It is God’s nature to take care of us.  And our faith perspective never says much about guardian angels.  And yet, for all that angels (guardian or otherwise) might do to protect us, it’s important for us to remember that those ministering spirits only function at the direction of God.  It’s easy for us to get swept up in the study of angelology — searching for the powers that have protective oversight for us.  And yet, that, too, is a distraction.  It’s a distraction designed to take our attention off of the one true God who has power and authority over everyone and everything.

         We’re tempted by our curiosity to search for the spiritual meaning behind angels and God in an effort to grow in our understanding of spiritual matters.  But the most important spiritual matter is that our temptation to search beyond our humanity and the events that protect us will always end with God’s love and compassion for us.  Whether we believe in angels, or not, the one to whom God said, “Sit at my right hand … “ will always be our most powerful protector.  Jesus sits at the right hand of the father to shield us from spiritual temptations and to protect us from death and offer us life eternal.

If you’ve ever been led to believe in guardian angels assigned to protect us, what stopped your belief or prompted your belief?

If they are simply agents of God, what does that mean for your faith journey?

Since angels are lower than Christ, who is really our protector?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Gracious God, continue to use whatever means You have to protect me from harm. Keep me mindful that You are my Jehovah Jireh — my provider, and that You have protected me by the power of Christ.

         Other gods are in plentiful supply, each reaching out, calling out, desiring our loyalty and service to them.  However, there is some truth to the statement that no one can serve two masters.  Divided loyalties always require some degree of unfaithfulness.  And if there is unfaithfulness, there is also distrust.  And if there is distrust there is always the temptation to waft from one God to the other, never relying on either god to provide what we really need, in some ways inviting each god to make an appeal to our need of the moment.  Our gratification always becomes momentary and circumstantial.  But it also leads us to never know which God can be trusted.

         For those of us who seek stability in our lives, it’s important for us to choose which God we will serve — the God who is consistent in fulfilling us, providing for us, caring for us with understanding and compassion, or the god who tempts us with momentary pleasures but in the end leaves us empty and unfulfilled.  One God has a track record for being faithful.  The other gods tempt us for a while with immediate gratification, but in the long run, always leave us desirous of something more.  It’s those tempting temptations of immediate gratification that war against our need to deny ourselves of immediate gratification and cling to the certain promises of God that come with being faithful to Him. 

• What other gods are in your life that — at times — draw you away from faithfulness to the God of your salvation?
• What “itch” do you have that needs immediate attention (scratching) that’s most difficult to deny waiting on God’s faithfulness?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
God of faithfulness, give me a heart to trust only you with my life and my circumstances. Teach me the art of self-denial, avoiding those tempting temptations that lead me away from You.

         One of our greatest temptations is to test God.  Perhaps it’s because we live with the uncertainty that God’s faithfulness can be trusted.  Perhaps it’s because God doesn’t always work within our timeframe of what’s important to us.  Because of that, we might begin our prayers with, “God, if you really loved me …”, or “God, you said you would, and so I’m stepping out on faith … ”  Those are all ways we have of testing God.  Our short-term memory kicks into gear and suddenly, we forget the stories of faith told by those who have lived placing their trust in God from long ago.  We even forget the times in our lives when God showed up with wonders and powers and saved or sustained us during our times of trials.  Those times display a serious lack of faith and trust, while inviting God to answer to our demands rather than letting God be God.  The truth is faith gets tested when a sense of God’s presence fades, or when the circumstances of life cause us to question if God is even there.  At times, God can be very silent.  If we’re honest, God is more of an actor than a talker.  For the most part, God just goes around being God without fanfare.  Which means that our tempting temptation is to lose all faith and trust in God, causing us to try to be god and make God respond to us rather than us responding to God’s faithful actions.  We must fight the temptation to test God and increase our faith based on our memories of how God has responded in the past.

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Gracious God, help me to fight the tempting temptation to love my faith and trust in You. Help me to be humble, always making me mindful of Your actions in my past to that I will never test you.