Authority Over Evil

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

AUTHORITY OVER EVIL

Acts 19:13-20

13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15[One day] the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. 17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.   20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

NIV

The name of Jesus is powerful in the mouths of those who accept him as their Lord and Savior and are determined to follow him, but these seven sons of Sceva were neither believers in Jesus nor followers of Jesus. Yet they wanted to have the power to drive out demons, trying to use the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches. That proves they did not have a personal relationship with Jesus, but only the Jesus that Paul preached about. What we know in the spirit world, per se, where demons reside, roaming around looking for someone to enter or possess, know exactly who Jesus is. What we call demons are merely the fallen angels that sided with Lucifer, who was cast out of heaven; therefore, they were once in the presence of Jesus. There is power in His name, but that power is reserved for His disciples, or learners, who follow Him and His teachings. There are times when Jesus encountered someone who was possessed, and the spirits knew who he was, but he commanded them to be silent and come out of that person, and they obeyed because Jesus had all the authority over them and still does in our lives today.  This narrative also contains a warning against using the name of Jesus if He is not Lord and Savior over our lives. However, at the same time because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and we have decided to follow him, no turning back, or do we follow at a distance, or semi-follow, that is say we follow him, but live our own lives, following our own path, making our own decisions, or choices, but we continue to attend church, and may even do some deeds within the church. Because of how the spirits treated the seven sons of Sceva, great fear seized many, and the name of Jesus was held in high honor. That is, or should be, our story, holding the name of Jesus in high regard, honoring his name, after all, we call ourselves after his name, Christians, people of Christ. However, when we live in Jesus, and He lives in us, and we are filled with the Spirit, we have the power of His name over the evil in this world. We may not go around looking for evil spirits to cast out in the name of Jesus, but we know that no evil spirit can come against us, giving us a beating, or causing us any harm, because they cannot deal with the name of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit; in fact, they run in the other direction, away from us. It may be true that they might try to create an illusion before us, attempting to lure us into their trap, but they cannot harm us.  We also want the word of the Lord to spread openly in this world, but it first needs to spread openly within our hearts. When we live in Jesus, and He in us, we have authority over evil.