101 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT HEALTH AND WEALTH

February 2015 – PART 8

15. Do you believe angels watch over those who fear and trust God? Absolutely! There are many scriptures throughout God’s Word that confirm and reveal how angels interact with humans. Many books have been written and many people have actually seen angels. I have no doubt in my heart that angels are not only limited to heaven but are all around us. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 14 say’s, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Psalm 91: 11 say’s, “For he [God] shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” I personally believe that as we develop a stronger awareness of God’s presence that we will be more likely to notice angels. In fact, I see nothing wrong with thanking God for the angels and walking in faith, knowing they are working with us and for us. I have a book in my library by Terry Law called, “The truth about angels” and I will share one of the stories about an angel encounter from his book. This story was told by Dawn Tallent and how she witnessed angels protecting their home during a storm.

“My encounter occurred in 1976 when we lived in Missouri. It was in the middle of the night , and we had been having severe weather. We lived in a mobile home, and I was very fearful of high winds and strong storms. I remember waking up to a loud noise outside our bedroom window that sounded like a freight train. The window was shaking, and the whole house seemed to be moving. My husband was asleep but I was too sacred to move and began to pray fervently, asking God to please spare our home and our family because I knew that if He did not intervene, there was going to be a tragedy. In that moment the Lord began to speak peace to me. I felt He wanted me to get up and look out the window so He could show me something. I eased my way up to the window and pulled back the curtains. To my surprise and shock, I saw a very bright light and figures of tall, broad shouldered beings dressed in long, white robes. They had strong arms and were holding hands, standing with their backs to the wind and their faces toward me. However, I could not really see their faces because the light was so bright. At that moment I knew that angels were encompassing the mobile home. I sat on the bed, just gazing out the window in awe as all fear left and I felt safe and secure. In a few moments the winds became less and they disappeared.”

16. Do you believe that God removes people from the earth in the prime of their life because He needs them to work in heaven? This idea has probably been around since the beginning of time but I do not think that God really needs anybody for anything especially to do something for Him in heaven. I would tend to believe He could sure use all of His people here on earth to accomplish His work but what do I know. It’s just a way that humans try to comfort one another because many times they just cannot think of anything positive to say at funerals. God is sovereign and can remove from the earth whoever He wants because His ways are higher than ours. I have read and heard about and actually witnessed people through the years that were “taken” seemingly in the best times of their life and each time I am sad and shocked. It is human nature to be perplexed because it seems like a mistake or that it was not supposed to be. We technically know how they died but do not have a clue as to why and this is where we wonder whether God was involved or was it just an unfortunate situation. In my thoughts, I would hope that God’s perfect will (general and specific) for His people would be spiritual, mental and physical blessings along with abundance, happiness and a long life. We know that Genesis chapter 6 and verse 3 say’s, “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.” It would be wonderful to fulfill this lifespan but would only be a blessing if we were in good health.

One thing we do know is that all death comes from sin. This is not saying that when someone dies unexpectantly they have done something to cause it but generally speaking it comes from living in a fallen world. I personally believe that Jesus coming to save our spirit included the power to also save our mind, and our body and this is why I believe in the FULL-gospel, the Spirit filled life and in faith I CONFESS the blood covenant promises of God’s Word. Do you believe the power of faith can conquer the curse of the fall? Do you believe God’s divine reality can overcome the default system? God’s general will is based on conditions, principals, standards that reveal how we are to live in obedience to Him with faith, love and hope in order to fulfill His perfect will. NOW – His specific will or blueprint is where the huge question comes in. Does God step into a life for no reason whose blueprint is barely even started? Why would He not want to see them enjoy a long and satisfied life walking in His presence? I can understand when intentional sin causes someone’s destiny to be shortened but for God to use our mistakes, accidents or other people intervening to accomplish His will then we probably will not learn the details until we all get to heaven. We can be sure that whenever we die it is not a surprise to God; the Bible makes it clear that our lives are in God’s hands. He knows the time of our death, and He has even appointed it. The Bible says, “Seeing his days are determined , the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.” (Job 14:5). Does this mean we shouldn’t seek medical care when we are sick, or that it doesn’t matter if we do dangerous things because God will deliver us anyway? No, not at all; not one verse of scripture would support such a view. Satan urged Jesus to cast Himself down from the top of the temple and trust God to deliver Him, but Jesus refused to do such a strange thing. He told Satan, “It is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Matthew 4:7). This is a very difficult question and one I am sure many parents have wondered about as they have buried their children with war being an excruciating example. Just because God does not heal or rescue every person does not mean He is to blame for anyone’s death. God is perfect and just in all His ways.