As soon as our Heavenly Father announced (through the mouth of many prophets) His intention to bless His children by erecting a house of prayer on Prayer Mountain, He began to assign various angels to assist those who would come to the Mount. The angels Mercy and Compassion were among the first assigned. The Angels exhibiting these qualities are foundational when revealing how our Father deals with His children and with the lost. Also, in His amazing encounter with Moses in the desert, the Lord said He would proclaim all His “goodness” to reveal His glory. Therefore, the assigning of the angel Goodness is essential for any deepening revelation of the Father.
OUR RESPONSE
But what response is He seeking from mankind? He is revealing to us what He, Himself, intends to do. Also, He is introducing to us the angels that will assist Him in these revelations. But is there an angel that will assist us in the response He is seeking? Yes, a most unusual one.
The Unusual Angel
The unusual angel that the Lord assigned next is known by the single name of Strength.
This angel shows forth one of the greatest foundational truths (often misunderstood by mankind): relating to the way a child of the living God should navigate life on earth.
Our Purpose
This angel shows the monumental truth that humans were not created to just be themselves, that is by themselves, and of themselves. We were meant to show forth Christ. We were created to be creatures that would carry about the divine life of God within us. Let’s look at this Angels arrival on Prayer Mountain.
The Angel STRENGTH
June 28th 2006 – Wednesday
At the gazebo on Prayer Mountain:
Looking right outside the gazebo I saw a very thin short angel. He looked like a 10-year-old skinny boy. His ears stuck out slightly, and he had short, red hair.
He was barefoot and wore khaki cut-offs that came to his knees. He had on a white T shirt. He smiled at me.
“Who are you?” I smiled back.
“STRENGTH,” he said in a thin, boyish voice.
I chuckled inwardly – then composed myself: “Strength?” I grinned.
He turned around. On the back of his T-shirt was printed: WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG, (2 Corinthians 12:10) with a smiley face in the center.
The first thing that came to mind when I saw this angel was to wonder if he could use a smiley face on his T-shirt. I thought it might be trademarked. After this passed through my mind, the message written on his T-shirt registered with me.
He turned around to face me again. “That is a word to the wise, isn’t it?” He smiled, winked, and was gone.
“Wait,” I called out in spirit. “Have you been assigned here?”
He reappeared: “It looks as though you need Him,” he said. He smiled again and was gone.
I thought to myself: I guess this means “Yes”.
What does this mean?
After the Fall
After Adam and Eve broke covenant with our Creator by following, instead, the leading of the fallen angel, they spiritually died as God had warned them. This grievous sin in some way changed their spiritual DNA and all humans born afterward were born spiritually dead.
Satan was the prince of this (fallen) world. I say fallen – because mankind had been given dominion over the earth and when Satan took dominion over mankind, the world sank also. Such was mankind’s sorry state until Jesus came – He who was both man and God and paid the price of that broken covenant (which was death). He lived, died, and rose to newness of life. Now, all who turn from the life we embraced when we were under the lordship of Satan (repent) and ask Christ to come into our hearts to be our own life – all these, I say, have newness of life. Also, Christ is the life within them. Our old nature was dead, put away, when we came to Christ and a new man is now hidden with Christ in God. In this life, there is only Christ.
How does this relate to the Angel Strength?
We are saved when we ask Jesus into our hearts to be our life. But humans are triune. We are spirit, soul, and body. When we exchange our comatose spirit for Christ, we are saved. However, the soul is a mixture. This mixture requires the “cross” of Christ to be applied by the spirit to each instance of the flesh still retained. Once the flesh has been immobilized, the life of Christ rushes in to take its place.
If I cooperate with the Holy Spirit, that is, if I allow the Holy Spirit to weaken my own, natural, fleshly soul life (my own mind, emotions and will) through the application of Christ’s cross – then, He, the living God has weakened my flesh and Christ rushes into that immobilized part of the soul and replaces the flesh with Himself.
When
But there is a qualifying part of this statement, isn’t there? The word: “when.”
The word “when” means that, indeed, the person may not always be fulfilling this mandate. This qualifying statement uncovers an equally important action on the part of mankind i.e. the abiding in Christ.
Abide in Him
Our receiving of Him must be continual. It is not a lump sum of life put in us. The life of Christ must be continually supplied to us by the Spirit in order for us to abide in Him.
What happens if we do not abide in Him? If we don’t abide in Him, the flow of all life and love stops. Why would we want this. Jesus consecrated Himself in heaven in order to supply all of our thoughts, words and actions in just the right amount at just the right time. Without this, revelation would stop and also awareness of the Lord. Light would be darkened, and many graces dimmed.
Is There a Painful side of the Abiding?
Yes. If we abide in Christ, we share in His crucified self within us – not just His resurrected and ascended self. As the word says: “Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed (2 Corinthians 4:10).
We must bear the dying of Jesus if the living Christ is to come forth. We cannot have one without the other.
He must continually supply or be the power of His cross in every situation. Through this we can see that our Lord did not just die, rise again, and ascend to heaven to sit on the throne of glory. He is working.
Brought into Divine Love
By losing all, we gain all. We are brought into the center of the divine love between the Father and the Son, for you become a part of the one you love. For God to love you means that He must become a part of you… and for you to love Him, you must become a part of Him. For God is love. He does not send a little love over your way, like a spray, or a package in the mail. When He loves, He Himself goes out to you and enters your heart.
For God to love you means He must become a part of you, and for you to love Him, you must become a part of Him.
Co-heirs
The Son is the only begotten (not once but continually) – which means that all that is of the Father is proceeding into and out of the Son. You see the Father and Son have a unique relationship. Nothing, of course, can ever be like it and both laid down that unique relationship in order to share that relationship with us – sinners, miserable, blind, poor, naked beggars who despised Them.
When we say that They shared that unique relationship with us of love, it means that They shared Themselves. We are co-heirs of God, not just about the things of God. We are actually co-heirs of God Himself, if so be we suffer with Him that we may be glorified together… the same as Christ. All that He is heir to, we are heir to.
Lose all – GAIN ALL
By allowing the cross of Christ to be applied to our natural mind, emotions and will (weakening our natural flesh life) we gain Christ (strength). Therefore, as the angel’s T-shirt proclaims – when you are weak (in your flesh) then you are strong (in Christ).
