“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” – Psalm 91:11 NIV
What does the Bible say about guardian angels? Is an angel responsible for the quick stop to avoid crashing our car, or the fact we ran late one morning and avoided an accident? Is it an angel that pulls us out of mind fog to avoid missing a step and breaking a leg? What about the extra feeling of encouragement that overwhelms us as we step to the line of a race? Or, the feeling of hope we experience when we peer into the sky to see a rainbow peaking out of the clouds?
There are many ways God encourages and reaches out to help us daily. Angels are one of those ways. Any given day, we can feel the defeat of sin’s strain and evil’s prowling on earth amidst our daily lives. It’s a heavy feeling. We are attacked often. Our enemy isn’t creative, but he is relentless in his tactical lies and aim to isolate. But we don’t have to lose hope, because Psalm 91 assures us God is commanding an army of angels on our behalf. Dawn Wilson writes, “they were made right before the foundation of the Earth …created to do God’s bidding … are spirit beings, not bound by gravity or other natural forces … invisible unless God chooses to make them visible.”
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Why Did God Create Angels?
When the strain of evil seems more than we can bear or fight through, we can know God sees us, hears us, and provides a path to relief and peace found in the person of Jesus. Angels are awesome agents of our great God, and we can put on the full armor of God through Christ daily knowing we have a literal army at the ready to protect us from what we may not be able to see coming. They go before us to protect us because God goes before us, and they are under His command. Our God is a personal God. He absolutely reaches down to touch our lives in a personal, intimate way. He sees us, hears us, and knows our hearts completely. He formed us and gave us specific purpose. When we call out for help, He hears. He protects us from many elements in the spiritual realm which we cannot see.
Are Christians Protected by Angels?
For believers in Christ, guardian angels are a reality. Under attack from specific evil meant to take down individuals and the masses, God’s army of angels is actively involved in protecting His children. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones,” Matthew 18:10 reads, “For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of the Father who is in heaven.” Little ones refers to believers. Angels are agents and messengers, under God’s will and sovereign authority. In a world cursed with evil and sin with sin, it’s a comfort to know the forces of God are battling for us. “Guardian angels are divine agents of God set to protect and aid humans on earth in times of need,” Bible Study Tools explains.
Guardian angels are servants of the Most High God, and so shouldn’t be prayed to or lofted above God who has ultimate authority over them, nor Jesus who reigns. Billy Graham once answered the question of guardian angels, “if we know Christ, His angels continually watch over us … God surrounds us with a host of angels to protect us and go before us.” God is sovereign over all creation, nature and humanity. As the elements of nature are subject to Him, so, too, are angels that serve to bring glory to God. “In speaking of the angels he says, ‘He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire.’” (Hebrews 1:7 NIV)
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Does Every Christian Have a Guardian Angel?
Angels are subject to the Father’s will. “God’s care for his children is manifest in that angels rejoice in salvation (Luke 15:10), carry the faithful departed to heaven (Luke 16:22), and desire to watch the gospel unfold (1 Peter 1:12),” John Gilhooly wrote for The Gospel Coalition, “Yet we cannot infer from these events that all believers have an angel nearby to guard them, or that each has their own personal angel.” Angels can have a profound presence in our daily lives by encouraging us. Psalm 104:4 says,“He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.” And Hebrews 1:14 reads, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
Angels are messengers or agents of God’s purposes (NIV Study Bible). They are never to be lofted as more powerful or capable than the One who sits sovereignly over them. Jesus reigns, interceding for us through prayer. Yes, Jesus our Savior prays for us! “Although angels can be present with us and hear us, they are not God,” Dawn Wilson explains, “They must never be worshipped or prayed to because they are subject to Christ.”
“‘Do not be afraid, Daniel,” Daniel 10:12-13 reads, “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Micael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.’” Daniel was no stranger to encounters with angels. He trusted God with his obedient steps, no matter where they led him. Daniel was protected by angels in the lion’s den (Dan 6:22) and his friends in the fiery furnace (Dan 3:28).
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God’s Mercy and Love in Our Protection
The idea of having guardian angels active in our lives is comforting, and leads us to praise God for His sovereignty and omnipotence. “I assume that our guardian angels are always on duty and ready to help,” Dr. Roger Barrier explains, “ I imagine that their help takes many forms.” We may never know all of the ways we’ve been guarded by God’s army of angels throughout our lives. Much greater than cartoonish images is the serious threat of evil in our lives. It’s impossible to avoid pain in our sin-soaked world where evil prowls relentlessly. Bad things happen to all kinds of people in all walks of life because of it. Our hope is in Jesus’ victory over death, and knowing we are being cared for by our great and our compassionate God.
The God who sent His only Son to die for us out of His love for our helplessness to escape the consequences of sin is the same God who extends His arm of protection for His own. Scripture says Jesus leaves the 99 to find the one. He is in active pursuit of us. Everything God does and allows is meant to bring us closer to Him. To draw us back to Him. To remind us who He is and Whose we are. “Christ is the whole armor of God against the ‘spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (Ephesians 6:12),” John Gilhooly explains, “In him we are secure from powers and angels and rulers (Romans 8:38-39).
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. We come to the Father through Him, and Him alone. Jesus said, when we remain in Him we can ask anything. He repeatedly instructs us to abide in, seek, and follow Him. Angels exist under the authority of Christ. When we seek Jesus in our daily lives, we are promised to find Him. The One True God lives in every believer in Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Click here to read more verses about guardian angels in the Bible.
References:
Does Each Person Have a Guardian Angel?
Does Every Christian Have a Guardian Angel?
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