Episode 67: God's Angelic Beings- Our Ministering Spirits
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Peace to Live By Episode 67: God's Angelic Beings- Our Ministering Spirits - Daniel Litton
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[Transcript may not match broadcasted sermon word for word, and contains extra material that was cut from the broadcast due to time constraints]
Some of you have likely seen the old movie from the 1950s called “Forever, Darling” which starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Indeed, this was the second movie that Lucy and Desi made together during the “I Love Lucy” era. Anyway, the movie is about an angel (played by James Mason) who is sent from God to repair the main characters marriage, whose names are Susan and Lorenzo (played by Ball and Arnaz). Now, Lorenzo, nicknamed Larry, is a chemist who enjoys his job very much. He works at developing chemical formulas which will aid in protecting crops around the world from insects. But because he enjoys his job so much, and spends a great deal of time working, he tends to neglect the love of his life, his wife Susan. Sound familiar? And she, as most women will, becomes upset by his negligence over time.
In order to help Susan in her ordeal, the movie portrays that God allows her to see her Guardian Angel. Now, whether this angel is always there or not, we’re not sure. But to help her with her problem, she is enabled to see him. Of course, Susan is startled in seeing him around, and even goes to a psychologist to try to seemingly gain a reasonable explanation about what she is seeing. The angel ends up telling her that he was sent to her to help fix her marriage. And he starts to reason with Susan and to tell her she needs to see things differently—to see love differently—and if she will do this, she will end up saving her marriage. Of course, Susan initially believes that there really isn’t a problem with her and her husband Larry. As she listens to what the angel tells her, though, she decides to follow through with what he is telling her to do. But, he warns her that things sometimes have to get worse before they can get better.
Thus, the angel convinces Susan to go with Larry on his expedition out in the wilderness, which is really Yosemite National Park, where he is going to do a trial run of the chemical compound he has developed, the insecticide. This adventure is out of Susan’s comfort zone, but she supports her husband in his endeavor and goes with him at the angel’s instruction. Things start out okay, but as the camping trip progresses, more and more things start to go wrong. The angel shows up at their campsite to bring aid to the situation. The climax of the trip occurs when Larry and Susan are out on the water to test his compound, and a boating indecent occurs. Of course, this causes a huge argument between Susan and Lorenzo. But all said and done, Susan get’s to see the important things in life. She finally understands that it takes compromise and work to have a good marriage.
This movie illustrates and can remind us of some important truths when it comes to God’s angelic beings. It is definitely true that when we have problems in life, and when we cry out to God for help, that he will send his angels to our assistance. And it’s also true that angels protect us from varying obstacles in life, most of which we probably don’t even know we’re being protected from. It definitely is likely that each of us, as Christians, do indeed have a guardian angel—an angel who is assigned to protect us and help us in life. God wants to help us with our varying problems that arise, and he will often use angels to accomplish this help—to give us aid. As the writer of Hebrews has written for us in regard to angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14, ESV). So, one of the responsibilities of angels in our day and age is to serve us, as Christians.
We are going to spend time today in Daniel chapter 10 in the Old Testament. I want us to work through this passage in order to see how angels help us, as believers, and how they work. This passage involves the Prophet Daniel having a great need of which God sends him an angel to help him. I think we can learn quite a bit here in this passage as it pertains to angels. So, go ahead and turn to Daniel chapter 10. Let’s read the whole chapter here, and try to learn some new things today. Daniel chapter 10, starting in verse one, the text says:
“In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision.
“In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.
“And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”
“When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute. And behold, one in the likeness of the children of man touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, “O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength. How can my lord's servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.”
“Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.” (Daniel 10, ESV)
What a great chapter from this marvelous book of Daniel. We can note that verses 1-9 is the vision likely of the Lord Jesus Christ, and verses 10-21 is Daniel talking to the angel, probably Gabriel from the previous two chapters. There is a lot going on here, so let’s work through this and gain further insight as pertains to angels.
The first part of this passage deals with a vision that the Prophet Daniel saw one day as he was standing by the Tigris River. Now, note that the had been mourning and fasting for three weeks. He hadn’t even been taking caring of his physical condition. But as he feel into a deep trace, we might call it, he saw a man robed in fine linen garments. This person was likely the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, in the Old Testament, Christ was not identified as himself when he appeared to people. You’ll see occurrences where it says “the angel of the Lord” and this likely was Jesus in some instances. But he wasn’t pointed out as Jesus because he had not yet come into the world—he hadn’t been revealed to Israel. The description of this man certainly shares similarities we see with the Lord Jesus Christ in other places of Scripture, specifically in The Book of the Revelation 1:13, 14. However, this is also the same description of angels found in Revelation 15:6.
It’s not until we reach verse 10 here in Daniel chapter 10 that we see the appearance of the angel in this passage. And, of course, it brings up the first point I want to make today about angels, and that is that in the most basic form they are God’s messengers. They take things God speaks to them and pass them along to God’s servants, us. This was particularly common in Scripture. I’m sure we can all think of different passages where an angel brought a message to certain individuals, like in the Christmas story or even when the Apostle Paul was sailing at sea during that great storm in Acts 27. What is interesting, going to verse 11, is that before the angel tells him his message from God, he immediately encourages Daniel. He tells him, “O Daniel, man greatly loved.” That must have been a great comfort to Daniel, a great encouragement. Can you imagine an angel appearing to you and saying, “You are greatly loved by God.” We probably wouldn’t need much else said.
In our day and age here some 2,500 years after this passage, and some 2,000 years after Christ ascended into Heaven, most of us generally don’t see angels around us. And most of us will probably never encounter an angel in our lifetime—at least, knowingly. We all have angels assisting us at various times in various ways, and we all likely have entertained angels unknowingly, as the writer of Hebrews has foretold us, but most of us don’t usually see an angel in his physical form. You have to realize that most people, even during the times of Daniel or the times of the Lord Jesus Christ, or even during the days of Paul, didn’t likely see angels. So, just because someone may not see an angel does not mean the person is a lesser Christian, loved less by God. It is true, though, that a few of us will see angels even in this day and age in their regular form. God still does work like this, and angels do appear to people on occasion.
But whether seen or not by us, it definitely is true that angels do comfort us, just as the angel comforted Daniel with his awesome greeting. This is one of the angels responsibilities when it comes to ministering to us, as God’s servants, for they are ‘ministering’ spirits sent out to serve us, as we’ve already touched upon. Over in 2 Kings 6:14-17, we can see that God opened the eyes of one of his servants to see his great army of angels which had been sent to protect the Israelites from the Syrians. So, we can realize that our very ability to see angels on occasion can, in and of itself, be for our comfort. It’s comforting because it assures us that God is on our side. In Daniel’s case, it was that God was with him personally, and of course the same was true with the Israelites in getting ready for battle with the Syrians. When God allows us to see his angels then, it provides extra encouragement to our spirits, as does even learning about them.
Back in Daniel chapter 10, let’s pick up back in the passage with the angel’s statement. He says, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you” (ESV). So, there are a couple things I want us to notice here. Consider first that the angel relays to Daniel that what he’s about to tell him is important— for he said, “understand the words that I speak to you.” And surely that was the case, as is any special message from God. When God gives us a personal word in our lives, we want to be sure we are paying careful attention to what he is saying because this is to our advantage. God is helping us personally. The angel of the Lord also tells Daniel to stand up, another sign of the message’s importance for him. But I think part of this also is because we are not to worship angels as God’s servants. Though angels are holy, coming from Heaven, they are not to be worshipped because only God is to be worshipped. I’m sure coming to our minds is the passage from Revelation 19 where the Apostle John tried to worship the angel he was with.
Continuing in verse 11, we read, “And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words” (ESV). It would only be natural for a person to be afraid when seeing an angel, a supernatural being to us, since this is something of an extraordinary occurrence. And the angel tries to comfort him again by telling him not to be afraid of him. And then comes the message from the angel, his primary purpose in coming to see Daniel. He tells him that from the very first day that Daniel started to pray that God had answered his prayer. Now, Daniel had been praying for some three weeks by the time this angel had come to him, but God had answered his prayer on day one. That’s pretty encouraging. It wasn’t that Daniel had to talk God into doing for him what he wanted him to do. God wanted to help him. And notice how the angel said, “I have come because of your words.” Our words that we speak with our mouths are very important. And they do allow God to use his angels to benefit us and help us.
And I certainly think this is true for us, as Christians. I think God often does answer our prayers from the very first time we ask him something. Now, of course, this is not always the case, as the Lord Jesus Christ told us to keep praying and never give up (see Luke 18:1). But I do believe that often times this is the case. We know that God sent the angel immediately after Daniel prayed his prayer on the first day. How do we know that? If we continue reading in Daniel, the angel tells him, “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia.” Notice the twenty-one days mentioned here. So, God had dispatched the angel on Daniel’s first day of praying. But, as we see in the passage, the angel ran into a problem where he was held up.
And what is this about the angel being prevented from coming to Daniel? Well, it certainly wasn’t that Daniel was doing anything wrong. He continued to fast and pray. But the angel mentions the prince of Persia. I think this is best understood as a demonic angel, a fallen angel, that withstood this angel on his way to see Daniel. And he withstood him twenty-one days. It is often the case that Satan and his demons will try to hinder God’s work, as I’m sure we are all aware of that on a personal level. Remember, the Apostle Paul talked about this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. There, he said, “But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us” (2:17-18, ESV). So, we can see how Satan can try to hinder God’s work as with Paul and his companions, and he had hindered God’s angel here in Daniel chapter 10 in coming to Daniel.
It certainly is true that Satan will use external circumstances, unbelievers, and, believe it or not, sometimes even believers to try hinder the work God has called us to do. We understand how Satan, by his power—for he does have a lot of power—can control external circumstances in order to try to stop God’s servants from doing what he wants them to do. And often it’s not difficult for Satan to use unbelievers because they are on the same page with him—in trying to stop the work of God. They don’t believe God’s ways are the right ways, but believe their own ways are the ways that should be followed, and so Satan can use these individuals to work against believers, like protestors would often work against the Apostles, for instance. And sometimes Satan can even capture the heart of a believer to work against another believer. He can capture the believer’s heart through sin—things like jealously, a faultfinding attitude, and the like—so that the person feels justified in attacking another believer when that believer hasn’t done anything wrong.
Like, for instance, in regard to this, I’ve heard from a couple different sources lately that the Gospel ministries that truly matter, the ones that really have an impact on others, are those which work in one-on-one relationships, and that ministries that don’t do this aren’t as affective for the Gospel. Well, surely God disagrees since he often uses ministries on a grand scale that don’t involve one-on-one relationships. Let me provide a basic example of how this argument isn’t true. Personally, I don’t know John MacArthur. I’ve never met the man. He doesn’t know I exist. Yet his life through his ministry has had more of an impact on my life than any relational ministry ever has, period. God uses both non-relational and relational ministries to advance the Gospel, and one is not more important than the other. Don’t ever let someone tell you your ministry doesn’t matter or doesn’t have as much of an impact as others. If God has called you to do whatever it is you are doing, then that’s all that matters.
We get a glimpse here in Daniel 10 into the spiritual world, that unseen realm where God’s angels do battle, or fight against Satan’s fallen angels. We can notice from the passage here in Daniel that fallen angel’s can also have great power in their working, as again this prince of the kingdom of Persia had kept God’s angel preoccupied for twenty-one days. That’s quite a long time here. As powerful as we know God’s angels to be, as powerful as they are, the fallen angels are also powerful because, recall, they were created alongside the good angels. They used to be good angels themselves, and were with God in Heaven, serving him. So, it stands to reason that these beings too also have great power. Of course, they don’t have the power of God behind them, and there are two of God’s angels for every one of Satan’s angels, since only one-third of the angel’s left with Satan in his rebellion against God. Really, they were thrown down to the earth with Satan, and some of them we even locked up in Hell, and are there today waiting to be released in the future, during the times of the Book of Revelation (see also Luke 8:31). So, really, Satan doesn’t even have one-third of the angels available to him right now.
It is these types of battles, as we get a glimpse into here, that are going on in our world frequently. We often see the overflow, the manifestation, the negative consequences, and even sometimes positive consequences, of these battles. When we see bad things happen in our world, this is the overflow of the battle between God’s angel’s and Satan’s fallen angels. Of course, we see this quite a bit in our modern times, with the availability of news to us from around the world. To state it plainly, we see the fallen angels work through entities like ISIS, and we see God’s angels push them back through the work of the Israeli and United States armed forces. We’ve seen demonic forces attack schools, killing and hurting children, and how the casualties were far less than they could have been due to the work of God’s angels. This spiritual war is very real in our world today.
The angel tells Daniel that he gained some greatly needed help when he was being stopped by the demonic angel. Now, whether he called out to God for help or whether it had come to the Lord’s mind that the angel needed help, we really don’t know. But, it turns out that God sends Michael, who, interestingly enough, is listed as one of God’s chief angels, one of his chief princes, to help this angel. This angel also mentioned here in verse 13 that he “was left there with the kings of Persia.” That’s an important and interesting statement. Perhaps this angel of the Lord had been bound, we’re not really sure, but for some reason he could not leave from these kings of Persia. Now, these kings of Persia denotes that there was actually—watch this—more than one demonic being who was holding this angel up. Yes, the angel spoke of the prince of Persia, but here he also speaks of the kings of Persia. So, it would appear then that the first fallen angel was the chief ruler in Persia, and that the other fallen angels were spirit rulers within Persia who answered to the chief ruler.
This picture we get here in the kingdom of Persia is insightful because it goes to show us that Satan and his demons have set up camp in certain areas of our world, certain kingdoms, certain cites, around the globe. And I’m sure many of you were already aware of this fact, but it shows us in Scripture that there are established demonic forces on our earth. And they seek to promote their agendas against humans—and even working through humans—to try to keep people away from God, from accepting the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They want to prevent as many people as they can from coming into right relationship with God. Often times people think they are just living freely, for instance, when they are promoting things that are against God, like anti-marriage positions, or abortion, or gay rights. They think they are just promoting what they feel is right for the world. But the Bible tells us that behind these anti-God positions are demonic forces influencing people’s minds to promote these agendas. So, interestingly enough, there are many out there who think they are just doing right, who think they know better than God, but they are actually being used as pawns from Satan’s forces to accomplish Satan’s will. They are deceived themselves and Satan works through them to deceive more and more people, to get them to move away from God. That is pretty sobering.
As I was thinking about this there is one thing clearly that, for me, is easy to see when it comes to the spiritual war bleeding from the spirit realm over to our own realm. I think if you just look at the symbol of the pro-homosexual movement around the world we can see the demonic forces clearly at work. We know that one of God’s most hated sins in the practice of homosexuality. We know that because quite a long time ago he destroyed two entire cities for that sin, including the surrounding cities. Now, the symbol for that movement is the rainbow, and the rainbow happens to also be one of God’s favorite images, as we see in The Book of the Revelation when getting a glimpse into his throne room (see Revelation 4:3; also 10:1). So, Satan takes one of the most precious things to God, the rainbow, and associates it with one of the most hated things by God, the practice of homosexuality. Obviously, Satan is trying to get under God’s skin. And there is also the aspect where the rainbow represents the fact that God will never again destroy the world by a flood. That’s what it represents to us, as humans. And it’s as if Satan is trying to egg God on—trying to challenge his promise—by associating his bow with something that provokes is anger. Of course, we know that God isn’t going to destroy the world because he is provoked by Satan, but because he is a holy, righteous, and just God, and cannot let sin go unaddressed.
As we continue to look at the passage here in Daniel, we can see from the vision that as Daniel interacts with the angel that he is still afraid of him and has lost his strength. And the angel encourages him all the more by reiterating what he had already said in verse 19. For he says to him again, ““O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage”” (ESV). He reminds Daniel that he is greatly loved by God, to not fear, to be at peace, to be strong, and to be of good courage. And, going to verse 20, the angel says he’s going to tell Daniel the answer to his prayer—for that is why he had come. He was there to provide Daniel an answer for the prayer he had been praying to God. In Daniel’s case, it was to tell him what has been written in the Book of Truth, which is about the future. In understanding this Book of Truth, let us recall the words of the Prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 46:9, 10, which state: “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (ESV). God has already decided what he is going to do in the future, and he was about to give Daniel some keen insight into some of these things, as he had already been doing in the previous chapters. So, Daniel’s prayer got answered with the angels help.
And notice how the angel says that after he tells Daniel the things God has appointed for him to hear, that he will have to go fight against, again, the prince of Persia. The angel himself already had insight into his own future, for he said that after he would fight against the prince of Persia, that he would in fact then face off with the prince of Greece. And, again, he says in verse 21 that he is going to need the angel Michael’s help in warding off these demonic forces. And that it will only be him and Michael to fight them. But notice how he says, “there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince” (ESV). He calls Michael the angel Daniel’s prince. This is interesting because it seems to signify that Michael is in fact Daniel’s guardian angel. Now, if he was Daniel’s guardian angel, it seems to indicate that this angel was not always with him. The Bible tells us that God is always with us, but it would appear that our guardian angels may not always be with us. If we turn to Psalm 34, and verse 7, we read: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them” (ESV). So, God definitely sends angels to help us when we need help, just as we talked about at the beginning of this sermon with Susan and Larry. And it seems that God assigns a specific angel to help us, a guardian angel. We have probably come to believe this to be true in our own lives. God directs his angels to work for our behalf.
So, to recap, we can note the following ways that angel’s minister to us, as God’s chosen servants:
- Angels are God’s messengers,
- They minister to us on a personal level,
- Angels comfort us,
- They work to accomplish God’s will, to work his will for us,
- God’s angels are around us and waiting to provide us with help, and
- Angels deliver us from our trouble.
So, my hope is that this careful study of Daniel chapter 10 has been of advantage to you in understanding how angels work with us in our lives, as Christians.
In finishing today, perhaps there are some of you out there who have been listening to what I’ve been talking about, about angels’ and the spiritual forces of evil, and you think all of this is make-believe. You believe this to out-dated nonsense. I pray, today, that God will reveal himself to you—that he will show himself in a way that is undeniable, so that you may believe in him, so that you believe in his supernatural power and the work of his created beings, his angels. It is recorded for us in John chapter 20 the problem that Thomas had when it came to believing in the supernatural. Starting in verse 25, it says, “So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25, ESV). There are some of you out there who just need to see to believe. And that’s okay. Let’s look at the passage again in John, it says, “Then he [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27, 28, ESV). I pray for you today that God will do that same for you so that you will believe.
Now, there are some of you out there, some of you who believe what I’ve been saying, but you feel like you don’t want to fully commit yourself to Jesus. You’re afraid that if you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, that somehow you’ll miss out in life. You’re afraid that God won’t let you have some of the things in life that you want. Believe me, the way to true and fulfilling life is through Christ. In fact, he is the only way to have absolute, true fulfillment in this life. The belief that you will somehow miss out on life if you believe in Jesus today is a great deception from the enemy. Satan and his fallen angels have deceived your mind, and you are believing their lies. But the good news today is that you have a choice. If you’re eyes are open to see the truth, and you see it today, please don’t turn away from the truth you see. Accept Jesus, embrace him, count him as your personal Lord and Savior. Don’t let Satan steal away the seed that has been sown today. Don’t turn away from God’s tug on your heart. You know the truth. All there is with God is gain, not loss.
Again, let’s review the Gospel message. All of us our born into this world separated from God. We are born with sin within our hearts. God sent Jesus into this world, and he lived a perfect life and died on the cross as a payment for our sins, the wrongs we’ve done against God and against others. God requires a payment for sin. Jesus provided a perfect sacrifice on our behalf, one that is acceptable to God, made for us. And God raised him from the dead on the third day after he died, and he is alive today in Heaven with God and his angels. Anyone who believes in Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the dead will be forgiven of all offenses against God, being made right with him today. You can come into personal relationship with God today through Jesus Christ. This relationship is truly fulfilling, filling the void of what has been missing in your life. The feeling that something isn’t quite right, or that everything is meaningless, that feeling will go away today if you will accept Jesus into your heart, making him Lord, Leader, of your life.
If that is a choice you would like to make today, if a relationship with God is something you have chosen for yourself today—then I want you to follow my lead in this prayer:
God, I am coming to you today as an outsider, a person who does not know you personally. But God I want to know you. I want to come into a personal relationship with you through Jesus Christ. I do believe that Jesus died for my sins so that I can be made right with you today. I believe he rose from the dead and is with you in Heaven. I want you to lead me now; I want to follow you and what you say to be true. Please, Father, change me and make me like you want me to be, like your Son, Jesus. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the wonderful opportunity today to look at this passage from Daniel chapter 10, and to consider the spirit world, to consider how your angels work as ministering spirits for us, the elect—for those of us you’ve chosen to be yours, and to consider how angels interact with us, and with demons, in the unseen realm. Help us, Father, as we live out our lives to be comforted by the fact that your angels are next to us, often times helping us.
And Father, help us to be continuing to grow in you, becoming more like Jesus. Please help those today who have accepted Jesus for the first time as Lord and Savior. Help them through this process of change. Help them as they find themselves today with a new mind, a new perceptive, a new life. Help them to grow in becoming like Jesus, pleasing to you, and down right feeling good about their lives now and in the future. Thank you, Father, for helping us today, and for showing us the way, the truth, and the life, through Jesus.
In Jesus’ Precious and Holy Name I pray, Amen.
-Daniel Litton
Some of you have likely seen the old movie from the 1950s called “Forever, Darling” which starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Indeed, this was the second movie that Lucy and Desi made together during the “I Love Lucy” era. Anyway, the movie is about an angel (played by James Mason) who is sent from God to repair the main characters marriage, whose names are Susan and Lorenzo (played by Ball and Arnaz). Now, Lorenzo, nicknamed Larry, is a chemist who enjoys his job very much. He works at developing chemical formulas which will aid in protecting crops around the world from insects. But because he enjoys his job so much, and spends a great deal of time working, he tends to neglect the love of his life, his wife Susan. Sound familiar? And she, as most women will, becomes upset by his negligence over time.
In order to help Susan in her ordeal, the movie portrays that God allows her to see her Guardian Angel. Now, whether this angel is always there or not, we’re not sure. But to help her with her problem, she is enabled to see him. Of course, Susan is startled in seeing him around, and even goes to a psychologist to try to seemingly gain a reasonable explanation about what she is seeing. The angel ends up telling her that he was sent to her to help fix her marriage. And he starts to reason with Susan and to tell her she needs to see things differently—to see love differently—and if she will do this, she will end up saving her marriage. Of course, Susan initially believes that there really isn’t a problem with her and her husband Larry. As she listens to what the angel tells her, though, she decides to follow through with what he is telling her to do. But, he warns her that things sometimes have to get worse before they can get better.
Thus, the angel convinces Susan to go with Larry on his expedition out in the wilderness, which is really Yosemite National Park, where he is going to do a trial run of the chemical compound he has developed, the insecticide. This adventure is out of Susan’s comfort zone, but she supports her husband in his endeavor and goes with him at the angel’s instruction. Things start out okay, but as the camping trip progresses, more and more things start to go wrong. The angel shows up at their campsite to bring aid to the situation. The climax of the trip occurs when Larry and Susan are out on the water to test his compound, and a boating indecent occurs. Of course, this causes a huge argument between Susan and Lorenzo. But all said and done, Susan get’s to see the important things in life. She finally understands that it takes compromise and work to have a good marriage.
This movie illustrates and can remind us of some important truths when it comes to God’s angelic beings. It is definitely true that when we have problems in life, and when we cry out to God for help, that he will send his angels to our assistance. And it’s also true that angels protect us from varying obstacles in life, most of which we probably don’t even know we’re being protected from. It definitely is likely that each of us, as Christians, do indeed have a guardian angel—an angel who is assigned to protect us and help us in life. God wants to help us with our varying problems that arise, and he will often use angels to accomplish this help—to give us aid. As the writer of Hebrews has written for us in regard to angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14, ESV). So, one of the responsibilities of angels in our day and age is to serve us, as Christians.
We are going to spend time today in Daniel chapter 10 in the Old Testament. I want us to work through this passage in order to see how angels help us, as believers, and how they work. This passage involves the Prophet Daniel having a great need of which God sends him an angel to help him. I think we can learn quite a bit here in this passage as it pertains to angels. So, go ahead and turn to Daniel chapter 10. Let’s read the whole chapter here, and try to learn some new things today. Daniel chapter 10, starting in verse one, the text says:
“In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision.
“In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.
“And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”
“When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute. And behold, one in the likeness of the children of man touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, “O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength. How can my lord's servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.”
“Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.” (Daniel 10, ESV)
What a great chapter from this marvelous book of Daniel. We can note that verses 1-9 is the vision likely of the Lord Jesus Christ, and verses 10-21 is Daniel talking to the angel, probably Gabriel from the previous two chapters. There is a lot going on here, so let’s work through this and gain further insight as pertains to angels.
The first part of this passage deals with a vision that the Prophet Daniel saw one day as he was standing by the Tigris River. Now, note that the had been mourning and fasting for three weeks. He hadn’t even been taking caring of his physical condition. But as he feel into a deep trace, we might call it, he saw a man robed in fine linen garments. This person was likely the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, in the Old Testament, Christ was not identified as himself when he appeared to people. You’ll see occurrences where it says “the angel of the Lord” and this likely was Jesus in some instances. But he wasn’t pointed out as Jesus because he had not yet come into the world—he hadn’t been revealed to Israel. The description of this man certainly shares similarities we see with the Lord Jesus Christ in other places of Scripture, specifically in The Book of the Revelation 1:13, 14. However, this is also the same description of angels found in Revelation 15:6.
It’s not until we reach verse 10 here in Daniel chapter 10 that we see the appearance of the angel in this passage. And, of course, it brings up the first point I want to make today about angels, and that is that in the most basic form they are God’s messengers. They take things God speaks to them and pass them along to God’s servants, us. This was particularly common in Scripture. I’m sure we can all think of different passages where an angel brought a message to certain individuals, like in the Christmas story or even when the Apostle Paul was sailing at sea during that great storm in Acts 27. What is interesting, going to verse 11, is that before the angel tells him his message from God, he immediately encourages Daniel. He tells him, “O Daniel, man greatly loved.” That must have been a great comfort to Daniel, a great encouragement. Can you imagine an angel appearing to you and saying, “You are greatly loved by God.” We probably wouldn’t need much else said.
In our day and age here some 2,500 years after this passage, and some 2,000 years after Christ ascended into Heaven, most of us generally don’t see angels around us. And most of us will probably never encounter an angel in our lifetime—at least, knowingly. We all have angels assisting us at various times in various ways, and we all likely have entertained angels unknowingly, as the writer of Hebrews has foretold us, but most of us don’t usually see an angel in his physical form. You have to realize that most people, even during the times of Daniel or the times of the Lord Jesus Christ, or even during the days of Paul, didn’t likely see angels. So, just because someone may not see an angel does not mean the person is a lesser Christian, loved less by God. It is true, though, that a few of us will see angels even in this day and age in their regular form. God still does work like this, and angels do appear to people on occasion.
But whether seen or not by us, it definitely is true that angels do comfort us, just as the angel comforted Daniel with his awesome greeting. This is one of the angels responsibilities when it comes to ministering to us, as God’s servants, for they are ‘ministering’ spirits sent out to serve us, as we’ve already touched upon. Over in 2 Kings 6:14-17, we can see that God opened the eyes of one of his servants to see his great army of angels which had been sent to protect the Israelites from the Syrians. So, we can realize that our very ability to see angels on occasion can, in and of itself, be for our comfort. It’s comforting because it assures us that God is on our side. In Daniel’s case, it was that God was with him personally, and of course the same was true with the Israelites in getting ready for battle with the Syrians. When God allows us to see his angels then, it provides extra encouragement to our spirits, as does even learning about them.
Back in Daniel chapter 10, let’s pick up back in the passage with the angel’s statement. He says, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you” (ESV). So, there are a couple things I want us to notice here. Consider first that the angel relays to Daniel that what he’s about to tell him is important— for he said, “understand the words that I speak to you.” And surely that was the case, as is any special message from God. When God gives us a personal word in our lives, we want to be sure we are paying careful attention to what he is saying because this is to our advantage. God is helping us personally. The angel of the Lord also tells Daniel to stand up, another sign of the message’s importance for him. But I think part of this also is because we are not to worship angels as God’s servants. Though angels are holy, coming from Heaven, they are not to be worshipped because only God is to be worshipped. I’m sure coming to our minds is the passage from Revelation 19 where the Apostle John tried to worship the angel he was with.
Continuing in verse 11, we read, “And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words” (ESV). It would only be natural for a person to be afraid when seeing an angel, a supernatural being to us, since this is something of an extraordinary occurrence. And the angel tries to comfort him again by telling him not to be afraid of him. And then comes the message from the angel, his primary purpose in coming to see Daniel. He tells him that from the very first day that Daniel started to pray that God had answered his prayer. Now, Daniel had been praying for some three weeks by the time this angel had come to him, but God had answered his prayer on day one. That’s pretty encouraging. It wasn’t that Daniel had to talk God into doing for him what he wanted him to do. God wanted to help him. And notice how the angel said, “I have come because of your words.” Our words that we speak with our mouths are very important. And they do allow God to use his angels to benefit us and help us.
And I certainly think this is true for us, as Christians. I think God often does answer our prayers from the very first time we ask him something. Now, of course, this is not always the case, as the Lord Jesus Christ told us to keep praying and never give up (see Luke 18:1). But I do believe that often times this is the case. We know that God sent the angel immediately after Daniel prayed his prayer on the first day. How do we know that? If we continue reading in Daniel, the angel tells him, “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia.” Notice the twenty-one days mentioned here. So, God had dispatched the angel on Daniel’s first day of praying. But, as we see in the passage, the angel ran into a problem where he was held up.
And what is this about the angel being prevented from coming to Daniel? Well, it certainly wasn’t that Daniel was doing anything wrong. He continued to fast and pray. But the angel mentions the prince of Persia. I think this is best understood as a demonic angel, a fallen angel, that withstood this angel on his way to see Daniel. And he withstood him twenty-one days. It is often the case that Satan and his demons will try to hinder God’s work, as I’m sure we are all aware of that on a personal level. Remember, the Apostle Paul talked about this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. There, he said, “But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us” (2:17-18, ESV). So, we can see how Satan can try to hinder God’s work as with Paul and his companions, and he had hindered God’s angel here in Daniel chapter 10 in coming to Daniel.
It certainly is true that Satan will use external circumstances, unbelievers, and, believe it or not, sometimes even believers to try hinder the work God has called us to do. We understand how Satan, by his power—for he does have a lot of power—can control external circumstances in order to try to stop God’s servants from doing what he wants them to do. And often it’s not difficult for Satan to use unbelievers because they are on the same page with him—in trying to stop the work of God. They don’t believe God’s ways are the right ways, but believe their own ways are the ways that should be followed, and so Satan can use these individuals to work against believers, like protestors would often work against the Apostles, for instance. And sometimes Satan can even capture the heart of a believer to work against another believer. He can capture the believer’s heart through sin—things like jealously, a faultfinding attitude, and the like—so that the person feels justified in attacking another believer when that believer hasn’t done anything wrong.
Like, for instance, in regard to this, I’ve heard from a couple different sources lately that the Gospel ministries that truly matter, the ones that really have an impact on others, are those which work in one-on-one relationships, and that ministries that don’t do this aren’t as affective for the Gospel. Well, surely God disagrees since he often uses ministries on a grand scale that don’t involve one-on-one relationships. Let me provide a basic example of how this argument isn’t true. Personally, I don’t know John MacArthur. I’ve never met the man. He doesn’t know I exist. Yet his life through his ministry has had more of an impact on my life than any relational ministry ever has, period. God uses both non-relational and relational ministries to advance the Gospel, and one is not more important than the other. Don’t ever let someone tell you your ministry doesn’t matter or doesn’t have as much of an impact as others. If God has called you to do whatever it is you are doing, then that’s all that matters.
We get a glimpse here in Daniel 10 into the spiritual world, that unseen realm where God’s angels do battle, or fight against Satan’s fallen angels. We can notice from the passage here in Daniel that fallen angel’s can also have great power in their working, as again this prince of the kingdom of Persia had kept God’s angel preoccupied for twenty-one days. That’s quite a long time here. As powerful as we know God’s angels to be, as powerful as they are, the fallen angels are also powerful because, recall, they were created alongside the good angels. They used to be good angels themselves, and were with God in Heaven, serving him. So, it stands to reason that these beings too also have great power. Of course, they don’t have the power of God behind them, and there are two of God’s angels for every one of Satan’s angels, since only one-third of the angel’s left with Satan in his rebellion against God. Really, they were thrown down to the earth with Satan, and some of them we even locked up in Hell, and are there today waiting to be released in the future, during the times of the Book of Revelation (see also Luke 8:31). So, really, Satan doesn’t even have one-third of the angels available to him right now.
It is these types of battles, as we get a glimpse into here, that are going on in our world frequently. We often see the overflow, the manifestation, the negative consequences, and even sometimes positive consequences, of these battles. When we see bad things happen in our world, this is the overflow of the battle between God’s angel’s and Satan’s fallen angels. Of course, we see this quite a bit in our modern times, with the availability of news to us from around the world. To state it plainly, we see the fallen angels work through entities like ISIS, and we see God’s angels push them back through the work of the Israeli and United States armed forces. We’ve seen demonic forces attack schools, killing and hurting children, and how the casualties were far less than they could have been due to the work of God’s angels. This spiritual war is very real in our world today.
The angel tells Daniel that he gained some greatly needed help when he was being stopped by the demonic angel. Now, whether he called out to God for help or whether it had come to the Lord’s mind that the angel needed help, we really don’t know. But, it turns out that God sends Michael, who, interestingly enough, is listed as one of God’s chief angels, one of his chief princes, to help this angel. This angel also mentioned here in verse 13 that he “was left there with the kings of Persia.” That’s an important and interesting statement. Perhaps this angel of the Lord had been bound, we’re not really sure, but for some reason he could not leave from these kings of Persia. Now, these kings of Persia denotes that there was actually—watch this—more than one demonic being who was holding this angel up. Yes, the angel spoke of the prince of Persia, but here he also speaks of the kings of Persia. So, it would appear then that the first fallen angel was the chief ruler in Persia, and that the other fallen angels were spirit rulers within Persia who answered to the chief ruler.
This picture we get here in the kingdom of Persia is insightful because it goes to show us that Satan and his demons have set up camp in certain areas of our world, certain kingdoms, certain cites, around the globe. And I’m sure many of you were already aware of this fact, but it shows us in Scripture that there are established demonic forces on our earth. And they seek to promote their agendas against humans—and even working through humans—to try to keep people away from God, from accepting the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They want to prevent as many people as they can from coming into right relationship with God. Often times people think they are just living freely, for instance, when they are promoting things that are against God, like anti-marriage positions, or abortion, or gay rights. They think they are just promoting what they feel is right for the world. But the Bible tells us that behind these anti-God positions are demonic forces influencing people’s minds to promote these agendas. So, interestingly enough, there are many out there who think they are just doing right, who think they know better than God, but they are actually being used as pawns from Satan’s forces to accomplish Satan’s will. They are deceived themselves and Satan works through them to deceive more and more people, to get them to move away from God. That is pretty sobering.
As I was thinking about this there is one thing clearly that, for me, is easy to see when it comes to the spiritual war bleeding from the spirit realm over to our own realm. I think if you just look at the symbol of the pro-homosexual movement around the world we can see the demonic forces clearly at work. We know that one of God’s most hated sins in the practice of homosexuality. We know that because quite a long time ago he destroyed two entire cities for that sin, including the surrounding cities. Now, the symbol for that movement is the rainbow, and the rainbow happens to also be one of God’s favorite images, as we see in The Book of the Revelation when getting a glimpse into his throne room (see Revelation 4:3; also 10:1). So, Satan takes one of the most precious things to God, the rainbow, and associates it with one of the most hated things by God, the practice of homosexuality. Obviously, Satan is trying to get under God’s skin. And there is also the aspect where the rainbow represents the fact that God will never again destroy the world by a flood. That’s what it represents to us, as humans. And it’s as if Satan is trying to egg God on—trying to challenge his promise—by associating his bow with something that provokes is anger. Of course, we know that God isn’t going to destroy the world because he is provoked by Satan, but because he is a holy, righteous, and just God, and cannot let sin go unaddressed.
As we continue to look at the passage here in Daniel, we can see from the vision that as Daniel interacts with the angel that he is still afraid of him and has lost his strength. And the angel encourages him all the more by reiterating what he had already said in verse 19. For he says to him again, ““O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage”” (ESV). He reminds Daniel that he is greatly loved by God, to not fear, to be at peace, to be strong, and to be of good courage. And, going to verse 20, the angel says he’s going to tell Daniel the answer to his prayer—for that is why he had come. He was there to provide Daniel an answer for the prayer he had been praying to God. In Daniel’s case, it was to tell him what has been written in the Book of Truth, which is about the future. In understanding this Book of Truth, let us recall the words of the Prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 46:9, 10, which state: “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (ESV). God has already decided what he is going to do in the future, and he was about to give Daniel some keen insight into some of these things, as he had already been doing in the previous chapters. So, Daniel’s prayer got answered with the angels help.
And notice how the angel says that after he tells Daniel the things God has appointed for him to hear, that he will have to go fight against, again, the prince of Persia. The angel himself already had insight into his own future, for he said that after he would fight against the prince of Persia, that he would in fact then face off with the prince of Greece. And, again, he says in verse 21 that he is going to need the angel Michael’s help in warding off these demonic forces. And that it will only be him and Michael to fight them. But notice how he says, “there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince” (ESV). He calls Michael the angel Daniel’s prince. This is interesting because it seems to signify that Michael is in fact Daniel’s guardian angel. Now, if he was Daniel’s guardian angel, it seems to indicate that this angel was not always with him. The Bible tells us that God is always with us, but it would appear that our guardian angels may not always be with us. If we turn to Psalm 34, and verse 7, we read: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them” (ESV). So, God definitely sends angels to help us when we need help, just as we talked about at the beginning of this sermon with Susan and Larry. And it seems that God assigns a specific angel to help us, a guardian angel. We have probably come to believe this to be true in our own lives. God directs his angels to work for our behalf.
So, to recap, we can note the following ways that angel’s minister to us, as God’s chosen servants:
- Angels are God’s messengers,
- They minister to us on a personal level,
- Angels comfort us,
- They work to accomplish God’s will, to work his will for us,
- God’s angels are around us and waiting to provide us with help, and
- Angels deliver us from our trouble.
So, my hope is that this careful study of Daniel chapter 10 has been of advantage to you in understanding how angels work with us in our lives, as Christians.
In finishing today, perhaps there are some of you out there who have been listening to what I’ve been talking about, about angels’ and the spiritual forces of evil, and you think all of this is make-believe. You believe this to out-dated nonsense. I pray, today, that God will reveal himself to you—that he will show himself in a way that is undeniable, so that you may believe in him, so that you believe in his supernatural power and the work of his created beings, his angels. It is recorded for us in John chapter 20 the problem that Thomas had when it came to believing in the supernatural. Starting in verse 25, it says, “So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25, ESV). There are some of you out there who just need to see to believe. And that’s okay. Let’s look at the passage again in John, it says, “Then he [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27, 28, ESV). I pray for you today that God will do that same for you so that you will believe.
Now, there are some of you out there, some of you who believe what I’ve been saying, but you feel like you don’t want to fully commit yourself to Jesus. You’re afraid that if you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, that somehow you’ll miss out in life. You’re afraid that God won’t let you have some of the things in life that you want. Believe me, the way to true and fulfilling life is through Christ. In fact, he is the only way to have absolute, true fulfillment in this life. The belief that you will somehow miss out on life if you believe in Jesus today is a great deception from the enemy. Satan and his fallen angels have deceived your mind, and you are believing their lies. But the good news today is that you have a choice. If you’re eyes are open to see the truth, and you see it today, please don’t turn away from the truth you see. Accept Jesus, embrace him, count him as your personal Lord and Savior. Don’t let Satan steal away the seed that has been sown today. Don’t turn away from God’s tug on your heart. You know the truth. All there is with God is gain, not loss.
Again, let’s review the Gospel message. All of us our born into this world separated from God. We are born with sin within our hearts. God sent Jesus into this world, and he lived a perfect life and died on the cross as a payment for our sins, the wrongs we’ve done against God and against others. God requires a payment for sin. Jesus provided a perfect sacrifice on our behalf, one that is acceptable to God, made for us. And God raised him from the dead on the third day after he died, and he is alive today in Heaven with God and his angels. Anyone who believes in Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the dead will be forgiven of all offenses against God, being made right with him today. You can come into personal relationship with God today through Jesus Christ. This relationship is truly fulfilling, filling the void of what has been missing in your life. The feeling that something isn’t quite right, or that everything is meaningless, that feeling will go away today if you will accept Jesus into your heart, making him Lord, Leader, of your life.
If that is a choice you would like to make today, if a relationship with God is something you have chosen for yourself today—then I want you to follow my lead in this prayer:
God, I am coming to you today as an outsider, a person who does not know you personally. But God I want to know you. I want to come into a personal relationship with you through Jesus Christ. I do believe that Jesus died for my sins so that I can be made right with you today. I believe he rose from the dead and is with you in Heaven. I want you to lead me now; I want to follow you and what you say to be true. Please, Father, change me and make me like you want me to be, like your Son, Jesus. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the wonderful opportunity today to look at this passage from Daniel chapter 10, and to consider the spirit world, to consider how your angels work as ministering spirits for us, the elect—for those of us you’ve chosen to be yours, and to consider how angels interact with us, and with demons, in the unseen realm. Help us, Father, as we live out our lives to be comforted by the fact that your angels are next to us, often times helping us.
And Father, help us to be continuing to grow in you, becoming more like Jesus. Please help those today who have accepted Jesus for the first time as Lord and Savior. Help them through this process of change. Help them as they find themselves today with a new mind, a new perceptive, a new life. Help them to grow in becoming like Jesus, pleasing to you, and down right feeling good about their lives now and in the future. Thank you, Father, for helping us today, and for showing us the way, the truth, and the life, through Jesus.
In Jesus’ Precious and Holy Name I pray, Amen.
-Daniel Litton