01 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Seven Sons of Sceva" Acts 19:11-20

01 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Seven Sons of Sceva" Acts 19:11-20

11 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. 13

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We[a] exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered[b] them, and prevailed against them,[c] so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. Acts 19:11-20

When I was a teenager, the blockbuster horror flick, "The Exorcist" was a sensation at the box office. I didn't bother to go see it, namely because the R rating was strictly enforced back in the those days and secondly I hated horror films- they gave me nightmares! I'm no prude or a legalist, but there was also something about movies of this nature that created a check in my spirit- that they were just something I felt would help me as a Christian even at the age of thirteen or fourteen. But the films premise is about a couple of Catholic priests who visited this certain home to drive out demons from one of its young occupants. In the end, both priests end up dead and its uncertain whether the demonized teenager was successfully exorcized.

The content of the passage here in the book of Acts is just as frightening because this was a real-life situation, not Hollywood Spielberg fiction. A prominent Jewish man named Sceva and his sons made their living driving out evil spirits where ever they went, and challenged an evil spirit in the presence of the Apostle Paul and a crowd of people. They tried to adjure the demon using the power of Jesus after listening to Paul preach about Him. When challenged, this evil spirit became extremely agitated, and flew upon the exorcists and ripping into them, wounding them and tearing off their clothes with brutal power.

This must have been quite a scene, but it ought to underscore the fact that spiritual warfare is nothing to play around with. These people made several mistakes: 1) they underestimated the power of Satan and his forces; 2) they went unprepared into the presence of Satan; 3) They invoked the power of Jesus Christ without discerning a personal relationship with Him.

Jesus Christ has greater power over the forces of darkness in this world. For this reason many people fear the name of Jesus and do not like to hear His name invoked in public places. Also, people the world-over will acknowledge this power, but they do not have a personal relationship with Christ. They would rather just use Jesus to get what they want and not deal with Him after that. We should never misuse the person or the work of Jesus Christ for our own purposes- which is what the Scevians did.

But make no mistake, spiritual warfare is not for the curious or for the unprepared. It is something that goes on today as much as it ever did, and it is not to be treated lightly. A person ought never to go against the forces of darkness until he or she is sufficiently prepared in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we ought never to go out of our way to find evil spirits that need removing- they will find their own way to our door soon enough.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I must admit that I am greatly troubled by this doctrine and don't know much about it. But I also know that I have nothing to fear if I have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I appropriate His eternal power over my life today to go before me in whatever challenge I experience. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.