WHERE ANGELS DELIGHT TO DWELL

Angels are belting the world, refusing Satan his claims to supremacy, made because of the vast multitude of his adherents. We hear not the voices, we see not with the natural sight the work of these angels, but their hands are linked about the world, and with sleepless vigilance they are keeping the armies of Satan at bay till the sealing of God’s people shall be accomplished.” –Maranatha, p. 266

“A home where love dwells and where it finds expression in looks, in words, in acts, is a place where angels delight to dwell.” –Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students, p. 115

We all want angels to dwell in our houses, in our churches and also to be with us wherever we go.  This world is a battle ground between good and evil in the visible as well as invisible world.  Our only safety is in the protection of the mighty angels; angels who excel in strength. The mighty enemy also is a strong, powerful force and we are no match for the enemy; therefore, we need constant protection from the angels of God.  We need those angels to keep the armies of Satan away from us.

Angels love to attend church services and they love to dwell in Christian homes. However, if unconverted elements are permitted to be continually practiced, they may turn away in sadness, even from these places. A well ordered home or church that is filled with love is where you will find the angels dwelling.

“Angels work harmoniously. Perfect order characterizes all their movements. The more closely we imitate the harmony and order of the angelic host, the more successful will be the efforts of these heavenly agents in our behalf. If we see no necessity for harmonious action, and are disorderly, undisciplined, and disorganized in our course of action, angels, who are thoroughly organized and move in perfect order, cannot work for us successfully. They turn away in grief, for they are not authorized to bless confusion, distraction, and disorganization. All who desire the co-operation of the heavenly messengers, must work in unison with them. Those who have the unction from on high, will in all their efforts encourage order, discipline, and union of action, and then the angels of God can co-operate with them. But never, never will these heavenly messengers place their endorsement upon irregularity, disorganization, and disorder. All these evils are the result of Satan’s efforts to weaken our forces, to destroy our courage, and prevent successful action. –Christian Experience and Teaching, p. 199

“God desires that His work shall be done with system and exactness, in order that He may place upon it the seal of His approval.”–The Review and Herald, October 12, 1905

WORLD IN CHAOS

As much as the Western World likes to portray the fact that we supposedly live in a well-ordered society in an enlightened age, nothing could be further from the truth. Crime and corruption are everywhere, if not openly, then in subtle methods such as fraud and deception.  There is also very little order in the chaotic world of politics. Angels do not like the chaos of the world.

“The world and all society are looked upon as in disorder. Ideas and methods and skilful inventions are instituted to remodel it, but the system is almost altogether human.” –Testimonies to Southern Africa, p. 74

We have also seen some of these evils creeping into the Christian world.  Satan is studying very hard to combine the chaos of the world and bring it into the homes of Christian families and into Christian churches. Unfortunately, he is succeeding in many families and churches. I pray that he will not succeed in our families and in God’s church.

“Satan well knows that success can only attend order and harmonious action. He well knows that everything connected with Heaven is in perfect order, that subjection and perfect discipline mark the movements of the angelic host. It is his studied effort to lead professed Christians just as far from Heaven’s arrangement as he can; therefore he deceives even the professed people of God, and makes them believe that order and discipline are enemies to spirituality.” –Christian Experience and Teachings, p. 201

“The power and malice of Satan and his host might justly alarm us, were it not that we may find shelter and deliverance in the superior power of our Redeemer. We carefully secure our houses with bolts and locks to protect our property and our lives from evil men; but we seldom think of the evil angels who are constantly seeking access to us, and against whose attacks we have, in our own strength, no method of defense. If permitted, they can distract our minds, disorder and torment our bodies, destroy our possessions and our lives. Their only delight is in misery and destruction. Fearful is the condition of those who resist the divine claims, and yield to Satan’s temptations, until God gives them up to the control of evil spirits. But those who follow Christ are ever safe under His watchcare. Angels that excel in strength are sent from Heaven to protect them. The wicked one cannot break through the guard which God has stationed about His people.” –The Great Controversy, 1888, p. 517

A HOME WHERE ANGELS DELIGHT TO DWELL

A  home is not necessarily a big, fancy building. A home can be large, or it can be very small. A home can be described as a sanctuary. It should be a place of safety and comfort from the outside world. In the home one can relax and rest peacefully (hopefully). It should be a respite from the chaos of the outside world as long as we keep the outside world just there, on the outside. Unfortunately, some bring the outside world inside the home, disturbing the peace and harmony in this sanctuary.

How can we keep homes in a condition where the angels delight to dwell? Some feel that when they are in their homes, they are away from the public eye and can keep their homes in any condition they choose. However, this is false. While there is disorder and chaos outside, there should be order and neatness inside the home.  “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. . . . Let all things be done decently and in order.” 1 Corinthians 14:33, 40

“You are under obligation to God always to be patterns of propriety in your home. Remember that in heaven there is no disorder, and that your home should be a heaven here below. Remember that in doing faithfully from day to day the little things to be done in the home, you are a labourer together with God, perfecting a Christian character.” –Counsels for the Church, p. 149.  “Uncleanness in the home is a great mistake, for it is educating in its effects and casts its influence abroad.” Child Guidance, p. 106. “They should be taught that they are not to keep the house in perpetual disorder.” Child Guidance, p. 101. “The home must be kept pure and clean. Unclean, neglected corners in the house will tend to make impure, neglected corners in the soul.” –Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, p 142–143.“I saw that the houses of the saints should be kept tidy and neat, free from dirt and filth and all uncleanness.” –Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 274

“None should be so fearful of being like the world that it will lead them to be careless in their houses, leaving things in disorder and uncleanness. It is not pride to be neat in dress, cleanly in person, orderly and tasteful in their household arrangements. . . . These outside appearances tell the business character of those living in the house, and not only this but the religious character of its inmates. It is impossible for a slack, disorderly person to make a good Christian. Their lives, in temporal and religious things, are just as disorderly as their dress, houses, persons, and premises.” –Our High Calling, p. 230

“Order and cleanliness is the law of heaven; and in order to come into harmony with the divine arrangement, it is our duty to be neat and tasty. They are to be taught that those who are to represent the high and holy God must keep their souls pure and clean, and that this purity must extend to their dress and to everything in the home, so that the ministering angels will have evidence that the truth has wrought a change in the life, purifying the soul and refining the tastes.” –The Adventist Home, p. 22

Is our home in a such a condition that the angels would delight to dwell with us?

THE FAMILY

Ask yourself if the angels delight to live with your family? “A home may be neat and tidy but what about the people who dwell in the home?  There needs to be order in the family circle as well. The lack of appreciating order and system in the arrangement of family matters leads to destructiveness and working to great disadvantage.” –The Adventist Home, p. 379

“Home should be a place where cheerfulness, courtesy, and love abide; and where these graces dwell, there will abide happiness and peace. Troubles may invade, but these are the lot of humanity. Let patience, gratitude, and love keep sunshine in the heart, though the day may be ever so cloudy. In such homes angels of God abide.” –The Ministry of Healing, p. 393 (emphasis mine)

“Mutual kindness and forbearance will make home a Paradise and attract holy angels into the family circle; but they will flee from a house where there are unpleasant words, fretfulness, and strife. Unkindness, complaining, and anger shut Jesus from the dwelling.” –The Adventist Home, p. 421 (emphasis mine)

“From the very beginning of their lives, children are to be taught as to how to conduct themselves in order to welcome the heavenly guests, and prevent them from fleeing.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 199

“The love and respect of her children should be of the highest value to every mother. Everything upon her person should teach cleanliness and order and should be associated in their minds with purity. There is a sense of fitness, an idea of the appropriateness of things, in the minds of even very young children; and how can they be impressed with the desirability of purity and holiness when their eyes daily rest on untidy dresses and disorderly rooms? How can the heavenly guests, whose home is where all is pure and holy, be invited into such a dwelling?” –The Adventist Home, p. 254. Let us invite the heavenly guests into our homes and family circle.

PLACES OF ENTERTAINMENT

Everyone needs recreation at certain periods in order to become refreshed for all their daily duties. It is important, though, where the recreation takes place, for Satan has created many forms of entertainment where the angels are really not wanting to enter.  Choose carefully your place of recreation and refrain from going to places where the angels may refuse to enter or you will find yourself in a place surrounded by the chaos of this world with only evil around you. It is a fearful place to be if you could see into the unseen world. All the evil and corruption—and the delight on the face of the evil one—would be enough to frighten any true saint from entering such places. There is much written about places that the angels choose not to enter from the pub to brutal sporting events. We must always keep in mind, “would the angels be with me when I go here?”

“It is dangerous for those who wish to honour God to find their pleasure and entertainment with companions who fear Him not. Satan ever surrounds such with great darkness; and if those who profess Christ go unbidden into this darkness, they tempt the devil to tempt them. If, in order to do good and glorify His name, the Lord requires us to go among infernal spirits, where is the blackest darkness, He will encircle us with His angels and keep us unsullied. But if we seek the company of sinners, and are pleased with their coarse jests, and entertained and amused with their stories, sports, and ribaldry, the pure and holy angels remove their protection and leave us to the darkness we have chosen.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 222

What if we bring forms of entertainment into our homes, such as inappropriate movies that the angels do not like to watch? Or if we view Internet web sites that the angels do not like to look at? Will the angels delight to dwell with us in our homes?

IN THE CHURCH

Our churches are also a place of refuge, a sanctuary from the chaos of the outside world. We need to keep the world outside so that the angels will delight to worship with us, and not turn away and flee in sadness.

Order in the church is kept by recognizing the sanctity of the sanctuary and instilling that into our children. “Thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

“The house of God is desecrated and the Sabbath violated by Sabbath believers’ children. They run about the house, play, talk, and manifest their evil tempers in the very meetings where the saints have met together to glorify God and to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. The place that should be holy, where a holy stillness should reign, and where there should be perfect order, neatness, and humility, is made to be a perfect Babylon and a place where confusion, disorder, and untidiness reign. This is enough to shut out God from our assemblies and cause His wrath to be kindled, that He will not be pleased to go out with the armies of Israel to battle against our enemies.” –Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. 257. Hopefully this is not the case in our churches.

“There is order in heaven. There was order in the church when Christ was upon the earth, and after His departure order was strictly observed among His apostles. And now in these last days, while God is bringing His children into the unity of the faith, there is more real need of order than ever before; for, as God unites His children, Satan and his evil angels are very busy to prevent this unity and to destroy it.” –Early Writings, p. 97

“The moral taste of the worshipers in God’s holy sanctuary must be elevated, refined, sanctified. This matter has been sadly neglected. Its importance has been overlooked, and as the result disorder and irreverence have become prevalent, and God has been dishonoured. When the leaders in the church, ministers and people, fathers and mothers, have not had elevated views of this matter, what could be expected of the inexperienced children? They are too often found in groups, away from the parents, who should have charge of them. Notwithstanding they are in the presence of God, and His eye is looking upon them; they are light and trifling; they whisper and laugh, are careless, irreverent, and inattentive.”  –Child Guidance, p. 542.  Are we guilty of irreverence in the house of God? I hope not, or the angels may flee from such worship services.

“Do not have so little reverence for the house and worship of God as to communicate with one another during the sermon. If those who commit this fault could see the angels of God looking upon them and marking their doings, they would be filled with shame and abhorrence of themselves. God wants attentive hearers. It was while men slept that the enemy sowed tares.” –Child Guidance, p. 542

In conclusion: “Perfect order characterizes all the movements of the angels of God. We are in the world as the children of Israel were in the wilderness, to be fitted for the heavenly Canaan, and the society of holy angels. We should carry out as far as possible in our families and in the church the order and harmony of Heaven. Angels of God often turn away in grief from those who excuse disorder and confusion as very trivial matters; they are not authorized to bless such. All who desire and expect the co-operation of the heavenly messengers must work in unison with them. Satan understands that success will only attend unity of action. He well knows that independence, self-exaltation, and pride caused him to lose paradise, and he is constantly tempting others to rebel against order and discipline that they may share his fate.” –The Signs of the Times, July 29, 1880

Do we wish to have the protection of the heavenly angels with us wherever we go?  May God help us to keep our homes, families and churches as places where the angels will delight to dwell. And also to make sure we only go where they will delight to accompany us. Without their protection we are fearfully in the hands of the chaotic evil in the world. However, God loves us and longs to be with us. Let us not shut Him out from our presence, our homes or our churches is my wish and prayer. Amen.

Wendy Eaton