Raphael is an angel who brings compassion and healing.

The Story of Raphael’s Intervention

The book of Tobit talks about angel Raphael. Tobit was a commoner. He was not a king or even a prophet. He lived outside Judea in a strange country that belonged to the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans hated the Jews and many Jews were massacred in the streets. The Jews were not even allowed to have a proper burial. Tobit took the risk of burying the dead bodies of the Jews killed by the Chaldeans. One day after burying a body, he returned home and slept outside the house. Next day when he woke up he lost his eyesight. He felt terribly depressed.

In another distant land a young Jewish girl called Sarah was planning to commit suicide. She married many times and her husbands were killed by an evil spirit on the very first night on every occasion. Sarah prayed to God and Angel Raphael carried her prayer to the throne of God. The good deeds and prayers of Tobit were also taken to the throne of God. God told Raphael to intervene.

Raphael came down in disguise. He walked with Tobit’s son, Tobias for miles and miles for many days before reaching Sarah’s house. He arranged for Tobias and Sarah’s marriage and on the very first night Raphael bound the demon responsible for the death of Sarah’s former husbands.

The Angel of Commoners

We do not know why one of the greatest angels in the heavenly court came down to earth to fix a seemingly trivial problem. Raphael looks different from other angels in the bible. He looks very compassionate. He is moved by the tears of an old man and a young maiden. He takes the pain of walking many miles with a mortal man to arrange a marriage for him. Later in the bible, we do not even hear about Tobias or their descendants. Some Christian bibles do not include the book of Tobit as it sounds like a trivial legend (except the Roman Catholic and the Greek orthodox bible).

Raphael is an angel who brings compassion and healing. Raphael takes our tears and prayers to God. The story of Tobit shows that heaven is actively engaged in solving the temporal problems of men as long as they are living here according to the will of God. It speaks about the angelic ministries. It reminds me of father Abraham sending his most trusted aide to a distant land to find a spouse for Isaac.

Guardian Angels - Guardian Angel Pics - Nine Orders of Angels

Our Father in Heaven is concerned about us and our spouses. He has put none other than His trusted angels in charge of our affairs. The angels do intercede for us and they take our virtues, prayers, fasting and good deeds to the throne of our Father.

Science and religion can coexist. Science deals with matter perceived by our five senses. Spirituality deals with a sense beyond the fifth, called the soul.

The chief scientist in charge of the human genome project has written a book called “The Language of God”. His name is Francis S Collins. In his book, this scientist explains how he has marveled at the three billion lettered encrypted code of life in every cell of the human species. He calls it the language of God. Buy the book from Amazon.

God has created the human flesh from the elements of the earth. Collins explains how God took a five-carbon sugar, a nitrogen containing base and a phosphate group to make a letter called the nucleotide. He attached the nucleotides in an encrypted order and twisted it in a spiral form and placed it in the nucleus of our cells. The human genome project was a great accomplishment as it read the whole text of human heredity. On the eve of the release of the human genome project, the president of America called it “the language of God”.

God breathed his spirit into the flesh of Adam and created him in his image. The flesh of Adam was taken from the elements of the earth like carbon, nitrogen and phosphate.

The spirit of Adam was born from the Spirit of God. Man is a spiritual being. What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the spirit is spirit. Man has body, mind and soul. The soul of man joins God.

I have heard arguments from bloated up and egocentric scientists who tell that spirituality and science cannot coexist. It is wrong. The more I have studied the principles of biology, the more I am convinced about the existence of a creator. I may be labeled as an ignorant fool, a naïve fundamentalist or a spiritual apologetic by the “intellectuals” of this world, but I am happy to say that I am humble enough to accept my ignorance.

Albert Einstein said “Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind”.

Science and religion can coexist. Dialogue is possible. Science deals with matter perceived by our five senses. Spirituality deals with a sense beyond the fifth, called the soul. Bible is not a scientific treatise; it is a spiritual guide-book.

God’s business is the spirituality of man and his eternal life with God and not about proving or disproving the principles of Isaac Newton. Metaphysics begins where physics ends.

Read the articles:

A debate that challenges Science

The Origin of Life and The Prebiotic Soup

Don’t be blinded. Look at the marvels of nature and life. You can see the fingerprints of God.

If you are going to wait to enjoy until you reach your destination, you may have to suffer a whole lot of sad days! There are many good folks who suffer like this. But why do you want to suffer when you have the choice to enjoy?

Enjoyment is not solely dependent on the final outcome but on the hundreds of small results that lead to the grand finale. It is not just about the event but involves everything that brings about the event. It is all about enjoying every second.

Some may say that we can’t enjoy during certain seasons. It is true that seasons differ. Nevertheless you can enjoy during every season because enjoyment is a choice. The following story pictures it perfectly:

Two men were admitted in the same hospital room. Both were seriously ill. Every morning the one on the bed by the window would happily describe in detail all the beautiful things he saw outside. The other man used to hear it and wished one day he could also see those beautiful sights. One morning the nurse found that the man by the window was dead. The other man patiently waited for the nurse to move him to the bed by the window. At last, he was moved to that bed he was waiting for. The moment the nurse left the room, he anxiously turned his face to the window. But all that he could see was a huge brick wall outside – no flowers, no birds, nothing! He felt totally broken and empty.

Did you get it? One man was enjoying his last days by saying what he wanted to see. But the other man was suffering because of what he couldn’t see. It was a choice!

That is why Apostle Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). He wrote it while in chains in a Roman jail for preaching the gospel! In other words, he had a joyful attitude even when the situation around him was hopeless. But it was his choice. And he chose to rejoice in Christ and for being a prisoner for Christ’s sake.

Decide to enjoy your journey. What benefits does it provide? Here are four of them:

1. Seeing life as a series of events, not just a single event.
That’s the beauty of life. It is not monotonous at all.

2. Strength to handle more pressure.
Since there are different small events in the process, we build up ‘muscles’ to handle more pressure on the go.

3. Less prone to disappointments.
Since there are numerous avenues to work on, failing in some areas don’t bother heavily. There are more chances to win than lose.

4. Prolonged joy.
As we focus on enjoying every moment every day, the longevity of joy increases.

Remember: to begin and maintain 2012 afresh, you got to decide to enjoy the journey of life in spite of different stuff you may have to go through. Trust in Christ and you are on the Victor’s side!

Read the poem: It’s in your journey that you ran

Question: What other benefits do you reap as a result of choosing to enjoy your journey of life? Add your comments below.

- – - written by Joe Abraham from www.joeandancy.com