A Divine Revelation of Angels (15 page)

Then I saw what looked like large doors opening up into heaven, and I could feel the power of God coming through the doors. It seemed as though the doors were in the universe and heaven was high above them. Through the doors came angels on horses dressed for battle—just as I described earlier. Here again came those spiritual warriors from heaven, full of God’s glory, power, might, and majesty!

The angels rode over the land where the wind of the Holy Spirit had flowed, and I could see rivers of white and light and glory moving along. These rivers would move through the mountains and the valleys—they were little rivers and streams of deliverance. Everywhere they flowed, demons by the seeming millions would run away, trying to escape from them. Evil spirits were running and running, and as they ran, fire came out of the angels’ swords and appeared to cremate them.

God’s Word confirms that the wicked will be consumed. Again, in Malachi 4:3, God says, “You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.” I firmly believe that God has to send us delivering angels from heaven because of the abundance of attacks we face from Satan and his cohorts.

Staying Delivered

In one service where miracles were taking place, a young man who was about twenty-five years old came into the service crying. He had a wild and desperate look on his face. You could tell he had been drinking and was high on drugs. He said to me, “Please, please help me. Won’t someone help me? I want to be delivered so badly. I’m tired of this life; I’m tired of this addiction. Help me. Help me!”

The compassion of the Lord swept over the room. Filled with this compassion, we began to pray for the young man and to cast out evil spirits from him in Jesus’ name. We anointed him with oil. Then we led him in the sinner’s prayer, and immediately he began to shake his head. He was totally set free; when he stood up, his eyes were completely clear. This young man raised his hands in the air. Soon, he began to magnify and praise the Lord. God had totally transformed him in about fifteen minutes!

Then a little twelve-year-old boy came over and said to him, “Can I tell you something? Do you know what I saw as the people were praying for you?”

The man answered, “No.”

“I saw when the demons left you, and they were standing around, trying to go back into you. But all the people were around you, praying. Then I saw an angel with a sword come and chase them away. They couldn’t come back!”

The young man praised the Lord, and we were so happy that God had reached out and saved and delivered him. This man is now with good Christian people and is going to church.

God has revealed many things to me about deliverance. Some of the people we have prayed for truly wanted deliverance, but six weeks later, they had the same demons of lust or addiction. We have to continue to pray for them. We also have to counsel them. We have to teach them that, after a person is delivered, he can’t be involved any longer with the things that bound him in the first place.

If you want to taste the goodness of God and the world at the same time, there is a fatal conflict in your heart that has to be resolved. It is very important to stay delivered after God has changed you. Find a good church that believes in Jesus Christ and His deliverance. Obey the Word of God. Keep away from those sinful things that drag you down. Stay close to the heart of God.

These truths are essential because, if you have been delivered, you want to stay delivered! You have to make up your mind which way you are going. Do you really want to adore Jesus and serve Him? Or do you want to follow the things of the world and the devil? If you have been set free from evil things, God brings you to a place where you have to choose.

God is truly a deliverer, and those whom the Lord delivers are delivered, indeed. (See John 8:36.) Therefore, when you cast out Satan, say, “Satan, you must go in the name of Jesus.” When demons are cast out of people, angels stand with chains ready to drag these evil powers away. But there is something we must do for the Lord as we commit our lives afresh to Him.

He expects us to worship Him, to serve Him, to praise Him, and through every situation to believe that He will bring us out. I know and believe that He will. Every minister of the Gospel should believe this. When we do, Jesus will go through the lands demonstrating His power. The Holy Spirit will come and, with the angels, will minister in every service to those who really love God and keep His commandments. You will see a move of God in the lands like you have never seen before.

God is preparing a people for this end-time movement. He is looking for a people who will simply trust Him and love Him for who He is and who will believe what the Word says. I fully believe that God is getting ready to do some really great and mighty things in our lands.

The Anointing Destroys the Yoke

One time, during a service when many people were coming up for prayer, I began to see, in the Spirit, a white light mixed with black in a circle around the seekers’ necks. I knew that this circle represented a bondage. The Lord spoke to me and said, “I’m going to break the yoke; the anointing shall destroy the yoke.” Then I remembered that the Bible says, “It shall come to pass in that day that...the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing” (Isaiah 10:27 kjv).

As the people repented of their sins and asked God to forgive and help them, I could see the angels go to work. With their hands, they broke the yokes of bondage right off the people’s necks. Serving Satan causes spiritual bondage as well as natural bondage. The people had been under spiritual bondage because they had been serving sin and the devil.

The angels of God do His will and break these yokes through the Word of God and in the power of the Spirit of God. The reason people say, “I feel lighter; I feel better,” after they are prayed for is that their bondage has been broken in the spiritual realm. When you get serious with God, when you are real and open before Him, He delivers you. He sets you free!

The main thing is to stay honest in your soul before Him. Second, be sure to forgive other people for any wrongs they have committed against you. By the Word of God, you must forgive anyone who has harmed you and hurt you. Unforgiveness is a horrible thing. You must forgive so that the heavenly Father can forgive you. Jesus said in Matthew 6:14–15,

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Deliverance from Satan’s Control

Once I was going to another country, and I knew the people in that land worshiped many false gods and idols. However, I also knew that God loved the souls of the people there and wanted to save them. While I was there, the Holy Spirit anointed me to prophesy against their idols and their witchery. I knew, and prophesied, that God’s presence and His Word had come into the country to save to the uttermost. (See Hebrews 7:25.) He had come to set the captives free, to undo the heavy burdens, and to take the “scales” off people’s eyes so they could receive God’s truth. (See Isaiah 61:1; Acts 9:1–18.)

In the spiritual realm, God permitted me to see many faces whose eyes had been shut and whose ears had been closed. Then I saw a visible outline of hands pulling layers of scales off these eyes and ears. Those who were delivered would shake their heads in freedom. They would shout with joy and say, “Oh, I see now. I understand now.” It was as though a darkness had blinded their minds, but when God touched them, the blindness that Satan had put there was removed. I knew this vision meant that the Gospel was to go forth to every nation and every country.

In this same country, a pastor’s wife and I prayed for many hours over two days. In the middle of the night, I saw a vision of a cart rolling through the city. Everywhere it rolled, it would cut off the heads of thousands of snakes that were stretched out all along the way. As the cart went through the valley killing the snakes, I prayed to God and saw the moving of the Holy Spirit.

Suddenly, it was as if the gates of heaven itself opened up. Armies of angels came sweeping down in majesty. I could see manifestations of the power, the glory, and the might of God. He had sent His angels to earth to deliver the city!

Then I saw the angels go into an opening in the earth. From the darkened depths, they pulled out a round, ugly monster with a horrible-looking head. First they chained the monster; then they began to uproot it. This thing was miles long and had wrapped up the entire city. It had permeated the earth, the streets, the houses, and the atmosphere. But the monster was helpless against the power of God. I watched the angels delivering the city from this evil force for what seemed like hours, and I knew God had liberated the city completely from demon powers.

I told my friend, “You should see what God is doing for this country.” Since then, we have heard many good reports of the Gospel moving in that nation. Wonderful things are happening, and churches are being established. But God in His mercy dealt with the devils first and delivered that country from the demon of idolatry and the worship of idols. God says the following in His Word:

By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.(Proverbs 11:11)

Righteousness exalts a nation [or city], but sin is a reproach to any people.(Proverbs 14:34)

It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for a throne is established by righteousness. Righteous lips are the delight of kings, and they love him who speaks what is right.(Proverbs 16:12–13)

The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes: “For you have eaten up the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.”(Isaiah 3:14)

God will answer the prayers and intercession of those who are devoted to Him, and He will uproot the evil that is present in their communities and nations.

The Power of Jesus’ Name

Something that I have come to expect, but which still constantly amazes me, is the reaction of evil angels—demon spirits—when I rebuke them in Jesus’ name. As I have cast out devils in Jesus’ name, I have seen angels open up the Bible and shove it in Satan’s face; the Word of God becomes a sword that goes after him. I’ve seen Satan when he looked like a serpent, I’ve seen him when he looked like a man, and I’ve seen him when he looked like an angel in disguise. Whatever form he takes, I always recognize that it is the devil. When God’s servant or the angels begin to speak the Word of God, the devil backs up and releases his victim. He goes because God’s Word stands against him.

It’s important for us to have an honest and close relationship with the Lord before we cast out demons in Jesus’ name. In the Bible, the sons of Sceva attempted to use the name of the Lord without having a true relationship with Him:

Some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.(Acts 19:13–17)

Jesus’ name is not a gimmick. He is our powerful Savior, and He is worthy to be worshiped and honored. His name is not to be used lightly. Yet when we use Jesus’ name with true reverence and faith, Satan cannot stand against it.

God Has the Victory

It is very important to remember in regard to deliverance that Satan is only a created being. He is neither omnipotent, omniscient, nor omnipresent, as God is. Our Lord Jesus Christ is always stronger than the devil or any of his demons. “Jesus Christ...has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him” (1 Peter 3:21–22).

In addition, God has multitudes of angels to carry out His works and plans. Regardless of how many demons the devil has, God’s holy angels are more in number. God always has the victory, and He will bring deliverance. “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2).

10

In this chapter, I want to mention two areas in which the angels are involved in our prayers: in our worship and in our intercession. When we understand the activity of angels in answer to our prayers, we will be encouraged to pray and intercede on behalf of ourselves, our families, and others who need God’s help and deliverance.

Angelic Activity in Worship

First, the angels join us in worshiping the Lord. The Bible says,

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.(Psalm 148:1–5)

In the visions and revelations God has given me, I have seen the activity of angels as God’s people worship Him. For example, I have seen the following vision many times during church services. As different groups of people come to worship and praise God, I have watched as the Holy Spirit has moved over the congregation. Suddenly, above the pulpit and behind the choir area, high and between curtains, I will see a large door in a wall. Through the door will come rows of angels with fluttering wings. They are dressed in glistening white garments.

Dozens of angels sweep through the door and look over the situation. It is so beautiful and awesome to see these angels in action. They hold something in their hands, and with it they fan the air as if they are cleansing it. Then a great cloud appears, and on the cloud is the throne of God. The brilliant white throne has glowing colors all around it.