ANGELIC MINISTRY (PART 5)

 ANGELIC MINISTRY (PART 5) 

TEXT: Acts 8:26-35 (KJV)
²⁶  And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
²⁷  And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
²⁸   Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
²⁹  Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
³⁰  And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
³¹  And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
³²   The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
³³  In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
³⁴  And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
³⁵  Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

The passage of today is a continuation from our last devotion on angels. Looking at the text for today, from our previous study on angels we also looked at Hebrews 1:14 which says “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” and then went on to say it is not the duty of angels to preach salvation to the lost but that they direct people to the children of God who are assigned to this responsibility. This is the reason why the angel had to appear to Philip to carry out this awesome assignment. We were also told that once the angel did his part he then urged Philip to his own task. It was our conclusion that this should make us realize that it is a waste of time waiting for God to send an angel to do the work that has been assigned to us. When there is a need to minister to a soul the Lord may see the need to send an angel to lead us to the soul that is in need of salvation. Not all of us are that sensitive but until we respond the angel will keep urging us in that direction.

Let me share this experience with you. I remember some years back when I was one of the pastors in a local church, as the minister for prayer and counseling, on this particular day I was leading the closing prayer of a three days fasting and prayer at the church. The church was filled to overflow and while rounding up the prayer my attention was drawn to a young man who fell under the power of the Spirit at the door. When I later spoke with him to find out what had happened, he said he had been involved in robbery with a gang and suddenly saw the need to depart from that evil lifestyle. In trying to break free he then sense the need to go to one of the mega churches in town hoping to see the pastor to confess his sins and be prayed for. He said when he got there the pastor was very busy attending to several persons but in his determination to have a change he waited from about 7:00AM till about 5:00PM. When it seems all hope was lost he felt an urge to leave the place in search of help. He said immediately he came out of the place, as he walked to the junction of the street wondering which way to turn suddenly somebody came and told him what direction to follow. He said when he got to a point where he was confused somebody suddenly showed up on a motorbike and said to him what direction to follow and then zoomed off. At some other points it was somebody in a moving vehicle or someone standing somewhere close by. Now all of this sounded strange and in my curiosity I asked him if these persons that showed up were seen by others he said he is not sure and that they don’t seem to be ordinary because they would always show up when he needed help and without him asking them they will point him to the next direction to follow. It is amazing because the route he took was a very busy one with people and a lot of activities yet he directed until he showed up in front of the church building where we were having the fasting and prayer meeting. He said when he arrived there was no access to come in because the place was filled to overflowing. Just as he was trying to take a look suddenly the power of God overshadowed him and he found himself on the floor at the entrance door.

 Beloved, our God is seriously at work reaching out to souls and there are millions of angels at work around us trying to bring souls to the kingdom of God. The Lord is in need of faithful men who will do His bidding. May the Lord find you worthy to assign his angels and this awesome responsibility in Jesus name. Amen.