Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
DISTRACTIONS are a very real part of my day, every day, how about you? It’s the reality of the busy, noisy world in which we live, right? So, what do you do about them? What are some of your best practices for dealing with distractions so you can keep your mind clear, your eyes focused on the road ahead, your ears alert to what you need to hear, and your heart undivided.
Do you remember David wrote this powerful verse which I repeat to myself often when I sense that I’m getting distracted: “Teach me Your way O LORD and I will walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear Your name. I will glorify Your name forever.” (Ps. 86:11)
So, let’s rejoin Paul, Silas, Timothy and Dr. Luke in the city of Philippi. Yesterday we watched as they had gone outside the city to pray and met some women there. One of them, Lydia, a businesswoman, listened closely to Paul and put her faith and trust in Jesus Christ and she was actually baptized! She then invited these men to return to her home and have a meal and even use her large home as a temporary place for them to stay and launch their Gospel work in this great city of Philippi.
Now let’s pick up the story and watch for distractions! “Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days.” (Acts 16:16,17) Now, that’s a distraction, would you agree!?
Now may I ask, what do you suppose Dr. Luke wanted us to understand by describing this woman as “a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future”? We understand slavery, but what about this spirit that predicts the future?
Perhaps in your part of the world you have various occult activities such as fortune-tellers or soothsayers or tarot card readers or palm readers or seances or ‘channelers’ or others who claim the ability to make contact with the spirit world and thereby gain insight or information they would not otherwise have. Is that stuff real or simply what some might call ‘hocus-pocus’ illusionary junk?
Oh, my friends, do you understand that Satan is just as real as the angels Gabriel and Michael and that he has powers second only to Jesus Christ?
Do you understand there is a multitude of angels who are evil and fully opposed to God, God’s people, God’s truth and God’s purposes in our world? These angels are rebellious, fallen, evil angels who are sometimes called “evil spirits” or “demons” and along with Satan form a dark, wicked, evil kingdom all under Satan’s authority? (Col. 1:13)
This girl was evidently under the very strong influence, maybe even possession, of a wicked spirit which was giving her thoughts and information she would not normally have, which her owners claimed to be fortune telling. Whether those predictions came true or not, as with modern day fortune tellers, people would pay large sums of money for the information.
But this raises a fundamental truth question my friends: Does any human being, or any angel, holy or evil, or Gabriel or Michael or Satan have the God given ability to foresee and therefore foretell the future with accuracy? If so, WHY would God give that power to any being other than Himself?
The answer is NO! There is no Biblical evidence that any being other than God Himself has the ability to foresee with exact clarity what the future will be. It is true many prophecies were written and are recorded in the Bible long before the events took place, but that was ALWAYS a work of God. The Holy Spirit of God was speaking God’s truthful future information into the mind and heart of a prophet, and they would speak or write what God had told them.
Peter confirms that in his writing with these words: “Above all you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along [inspired] by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Peter 1:20,21)
We do know angels do NOT age, thus the dark kingdom has been studying humanity for 2000 years and therefore the dark kingdom can fairly accurately predict what will likely happen when they see certain circumstances developing. The dark kingdom has been watching closely the works of God, the impact of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in lives, marriages, families, and communities since the days Jesus walked the earth and they have been working their schemes to oppose God and have learned many lessons about what can be successful.
DISTRACTIONS can be very successful in disrupting almost any person, any train of thought do you agree? You’ve probably experienced it, and maybe with disastrous consequences! But I know you are wondering about something significant here: what this slave girl was shouting about Paul was true! He called himself a servant of the Most High God, (Romans 1:1) and he was telling people how to be saved! So what’s the problem here?
The problem is she was causing a scene, drawing a crowd and distracting both people and Paul from what Paul was trying to accomplish as he carefully presented the Gospel to people. She was mocking them by her shouting. Paul knew the evil spirit was mocking Jesus through this girl.
The record says: “Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her!” (Acts 16:18) Wow! What just happened here my friends? Look at them… look at Paul pointing at the girl demanding she be set free. Look at those gathered around wide eyed with amazement. Look at the slave girls’ owners, angry at what has just happened. Look at the girl, quiet, calm, tender… free for the first time in a long time.
This is the power of Jesus Christ unleashed through Paul. The same power by which Paul, a few years earlier in the city of Lystra, had commanded a cripple man to stand up as Jesus healed his feet, and he did, remember!? That story is found in Acts 14:8-10 and I think you’d find it very interesting to compare these two examples of the power of Jesus unleashed through Paul, but with very different results!
For today I think let’s pause right here and watch and listen. These slave owners, who were making serious money with this fortune telling slave girl, will not simply walk away without doing something about what has just happened. Paul and Silas will not simply walk away continuing to talk with people as though nothing happened. It’s like a powder keg about to explode, and tomorrow we’ll watch the explosion.
But for today, do you see something very significant here? The evil spirit was subdued, bound and expelled by the power of the words of Paul. “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you…” are very, very powerful words which a Holy Spirit filled, authentically born again, follower of Jesus Christ can speak, with authority, at any evil spirit of the dark kingdom, and that evil spirit MUST submit to the authority of the name of Jesus!
Do you understand that? Do you have that type of relationship with Jesus Christ my friends? As you think about that, here’s a powerful song to help you consider the power of the name of Jesus!
Today’s Scripture is Acts 16:16-18.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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