Wednesday, December 01, 2010

God's Messengers

I found Dr. David Jeremiah's daily devotional for today, December 1, 2010 quite fascinating and interesting. I think that it helps us gain a glimpse of what is going on behind the scenes in the heavenly places that has a direct (or, at times, indirect) cause as to why some of our prayers may not be immediately answered.

Wednesday, December 1

God's Messengers

Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.
Psalm 103:20

Recommended Reading
Daniel 10:12-14


When someone in authority gives a directive, that command finds its way to the appropriate person who makes it happen. Commands don't execute themselves--it takes a person to carry out the authority's desires.

Isaiah 55:10-11 pictures God as an authority who sends forth His word. And it is always carried out: "It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." But how does that happen? Who carries out God's words and translates them into action? Angels do--like the angel found in Daniel 10. This angel was dispatched from heaven to deliver to Daniel the answer to his prayers. The angel was delayed for three weeks by an evil angel, the power behind "the prince of the kingdom of Persia." Only the angel Michael, "one of the chief princes," was able to defeat this evil angel and see the messenger on his way to Daniel.

When you pray, realize that angels are at work to execute God's answers. And they may be opposed by "principalities and powers in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 3:10).

Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Timothy 1:1–3:17


How interesting it is to realize that in the case of Daniel, a more powerful angel needed to be dispatched and intervene in order for the original angel to deliver the answer to his Daniel's prayers! Think of this scenario the next time you feel that your prayers aren't being answered. Remember that the answer might be "yes," "no," or "later."

Examine your prayer request to see if it lines up with what Scripture teaches. Sometimes prayer requests are turned down because they aren't right for you or do not agree with God's righteousness and/or His Word.

But in the case of a prayer request being appropriate, perhaps in due time, in God's Perfect timing, such a prayer will be answered. I have experienced this in my own life. I have had answered prayers in a timely fashion, and in other cases, it took years - sometimes decades for a prayer to be answered. However, the decades-long prayer was answered at just the right time for the individual being prayed for. How awesome is that?

In our imperfect state here on this earth, we see as through a glass darkly and cannot even fathom the tapestry of salvation being sewn by God through His mercy, grace, righteous judgments and eternal promises. Sometimes it is very hard to wait and we want to yell, "God? What are you doing?" But when we enter into eternity, the appearance of the underside of a ragged-looking tapestry of colored threads will be replaced by the view from heaven of the gorgeous tapestry being created as we head into the Millennium, and then into eternity. What a joyous day that will be! We will see Christ face to face - we will see him "as He is." At the culmination of all of human history, what is not known by us while in existence on this earth will be made known! Imagine! All of our questions will be answered and we will be in the presence of the Living Lord - Jesus Christ! I cannot even picture, in my mind's eye, how glorious that will be!

Therefore, we must be patient and remain diligent in our evangelizing efforts so that more people on this earth will learn of Jesus Christ, his sacrificial death on the cross for our salvation, and the resurrection that is to come for all who believe in His Name.

Hat Tip:

David Jeremiah.org

5 comments:

GMpilot said...

CJW: ”I think that it helps us gain a glimpse of what is going on behind the scenes in the heavenly places that has a direct (or, at times, indirect) cause as to why some of our prayers may not be immediately answered.”

I think that it's Christine licking her wounds after the bitter blow earlier this week that Kerchner's lawsuit isn't going anywhere, just as all the previous birther lawsuits haven't gone anywhere (except maybe into the “round file”).

”Think of this scenario the next time you feel that your prayers aren't being answered. Remember that the answer might be "yes," "no," or "later."”

So God is a Magic 8-Ball® that sometimes answers requests? Both Matt 17:20 and Luk 1:37 take a stronger position than that!

If you trust in your God but he hasn't removed the people you want him to remove, there may be several reasons for this:
1. He's smarter than you are, and all this is part of His Plan™. (Part of that plan may involve suffering; he's certainly done that to people before.)
2. He's pissed at you for trying to subvert that Plan by praying to him.
3. He isn't there at all, and you're just going to have to solve problems by yourself.

Am I right about Kerchner? You know I don't keep up with that stuff, but I'd guess if the SCOTUS had accepted it, the news would be all over this blog. But you've said nothing.
I know you'll be cheerleading the next challengers soon. David Jeremiah's words may be enough to heal you for now, though.

Christinewjc said...

This post was written for a larger purpose than just the dismissed lawsuit, GM.

When I mentioned that "a decades-long prayer was eventually answered" I was referring to my dad's conversion to Christ just four months before he died on May 30, 1995.

Do you recall this post?

In it, I wrote:

On the other hand, if the Supreme Court doesn't take the case, then in my own mind, I will have to come to one of two conclusions. Perhaps there are more choices in the matter (please share if you have another idea), but the following two make the most sense to me.

1. The devastating choice is that the United States of America has already been taken over by covert hostile measures and therefore all of the checks and balances which would allow us to question and present evidence about Obama's ineligibility will always be halted and/or doomed to failure.

2. The second choice is that "the powers that be" already know who Obama's biological father is, and it isn't Barrack Hussein Obama Sr. Speculation has been presented many times at this blog, and other blogs that Obama is actually the "secret" son of either Frank Marshall Davis or Malcolm X. Either of these men would mean that Obama does qualify as a natural born citizen which is required by the U.S. Constitution.

Some day the truth will come out. I don't know when, but it inevitably does.

I would rather the truth to be closer to choice #2 (above), because choice #1 is indeed the scarier scenario.

GMpilot said...

The link was dead. But yes, I remember some of that.
If choice #1 is already in effect, then all that can be done is to present the evidence outside our borders—even our government can't completely dismiss international pressure. But in 2½ years, all I've seen are wild accusations, incomplete audio recordings, forged birth certificates, and outright lies (such as visiting Pakistan when it was on the USDoS' “proscribed” list).
You're not just claiming that Obama isn't a natural born citizen—you're claiming that he is an active agent of hostile foreign powers (or, more recently, an active agent of subversive internal forces). The fact that you've called him a fascist and a Marxist (among others) doesn't make your beliefs true. It only shows you have an imperfect understanding of those terms.

If it's choice #2 and Obama is qualified for office by means of his citizenship, would you then cease all this booga-booga you've been screaming since the spring of '08? Given your posts all these months, I'd say no. Would Joe Farris and his ilk then stop? Would Orly Taitz, or Leo Berman?
Malcom X was certainly a citizen, but when he was killed, Barack Obama was 3½ years old, and living in Hawaii. Does any link exist between the two of them? If there is, it will be found; otherwise you're chasing a unicorn.

”Some day the truth will come out. I don't know when, but it inevitably does.”
Yeah, but the eventually part bothers you (like it sometimes does me). You want action from somebody now, whether from God, Kerchner or whomever. If you really trust your God, then you know things are going exactly as he wants, and you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to second-guess him.

GMpilot said...

The link was dead. But yes, I remember some of that.

If choice #1 is already in effect, then all that can be done is to present the evidence outside our borders—even our government can't completely dismiss international pressure. But in 2½ years, all I've seen are wild accusations, incomplete audio recordings, forged birth certificates, and outright lies (such as visiting Pakistan when it was on the USDoS' “proscribed” list). Given that record, it is little wonder that the SCOTUS dismisses them as 'frivolous'.
You're not just claiming that Obama isn't a natural born citizen—you're claiming that he is an active agent of hostile foreign powers (or, more recently, an active agent of subversive internal forces). The fact that you've called him a fascist and a Marxist (among others) doesn't make your beliefs true. It only shows you have an imperfect understanding of those terms.

(continued below)

GMpilot said...

(continued)

If it's choice #2 and Obama is qualified for office by means of his citizenship, would you then cease all this booga-booga you've been screaming since the spring of '08? Given your posts all these months, I'd say no. Would Joe Farris and his ilk then stop? Would Orly Taitz, or Leo Berman?
Malcom X was certainly a citizen, but when he was killed, Barack Obama was 3½ years old, and living in Hawaii. Does any link exist between the two of them? If there is, it will be found; otherwise you're chasing a unicorn.

”Some day the truth will come out. I don't know when, but it inevitably does.”
Yeah, but the eventually part bothers you (like it sometimes does me). You want action from somebody now, whether from God, Kerchner or whomever. If you really trust your God, then you know things are going exactly as he wants, and you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to second-guess him.