Favor with your angel: By James Lantz 

       Your angel has been assigned to protect and keep you alive so that you will have ample opportunity to hear the glorious gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ and to help you be victorious in fulfilling your divine destiny in the kingdom of God.  Heb. 1:14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?   All through the Bible we read about these powerful heavenly beings who work tirelessly for the good of God’s beloved man who was made in His likeness. Much of the time their work is done in the realm of the spirit in which the naked eye can not see into, but occasionally God grants humans the ability to see His messengers who do His bidding. Elisha’s servant had the privilege to see into the realm of the spirit and he saw horses and chariots of fire that the angels used.  2 Kings 6:17  And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.  This was God’s supply to His man who was doing His bidding! Another time the Assyrians came against Judah and spoke against the God of Jerusalem as if He was lifeless, powerless and unable to hear like all the gods of the people of the earth. King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah prayed and cried to heaven. The Lord sent an angel (one angel) and killed one hundred and eighty five thousand Assyrian soldiers in one night. ( 2 Kings 19:35 & 2 Chron. 32:19 & Isaiah 37:36 )  God saw fit for this to be recorded these three times. God wants us to understand that we have much greater power available than the children of the devil have. Two angels destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah. God sent His angel and shut the lions mouths so Daniel would not be harmed. Are you comprehending how powerful God’s angels are? God has more than enough angels for each person to have their own personal guardian angel. Jesus said that the angels assigned to the little children are always beholding his Father’s face in heaven. (They travel back and forth from heaven to earth very quickly as necessary.)    Mt. 18:10&11  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 which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

You don’t lose your angel when you grow up!

The ninety first Psalm teaches that, we who walk closely with  the Almighty and declare our covenant privileges will be protected and granted a long fruitful life!  Ps. 91:11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. God has opened up His arms to all of mankind to come to Him through the offering of Jesus, His Son. Those who come to Him and walk closely with Him will be kept by Him. Those who set their love on God will be delivered and lifted up. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Doing what God said, for the same reason God said it, will bring blessing!

       Abram had to learn what God had made available to those who serve Him. Abram had enough faith to obey God’s instruction to leave his homeland (the familiar) and go to a place that God would show him (the unfamiliar). In the early days of Abram’s pilgrimage he was not fully persuaded nor assured that God would would provide for him and protect him.  Gen. 12:10-17   And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.  .  .  .  they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.   .  .  .  And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues  .  .  .  Years later we see the confidence that Abraham had gained as the Lord taught him about his covenant privileges of protection, provision, power, and blessing! God angel’s protected Abram, made him rich, and gave him victory over four kings who had captured his nephew, and held back judgement on Sodom until righteous Lot was safely removed. After Abraham had buried Sarah he sent his eldest servant to go to his home country and bring a bride for his son Isaac. Abraham declared that God would send his angel before him to find the right girl.  Gen. 24:7  The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.  Singles who desire a spouse, listen up!  Pro. 16:7  When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.  Those who confess the word of God before men shall have Jesus sending the angels to bring that word to pass in their

Jesus sends the angels to perform His word for those who decree it!

life.  (Ps. 103:20 , Luke 12:8&9)  The angel’s rejoice when you take that first step of obedience toward God by repenting of your sin and confessing Jesus as Lord!  Luke 15:10  Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.  God sent an angel to Cornelius, a devout soldier who feared Him, to tell him to call for Peter, who would tell him how to get saved. God’s favor was flowing toward Cornelius and his household because of their reverence for Him, evidenced by Cornelius’s prayers, almsgiving, and unity of their household.

             The very opposite of favor with your angel is to provoke them. Angels are on assignment from God to protect, provide and help us fulfill the plan of God. All of the angels that are assigned to us are completely, one hundred percent, committed to establishing God’s kingdom. God has dealt severely with the third of the angels who rebelled along with Lucifer.  2 Pet. 2:4  For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.  Keeping favor with your angel is simply submitting to your heavenly Father, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God. If you are willing and obedient you will enjoy the blessings of God, but if you are stubborn, hardheaded and determined to call the shots you will experience the curse. Hagar obeyed the angel of the Lord and returned and submitted to Sarai her master but failed to recognize God’s great grace to her. Fifteen years later Hagar and Ishmael were cast out because of irreverence. This time the angel of the Lord called to Hagar because of Ishmael’s crying out to God.  Gen. 21:17  And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.  The angel of God rebuked her for her lack of faith because it had been revealed to her that God is the living God who watches over her. Without humility and the fear of the Lord you will not develop in faith even if you live among those of great faith. Covetousness (love for gain) is another trap of the devil to separate people from God.  God said to Balaam, you shall not go with them, you shall not curse the people for they are blessed. Balaam persisted, and had it not been for the mercy of God in opening the eyes and the mouth of his ass, he would have died on the spot.  Num. 22:32  And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me.  Zacharias, the priest (God is no respecter of persons), was struck dumb for his refusal to take Gabriel at his word. Refusing to believe and cooperate with the angels of God is the same as refusing to believe and cooperate with God because God has sent them. This same truth carries down through the ranks of God’s delegated authority. Jesus said ,if you don’t receive those who I send, you don’t receive me. Many of God’s people are suffering needlessly because they are paying no attention to the call of God to build His church. They want God’s help with their finances and they want to be healed but they pay no attention to what God is saying in their spirit, through their angel, or his ministry gifts.   Ex.  23:20-27       .  .  .  Beware of him, and obey his (angels) voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions:   .   .   .   And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.   .   .   .

       Mary was righteous, humble, feared the Lord, served Him, and was quick to believe! Mary was highly favored of God because she received the word of God. Jesus stated that all those who hear the word of God and keep it are blessed.  Luke 11:28  .  .  .  Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.  Everyone who does what Mary did will be highly favored of the Lord and that guarantees that we will have favor with our guardian angel. God is searching for those whose heart is right so He can bless them!