Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
An Introduction to Angels
113 Plays6 months ago
This episode kicks off a three-part series on angels, also known as God's servants or heavenly hosts. We'll explore key questions, like: What is the purpose of angels? Where did they come from? What do they do? How can we partner with them? Do we partner with them? In this first episode, we lay a solid biblical foundation for the series and offer practical insights on interacting with these heavenly beings.
Angels are given to us primarily to help fulfill God's will by bringing heaven to earth. As we grow in understanding who angels are, we will begin to see how God empowers us through partnership with both the angelic and Holy Spirit. This also helps us discern their presence in our dream life. Angels serve many purposes, including warring, protection, revelation, delivering messages, imparting strength, deliverance, judgment, prosperity, encouragement, instruction, and bringing understanding.
Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss the next episodes as we unpack this powerful series and demystify the roles of these heavenly hosts!
*Scripture References: Ephesians 2:8-9; Genesis 18:1-2; Numbers 22:21-35; 2 Kings 6:16-17; Daniel 10:19; Psalm 91:11; Luke 1:11-35; Matthew 1:20-25; Acts 5:17-21; Acts 12:6-11; Acts 10:3-8; Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 6:12; 1 Corinthians 6:3; Psalm 103:20; Hebrews 13:2
“We do not exert authority over angels, not even the archangel Michael resorted to slanderous accusations or spoke of his own opinion against the devil–He used the word of the Lord. So we, too, are to use the word of God when we mobilize angels into action. And we should never slander angels nor use them for slanderous works against others.”
“Angels will only respond to our decrees when we declare out of a revelatory understanding of being a son or a daughter.”
More on Breathing Underwater Membership HERE
Need help discerning God’s voice? Book a dream appointment HERE
Join the Community and Newsletter HERE
Email: margaux@permissiontoreign.com
Instagram: @permission_to_reign
Intro Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay
Promo Music Oleksii Kaplunskyi, Pixabay
Image by Claire Fischer from Unsplash
Recommended
Transcript
New Season Announcement
00:00:00
Speaker
Can you feel that it's time for something new? Well, September 13th, we are starting a fresh new season of the Breathing Underwater membership. If you have been wanting to go deeper in your dream life with God and do so in community with accountability and teaching, this might be the place and the time for you. For details on the monthly membership, go ahead and click the link in the show notes or email me directly.
00:00:27
Speaker
We were designed to hunger for the deep things of God, to thrive on faith and wonder, to seek out divine wisdom that defies human logic. We were designed to unlock the mysteries of God.
Understanding God's Grace and Angels
00:00:41
Speaker
This is Breathing Underwater.
00:00:57
Speaker
The number five has to do with the favor of God or grace of God. You can use those words somewhat interchangeably. It is the number that marks the place where God gives us the grace or the ability to do something, to overcome something, to become something.
00:01:16
Speaker
often we'll think of grace as, you know, receiving something that we didn't deserve, which is also true that we were saved by grace. It wasn't by works. It was entirely by the grace and favor of God. But there's more to this meaning of favor and grace. Like I just mentioned, it's an empowerment. It actually comes with the actual energy that empowers us to do that thing, to become that thing, or to overcome what we're facing.
00:01:46
Speaker
And why are we talking about fives today?
Introduction to Angels in Culture
00:01:48
Speaker
Because today's episode five, obviously of season three, and we are starting a three-part series today on the angels, on the angelic realm, on the heavenly host. They have many names. I'm very much looking forward to digging into this and it feels like it aligns in such a lovely way with the number five because we have been given aid really from the servants of God, the heavenly hosts that are here to bring about God's purposes and will on the earth but are also here to help empower us to bring about that work that God has assigned to us. And what a grace that is.
00:02:51
Speaker
All right, we're talking about angels. This is probably something that you have learned about, heard about, had your own thoughts about before. If you have been a believer for any of your life, you know about angels. But listen, maybe you didn't grow up.
00:03:07
Speaker
A Christian didn't grow up in any kind of faith. You've probably still heard about angels.
Biblical Foundation of Angels
00:03:12
Speaker
Angels show up in movies. There's good angels. There's dark angels. They show up in all kinds of different religions. I even had people ask me if I'm an angel.
00:03:23
Speaker
That was awkward. I was like, no, I think what you're sensing, though, is the presence of God with me. And I was able to tell them, I am definitely not an angel, but I'm the child of God. And what you're sensing is his presence. It was actually a beautiful way to introduce them to God. But you know, people have a grid for angels. It's not always the correct grid, but it is a grid.
00:03:45
Speaker
Now, I recognize that talking about angels is going to be an endeavor and I just want to give a little ah caveat here. I'm very aware that I am not an expert in this and that I am probably not qualified to go deep into teaching this stuff. There are people who know more about it. You can do it really deep Bible studies on it and even though I've done some of that, I do not consider myself qualified to really teach on all the different angles of the angelic realm. However, I have a pretty foundational ah understanding that I really feel God wants to share with you, to give us a grid for who they are, but also ah to impart faith, to recognize that we're not alone in how God has really empowered us, even on top of empowering us with his Holy Spirit.
00:04:38
Speaker
and to also start to learn to discern them in our dreams. So we're gonna go through little chunks of this in the next three episodes. But today I wanna just kinda lay the groundwork even for what are angels? How do I know that's a thing? is the but Does the Bible talk about angels?
00:04:55
Speaker
Yep, Bible talks about angels a lot, which I don't think I need to tell you. But let's talk about the definition of angels for a minute. I'm not going to look this up in like Webster's dictionary or anything because who really knows what that's going to say. But from my understanding,
00:05:14
Speaker
angels or the heavenly host or the heavenly beings are spiritual beings that were created by God that have been around since the beginning and of course we know the infamous story of Satan who was one of God's angels where he led a rebellion out of heaven and one third of the angelic host left with him and fell into darkness and now they're all working for satan as their god while the other two thirds are serving the one true god which is our lord so the beautiful thing we can even start out with is
00:05:56
Speaker
Two thirds of those angels are fighting for truth and light in God and are on our side. A third of those are what we call demons or principalities and powers in the negative way, even though there are principalities and powers in the positive too. I absolutely believe that. But we talk about demons and principalities and powers often in the negative, but that's just a third of the angelic host. So even that right there should bring faith to your spirit, that there are far more that are for us than are against us.
00:06:26
Speaker
I want to read a little passage from a book I was reading recently about angels. I really liked the way that these authors were talking about them. And it's giving a little preface that angels are servants of God, which I think we know. Even in, let's see, Hebrews 1.14 it says, about the angels. Are not angels all ministering spirits?
00:06:47
Speaker
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs and inherit salvation. That's us. Yes, they are sent to minister to us, for us, with us, but really on behalf of us because of they are really serving God. This article goes on to say, we are not to boast about or pursue or worship or pray to angels. Duh.
00:07:09
Speaker
Their activity is directed by God in administering the kingdom in cooperation with people, us, who understand our identity and mission. What is this mission, you ask? Our mission is to expand God's kingdom, bringing many sons and daughters back to the Father and see heaven come to earth by administering and demonstrating the promises of his kingdom.
00:07:36
Speaker
I'm going to read the beginning part of that again. Their activity is directed by God in administering the kingdom in cooperation with people who understand their identity and mission. So they are God's servants, but they are given direction to minister in cooperation with us. So we can actually learn how to partner with them in administering God's kingdom on earth.
00:08:03
Speaker
So where are the accounts in Scripture that talk about angels? Well, there are so many. there' It's not even possible for me to read all of them to you. There are so many. But I'm going to give you just a couple off the top of my head. And by a couple, I mean maybe a dozen. And if you want to go in and research these more, you are more than welcome to do that.
00:08:20
Speaker
But let's just start with Genesis. Let's talk about the story in Genesis 18 where Abraham is in his tent and three angels or three men, it interchanges the word there, show up to talk to him and basically tell him that in a year his wife Sarah is going to be pregnant and Sarah's in the tent and she laughs. I love that story. Yep, there's three angels right off the bat. Numbers 22, 21. Okay. Balaam's donkey. Do you guys remember that story? Oh, it's one of my favorites. Balaam is having this whole issue, not doing what God told him to do, doing what God told him not to do, even though that's a confusing story.
00:08:56
Speaker
And God wants to thwart him on his path, and so he keeps putting an angel in front of him, but he misses it until finally the donkey's like, hello, I'm not going any further. I see an angel in front of us. Balaam didn't even see it, but his donkey saw it. I love that story. In 2 Kings 6, 16, I kinda quoted this earlier, is the story of Elisha and how the battle was going on and they were discouraged. And finally he said, God opened their eyes to see those who are are for us, basically.
00:09:24
Speaker
and he opened his eyes and he could see that there were chariots of fire and horses and God's heavenly host essentially was there to fight for them because they were so discouraged, they were losing in the pedal. But that's when it says more were for us than were against
Roles and Hierarchies of Angels
00:09:38
Speaker
us. If we look in Daniel, my stars, there's a lot of stuff about angels in there. Michael and Gabriel and angelic princes and powers. You can look in chapter one, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, go for it, go for it.
00:09:51
Speaker
through all the prophets you're going to be hearing about angels. Psalm 91 11, one of the things we love to quote, says, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all of your ways. I'm going to jump to the New Testament just because there are so many.
00:10:08
Speaker
Let's start right from the beginning. Whoa, in announcing the birth of Jesus. No, even before that, announcing the birth of or the pregnancy of Elizabeth and the birth of John the Baptist. Zachariah gets encountered.
00:10:25
Speaker
in the temple where he's at the altar of incense by an angel, boom, right away. And then, of course, we know an angel comes to Mary, an angel comes to Joseph. There are so many angel stories in that story. And Acts, the book of Acts, there's at least six where really cool things are happening with angels, like getting busted out of prison and earthquakes and appearing to Cornelius to tell him about this guy named Peter who he's going to meet.
00:10:51
Speaker
And then of course Colossians 1 16 and Ephesians 6 12 both talk about like powers and ah thrones and rulers and authorities. Of course, you know, the one ah we don't wrestle with against flesh and blood, but with powers and rulers and authorities, etc.
00:11:08
Speaker
So what are some of the things that angels do? Well, they do some of those things that I just mentioned. There's actually a hierarchy of angels, kind of like a military, where there's those angels that are of higher rank, that have higher level jobs, that are more in warring. There are other angels that are protecting, but all of them are bringing about God's purposes. so What are some of those kinds of angels? What are some of those roles? Well, I've read about revelatory angels that actually carry revelation that reveal of course, there's messengers right that are actually bringing the message like with Mary you're about to have a baby even though you're a virgin.
00:11:49
Speaker
There's angels that impart strength. Like when Daniel fell on his face and was like, ah, imparted strength for him to be able to stand. There's angels of deliverance or protection. There's angels that bring judgment. Have you read about the destroying angel? Whoo. That is gnarly.
00:12:09
Speaker
angels that bring prosperity, angels that release encouragement, angels that bring instruction,
00:12:17
Speaker
angels that release understanding. Now, what do we think about this whole partnering
Partnering with Angels: How and Why
00:12:23
Speaker
with angels thing? Well, how do I do that? I'm gonna read a little bit from that book that I mentioned before, talking about servants, angels being servants, and he gives this illustration of the kingdom of God being like a family business. I love it.
00:12:37
Speaker
He says, if we imagine the kingdom of God to be like an eternal family business, we could then liken the angels to being employees of the company. Picture a private organization. There is the owner or the proprietor of the company and working for the owner is the CEO. The CEO will never freely inherit that business, although he might have an opportunity to buy it.
00:13:01
Speaker
Then there's the owner's son who comes in to learn the ropes and be groomed excuse me for eventual ownership of the organization. The son will freely inherit and take over the company when the time is right. We, as heirs of God, receive free access to all the perks from the business owner, who is God, because one day we will corporately own the family business. Now,
00:13:27
Speaker
Some CEOs are intimidated by this. They signed up to serve the original owner, not his son, and according to their estimation, they have more knowledge and experience than the son. I believe there is a parable in this organizational structure that can be used to describe the fall of Satan.
00:13:46
Speaker
Satan was delegated to a high level of a management in the kingdom of heaven. But when the Son of God inherited the kingdom, Satan realized he would never have full control. So in jealousy, he rebelled and fell from his position and was cast away. As heirs of the kingdom,
00:14:05
Speaker
Believers have all the authority of the kingdom in Christ Jesus and were seated higher than the angels. This means that believers have the authority to mobilize them, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6.3. Do you not know that we shall judge the angels? How much more things that pertain to life?
00:14:24
Speaker
Psalm 103.20 states that angels do the bidding of God. Bless the Lord, you his angels who excel in strength, who do his word and the heating, the voice of his word. However, we do not exert authority over angels.
00:14:39
Speaker
Not even the archangel Michael resorted to slanderous accusations or spoke of his own opinion against the devil. No, no, no. He used the word of the Lord. So we too are to use the word of God when we mobilize it angels into action. And we should never slander angels nor use them for slanderous works against others.
00:14:59
Speaker
For this is this is true for rebuking fallen angels too. Although we call them demons, they are in fact fallen angels, and such we need to use the word of the Lord when we rebuke them. I'm almost done here. Angels will only respond to our decrees when we declare out of a revelatory understanding of being a son or a daughter.
00:15:21
Speaker
When we walk in the fullness of God inside of us, recognizing the kingdom that we have inherited, we can decree the healings, we can decree deliverance and revival, because we know that's God's will. We can call upon an army of angels to go forth when we release the revelatory Word of God over the people to whom we are ministering.
00:15:43
Speaker
And we have authority and are actually called to mobilize the angelic host as well. I know it can feel a little bit like, oh, I don't want to boss them around. Oh, that feels weird. Totally. Please don't boss them around. Pray into this. But I love what this author just said, just about talking about making decrees that we already know is the will of God. And when God comes to you and gives you a promise or tells you his will in a situation, which he often does through dreams,
00:16:11
Speaker
Now you know God's heart in a situation and as you pray that in and you decree that, that is not only creating something with your with your words because we have been given creative power with our words like God has, but it is also mobilizing God's angels to partner and bring his will to pass.
Reflecting on Angelic Influence
00:16:31
Speaker
So you can see why it matters that we have our eyes open to the fact that there are angels, not just for our faith, but to recognize that they have a real big part to play and we're seeing them in our dreams and God might be talking to us about them. We might even be interacting with them in some ways and are unaware, like it says in Hebrews 13. Don't neglect to show hospitality in case you're entertaining angels and are unaware, right?
00:16:59
Speaker
Yeah, that is literal. I'm just gonna let that mic drop. Okay, that is it for today. I've just opened a can of worms and now it sounds like you've got a lot to pray about and ask God about. So you go ahead and do that. Until next time, happy dreaming.