There are many texts in the Bible which speak of God’s watch care over His children and of angel deliverances as well. There are recordings in the Old Testament of angels appearing in the form of men, to help and deliver God’s people. That must not only apply to Old Testament times, because we are instructed to;

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:2

“In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and He heard me.” Psalm 120:1

“I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and He heard me.” Psalm 3:4

“Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.” Psalm 107:6

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.” Psalm 50:15

“He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.” Job 5:19

“The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Psalm 34:7

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:2

“Do not neglect to show kindness to strangers; for, in this way, some, without knowing it, have had angels as their guests.” Hebrews 13:2 – Weymouth

“Are they [the angels] not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Hebrews 1:14

“When His people shall be in the greatest danger, God will work in their behalf. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” Selected Messages Book 2 373

“But the LORD is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King.” Jeremiah 10:10

“That the Almighty does make use of human agencies, and directly intervenes in human affairs, is one of the plainest statements of the Bible. I have had so many evidences of this, so many instances of being ordered by some supernatural power, that I cannot doubt this power is of God.” President Abraham Lincoln

“OUR HEAVENLY FATHER HAS A THOUSAND WAYS TO PROVIDE FOR US OF WHICH WE KNOW NOTHING. Those who accept the one principle of making the service of God supreme, will find perplexities vanish, and a plain path before their feet.” Series B, No 19, p 4

The Horseman by His Side

A minister, John Jones of Flintshire, was travelling on horseback through a desolate region in northern Wales. He noticed a rough-looking man, armed with a reaping hook, following him on the other side of a hedge, aiming to come up with him at a gate where it was necessary for the horseman to dismount. The minister had a bag of money which he had collected for a chapel building, and felt that not only the money, but his own life was in danger. He bowed his head and prayed to God for special aid and protection. His horse became restless to go on, and on looking about after his prayer, the minister saw another horseman coming up beside him. He was surprised, but explained to this other person his situation and his fears, and that he was relieved that he now had company on his journey. The second horseman made no reply, but kept looking intently at the gate ahead. The minister followed his gaze, and saw the man with the reaping hook emerge from his concealment and run across a field to the left. He had obviously seen that there were now two men, and had decided to give up his original plan. The minister kept talking to his companion, but it wasn’t until he said “Surely it must be that my prayer was heard, and you were sent for my deliverance from the Lord,” that the other man answered “Amen.” As they approached the gate, the minister rode ahead to dismount and open it, and then he waited for the second horseman to pass through, but he did not come as expected. He was gone. The minister looked right back down the road, and the road was empty. He could not have passed through the gate, nor could he have jumped over the high hedges on both sides of the road. He and his horse had simply disappeared. The minister knelt down on the road and thanked his heavenly Father for sending one of His angels to help him and to save him from his danger.

“The Lord would have our perceptions keen to understand that these mighty ones who visit our world have borne an active part in all the work which we have called our own. These heavenly beings are ministering angels, and they frequently disguise themselves in the form of human beings. As strangers they converse with those who are engaged in the work of God. In lonely places they have been the companions of the traveller in peril. In tempest-tossed ships angels in human form have spoken words of encouragement to allay fear and inspire hope in the hour of danger, and the passengers have thought that it was one of their number to whom they had never before spoken.” The Upward Look 84

Where Are the Watchmen Around Your House at Night?

An early missionary to the Dutch East Indies was working amongst the wild Battak tribe. His work, together with his wife, to bring the gospel message to this people was so hard that little progress seemed to be able to be made against their suspicion, their hatred, and their hostility. So often at nights a great fear would come over them that their lives were in danger, that they would spend hours on their knees praying to God for His protection to be upon them. They later shifted their operations further inland, to another tribe which seemed more civilized and friendly. When they had been in their new home for some months, they were visited by a man from the previous area where they had been trying to work with the Battaks. This man spoke to the missionary for a while, and then said:- “I would like to see your watchmen close at hand.” The missionary said:- “What watchmen do you mean – I do not have any?” The man said:- “I mean the watchmen whom you station around your house at night to protect you and your wife.” Again the missionary said that he had no watchmen. The Battak man did not believe him, and asked if he could search through his house to find them. Of course he found none. Then he said:- “When you first came to us we were very angry at you. We did not want you to live with us and we did not trust you. We all resolved to kill you and your wife, but when we went to your house at night, night after night, there always stood around your house a double row of watchmen with glittering weapons, and we did not venture to attack them to get into your house, so we had to abandon our plans. Another fierce man in our tribe said we were cowards, and that he would go with us one night to kill you. This fierce man, swinging his weapon above his head, went on ahead of us, but in a short time he came running back hastily, saying that he could not go ahead alone, because two rows of big strong men were standing all around the house, shoulder to shoulder, with their weapons shining like fire. Thus we gave up our plans to kill you. But, now, tell me, tuan (teacher), who are those watchmen, and why is it that you have never seen them?” Then the missionary told him that these must have been God’s holy angels, that had been sent to protect him and his wife, in their time of peril, in answer to their prayers. He then brought out his Bible, and said:- “See, here, this Book is the Word of our God, and He has promised to guard and defend us, and we firmly believe that Word; therefore we need not ourselves see the watchmen, but you do not believe, therefore the God of Heaven has shown you the watchmen, in order that you might learn to believe.”

No Footprints in the Snow

“Angels in the form of men have come as strangers to the dwellings of the righteous, to preserve them in times of peril, to protect them from the plans the enemy had laid to destroy them.” Signs of the Times August 3 1891

In the snow-bound regions of Anchorage, Alaska, an elderly lady, Mrs. Louise Dubay, was living alone in her cabin, after the death of her husband, the cabin being at some distance from her nearest neighbours. Her bed was in one corner of the cabin, and an open fireplace was on the opposite side of the cabin. It had been snowing heavily, and she had fallen sick, waiting for the weather to ease, so that her neighbours, who kept an eye on her, could come and visit her. She had run out of wood for her fire, although there was plenty of cut-up wood out at the shed some distance from the house, but she was crippled and too sick to go out and get it. The cabin was cold without a fire going, so she decided to stay in bed to try and keep as warm as possible. She prayed to God to send one of her neighbours as soon as possible to help her. After she had been praying for a while, the door to her cabin opened, and a man came in, bringing some wood, and he went over to the fireplace and lit up the fire.

He then went out a couple of times and brought back large arms-full of wood and put them down by the open fireplace. The woman thought the man’s actions were strange, in that he never spoke to her or explained what he was doing. So then the lady whispered to herself:- “I wonder if this could be an angel that God has sent to help me until my neighbours can come to help me.” As soon as she had whispered this to herself, the man turned around to face her, and smiled, and went to the door, as if to get another load of wood. When he did not immediately return, and because the cabin was now becoming warm again from the fire, she got up and went to the door to see if she could see him, or where he had gone. She was amazed to find that there were no footprints in the snow going away from her house, nor over to the shed where all her firewood was stacked. She got to her knees and thanked God for sending His angel to help her in her time of real need. She later found that none of her neighbours had visited her that day, nor had there been any strangers in the area over the past few weeks either. God had indeed sent one of His angels to help her.

Where Is Your Friend Who Came With You?

This next experience occurred in North Scandinavia. A Christian colporteur decided to pass over a mountain, which was very difficult to cross, in order to reach some homes in the valley below. In order to be more sure of his footing, he removed his shoes and socks. Descending to the valley, he had to cross a place so steep that he feared he could not make it. Clinging to the rocks, he asked God to send an angel to be with him and to keep him from falling. Then, putting his trust anew in God, he made his way down the perilous steep, and safely reached the valley below. At the first cottage he called upon, he met a man and his wife, who had been watching him as he came over the mountain. “What has become of your companion?” was the first question they both asked. “What companion?” said the colporteur. “The man who was with you.” “But there was no one with me; I have come alone.” “That is not possible,” they exclaimed in surprise. “We were watching you as you came, and we saw two men crossing the mountain together.” Then the colporteur was able to witness to them of the ministering help we can all have from God’s angels, and how he had prayed to God to protect him from danger, and how they must have seen the angel whom God had sent in answer to his prayers, to accompany him safely on his journey to their home that day.

Deliverance from the Kafirs

Some Christian missionaries were in South Africa at the time when there was a warlike uprising amongst the Kafirs. For days they had been sharpening their assagais, which was a sign of a raid. The missionaries could speak and understand the Kafir language, and they knew that their lives were in danger. Friendly Kafirs told them to flee to safety, because they could not protect the Mission from the raiders. They told them that there was a friendly chief beyond the river, who would give them temporary refuge until they could travel further on to greater safety. All they had was an oxcart drawn by slow-moving oxen. They set off immediately, without delay, but when they got to the river that they needed to cross, they found it to be in flood, after recent rains. The steep banks were full to the brim. Their native “boys” who had travelled with them said it was no use – they would never get across the swollen river. It was still raining, and night was approaching. There they were, in the rain and gathering darkness, with the Kafirs on the warpath behind them, and the torrent of waters closing the way of their escape. The native boys were in terror, and the bullocks were nearly unmanageable. All they could do was pray to God to help them in their great and urgent need. Not long after they had prayed, two big black men approached them where they were, and one of them said, in a calm and forceful voice, “Do you want to cross over the river?” “Yes,” they said, “we must sleep at Umdushani’s kraal tonight. But the river is so full we cannot cross it.” “We will take you over,” said the men. Then these two men took charge, quietened the frightened oxen, and guided them into the river and across, and up the banks to safety on the other side. When the wagon stopped on the other side, the missionaries wanted to thank the men for what they had done – but they were gone. They had disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared at the critical time when they were needed. The native boys, who had come through on the wagon, had never seen these men before, and did not know where they could have come from, nor did they see them as they withdrew. Everything had happened so suddenly, so quietly, and so providentially, that the missionaries could only believe that it had been angels sent to help them, in answer to their prayers to God to deliver them from their peril and their danger.

A Personal Testimony – A Modern-day Miracle and God’s Answer to Prayer

I have just been browsing thru the new Divine Deliverance and Prayer page and thought I’d share something God gave my wife and I after she prayed for it. I had a vasectomy over 10 years ago when I was with my first wife, and it took, so I am not physically able to reproduce. 11 months ago I told my wife she was pregnant with a son, which shocked me. She took a pregnancy test and sure enough she was. God was telling me all the way through the pregnancy what was going to happen, including the day and time of birth. As soon as labour started Satan was in there trying to mess up things – the first was that the midwife insisted the baby was 7 weeks premature and we would have to travel to Waikato to give birth, which was a 3 hour drive. I told her he wasn’t and that the baby was going to be born before we could get to Waikato. He was, in Te Kuiti, on time. Next he was placed in intensive care and my wife was told there were no beds (there were beds empty everywhere) so she had to lodge 20 minutes walking distance from our son which was difficult for her after just giving birth, having to walk that distance 6 times a day. After 1 week of them poking needles into every part of his little body (arms, legs, hands and feet) I had had enough and we removed him from hospital and took him home where he improved immensely. The hospital called Social welfare and police on us and we had to take him to Taumarunui hospital for yet another jab in his bruised little foot. His name is Michael Joseph and he is now almost 3 months old and is very normal and healthy (thank you Lord).

Saved By A Spider’s Web

“A spider, by weaving her web over the mouth of an oven, did hide a servant of Christ from his enemies, who took refuge there.” – Flavel’s Works, volume vi

God has a thousand ways to provide for His people that we do not even think about. In the early days of Protestant history, some ministers who were preaching the truth of the Bible, which was contrary to the teachings of the Church of the State, were being pursued by an angry mob of objectors, who sought to harm them and even to take their lives. One of the ministers, Henry Havers, sort refuge in an old unused bake house and crept into a kiln through a narrow opening only big enough for his body to pass through. Almost immediately a spider began to weave a large and beautiful web across the narrow entrance. The web was between him and the light, and as he watched he was so fascinated by the skill of the insect weaver that he forgot for a time his immediate danger. When the delicate web had crossed and recrossed the mouth of the kiln in every direction, the pursuers of the minister came to where he was hiding, searching for him. He listened as they approached and heard one of them say, “It is no use looking for him in there. Look at that spider’s web. He could never have got in there without breaking it.” They departed, and that night the minister escaped to safety under the cover of darkness.

Guided By an Angel’s Hand

Two year old Ray was lost in a cornfield. There was a river nearby – and a lake and a creek. It would soon be dark. Nearly twenty people had joined in the search but had found no trace of the little boy. His mother pleaded, “Help us Lord! Help us find him before nightfall!” Finally helpless to know what else to do, his father dropped the reins on old Nellie’s neck, grasped the saddle horn, and cried aloud, “O Lord, direct this horse to Ray!” Instantly she started in a swift canter up along the creek bank. About a quarter of a mile to the north the creek made a loop, and here she started to leave the creek and follow a path across the field. Then the mare stopped dead still, as if an unseen hand had pulled on the reins. Nellie turned and walked straight into the thicket. They were within twenty feet of Ray when his father saw him. But the horse didn’t stop until she could have touched him. There he sat, calmly stripping leaves off a stock of switch cane. His little face was tear-stained, but he was unharmed. His father knelt beside him and offered a prayer of thanks. Then he put the little two-year-old on the saddle and swung up beside him. As the horse galloped, he called out, “Found! Found!” And the searchers relayed the happy news from one to another. As his mother, overjoyed, pulled him from the saddle, he called out, “Mamma, big kitty! Pat big kitty!” Many wild bobcats were found in southeast Missouri that year – 1939. Could it be that the two-year old boy had been in the company of a bobcat during those hours? His mother thought so, and if so, he had not only been saved from possible drowning, but from the bobcats as well, in answer to their prayers. He talked about the big kitty for days afterwards.

Safety through a Stormy Night

I’ve never seen an angel. That is, I don’t know that I have. But sometimes I wonder if I gave three of them a ride one stormy night a long time ago. It was the night I drove from San Diego to Santa Barbara in the very worst of a Californian flood. My daughter Judy, two or three years old, slept through most of the trip in the backseat. Most everything that could happen was happening, or so it seemed. At one point the highway was closed, but I was told how to go around and get back on. In one town – or city – I drove through three blocks of water so deep it was gushing around the head-lights of my car. Abandoned vehicles were all around me, and the old Durant I was driving stalled but started again. I couldn’t have paid for towing. I had about 75 cents, and the trip was taking twice the usual time. I pushed another car several blocks to a service station. That was no problem. So when, shortly after that, three men hailed me and wanted to be pushed to a station, I could see no reason to refuse – at least not in a storm like that. It was about two or three in the morning by then. This time it was twenty miles before we came to a station that was open. Three of those miles were through water that looked like a lake. I have no idea how those three men could tell where the highway was. But all I had to do was push. When we did come to the station that was open, the men filled my tank with gas. Then they asked if they could ride with me into Los Angeles. Their car’s motor was wet, and they wanted to leave it at the station to dry out. This was the most providential thing that could have happened, for I didn’t know my way through Los Angeles even when it wasn’t flooded. I had intended to go directly up the coast and bypass the city, but I had missed the signs in the storm. These three men knew exactly which streets were flooded and exactly how to avoid them. We didn’t have to backtrack once. One got out of the car at one point, another farther on, and third man got out just a block from Wilshire Boulevard. From there I knew my way. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but in the intervening years I have often wondered if those three men may have been angels. Of course God uses men too. But still I wonder! Thank you Lord.

Answer to A Daughter’s Prayer

A mother and daughter, with two Saint Bernards, were travelling through Arkansas when a news bulletin came over the radio: “Due to the extensive flooding in southern Tennessee and Missouri, the bridge in Crithersville, Missouri, has been washed out. We suggest you take the Brown’s Ferry crossing instead.” But where was Brown’s Ferry? A gas station attendant gave them directions, and they drove off into the approaching darkness. Were the directions accurate? And were they following them correctly? Again and again they had reason to wonder. In the wind and the rain and the mud they seemed to be driving straight into the isolation of nowhere. Debbie was crying. What if they were lost? Even the Saint Bernards seemed to know that something was wrong. “Deb,” said mother, “I’m not very religious, but maybe we ought to pray. At least we’ll be ready if something does happen.” “OK,” replied Debbie. “You pray.” “I can’t. I’m driving. You pray.” She slowed the car as Debbie prayed a simple prayer to God for Him to help them, and somehow they felt better. Finally they came to a place where the road ahead was flooded. Mother stepped out of the car to see how deep the water was. She could see a strong current on ahead. She had gone about forty feet, turned back, and was almost to the car when another pair of headlights appeared from nowhere. The car stopped. There seemed to be a man inside. “We’re trying to get to Brown’s Ferry,” she told him. “Well,” he said, “I can get you across this flooded area here, and the ferry is just up the road a piece.” And he added, “You be sure and follow closely now.” And of course she did. Slowly and cautiously she followed the other car, with the current of the flooding waters tugging demandingly. Once across the troubled waters, she pulled up beside the man. “Thank you so much,” she said gratefully. “That’s quite all right. Just keep on going ’bout two or three more miles, and you’ll come to the ferry.” Thanking him again, she pulled away and drove on ahead slowly. But looking into the rear-vision mirror she could see no headlights, no car – nothing. “Look back there! There’s no one there!” she nearly shouted at Debbie. Debbie looked back into the gathering blackness. “You’re right!” she said. “I can see no car or anybody behind us.” To this day they each wonder if God had sent an angel to help them that night in answer to their prayers.

Delivered From an Angry Mob

There was an occasion when Jesus passed through a maddened mob who were out to destroy Him before His time, without any of them being able to touch Him.

“And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong. But He, passing through the midst of them, went His way.” Luke 4:28-30

Dr. Adam Clarke of Ireland, an early Methodist preacher, and author of the Bible Commentary by his name, travelled all about Ireland, England, Wales, and to the Channel Islands. At that time there was angry opposition to the teachings of Methodism. Dr. Clarke tells a story in which he personally was involved. He has recorded it in his Commentary under his comments on Luke 4:30 – “But He [Jesus] passing through the midst of them went His way.” Adam Clarke writes as follows:- “The following relation of facts presents a scene something similar to what I suppose passed on with Jesus on this occasion. A missionary [speaking of himself], who had been sent to a strange land to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God, and who had passed through many hardships, and was often in danger of losing his life, through the persecutions excited against him, came to a place where he had been oftentimes before, at no small risk, preaching Christ crucified. About fifty people were assembled. He began his discourse, and after he had preached for about thirty minutes, an outraged mob surrounded the house, armed with different instruments of death. Those within bolted the door, and began to pray. The mob outside began to hurl stones at the house, breaking the windows and the tiles on the roof. In a short time nearly every tile was destroyed, and every window was broken. Then the mob began to try to undermine the wooden building with spades and crowbars. Then the preacher said to the people inside the house:- “This outraged people do not seek you – but me. If I continue in the house, they will pull it down, and we shall all suffer. I will therefore, in God’s name and with His help, go out to them, and you will then be safe.” He then went towards the door, but the people gathered around him, and entreated him not to go out, as he might expect to be instantly killed, but he went calmly forward, opened the door, towards which a large volley of stones and rocks was hurled, but he was not hit. The wild and uncontrolled mob were all around the door, and filled the road for a considerable way backwards, so that there was no room for him to pass or repass. As soon as the preacher made his appearance, the savage mob became instantly silent and still. He walked forward toward them, without saying a word, and they divided to the right and to the left, leaving a passageway of about four feet for himself and a young man who followed him, to walk in. He passed on through the whole crowd, not a soul of whom either lifted a hand against him, or spoke one word, until he and his companion had gained the uttermost skirts of the mob, and safety. After they had fallen back to right and to left to leave the minister a free passage, they were as motionless and still as statues. He, passing through the midst of them, went his way. The very next week, the minister went back to the very same place to meet with the people in the same house, and to preach to them the Gospel, without any further unruly disturbances to their meetings by the angry mob.

Saved By An Urgent Voice

It is interesting that the words spoken by angels, both as recorded in the Bible and as heard in our own modern times, are often very insistent. No! Don’t do it! Get up! Hurry! Go quickly! Make haste! These are the sort of words often used. Yes, sometimes the voice of an angel has to be insistent. Otherwise we may hesitate, we may try to reason with it. But danger will not wait!

“For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Psalm 91:11

“Every redeemed one will understand the ministry of angels in his own life. The angel who was his guardian from his earliest moment; the angel who watched his steps, and covered his head in the day of peril; the angel who was with him in the valley of the shadow of death, who marked his resting place, who was the first to greet him in the resurrection morning – what will it be to hold converse with him, and to learn the history of divine interposition in the individual life, of heavenly cooperation in every work for humanity!” Education 305

Peter Marshall, in his youth, spent a summer working in the English village of Bamburgh, sixteen miles south east of the Scottish border. One very dark night as he was walking back to Bamburgh from a nearby village, he decided to take a short cut. He knew that there was a deep, deserted limestone quarry in the area, but he thought he could avoid the danger spot. So he struck out across the moors. The night was starless and very dark, and the sound of the wind seemed to give it an eerie quality. Suddenly he heard someone call “Peter!” The voice was urgent. He stopped. “Yes, who is it? What do you want?” For a second he listened, but there was only the sound of the wind. Thinking he must have been mistaken, he walked on a few paces. Then he heard the voice again, even more urgent this time – “Peter!” This time he stopped dead still and tried to peer into the impenetrable blackness. He knelt down. Cautiously he put out his hand moving in a semi-circle and found that he was on the very brink of the abandoned stone quarry. Just one more step would have sent him plummeting to his death! Peter Marshall never forgot that voice he had heard. And there was never any doubt in his mind about the source of it – the voice must have been that of of his guardian angel.

Protection from Bodily Harm

Some time ago, in the early days of Protestantism, a minister in Canada was working on horseback amongst some of his people, when one afternoon towards evening, he was heading back home, when he felt a deep impression to go to a distant house of an aged couple, and there to pray with them or for them. This is the story, as told by the minister involved. “So earnest was the impression I received, that I turned my horse in that direction, and rode to the home of the elderly couple. I fastened the horse by the shed, and entered the house by a door which had been left open. There seemed to be nobody at home, so I knelt down in their living room, and poured out my petitions to God in an audible voice, for His divine protection to be over the elderly inmates – their lives and their possessions. After this I departed and went back home. Months afterwards, I was visiting one of the principal prisons in that region, and moving among the prisoners, was accosted by one of them, who claimed to know me. I had no recollection of the convict, and was fairly startled when he said: ‘Do you remember going to such a house one night, and offering prayer for the inmates?’ I told him I did, and asked him how he came to know anything about it. He said ‘I had gone to that house to steal a sum of money known by me to be in the possession of the old man, being prepared to do them harm or even kill them if necessary, to get it. I hid in the house before you came in, and heard you praying to God to protect the old people from violence of any kind, especially from murder, and that if there was any hand uplifted to strike them, that it might become paralyzed.’ Then the prisoner pointed to his right arm, which hung lifeless by his side, saying, ‘Do you see that arm? It was paralyzed on the spot, and I have never moved it since. I left the place without doing any harm, or stealing the money, but am here now in prison for other offences.'”

A Dog That Watched Through the Night

Here we have the story of Brownie – a big snarly, and stubborn dog. The pastor’s wife was returning from a meeting late at night. Her husband was out of town, and she and the children were alone. She let herself in quietly and was surprised to find the kitchen light on, with Ted, their young son, studying at the table. They commented briefly about the weather. Then she looked down and gasped. There was Brownie, their huge dog, stretched out at Ted’s feet! “Ted! What’s Brownie doing in the house? You know he’s never stayed inside before!” Ted looked up and shrugged. “He just wanted in, so I let him in. Then I decided I might as well bring my homework down here.” Brownie wanted in! That was utterly out of character for Brownie. He was a fiercely protective dog to all the family – to every one of them – and loved being with them anywhere they were – anywhere except inside. Up until now, whenever they had brought him inside, he exhibited a severe claustrophobia. He would race in terror from door to door and window to window until they let him out again. No amount of coaxing or bribing could keep him in. But there he now was, lying calmly in the kitchen like an ordinary house dog! Shaking her head in wonder at it, she went down to the basement to bolt the door leading to the outside. She came back up. Ted had gone to bed, and she was ready for sleep too. She thought she had better put Brownie out first. Brownie refused to budge. The pastor’s wife pushed and pulled, and even tried to bribe him to the door with a piece of meat. But he wouldn’t move. She gave up, shut all the doors to the kitchen, and went wearily upstairs to bed. The next morning Brownie reverted to his true nature and frantically wanted to get out of the house. Still puzzled, and wondering why the dog had been so determined to stay inside all the night before, she started downstairs to turn on the furnace. At the bottom of the stairs she felt a breath of cold, damp air. And then a wave of panic hit her. The outside door was unbolted from the inside and open! Someone must have been in the basement and let themselves out of the door. She knew that she had bolted it securely. That person must have been there when she went down to bolt the door! Now it all made sense. Whoever was in the basement had heard her noisy yet unsuccessful attempts to get Brownie out of the house. And he knew he would have to come up through the kitchen and encounter that fierce and angry dog – or else just go back out the way he had come in! She was sure that God and His angels must have caused Brownie to stay in to guard them safely from unknown dangers through the night.

An Amazing Answer to a Prayer of Faith

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Matthew 21:22

One of the best known instances of spiritual faith in answer to prayer, is that of George Muller and the fog. Here it is again, as remembered by the Captain of the ship, who’s own Christian life was revolutionised by the experience. The Captain, because of a very dense fog, had been on the bridge of his ship for 22 hours without leaving it when he was startled by someone tapping him on the shoulder. It was George Muller. “Captain,” he said, “I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.” This was Wednesday. The Captain replied without hesitation, “It is impossible.” Muller said “I have never broken an engagement for the Lord for 57 years.” “I would willingly help you,” said the Captain, “But how can I? I am helpless to do anything more than I am doing in this fog.” “Let us go down to the chart room and pray,” said Muller. “I never heard of such a thing. Mr Muller, do you know how dense this fog is?” “No,” he replied, “my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the power of the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.” So they went to their knees, and the man of God prayed a very simple prayer. It went something like this. “Oh Lord, if it be consistent with Thy will please remove this fog in 5 minutes. You know the engagement you made for me in Quebec for Saturday. I believe it is Thy will.” The Captain was about to pray, but Muller put his hand on his shoulder and told him not to. He said, “Firstly, you do not believe God will; and secondly, I believe God has already done it, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.” The Captain looked at him, amazed. And Muller continued, “Captain, I have known my Lord for 57 years and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with my King. Get up, Captain, and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone.” He got up, and the fog had indeed gone! And George Muller kept his appointment for the Lord in Quebec on time.