelic spirits to possess you. God has given a better plan for you to walk in power, and that is through the power of His Holy Spirit. Obey Acts 2:38, as the New Testament converts did. (Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5)
Good Angels and bad: The bible says that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14) Good angels sometimes are sent from God. At times they speak as the angel who warned Paul of a shipwreck. For this reason, don't believe every spirit, but in I John 4:1, the bible teaches us to "try the spirits whether they are of God." (God's angels) Or the devils.
Great Miracles from the book of John:
1---The miracle of water into wine (John 2:1-11)
2---Healing the noble man's son (John 4:46-53)
3---Healing the man at the pool (John 5:1-9)
4---Feeding the 5,000 (John 6:4-13)
5---Jesus walks on water (John 6:16-21)
6---Healing the blind man (John 9:1-12)
7---Raises the dead (John 11:30-44)
