What then of the angels? The righteous angels have been made ministering spirits that God's sons may be enabled to overcome the rebellious angels

and to take their places on the thrones formerly occupied by the rebels.

An angel strengthened Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Angels rejoice when a sinner repents and turns to God. Christ announces the name of each victorious saint in the Presence of God and His angels.

Now we find God commands His angels to guard those who are abiding in Christ, to guard them in all their ways. We do not see the angels but if we are performing God's will they watch over us with the greatest care no matter what we are doing. If they did not we soon would be destroyed.

They will lift you up in their hands, so you will not strike your foot against a stone. (Psalms 91:12—NIV)

The angels of God guard us in all our ways so very carefully that we do not even trip over a stone. This statement is advising us that God attends to the smallest detail of our daily activities.

I think we are lifted up and delivered on many, many occasions of which we are not aware. This care and attention to detail is constant. The demons would soon make our life miserable and dangerous if we were not guarded with the greatest diligence.

Again, this promise is to those who are living at all times in communion with Jesus Christ, not typical American churchgoers who spend an hour or two in church on Sunday and then live in the flesh for the remainder of the hours of the week. Such are not disciples. They pass in America for Christians but by the Bible definition they are not Christians. They are not seeking Jesus Christ in every aspect of their life. Therefore the ninety-first Psalm does not apply to them.

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. (Psalms 91:13—NIV)

It is likely that no reader of these lines will ever tread on a lion, or a cobra, or a great lion, or a serpent. What, then, is being promised here?

The lion and serpent represent the power of Satan. The true Christian, the disciple of Jesus, is to have no fear of what Satan or his angels and demons can do.

While we never are to be presumptuous or careless in what we do, the idea of trampling on the great lion and the serpent speaks of more than protection. It portrays a boldness of action, possible when we are obeying God strictly in all we are doing. The verse is looking forward to the hour when Satan is crushed under the feet of the saints. But even today, as Jesus directs us, we can ride roughshod over all the power of darkness.

Do you remember how Dagon, the fish god of the Philistines, suffered when faced with God's Ark? So it is true that when the victorious Christian comes face to face with the works of Satan it is Satan who is destroyed.

We Pentecostal people are superstitious. We tend to peep and mutter concerning the forces of darkness rather than meeting them confidently, knowing from the Lord Jesus that He has given us authority and power over all of them.

To be continued.