Is it possible to call upon an angel for guidance or protection? Can you summon an angel to help you when you are in trouble? If so, How to do it?
There are people who claim they have seen a brilliantly bright spiritual being appear when they were in a dangerous situation that miraculously saved them from peril. Others tell stories of visitations from heavenly messengers that have given them a word of hope or encouragement. However, are these encounters with angels real and does the Bible teach us to summon/call upon angels for help?
The Bible does tell us that there are spiritual forces that exist outside the realm of our physical world, and these entities (angels) have been known to interact with us. Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Unfortunately, we have formed much of our ideas about the existence of angels, not from the Bible, but from what we have seen in the movies. Sadly, most of Hollywood’s angels seem to be more like us and less like the holy pure beings God created them to be. Angels are often depicted as foolish, clumsy, and limited in their power. In the movies, they are devilish at times, or naïve. They are usually only able to help people to a certain point and then the rest is up to the hero or heroine of the movie to save the day. That is what happened in the movie Angels in the Outfield. A group of angels help a baseball team win until the championship game because according to the angel “championships must be played without help from angels.” The idea is that an angel will help you with the small stuff, maybe finding your car keys, or catching you before you trip and fall, but they are not allowed to intervene in any real serious situations in your life. Yet, that is not what the Bible teaches.
According to the Bible angels are spirits or spiritual creatures sent to serve us: “Are not all angels ministering spirits,” says Hebrews 1:14, “sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” Angels are often described in the Bible as the army of God with flaming swords. They are powerful beings that carry out God’s commands.
Angels are guardians of the galaxies,
the avengers of God,
the holy ones of heaven,
and the protectors of God’s people.
The country music band Alabama used to sing a song called “Angels Among Us” that told the story of a young boy who had gotten lost on his way home from school after taking a short cut through the woods. Scared and alone, the boy encountered an angel who led him home.
Mama couldn’t see him,
But he was standing there,
And I knew in my heart
He was the answer to my prayer.
Oh, I believe there are angels among us,
Sent down to us from somewhere up above.
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with a light of love.
I had a similar experience many years ago before I became a pastor while working at a Christian bookstore in a mall. My wife and I were newly married; and I was really struggling and uncertain about what I should be doing with my life. One day, this man came into the store and began to talk to me. I had never seen him before, but as we talked, I felt this great calming presence. His words of encouragement were so reassuring to me. It was actually a turning point for me emotionally and spiritually.
After he left, I realized that he did not buy anything; in fact, he never even looked at anything in the store! We had our conversation and then he left. After that encounter I watched for him for weeks, but never saw him again. Had God sent an angel to encourage me?
A few years ago, a lady in our community was sitting in the ICU waiting room at the hospital. It was the middle of the night, about 2 or 3 a.m. and a nurse called from the unit to talk to her. The medical team needed this woman’s permission to perform a serious procedure on her husband, one that had life or death consequences. When the woman asked, “Can I have a few minutes to contact my children?” the nurse said, “No, I am sorry, I need to know now!” So, the woman prayed, “Lord, please let me make the right decision.”
As she hung up the phone, she noticed someone walking up the hallway from the hospital cafeteria, past a row of glass windows outside of the waiting room. This mysterious person came into the waiting room and stood right in front of this woman who had just prayed for God’s wisdom and guidance. No one else was around – it was the middle of the night. With no introduction, this person knelt down, took the woman by the hand, and simply said, “I just want you to know, you made the right decision.” Then they got up and left. The woman is convinced she was visited by an angel.
Hebrews 13:2 in the Bible says that there are times in our lives when we “entertain angels” and we do not even know it: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Could it be that the man in the Christian bookstore and the person in the hospital waiting room where really angels sent to encourage us? I believe that it is more than possible.
Above all else, that is what I want you to understand from all of this – God loves you so much that He even created a unique spiritual creature whose sole purpose is to help you and to minister to you.
Yes, angels were also created to worship God, but for those who were created to interact with us, their primary task is to protect you and encourage you. Psalm 91:11 says, “For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” Jesus even once said in Matthew 18:10, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” This may well mean that the angels who have been assigned the task of protecting children have ready access to God’s presence. Do you understand how amazing that is?
Your Heavenly Father loves you so much
that He sends spiritual muscle with you wherever you go!
Nothing in all of creation is going to separate you from God
because He has a supernatural army of angels at your side!
According to Matthew 4:11 angels came and cared for Jesus after the devil had been tempting Him in the wilderness for 40 days. Luke 22:43 tells us that an angel came and strengthened Jesus when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal. All of this tells me that angels are sent by God to help us in times of crisis; they encourage us when we feel like all hope is lost; they not only minister to our physical needs, but they encourage us spiritually.
However, let me add a word of caution: We should never worship an angel or pray to an angel – it is God who deserves our worship. While the Bible clearly indicates that angels do protect us from harm and minister to our emotional and spiritual needs, it never suggests that we should try to summon them or call upon them for help. Colossians 2:18 warns us not to worship angels or to elevate them to a place equal with God. Revelation 22:8-9 says:
I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.
And when I had heard and seen them,
I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel
who had been showing them to me.
But he said to me, “Don’t do that!
I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets
and with all who keep the words of this scroll.
Worship God!”
Therefore, we should call upon God for help and guidance. We should summon Him, not one of His servants, then if He so chooses, He may send them to our aid.
While Jesus claimed He could call upon the angels to rescue Him from the cross (Matthew 26:53), He purposely chose not to summon them. He allowed God to make that decision. Psalm 103:20 says, “Praise the Lord, you His angels, you mighty ones who do His bidding, who obey His word.” It would appear then that angels do God’s bidding, not ours. While God has a host of heavenly defenders, we should not call upon an angel to take out an enemy or to give us insight into the future, we must trust the will of God. If He so chooses, the legions of heaven will descend upon the earth and cover you in His protection.
Dr. Richard Sams is a top Biblical and Religious educator, who holds a Doctor of Ministry degree (Evangelism and Church Growth emphasis) from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. He has two masters’ degrees (Master of Divinity and Master of the Arts of Religion) from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in Lynchburg and also serves on the Pastoral Leadership Advisory Board of Liberty University. Moreover, Richard Sams has been serving as a pastor (Pastoral Ministry) at Calhoun Baptist Church in Calhoun, KY, from the past Nineteen years. He loves practically imparting biblical truths to the next generation, while occasionally conduct spiritual challenges on his facebook page facebook.com/MakeItCountChallenge