An Angel’s Heart

Detail from Peaceangelsong’s Gifts Christmas Greeting & Encouraging Card Collection “God’s Holy Angels”

Angels are important to us spiritually for we learn what God desires in the hearts of those who love and serve Him as we study His Word and reflect on what it teaches us.

From Psalm 103 we learn that one of the most important things about angels is that they are primarily God’s servants who hear God’s voice, and are always obedient to do the Lord’s will.

“Bless the LORD, ye His angels, that excel in strength, That do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word. Bless ye the LORD, all ye His hosts; Ye ministers of His, that do His pleasure.”

Psalm 103:20-21 KJV

From the Bible we learn that an Angel of God always hears God’s voice and obeys His will. God’s angels love God and trust Him.

But wasn’t the devil once one of God’s Angels?

Ezekiel the prophet wrote in reference to the anointed angel who became the devil: “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”

Ezekiel 28:15 KJV

• What does that word perfect mean?

תָּמִים

tâmı̂ym ~taw-meem’ Concordance)

(From the Strong’s Bible Concordance

From H8552; entire (literally, figuratively or morally); also (as noun) integrity, truth: – without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely (-ity), sound, without spot, undefiled, upright, whole.

Strong’s Bible Concordance

What turned this Angel’s heart against his Master and Creator?

One of things the Bible mentions was enormous vanity and pride. “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”

Ezekiel 28:17 KJV

Concerning the devil, Jesus had a few things to say. In speaking to the religious authorities who appeared perfect and flawlessly righteous outwardly, yet inwardly, in their hearts they were very corrupt.

Jesus said to them, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

John 8:44 KJV

Perfect is to God an altogether different concept from what is conceived by the devil and those formerly holy angels the evil one deceived into joining him in rebelling against our Creator.

God’s idea of perfection is a far cry from what humans imagine who have been seduced by the enemy into focusing on themselves and their appearance, on what they do, and if they do it better than others; how much money they earn, and how they can earn more, and then how they can best show off their success to others.

Depending on their age many souls are absorbed with either their popularity, their looks, their health, their jobs, school, career, their family, social media, etc.

Since they can’t see or hear Christ, they simply dismiss Him as irrelevant to their lives. They will value everything the world prizes rather than believing in what the Bible says is true.

They will not seek to know and love God for themselves in a vertical, personal relationship. For deep down they have a mistrust of spiritual, unseen things.

However God treasures those spiritual qualities in the soul who will listen to His voice, trust, and obey Him regardless of what anyone says or thinks about them, or what their obedience to Him might cost them.

It is a heart that completely acknowledges who God is, seeks to abide every moment in total submission to His sovereign authority, and to the Lord’s rightful expectation of worship that is due Him from their spirit, soul, mind and body.

It combines those attributes into a heart that passionately loves and desires to worship Him more than anything else.

God is their whole reason and motivation for living.

Such a heart looks like Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The Gospel of Matthew relates that on the Eve of His Crucifixion, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was praying to His Heavenly Father and sweating great drops of blood, His temptations were so dreadful.

And Jesus went a little further, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

Matthew 26:39 KJV

The first commandment states, ““You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ERV

God tries the heart His Word says. He tests us to see what we are made of. “For thou, O God, hast proved us: Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.”

Psalm 66:10 KJV

Therefore we undergo trials and afflictions according to His Word. And when we suffer we are to rejoice.

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”

1 Peter 1:6-7 NASB1999

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

James 1:2-4 NASB1995

No human will ever reach complete perfection this side of heaven. Only Christ was perfect. But Christ is always working on the hearts He redeemed with His spotless blood, and who have committed their lives to Him.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
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Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Though the Christian is saved by God’s grace and given Christ’s righteousness, the Apostle Paul reminds us that we must not continue to live in sin once we ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.

“So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be ruled by our sinful selves. We must not live the way our sinful selves want. If you use your lives to do what your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life. The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them.”

Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭ERV‬‬

It is the Lord’s work in our lives to sanctify us within. We participate in this process through our obedience to Him. Our will must always be to do Christ’s will.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
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Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

God wants a soul to care what He thinks about them more than what the public or their family or friends think about them.

God is more interested in knowing that we esteem His honor, affirmation, and encouragement than the popularity, honor, and esteem of the world.

If we must have the world’s favor rather the esteem and honor that the Lord wants to bestow upon us for obeying His will, then we show Him that we neither love, fear, nor truly have any real faith in Him.

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭KJV‬‬

If we do not really believe that we can hear and discern Christ’s voice so that we can learn to know His will for us, then we do not really believe that the teaching of the risen Lord Jesus Christ is true.

“Jesus answered them…My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.
I and My Father are one.”

John 10:25, 27-30 KJV

“Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

Ephesians 5:17 KJV

The holy Angels of the Most High God live to worship and obey the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.

Like the Angels who sang over the fields in Bethlehem on the first Christmas.

“Glory to God in the highest…”

Luke 2:14 KJV

They worship and glorify God always in the way He directs them.

God’s Angels exist to extol the perfections of their Creator, not their own.

For the moment an Angel’s mind becomes self focused it is no longer holy, and is transformed like vain Lucifer into a devil and must be thrust from the Lord’s presence.

Perfectionism is self focused, ever working to please humans. It never glorifies God, but exhausts itself trying to appear as if it had no visible flaws.

Jesus warned the Pharisees (religious rulers) that even though they appeared morally flawless outwardly, that in their hearts they were filled with dead men’s bones. He called them hypocrites.

Satan, the once beautiful, upright anointed Angel of God, a creature who seemed perfect and without fault, until “… iniquity was found in him, ” once beheld the beautiful face of God and worshiped Him.

So also did the third of the Angels whom the devil led into a rebellion against the Almighty.

They did not remain in their position with God because they trusted and believed an unholy lie.

What had been light became dark and corrupted with evil.

Whatever we might imagine we are outwardly, if we don’t truly know the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, if we do not seek His face in private personal prayer, humbly abiding in continual fellowship with Him, listening for His voice, and know and understand by faith His Word and will, and obey it, then we are in danger of offering our Lord the outwardly perfect sacrifice of the Pharisees and of Cain, instead of the sacrifice God has asked us for, which Cain’s brother Abel, and which Christ gave to the Lord, and which found favor with God.

Both Abel’s and Christ’s sacrifices involved the absolute submission of their entire wills to God. In both cases it was not necessarily the gift they desired to give to God, but the gift God desired from them.

Jesus said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent.”
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John‬ ‭17‬:‭3‬ ‭

Prayer

Heavenly Father, may You give me a humble, holy heart just like the Angels, that exists to hear Thy voice and obey Thee, to worship and extol Thy perfections, and those of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, thank You, I love You, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Peaceangelsong’s Gifts.com

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Paths of Waiting ~ A Video Story

Paths Of Waiting Before The Lord is my latest music album of comforting Christian prayersongs, released last month. This new video recounts through my original art and in my own words the compelling story behind that album.

May the Lord use my story on this video to bless and encourage those who need to be reminded that Jesus loves them, of His forgiveness and grace, and that He answers our prayers in His own way and time, according to our needs, in Jesus’ name, amen.

To listen to the songs on Paths of Waiting follow the link to my Hear & Now Website or listen on your favorite streaming station.

https://suzannedavisharden.hearnow.com/paths-of-waiting-before-the-lord-comforting-christian-prayersongs

Click on the album cover to preview songs at Suzanne’s Hear & Now Music Website

Two Chances

When I first fell about three weeks ago, my whole body was screaming with the worst pain I’d ever felt. I wanted more than anything to die. Throughout my agony in the hospital I cried and prayed for Jesus to please come take me Home and rescue me from this ordeal. Having already fallen flat on my face from a dead faint onto a hardwood floor back in November and miraculously only suffering painful bruising, a black eye, and bloody nose, then losing Mama and my precious sister Nancy, enduring vicious migraines every day, and fierce tension knots, I felt like this new affliction was the last straw. No way did I want to face this new trial.

~~Unlike King David, the man after God’s own heart, who, when God put through a dark trial, he faithfully prayed,

“Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain.Then You turned away from me, and I was shattered.I cried out to You, O Lord. I begged the Lord for mercy, saying, “What will You gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise You? Can it tell of Your faithfulness? Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, O Lord.””

Psalms 30:7-10 NLT

No, I was not good like David, for the very last thing I thought of was praising the Lord in my pain, alas. I screamed in bitter agony.

The Bible says that the dead praise not the living God, however He seeks a people who will praise and glorify Him despite their trials.

“The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. But we can praise the Lord both now and forever! Praise the Lord!” Psalms

115:17-18 NLT

I learned that if I truly love the Lord I would endure despite the pain and continue to trust Him believing He will come through in the end. By His Almighty grace, I have determined to seek for ways that I can praise Him during this trial.

For His Word tells us that God’s mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

One thing I will praise the Lord for is giving me such a wonderful husband. Ever since I fractured my humerus I’ve had to rely on Mark for assistance in doing everything ~~even doing my hair. Mark finds this task quite difficult and I must admit he has a gift for making really bad hairstyles. They are so awful that they are hilarious and make me laugh. I wish I had been documenting these crazy styles. Even JJ, our Yorkie, noticed him fixing my hair one day. Her little black eyes seemed to pop as she suddenly halted and hopped fast backwards out of the room, We both wish we could’ve documented her reaction on video.

Well, the night he made my hair look like I was wearing an ice bag, I could not stop laughing. I then said, “Honey, can’t you just manage a simple braid?”

I texted a friend about the issue. She told me that her daughter was really gifted at braiding hair and had her own website dedicated to braiding, and she gave me the URL.

I told Mark and sent him to the website. “Here is your chance, honey. Study her techniques and you will soon be braiding my hair!”

I was hopeful as I saw him intently studying two of the braiding videos. But when I noticed how complicated the braids were my heart sank.

Sure enough he soon gave up overwhelmed. Closing his laptop he looked at me and said, “You have two chances for me to ever braid your hair~ fat chance and no chance!”

I pouted. Why could he not have just chosen a video on how to do a simple braid?

Well, the next day the home health care nurse who comes to help me wash my hair and bathe said that she used to run her own hair braiding business on the side till she had her baby!

Would I like for her to braid my hair? She gave me two long beautiful French braids on either side of my head!

Here was my loving God giving me a chance to replace Mark’s fat chance and no chance!

How I praise Him for showing me His love and mercy in that special way!

And that wasn’t the end of the story either.

The next morning my Occupational Therapist came and wanted to braid my hair. She did a beautiful job. Once again, God demonstrated His love and mercy sending two people to braid my hair!

The dead praise not the living God but I will praise Him for these special ways He blessed me.

And the praising for His amazing blessings does not end there.

We went to the orthopedic doctor for a check up and while she did not see a great deal of improvement in the fracture as it was huge; she said it was going to take time and to be patient; after testing me she said I had no nerve damage!

This was very encouraging to me! She said with this kind of injury they sometimes see nerve damage in the hand so it was very good that I had none.

Glory to our wonderful God!

And today after Mark had graced me with another awful hairstyle last night that was truly hilarious, I went into the bathroom and prayed to be able to braid my own hair.

And God be praised~ He really helped me do it ~despite my broken arm!

God helped me braid my own hair despite my broken arm! Praise our awesome Lord Jesus Christ!

Fat chance and no chance are God’s chances in the eternal realms of the Almighty.

“Lord, You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever!”

Psalms 30:11-12 NLT

Lord, Help Me Endure

“Lord Help Me Endure To The End” is a prayer song inspired by a scripture verse that Jesus spoke to His disciples when He was talking to them about prophetic events of the dark last days.

Jesus said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Matthew 24:13 KJV

What does the word Jesus used for endure mean?

ὑπομένω hupomenō~~Thayer Definition:

1) to remain, 1a) to tarry behind, 2) to remain, i.e. abide, not recede or flee,

2a) to persevere under misfortunes and trials to hold fast to one’s faith in Christ

2b) to endure, bear bravely and calmly: ill treatments

This verse with its word meaning has spoken volumes to me as I have studied and meditated over them.

I’m so thankful the Lord gave me this prayer song to encourage me to meditate on this verse as I seek Him in prayer and in His Word, especially now.

No stranger to affliction being a sufferer of chronic daily migraines and fibromyalgia, I was painting to distract myself from pain early one morning last month.

Mark reminded me of an appointment I had to get ready for so I got in a rush to print my painting and get ready for the day.

Alas, as I rounded the corner of my bed I tripped and fell backwards landing on my left side and crashed onto the hardwood floor.

Horrified, I saw my left arm detached from my body. In excruciating pain, I thought my hip and neck were broken, as they were hurting as much as my arm and shoulder, also I could not move. Talk about screaming. My beloved Mark was by my side in a second.

I had to be taken to the hospital where they did imaging. Not only did I have bruises all over the left part of my body, but the X-Rays and scans revealed that I’d severely fractured my left humerus. Thank the Lord I had broken nothing else. I returned home with my left arm in a heavy splint and sling. It was so heavy in fact, I could barely walk. The pain was unbearable. I learned how disabled one is made by such a severe injury.

At first I just felt manacled by that awful splint and was sent into panic mode in certain positions. I was in more pain than I’d ever been in my life and I begged God to take me to Heaven. He kept saying nope. Not only did I find the pain beyond my endurance, I couldn’t tolerate being so helpless and dependent on others for assistance in EVERYTHING.

The Lord said, “ENDURE.”

Hadn’t I suffered enough, I asked.

The Lord was not going to let me off the hook.

He reminded me of the prayer song He had given me, “Lord Help Me Endure To The End.”

He reminded me of the other prayer song with lyrics He had given me on my most recent release Paths of Faith, “I Will Lay Down My Life.”

Migraines flared up the agony in my fractured arm even more. The wretched splint caused huge tormenting tension knots in my back and neck. I could not get comfortable nor sleep in my bed but had to sleep in Mark’s recliner.

Despite my misery, the Lord showered me with rivers of His measureless mercy. He sent wonderful home healthcare people to assist me. They always ended up telling me about folks who were far worse off than I was and this would somehow comfort me because I not only then felt I was not alone in my pain, it motivated me to pray for people who suffered as I did.

Prayer was the only way I could lay my life down in love for others because of my disability, while others were laying their lives down in love for me. The Lord always sent me people with the most cheerful attitudes. They somehow could make me laugh despite my intense pain.

Our son flew home from LA to help my husband with my care.

Our daughter being tied up with myriad issues in Tucson did many wonderful things for us that we needed assistance with by ordering things we required and had them sent to us.

We were surrounded by love. God showed His mercy and faithfulness in so many ways that helped me to hang on when I thought I could not endure another moment of pain. Many from our church sent beautiful cards and prayers while our friend Sharon came and stayed with me twice so Mark could run some necessary errands.

Our Pastor came over and anointed me with oil and prayed for my healing. All of these beautiful expressions of God’s love comforted me, reminding me that our Heavenly Father still loved me despite my suffering.

One night after I finally fell asleep exhausted from the pain, I dreamed that the Lord Jesus Christ came down from Heaven and into my living room. He stood by the recliner where I lay sleeping and He checked on my arm as if He were a doctor checking on my progress. I dreamed this two nights in a row. I woke up very comforted both times, assured of His love for me.

But on days when the hours stretched by and my pain level stayed at a ten I became depressed and wept, praying for God’s mercy and repenting for everything I could think of that might have upset the Lord. For when we go through serial trials we can’t help but look up and ask the Lord, “What did I do wrong?”

Whenever I ask the Lord questions like that He refers me to His Word. From the Epistle of James: “My Christian friends, remember to be happy, even when many kinds of trouble happen to you. Troubles can help you. God wants to see if you really trust Him. Your faith in God will become stronger as a result of these troubles. So you should continue to trust God all the time. Then you will become stronger as a Christian. You will become completely how you should be. You will not need anything more.” James 1:2-4 (*Easy English Bible)

The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to comfort me and assure me that God is using my trials to enlarge my faith.

We thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is so good to us. As our Father, He is very kind to us. He is our God who comforts us in every way. Whenever we have trouble, He comforts us. Because of that, we ourselves can comfort other people. When they have any kind of trouble, we can comfort them, in the same way that God has comforted us. Christ himself received much pain, and God comforted Him. As Christ’s servants, we also receive the same kind of pain. But, God also comforts us very much, because we belong to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 *(Easy English Bible)

Peter the Apostle wrote that we should expect to have suffering and trials as Christians.

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12-13 KJV

Peter asserted that suffering and pain motivate the Christian to do God’s will instead of their own will, even as Christ did His Father’s will on earth.

“Christ had trouble and pain while He lived in His human body. So you should prepare yourselves to have trouble and pain too. Think about it in the same way that Christ did. If someone has trouble and pain in his body, he stops doing wrong things. As a result, that person will want to do what God wants him to do. In his life in this world, he will not want to do the bad things that people think are good.” 1 Peter 4:1-2 (*Easy English Bible)

That is why we never give up.

Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.

For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT (*New Living Translation)

“Lord Help Me Endure To The End”~ Midnight Prayers and Meditations Volume II, © ℗ 2021, by Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved.

“Lord Help Me Endure To The End”~ Peaceangel Song, Copyright © 2022, by Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved.

Scripture Quotations from the King James Version Bible Translation, the Easy English Bible, The New Living Bible Translation, All of which are copyrighted by their various publishers.

*Created through the Indwelling Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Inspired by His Holy Spirit, To The Glory of God The Father, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.