As I said, a few years back, I had a dream...well, I hate to call it that, because I was awake. Similar to this morning, I was lying in bed right before getting up when this picture entered my mind. It was a skit. There were 4 men involved. One was standing near the top of a ladder and there were several empty boxes stacked on top of it. The boxes were wrapped in white paper and there was one word on each box written in big red letters. There was one man dressed in white representing one of God's angels and another man dressed in black representing one of Satan's. Last, there was a man down on his knees in prayer. He was praying for a new job, and the minute he did, a white box dropped from above (that had "JOB" written on it) and the angel in white caught it. He began to run across the stage to deliver it to the man in prayer, but was quickly stopped by the angel of darkness. They had their hands on one another's shoulders as they began to try to push one another in the opposite direction; the angel with the answered prayer was trying to make his way across the stage to the man, while the demonic angel was attempting to prevent that from happening. As long as the man continued in prayer, the "white" angel advanced. But when he would stop praying, getting discouraged because he hadn't received his answer yet, the "black" angel would advance. Eventually, the answer was delivered because the man was persistent in praying.
Upon waking fully, I thought of the Bible story found in Daniel 10:12-14 which reads, "Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. "Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future."
As this story points out, Daniel's prayer for understanding regarding what was going to take place in the end times was delayed because the two angels were "contending" with one another. Other versions of the Bible say the Prince of the Persian Kingdom "resisted" him or "withstood" him. Spiritual warfare is very real, people! Yet God is so good and so gracious that he has assigned His angels to watch over us. Check these verses out:
"For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." Psalm 91:11 " What are the angels, then? They are spirits who serve God and are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation." Hebrews 1:14
That second verse brings up what I saw this morning. There were a bunch of men dressed in white (in my mind's eye I knew they were angels) sitting around a big wooden table hanging out and visiting. Some were leaned back in their chairs, others were slouched over resting their heads on the table top. Each one was wearing a shoulder mic like policemen wear too. One angel walked through the room and asked what they were doing and one of them exasperatingly responded, "We don't have anything to do...!?"
You can call me crazy if you want to, but when I tie these two word pictures together, I say we (specifically I) need to be in prayer much more than I currently am! When we pray, God answers! He dispatches his angels out to help us when we call out to him! Are you keeping your angel(s) busy, allowing them to do the job God has assigned them to do on your behalf or are they getting to slack on the job for lack of demand? I want whatever help God has given me to be on active duty, not merely part-time time help...or worse yet, unemployed!
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