Authority vs. Actuality.
Genesis 24:34-41
Take it deeper...
So as I was reading this morning, God struck me with a simple truth. I want to share it with you today. When I was a child, my mom would often say to me "Sam go tell your brother to do..." One thing I quickly learned was that my brother didn't believe me. I would tell him to do something and he would say "no" outright. Now I could get mad, and did a couple times, knowing that my mom would then round back to me and ask me if I had told him. So what I learned to do was to say "Mom says..."
As I was reading this scripture in Genesis, this thought struck me... If you see farther down while the servant is explaining to Laban what was going on, he says "God before whom I've walked faithfully will send his angel with you." God will send his ANGEL with you... That struck me because I was thinking about the importance of Authority and how when you are under authority, you go in the authority of the person you are under. For example, my mom asks me to go to have my brother do something. When I submit to her request, I am under her authority, then I go with all her power and authority to my brother. If he doesn't listen to me its as if he isn't listening to my mom.
That's huge. But its not the same thing as what I am calling Actuality. Don't get me wrong. Authority is very important to understand. Much of the world works with this basic principle. Jesus also operated in it and taught His disciples what it meant to operate in Authority. AUTHORITY IS A BIG DEAL! But how many know that there is a difference when the person is actually in the room and has the POWER to back it up.
Selah.
What I love about God is that pre-Cross, He sent Angels to back up(provide power for) his emissaries. You'll notice that Abraham actually says "God's going to send an angel with you." So Abraham's servant had the Authority of Abraham (and in fact, God) to go to Abraham's family and look for a wife for Isaac. But had an Angel not gone with him, would things have turned out the same?
Also, we have to look briefly at Angels. Angels are created beings. They were created by God to serve Him. While I have not personally read anything that explains this, I believe that the Angels were created prior to mankind. The Angels were created on every level to be servants of God. In fact, they can traverse the gap between Heaven and Earth at God's command to minister to humankind. And have an many points (pre-cross) acted as the go-between for God and man. God would have Angels intervene in things as simple as finding a bride for the son of His friend (Abraham). What makes them different from Humans (who are in fact lower in stature) is that Humans were created by God to have free-will AND Creative breath. God breathed into the dust and created life. What I suspect is that the Angels were NOT created with the breath of life. Angels are altogether amazing creatures, but they are not the end-all be-all. I used to detest the show "touched by an angel" because they took the emphasis off of God and put it squarely on angels.
Selah.
So now, Post-Cross, the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God, goes with us. There is a very real difference. The limitless power of God Himself is there for us to tap into. While God still can and does use Angels to carry out His will, as a Spirit filled believer we should never need to have an Angel do what the Holy Spirit should rightfully do! To put it simply, where God guides- God provides. He has given you and me the authority in the name of Jesus. And what is more, because of Jesus' redemptive work on the cross, God Himself can be with us directly to give us the power we need to carry out His plans..
The servant said, "I'm the servant of Abraham. God has blessed my master—he's a great man; God has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, servants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. And then to top it off, Sarah, my master's wife, gave him a son in her old age and he has passed everything on to his son. My master made me promise, 'Don't get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live. No, go to my father's home, back to my family, and get a wife for my son there.' I said to my master, 'But what if the woman won't come with me?' He said, 'God before whom I've walked faithfully will send his angel with you and he'll make things work out so that you'll bring back a wife for my son from my family, from the house of my father. Then you'll be free from the oath. If you go to my family and they won't give her to you, you will also be free from the oath.'
Take it deeper...
So as I was reading this morning, God struck me with a simple truth. I want to share it with you today. When I was a child, my mom would often say to me "Sam go tell your brother to do..." One thing I quickly learned was that my brother didn't believe me. I would tell him to do something and he would say "no" outright. Now I could get mad, and did a couple times, knowing that my mom would then round back to me and ask me if I had told him. So what I learned to do was to say "Mom says..."
As I was reading this scripture in Genesis, this thought struck me... If you see farther down while the servant is explaining to Laban what was going on, he says "God before whom I've walked faithfully will send his angel with you." God will send his ANGEL with you... That struck me because I was thinking about the importance of Authority and how when you are under authority, you go in the authority of the person you are under. For example, my mom asks me to go to have my brother do something. When I submit to her request, I am under her authority, then I go with all her power and authority to my brother. If he doesn't listen to me its as if he isn't listening to my mom.
That's huge. But its not the same thing as what I am calling Actuality. Don't get me wrong. Authority is very important to understand. Much of the world works with this basic principle. Jesus also operated in it and taught His disciples what it meant to operate in Authority. AUTHORITY IS A BIG DEAL! But how many know that there is a difference when the person is actually in the room and has the POWER to back it up.
Selah.
What I love about God is that pre-Cross, He sent Angels to back up(provide power for) his emissaries. You'll notice that Abraham actually says "God's going to send an angel with you." So Abraham's servant had the Authority of Abraham (and in fact, God) to go to Abraham's family and look for a wife for Isaac. But had an Angel not gone with him, would things have turned out the same?
Also, we have to look briefly at Angels. Angels are created beings. They were created by God to serve Him. While I have not personally read anything that explains this, I believe that the Angels were created prior to mankind. The Angels were created on every level to be servants of God. In fact, they can traverse the gap between Heaven and Earth at God's command to minister to humankind. And have an many points (pre-cross) acted as the go-between for God and man. God would have Angels intervene in things as simple as finding a bride for the son of His friend (Abraham). What makes them different from Humans (who are in fact lower in stature) is that Humans were created by God to have free-will AND Creative breath. God breathed into the dust and created life. What I suspect is that the Angels were NOT created with the breath of life. Angels are altogether amazing creatures, but they are not the end-all be-all. I used to detest the show "touched by an angel" because they took the emphasis off of God and put it squarely on angels.
Selah.
So now, Post-Cross, the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God, goes with us. There is a very real difference. The limitless power of God Himself is there for us to tap into. While God still can and does use Angels to carry out His will, as a Spirit filled believer we should never need to have an Angel do what the Holy Spirit should rightfully do! To put it simply, where God guides- God provides. He has given you and me the authority in the name of Jesus. And what is more, because of Jesus' redemptive work on the cross, God Himself can be with us directly to give us the power we need to carry out His plans..
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