“Let The Name Of The Lord Jesus Christ Be Held In High Honour!”(Acts 19:11-20).
“In the name of Jesus” are words of power. But the power in those words is not just in the words alone. The power in those words become effective if the words are not just lipservice utterances.
The power in the words become manifest when truly you know and belief that he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world.
At Ephesus “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured…”
Jews whose stock-in-trade was exorcism thought they could suddenly use the name of Jesus like Paul did and exorcise evil spirits. No doubt, “one day the evil spirit answered the seven sons of Sceva, ‘Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?'” And that’s how the man with the evil spirit pounced on them, overpowered them and gave them a snake beating.
The route that God uses for his purposes are obscure, and sometimes incomprehensible to us. News of this spread and both the Jewish and Greek Ephesians “were all siezed with fear, and the name of the Lord was held in high honour.” Those who believed made public confessions of their evil deeds. Those who practiced sorcery brought their magic books and burned them publicly. “In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”
Prior to this Paul had spent three months in the synagogue at Ephesus arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. “But some of them became obstinate;” refusing to believe “and publicly maligned the Way.” Paul then spent a further two years with the disciples, discussing with them daily “so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord”(Acts 19:8-10).
Some lessons:
- Miracles when God does them through us are still for evangelistic purposes.
- The invocation “In the name of Jesus!” is not a magic wand. The power in the name is released when the body is the temple of the Lord. Keep the temple of the Lord holy.
- When we focus on teaching the few that have been won for the Lord, the impact resounds far and wide.
- Evil spirits obey the name of Jesus because they know it is a higher and superior name to that of their master; so fear them not!
- Do not deceive yourself by fronting occultic practices with the name of Jesus. Nemesis may catch on you!
- God’s ways are not our ways. He transforms the bad for positive ends. Pray for discernment.
- Lastly the goal is repentance leading to salvation like it happened with the Ephesian evil doers and sorcerers.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, in any way you use me today, may it keep your name in high honour and bring lost souls back to the fold. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang