Even Jesus needed an angel when He was down. Why should we feel as though we're tougher than our own Savior, Jesus Christ, as though we ought to be able to handle things on our own, without help. Too often it's embarrassment or the sin of pride that keeps us from asking for help. I recall being told by Dr. Doug Talbott, the renowned psychologist and founder of the Talbott Recovery Campus in Atlanta, that the two hardest words to say in the English language are "help me." What we fail to realize is that we miss out on a blessing when we keep things to ourselves. Friendships are never truly forged that way, and let's face it, there's certainly less intimacy in our relationships when we delude others into believing we're some sort of rock, someone who has it all together and doesn't need any help.
Why are we here except to bless and help one another? Does anyone really believe we're here to make as much money as we can and collect as many toys as possible, while ignoring the fact that others are hurting all around us? Even when our dark times are over, we may think that we got through the dark alone, without anyone's help, but that ignores the fact that Christ Himself, along with the Holy Spirit, are always interceding for us. Hebrews 7:25 records our Father as promising, "I always liveth to make intercession for you." The same book records Him promising, "I will never leave you or forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5) According to Romans 8:26, the Holy Spirit has promised to "intercede" for us, even when we don't know how to pray as we ought. That's arguably the best news in the whole Bible. If you look 8 verses later, in Romans 8:34, Jesus essentially promised the same thing. I love the way God promised this for all of us two thousand years earlier in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 31:6, when He said, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. I am with you wherever you may go. I will never leave you or forsake you."
“…, nevertheless not my will, but Thy will be done.”
Were that not enough for some of the 'doubting Thomas' types, we also have the "angels" who are ministering to us. According to scripture, angels are always available to "attend" to us and "strengthen" us. How do we know this? Check out Luke 22:42, 43, which records the time when Jesus was sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of his crucifixion. Jesus prayed, "Father take this cup from me, nevertheless not my will but thy will be done.' (Luke 22:42)… Then an angel appeared to Him, to strengthen Him." (Luke 22:43) You'll notice that the angel did not appear to Him, "to strengthen Him," until after Jesus quit praying for His own will to be done. You can see that He was first praying for an easier way out, but then He caught Himself. Jesus, in his humanity, didn't want to go out that way. Being omniscient, He knew how incredibly painful and torturous the crucifixion would be. Though it's hard to conceptualize and visualize, Jesus was 100% man and simultaneously 100% God. In His humanity, He would have preferred not to go to the cross; however, in His deity, He knew that He had to go, for our sake; and, therefore, He caught Himself when He was praying for "this cup" (i.e. the cruel cross and the crucifixion) to be "removed" from Him, and then He changed His specific request of the Father. He said, " …, nevertheless not my will, but thy will be done."
Surrender to win
It is interesting that only after Jesus surrendered entirely to the Father's will, did the angel appear to Him, "to strengthen Him." The angel didn't show up to help out and strengthen Jesus until He first did the right thing, surrendering His will to the Father's will. I believe that this is the case with each and every one of us too; I'm convinced by these biblical examples that our Father in Heaven will dispatch an angel, or even a legion of angels, to minister to us and otherwise help and strengthen us, once we surrender to the Father's will in our own lives. Each of us needs to first come to that place in our individual lives when we can say, "nevertheless not my will, but Thy will be done." Only then will we be at peace and have any kind of real joy in this thing we call 'life.'
The occasion in the Garden of Gethsemane was not the only time that angels came to Jesus to strengthen Him. Three years earlier, when Jesus was in the wilderness, angels appeared to Him. Mark 1:13 records, "and He was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him." Matthew tells the story with even greater detail, making it clear that the angels came and attended Jesus only after He first resisted the devil's temptation. Specifically, the angels came and "attended" Jesus only after Jesus first rebuked the devil, saying, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only." (Matthew 4:10) Only after Jesus resisted the devil, did the angels arrive to do their thing, just as the angel did three years later in the Garden of Gethsemane, "to strengthen Him."
Obviously, therefore, angels do exist! Of course, we know that angels are found all throughout the New Testament, with the archangel Gabriel separately telling Mary and Joseph that Mary, a virgin, would be with the Savior child, and then again warning them to get out of Egypt; and then there were the other angels announcing the birth of Jesus, and being there at the tomb thirty three (33) years later to tell a shocked Mary Magdalene that Jesus wasn't in the tomb because He had resurrected. Then again, during the ascension, we have the angels telling hundreds of eyewitness-disciples that Jesus will come again in the same way as they watched Him ascend into Heaven. Angels were there to do the grandiose things, but they were there to do the practical things too. Recall, an angel helped Peter get out of prison. Angels will even get their hands dirty, striking you if necessary, to get your attention. Acts 12:7 records that Peter was "bound with two chains between two soldiers," and yet the following occurred: "Now behold, as angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly! And his chains fell off his hands." That's right, Peter, referred to by Jesus as "Petra," the Rock himself - and I'm not talking about the actor-wrestler by the same stage name - needed an angel. Jesus changed Simon's name to "Petra," which is translated, "rock," while proclaiming, "Upon this rock I shall build my church." That's how strong Jesus must have perceived Peter to be, and yet Peter, just like Jesus on a couple of occasions, needed an angel.
Angels today?
In today's fast paced society, angelic activity may be hard to recognize for what it is. There are times when it's seemingly impossible to differentiate angelic activity from the activities of man, so it's no wonder we're too often skeptical of all these claims about angels. Peter's prison chains miraculously fell off, while the angel was striking him and telling him what to do. The angel then commanded Peter, "Gird yourself and tie on your sandals," and after Peter obeyed, the angel then said, "Put on your garment and follow me." – Acts 12:8 This was not obvious angelic activity from all appearances, so incredibly mystical and grandiose that it could only be explained by pointing upwards to the heaven lies. Peter's angel was relegated to doing some fairly practical and mundane basics, what we as humans do almost every day, striking the apostle to get his attention, telling him to get dressed and tie his sandals, telling Peter to follow him. Then, in the 10th verse, and just like with Peter's chains, the closed iron gate miraculously opened for them, and just as quickly, "the angel departed from him."
Why should we then believe that angels are not there for us? Of course they are, just as they were there for Jesus, His earthly parents and His disciples. The Book of Hebrews certainly suggests that the angels are still busy at work all around us. We are admonished to be concerned about how we treat strangers, inasmuch as we may be "entertaining angels unaware." (Hebrews 13:2) There are many times that we experience or read about random acts of kindness from others we don't know, and these actions come at very critical times in our lives. What are we to think? Could we really be "entertaining angels unaware?" Why not? It's biblical!
The Comforter
Of course, we don't want to be kind to others only because we're afraid they may be angels, and we're concerned that our Heavenly Father is watching. That is no way to go through life, living in fear and paranoia, concerned about the Father's judgment. He cares more about our heart and motivation, as you might imagine. He wants us to want to help others, not out of fear and obligation, but out of love and compassion. Having said this, it is true, however, that He essentially expects us to comfort others, just as He comforts us. I cannot say it any better than He said it in 2 Corinthians 1:4: "He comforts us every time we have trouble, so that we can comfort others when they have trouble." How does He comfort us when we have trouble? We've already talked about it, perhaps with complete strangers, whether humans or angels!
Our Heavenly "Abba," or "Daddy," wants us to 'chill out' today and, as they say in the 12 step programs, “let go and let God." In fact, He commands us to relax. It is not just advice or a suggestion from the Father; it's a hard and fast order and command. He tells us in Luke 8:50, "Don't be afraid; just believe." That is not advice. He is not suggesting that we ought to think about not being afraid. He is commanding us, "Don't be afraid," and to "just believe." In case we missed it, He commands us again four chapters later in the same Gospel of Luke, Luke 12:32 "Do not be afraid … for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom." Wow, pretty cool, huh? Our Father is pleased to give us the Kingdom? Are you kidding me? Us, the reprobates we are, recipients of such a gift, and He's even "pleased" to give it to us? Why would He do that? There is no other explanation aside from unadulterated love.
"God is love"
"God is love," according to 1 John 4:8. It's the same with any loving Father, isn't it? Why would I still want my kids to be with me forever, even if they're repeatedly disobedient? There is no other reason except that I love them. There is nothing they can do to make me love them more, and there is nothing they can do to make me love them less. It's the same way with our Heavenly Daddy. And, the beauty is, as we struggle to live as obedient kids, He takes all the pressure off of us, and puts it on Himself! That's right, check it out 2 Chron. 20:15: "Be not afraid or dismayed by reason of this, for the battle is not yours, but God's." Now if that's not good news, then almost nothing is. It's God's fight, not mine? That takes a lot of the pressure, guilt, shame and condemnation off of me, whenever I'm still struggling too much in the fight. And the fight can be about almost anything, you name the sin. We've committed some sins so often that they've become habitual and even addictive. A sinful act that has become addictive is referred to in the faith community as a stronghold or besetting sin, something you cannot seem to stop doing. It seems that no matter how hard you try, you simply cannot resist the temptation. The reason? Because you're trying to do it in your own power, instead of giving it to your higher power, God!
It's not your fight!
Remember 2 Chron. 20:15, when He said, "Be not afraid or dismayed because of this, for the battle is not yours, but God's." Those 12 step folks are right, "let go and let God!" You cannot do it on your own, in your own strength, but He can! He, in you, can beat this thing, whatever it is. If you try to do it on your own, without His help, you'll lose every time. The proof that He meant what He said, when He said that the battle was His, and not ours, is the fact that He went to the cross, not us! He took the fight all the way to the cross, for us, and there He defeated the enemy and death, once and for all. He loves us that much. I'm reminded of this love when I recall His words, "No greater love hath this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." Jesus did just that, for the criminal on the cross next to Him, and for you and me. That criminal didn't attend church every week and pay tithes and do all the other obedient things you might imagine that a 'deserving' person would do, and yet Jesus reassured him, "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43 KJV) Why? Why that criminal? We know for a certainty from the scriptures that the criminal was, in fact, guilty. We know this because the criminal himself publicly admitted that he was guilty, as he was rebuking the other crucified criminal.
"Jesus, remember me …"
Recall, Christ was crucified between two criminals, fulfilling the messianic prophecy recorded in Isaiah 53:12, "He was numbered with His transgressors." One of those transgressors was still unrepentant as he hung there on the cross next to Jesus, mocking the Savior by scoffing, "So you're the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself – and us, too, while you're at it!" The repentant criminal then rebuked the scoffing, unrepentant criminal, saying "Don't you fear God even when you are dying? We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man hasn't done anything wrong." (Luke 23:40 NLT) There's the admission to his own guilt, which we soon learn didn't keep him out of Heaven. But, then, the repentant criminal went further, by turning to Jesus and asking his Messiah, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." (Luke 23:42 NLT) There it was, the public acknowledgement by the repentant, though guilty criminal, that Jesus was who He had said He was, the Messiah; and, then came the criminal's personal request for the Savior's help.
We must all mimic the final words and actions of the repentant criminal, each and every one of us, if we want the same response and promise from the Savior, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43 NLT) That criminal was modeling for all of us. He knew and publicly proclaimed that Christ was the very King who would soon come into His Kingdom. He publicly acknowledged the Messiahship of Christ. His public display of repentance and his personal request of the Savior for salvation in eternity, was then rewarded by Jesus, who then gifted him with the promise of all promises, the gift of our assurance of salvation. Each and every one of us are longing in our hearts to hear the same promise of promises from Jesus. In order to receive that gift, we must simply do as the guilty criminal did in his final dying moments.
It's just like Jesus, isn't it?
It's just like Jesus, isn't it, to choose a guilty criminal to speak to the self-righteousness in all of us? He chose a stable for His first moments of birth, and a borrowed tomb for His few moments of death; He chose an obscure 15 year old virgin girl to be his mother, and a humble young carpenter to be His earthly stepfather; He chose rag tag fishermen as disciples, and not religious leaders; He chose low life shepherds in that day to announce His own birth, not dignitaries; He chose women (who were not even allowed to testify in court back then), instead of men or notables, to announce His resurrection from the tomb; He chose recovering prostitutes and tax collectors to personify His examples of grace, mercy, forgiveness and redemption; He chose lepers and not the loveable, to demonstrate the kind of selfless love He expects all of us to share; and, therefore, is it any wonder that He chose a guilty criminal to teach us the very simple lesson of salvation!
The real battle – our thought life
The daily (or I should say, hourly, or even a moment by moment!) "battle" that He's talking about begins with, and is often won or lost in, our 'thought life.' I'm reminded of Proverbs 23:7, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Isn't it true, that every act begins first with a thought? If we think about something long enough and often enough, we visualize ourselves doing it, and then it won't be long before we're actually doing the very thing we've been thinking about. It only makes sense that if I see what I'm not supposed to see, and I hear what I'm not supposed to hear, and I say what I'm not supposed to say, I'm going to do what I'm not supposed to do. I overheard Gil Fernandez, now a prison inmate, counseling and teaching these same thought life realities to the young son of a fellow prison inmate. We were all together in the visiting area of Florida's "Union Correctional Institute," the maximum-security prison known also as "Raiford" or "the Rock." Gil was telling the inmate's young son, "Every time I give in to the enemy, sin, he took me further than I wanted to go, he kept me longer than I wanted to stay, and I paid more than I wanted to pay."
The farmer will reap from the harvest whatever crops he has grown, but the harvest depends first on which seeds the farmer earlier sowed. In much the same way, we too will reap the fruit of whatever deeds we've committed, growing out of what seeds we've planted and then watered in our mind. The seeds we plant or allow to be planted in our mind, will eventually take root and bear fruit, if we water them and attend to them too much! We've often heard the biblical saying, "a man reaps what he sows." He says it even stronger in Proverbs 22:8, "He who sows iniquity in his heart will reap sorrow."
© 2006 John Contini (OK to re-post with attribution and contact info)
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