Will, the Lord woke me up at 3:30 this morning with this word for you! He did this because He loves you Will Sutton!!!
“The angel of the LORD encamps (settles) AROUND THOSE WHO FEAR HIM (The Lord), and HE DELIVERS THEM.” (Psalms 34:7) Just what does this angel do for us? Well, WILL just read this example: King Sennacherib of Assyria sent his ambassador to threaten King Hezekiah’s (king of Judah) ambassadors who asked the Assyrian chief of staff to speak to them in Aramaic instead of Hebrew because they did not want to frighten the Jews. But Sennacherib’s chief of staff refused because he wanted the people TO HEAR ABOUT WHAT THE ASSYRIAN ARMY WILL DO TO THEM if they will not surrender (they knew how disabling the spirit of fear is)… Hezekiah relayed the message to the prophet Isaiah. But the prophet told the king NOT TO WORRY about Sennacherib’s threats. Sennacherib sent a message to Hezekiah demanding for his surrender before leaving. Hezekiah despaired and Isaiah, once again, sent him a prophecy reassuring him of JUDAH’S SAFETY AND ASSYRIA’S DEFEAT.
“That night THE ANGEL (that’s just one angel, like the one who has settled around you WILL) of the LORD went out and put to death A HUNDRED AND EIGHTY–FIVE THOUSAND in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were ALL THE DEAD bodies!” (2 Kings 19:35)
Notice “THOSE WHO FEAR HIM (The Lord)” Here is how this promise works we must FEAR THE LORD: Yârê’: standing in awe, to be afraid. This is not just simple fear, but reverence for The One and only almighty GOD who spoke and out of His mouth came the WORD of God and everything that exists, came to be, in six days. You may ask why should we be afraid? Well it’s because, “…our God is a CONSUMING FIRE.” – For example: “…the LORD rained BRIMSTONE AND FIRE on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.” (Genesis 19:24) God did this because, “…THE MEN of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, ALL THE PEOPLE, surrounded the house.” (Genesis 19:4) All THE MEN were homosexual’s and they came to have sex with the two angels (in the form of men) who came to save Lot. So, we need to understand and be aware of that fact about God and fear (be afraid) Him.
If we are saved our duty is to have reverence for God in AWE and pursue Him in LOVE. We must love God with everything that is in us. Like the first and greatest commandment states: “Love the Lord your God with ALL your HEART, your SOUL, and your MIND. This is the FIRST AND GREATEST COMMANDMENT. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets HANG on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:37-40) To hang: kremannumi: to be suspended, or held up or supported. All of the other commandments of God are ‘UPHELD’ by this LOVE OF GOD! It is this godly love that motivated Jesus to give up His life for us!
Now just for a little while let’s get back to David, “…God made David their king. God testified concerning him: I have found David son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART; he will do EVERYTHING I WANT HIM TO DO.” (Acts 13:22) God was very pleased with David, you know God helped David defeat Goliath, David was confident because, “David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I SEIZED IT BY ITS HAIR, STRUCK IT AND KILLED IT. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.” (1 Sam. 17:34-36) Let’s see what else David, the man after God’s own heart did, “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof HE SAW A WOMAN BATHING. (now, did David, the man after God’s own heart, flee temptation?) The woman was very beautiful, and David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” (2 Sam. 11:1-5) David, the man after God’s own heart, committed adultery, breaking the 7th Commandment. Then David, “…sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” (2 Samuel 11:6) David pulled Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband away from the battle to try to get him to sleep with his wife but he would not so David had him killed breaking the 5th Commandment. But wait, this was a man after God’s heart!!! The reason God made that statement was what David did next, “David pleaded with God…He fasted and spent seven nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.” (2 Samuel 12:16) When ever David messed up he immediately repented in godly sorrow and never did that again, that’s why he was a man after God’s own heart, “…the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalms 103:13-14)
The point of all this is that you love the Lord with YOUR ALL, you respect Him, you trust Him to take of you, and you KNOW that He has an angel assigned to watch over you. Knowing this Will, will cause you to have GREAT SUCCESS in you academy experience and in YOUR LIFE!!! BE GREATLY BLESSED!!!
-Bill Stockham
“I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
(Luke 15:10)