New Testament Faith: Part Seven
Let’s stay in Acts 16 this week because it’s a pivotal chapter for the church: The Spirit added Europe to the plan for evangelism. The gospel began in Israel, continued north into Turkey, and now the door opened to Europe: specifically Greece. There wasn’t a Jewish synagogue so Paul and the other missionaries looked for a place of prayer; they found Lydia, a wealthy, Jewish believer in God. As Paul explained Jesus as Messiah the Spirit opened her heart, she and her entire household got saved, and baptized! Immediately we find her moving in her spiritual gifts of hospitality, serving, and generosity; she didn’t wait for someone to explain them, she simply put action to her faith.
Don’t think for a moment that the devil isn’t conjuring up something to counteract God’s plan; he needed to halt this movement and fast! Luke related the story of a slave girl with a demonic spirit that was choking the life out of her: in Greek it’s a python spirit. The picture is clear, the enemy desires to choke and keep the gospel from spreading: even today.
Interestingly, since this girl was a fortune-teller and earned a lot of money for her masters; they became raging and malicious. That demon used her to speak lies but when confronted with Paul it could only speak truth. This poor girl was crazy-screaming, “These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” She didn’t just do this once, she tried to wear down these missionaries by hammering them for days. Eventually Paul had enough, he simply operated in the gift of discerning of spirits, turned, and commanded in Jesus’ name for it to come out: the demon obeyed. Spiritual warfare isn’t mysterious or dangerous; it’s New Testament faith in action.
As I perused these sixteen chapters of Acts I noticed many of the gifts of the Spirit in operation: helps, service, hospitality, prophecy, words of wisdom and knowledge, exhortation, tongues, healing, and miracles (you’ll find even more in Romans 12, 1 Cor. 12 and 14, Eph. 4, and 1 Peter 4): God was on the move.
You may be surprised that this experience brought persecution, beatings, and imprisonment, however, as Paul and Silas worshipped and prayed the Lord not only brought a miraculous deliverance but the jailer and his entire household got saved as well!
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. Acts 16:31 ESV
What a wonderful promise. Remember, this all happened on the way to prayer. Satan doesn’t like prayer meetings or people sharing their faith but God always has our back and shows Himself strong on our behalf. Subsequently, Paul and his friends were publicly vindicated with an apology and a humble request to leave Philippi. Would Paul agree that it was all worth it? Two families saved? Absolutely … and so should you; active faith may cost you but it’s totally worth it.
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