Meditations
”Some itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to say the words that Paul had been saying and invoke the name of Jesus to heal those possessed by evil spirits, saying, ‘I command you by the name of the same Jesus who is being proclaimed by Paul.’ Seven sons of Sceva, the high priest, were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?’ ” (Acts 19:13-15)
How well does your dog know your voice? By the time they are full grown, most puppies quickly recognize their master’s voice – some better than others. “Four Labrador Retrievers sit at the feet of their trainer, muscles twitching as they wait. The trainer only whispers one name and one dog takes off like a rocket to retrieve the cloth bag the trainer has just thrown in the bushes. The only thing that moved on the other dogs was their eyes. Intimacy and trust like that can only come with time spent together. Paul expressed it best, ‘I have learned the secret.’ (Phil 4:12) What secret was that? ‘That my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.’ (4:19)” (David Jeremiah)
The other thing we learn beyond the safety and security of knowing our Master’s voice is the sound of those who would mislead us. The seven sons of Sceva ran into a no-nonsense evil spirit who wasn’t the least bit hesitant about calling them out. And as if embarrassing them wasn’t enough, the demon-possessed man then leaped on them, mastered all of them, and “they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” (Acts 19:16) Classic case of God taking evil and turning it to His advantage as the whole community, both Jews and Greeks, heard what happened and were properly in fear of the Lord. As a result “the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.” (19:20) “A sure mark of all true children of God is that they believe in the truth about Jesus Christ. Although they may be temporarily fooled by false teaching, they will not be permanently deceived by it.” (John MacArthur) Our prayers should always be to guard the precious truth entrusted to us in the Scriptures and in so doing to draw even closer to our Master. (Phil 2:5-11)
David
