BY HUMPHREY MTANDWA Abraham saw three men walking and he called them to sit with him. When he did that, he entertained God. God came walking in a physical body. The reason why a lot of people miss God is that they have not recognised that he also desires communion. It takes those whose physical actions drive them deeper into fellowship with the Father. The master said, “I came to you and asked you for food and shelter and you turned me away.” He also said, ‘If you fail to love your brother you will not be able to love God.’ If you fail to see Christ in your brother you will never see Christ manifested physically or spiritually. The Bible says do not forget to entertain strangers for some have entertained angels unaware.
When you begin to be hospitable, you are ready for an encounter with God. When Abraham saw the three men he forgot about his status or rank, he could have sent his servants but he ran by himself. In the presence of God there is no title, status or rank — a president, a governor, a musician and even a cleaner should all run to the father as a child would. In times of prayer in your secret place throw away you title and open up yourself for an encounter with God.
I have heard of several encounters where those who experienced these amazing visitations would say the angel looked like an ordinary person. An angel can take on the form of man and can look like you and me. If you cannot receive man physically you will not be able to receive God spiritually. The Jewish culture encouraged man to be hospitable because hospitability opens man to dimensions of angelic visitations.
But it seems to be impossible to be hospitable in our time where it’s hard to trust man because the hearts of man are becoming more and more corrupted? Man in our time is selfish and this makes it even harder to entertain strangers. But even in such times he calls us to be hospitable. Lot was able to be hospitable though he stayed in a corrupt city. The people of Sodom who wanted to take advantage of Lot’s angelic visitors in Sodom is the perfect example of our generation. This is not to say there are no good people, but it takes so much to be hospitable, especially in such a generation. When was the last time you gave a stranger a glass of water or stopped on the road to help someone who had a vehicle breakdown. It’s not an easy task because some wolves disguise themselves as sheep in order to take advantage of others. How then shall we provoke the angelic in such a generation?
Could this be the major reason why it seems we have less and less of encounters of man and angels and how can this dimension be restored. There is a dimension of God man cannot access without angelic help and angels do not assist unless they are invited. The cloud that led the children of Israel was an angel, the burning bush was an angel, Daniel was assisted by angels and many more. But at times the angelic ministry is limited by us because of our lack of understanding of that dimension. We have, through corruption of our hearts, limited the activity of angels in our time and generation. Hospitality is a key to seeing the angelic and to encounter God. Abraham could have missed God if he was not hospitable. Many miss God and have never provoked the angelic because of not being hospitable. It’s time to change and be more hospitable.
God bless you.
- Humphrey Mtandwa is an anointed minister of the gospel and teacher of the Word based in South Africa. He has written several books, including The Enoch Generation, Truthfulness and Theophany. He blogs at mtandwa.blogspot.com and can be contacted via e-mail or WhatsApp on +27 610286350.
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