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Getting Comfortable in the Company of Angels

Getting Comfortable in the Company of Angels

Last updated on: June 29, 2026 at 9:40 pm by Talley Cross

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Getting Comfortable in the Company of Angels 2026-06-29T21:40:32-04:00 Talley Cross

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In the company of angels

Benozzo Gozzoli, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

We move through life in the company of angels, but what do we do with that knowledge? Do we engage them, and if so, how?

The Anglican church, to which I belong, formally recognizes on All Saints’ Day that we are in the company of angels and all the saints. We remember then that God’s family is bigger than the earthly church and includes the faithful gone before, the heavenly host, and us. This Communion of Saints is an important and Biblical concept.

Yet for most Anglicans, it is a concept mostly relegated to that day, compartmentalized on the calendar with little impact on daily life or practice.

What the Catholics Taught Me

Recently, I’ve been to question that, in part because I discovered the extent to which Catholics integrate the Communion of Saints into their prayers. They don’t just acknowledge it on a single day of the year; they are encouraged to actively engage with this Communion on a regular basis.

I’m not just talking about saying Hail Marys – I mean prayers to other church saints and the archangels.

I once considered such prayers idolatrous at worst and unnecessary at best. I think my resistance stemmed partially from a traumatizing experience with the occult that I had as a teen. After that, I was terrified of relating spiritually to anyone but God – for good reason! But Catholics cite both scripture and church tradition in support of these devotional practices. As I studied them more, my position against them seemed harder to defend. I realized my arguments against prayers to angels and saints didn’t make much sense and seemed rooted more in fear than in scripture or reason.

Petition Is Not Worship

I think Protestants may be averse to the concept because we conflate prayer – which simply means petition – with worship. But “praying” to an archangel like St. Michael for protection is really no different than “petitioning” a Christian friend for help. I write a bit more about this here. God isn’t diminished when you petition an angel for help any more than He’s diminished when you petition a friend for help. And it is certainly not “worship” to ask someone for help.

Prayer to angels (petition) and worship of angels (idolatry) are two VERY different things.

So I decided to carefully test the waters in my own prayer life. Here’s how I included the company of angels – and what happened.

Bringing My Desires to God

My desire to include the angelic community in prayer was cultivated slowly, in prayer with God and in community with other Christians. At some point, I brought my concerns and my curiosity to God; I asked for more knowledge, and I left my request at His feet. For months, nothing happened. Then I signed up for a conference on spiritual warfare hosted by the Christian Healing Institute. I had no idea that this conference would address the topic of angels as extensively as it did, and the teachings answered some of my questions. Although prayer to angels was not discussed, I was connected with solid resources and scholarly work on the supernatural realm, such as the ground-breaking work by Michael Heiser, Reversing Hermon. At the same time, from a friend, I learned about a person who used to attend my church and could see into the supernatural realm. She was able to see angels and demons; she said they were everywhere, and she said that angels were “responsive” when she engaged them.

Over time, these experiences made me more comfortable embracing the Catholic practice of prayer to angels – or at least willing to try it.

Now, like any good thing, angelic petition can be taken too far if it obscures your relationship with God. And this was my fear. As I asked God to sensitize me to the presence of angels, I did feel them, and I was immensely comforted in my soul. Yet I wrestled with the peace I felt. I was almost ashamed of it. Was it right that I should be soothed by the company of angels vs. God? I remember asking God, while walking around in my kitchen: if I luxuriate in the presence of your holy angels, aren’t I making them the focus rather than you? Isn’t that idolatrous?

God answered me. Suddenly I felt the angels’ presence even more powerfully. But what I felt was not just them. It was as if their being was magnifying the very presence of God, like they were prisms focusing and reflecting his presence straight into me. It made me shudder, not in fear but in awe.

And I realized that Protestants here had fallen victim to a false dichotomy fallacy. We’d assumed that praying to angels and praying to God is an either/or proposition. Either you pray to God and focus on God, or you pray to angels and focus on angels, falling into idolatry even if you don’t worship them outright. But that’s not how it works. It’s both/and. When you pray to God and experience God’s love and His presence, it is angels who often mediate his presence. Plenty of Biblical passages describe this phenomenon (Isaiah 63:9, Exodus 23:20-21, etc.). In a similar way, when you pray to angels, they bring you more fully into God’s presence. Because they are – as Jesus stated – always facing God in heaven (Matt. 18:10). In this way, the company of angels brings you into *God’*s company.

To be beloved in the company of angels, as they heighten your awareness of God’s presence, is a blessing. I think it is one of the most wonderfully comforting things a Christian can experience. In fact, you could say that this holy communion with God and His family is as comforting as interactions with demons are distressing.

It has been helpful for me to remember that while angels and demons are on opposite ends of the holiness spectrum, they are both spirits and operate in similar ways. While ultimately they are all subject to God’s sovereignty, their power is activated when you invite them in. As with demons, with angels, this can happen actively or passively. I think most faithful Christians, even if they never think about angels, are blessed by them.

Which brings me to an important point about God’s purposes with respect to angels. God doesn’t need the angels to mediate his presence or to do anything at all for him. But in God’s economy, He wants everyone to participate. So when you pray for healing, God typically doesn’t heal you directly; a doctor prescribes medication, and/or your body’s natural immune defenses kick in. Similarly, when we ask for divine protection – God may not come directly to assist you. Not because he can’t or because he doesn’t love you, but because he has appointed angels for this role. This is very clear in Scripture. Throughout Daniel’s life, God repeatedly dispatched heavenly warriors—such as the Archangels Gabriel and Michael—to guard, strengthen, and deliver Daniel from mortal peril and unseen cosmic warfare.

Of course, God is the ultimate source of deliverance, in the modern case of medicine and with Daniel. God established our marvelous physical biology that can fight disease, and He is works powerfully through the doctor and the angel to thwart principalities and powers. But my point is that God usually doesn’t act alone – because that’s not His preference. He draws on His family. Nor does God always make decisions alone, even if He has the final say. Note the Divine Council described in Psalm 82 and elsewhere. Like the angels, we also have input. Consider how Moses bargained with God.

Why does God share authority with humans and angels? Because he made us, in different ways, in His image. To be made in God’s image must necessarily mean you have some degree of autonomy and authority, even if God is the Head.

So when we petition or pray to angels for help in the spheres God has ascribed to them, we aren’t disrespecting God. We’re actually honoring God, because we are acknowledging (and honoring) the place that God has ordained angels to occupy in His ecosystem.

A Brief Word about Demons

Just as angels are for you and work for your salvation, demons do the opposite. To put a spin on what CS Lewis wrote in the The Screwtape Letters: If demons can get you to hyperfocus on them (or on angels), that’s a victory for them. Likewise, if they can get you to act like they (or angels) don’t exist, that’s a victory for them. When you engage with the demonic, you activate them more fully; they are able to operate in your life more effectively than they can without your consent. The same is true of angels!

So if demons can convince you to fear petitioning angels, I believe they can potentially hinder, in some way, the angels’ holy activity in your life. This doesn’t mean you have to petition angels to receive their help – absolutely not. But as the woman at my church with the gift of seeing said: angels respond when engaged. These seem to be the “rules” of the supernatural realm, and because of these rules, you can sometimes achieve amazing spiritual breakthroughs when you petition angels.

Which brings me to my next experience of blessing.

Angels and Spiritual Breakthroughs

Recently I found myself in a deep depression due to unresolved and heartbreaking circumstances in an area of my life. I was upset with God, struggling to trust Him, and frankly, tired of praying to Him. So I decided I would pray to the archangels. I tread carefully because I didn’t want to disrespect God; it just felt too hard approaching Him directly. And nothing seemed to be working. So I looked up a Catholic prayer to the archangel Gabriel, who brings God’s truth; to Michael, who brings God’s protection; and to Raphael, who brings God’s healing. These are their roles according to Scripture.

To Gabriel, I asked that he would help me see clearly God’s Word for me in this situation. To Michael, I asked for protection against any dark forces working against me in this situation. To Raphael, I asked for the healing of my heart in this situation. And to all of them, I asked that they bring my prayers before God.

A couple of days later, I was in my bed and could barely move from overwhelming sadness. It felt unnatural, like it was coming from outside of me, yet still mine. In this state of spiritual and emotional disorientation, I knew I had to get up or I would just waste away. And when I got up, something happened; it was as if the heavens had broken open. Several bits of preaching and scripture I’d recently heard on podcasts came together and penetrated me for the first time, and I had understanding. At the precise moment I gained this understanding and received that grace, my relationship with God was restored.

The circumstances of my life hadn’t changed at all. But the veil was lifted. Something snapped.

I would describe it this way: imagine it’s violently storming outside, but you’re in the bubble of your home and can ride the storm out completely unmoved. Until your house splits open. Then the rain comes pouring in, saturating you to the bone. The thunder crushes your eardrums and the lightning pierces your eyes, because you are no longer isolated from the elements.

I was in a similar bubble. I was “isolated” somehow from the truth. It was pouring in all around me, but I couldn’t feel it; it couldn’t penetrate. Maybe I was under demonic influence, maybe the problem was my own despair, or both – but I was not freed from this prison until I asked the angels for help.

I must emphatically note here that asking the angels for help didn’t lead to my unhealthy reliance on them. In fact, my petitions to them resulted in the restoration of my relationship with God; after I had understanding, I started talking with Him again, and this “thing” between us no longer kept us apart.

That’s the power of praying to angels in God’s economy. As much as demons can keep us from God, angels can bring us to God. We live in the company of angels, but too often we just gloss over them.

It’s really not an approach that works in our favor.

I would encourage anyone who is struggling with spiritual oppression to remember we live in the company of angels and ask them in your prayers to fight for you.

Before I move to my next experience, I need to say a word about the biblical precedent for this kind of prayer. Some people say it’s not “biblical” to petition angels for help. I would object to that. I think the Bible gives some clear guardrails for engaging with angels. Lot clearly asks the angels for assistance in Genesis, and they respond with help. In Revelation, when John twice bows before the angel, the angel warns him twice not to worship him (Revelation 19 and 22).

Arguably, the biblical position supports asking angels for help but not worshipping them. That’s the line I’m advocating here. It’s also the official doctrine and practice of the Catholic church, which – although I am not Catholic – still holds some weight for me.

Witnesses Among the Company of Angels

My last example of angelic blessing is harder to describe, but it involves witnessing a wrong against me.

This spring I went to Disney World with my girls. Overall it was a magical trip, but while waiting in a particularly long line at Tiana’s Bayou, a woman verbally assaulted me. I won’t get into the details, but she was malicious. The experience was even more deeply unsettling because I sensed something dark behind it.

When we got back to our room, exhausted from what was otherwise an amazing day, I couldn’t sleep. It was like the spiritual darkness in that encounter had followed me to my room and I couldn’t escape it. Praying to God about it didn’t help me. Knowing that I was “right” wasn’t enough. Knowing that God knew the truth about what happened didn’t feel like enough.

So God blessed me with the knowledge that an angel had also been there and seen everything. The angel saw that I hadn’t done anything wrong. He knew that I’d held my tongue, even though I burned with rage. The camaraderie of this angel’s independent witness consoled me, and I fell asleep soon after.

When the same bad feelings snuck back later, I remembered the angel’s witness again, and again I was put at ease and able to sleep.

Remember when someone does you wrong: God is not the only witness. For we are in the company of angels. In my case, of course God could have personally given me a sense of comfort without involving the angel. But He worked through the witness of His angel to answer my prayer, the same way He works through the witness of humans to accomplish every kind of good work.

Please leave a comment below if you’d like to share your experiences with angels. I’d love to hear your story of blessing!

angels

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Michael Heiser

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