Scripture: Acts 16 v 14 - 18:
"And a certain woman named Lydia....which worshipped
God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened....and when she was baptized, and
her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to
the Lord, come into my house and abide there...
And it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain
damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters
much gain by soothsaying: the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying,
These men are servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of
salvation. And this he did many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said
to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.
And he came out the same hour."
There are two kingdoms with opposing kings who rule over
the affairs of mankind. In this passage Paul, an ambassador of the Kingdom of
the Most High God, is met by a "cheerleader" from the satanic
kingdom. There is no way he wanted a demon speaking through this damsel to
proclaim his mission.
He knew she was possessed, rather than oppressed, so it
was many days of intercession and warfare prayer to bind that spirit of
divination. There comes a moment when the Holy Spirit nudges you and you know
its time to cast that spirit out. This is where the kingdoms of light and
darkness meet. When Jesus Christ, in the heart of a believer, sends a demon
back to hell, and sets a captive free.
This is where Jesus triumphs over Satan and shows him the
door. According to Mark 16 v 16-18, we who are born again have authority over
all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt us. So if
something is blocking your ministry or faith ask Jesus to show you what kind of
spirit it is and deal with it like Paul did.
In Acts 19 from v 19 some exorcists saw Paul casting out
demons so they took a possessed man and tried this too. They rebuked the demon
by calling on the name of Jesus whom Paul preached. The demon said to them
Jesus I know, and Paul I have heard of, but who are you? And he leapt on them and
all seven went naked and wounded out of that house. So you must be born again
to have spiritual authority.
If you have ever been to a fortune-teller or psychic
medium, everything they say is backed up by evil spirits who are then sent by
your "faith" to put into action what you have heard. You need to pray
for forgiveness and put every word under the power of the Blood of Jesus to
cancel these "contracts".
We are caught between two kingdoms and our time on Earth
is to choose which kingdom we will serve and where we will spend eternity.
There is no middle or neutral ground. If you are not serving Jesus with all
your heart, you are serving his enemy ignorantly or not. There is no "My
Way" in this scenario. Jesus said in John 14 v 6: "I am the way, the truth
and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through Me."
So if you have not made a decision yet to serve the
Living God and spend eternity in the joy of Heaven, don't leave it too late.
There is a real hell that was never intended for humans but many have been sent
there as our God is holy and will never permit sin in His kingdom.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I can't wait to spend eternity
in Heaven with You, no sin, sickness, pain or sorrow, no death, lies, evil or
poverty. What a wonderful place it must be. Help me to bring many into Your
glorious kingdom through sharing the truth with them. In Jesus' name. Amen.