Jesus I know, and Paul I know

.... but who the devil are you? This is my vernacular translation of Acts 19:15.   God was doing unusual miracles through Paul (11).  And seven sons of Sceva, “Jewish exorcists,  took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches” (13, 14). The evil spirits answered as above answer,  “then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, and they fled out of that house naked” (16). You need to catch this, one man overpowered seven,  tearing their cloths from their backs. This of course was supernatural strength. Another way to say what I am saying, is that daemons are real, and they do have power.  But they don't have authority, well I need to explain that, they don't have authority, but they do have power.

Jesus said “all authority has been given to me” (Matthew 28 ), so how much authority do the daemons have? None! Also Jesus told the disciples, “I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19).  Note, all the power of the enemy, not just some.  Clearly the sons of Sceva did not have the authority the disciples had. So what about disciples today, do we have authority,  or was it just for first century believers?  Well,  Jesus told the first disciples to teach others,  to teach others to teach others etc., etc  “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”  And what He commanded them (and hence us)  was to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons” (Matthew 28:20; 10:8). So yes,  He has give us authority, we just need to learn how to exercise it.

Well what is involved in that? The clue comes in what the evil spirit asked  the sons of  Sceva “who are you?”  In other words it starts with who we are in Christ. If we are His disciples,  walking in obedience and in love and charity with Him and our neighbours  (Mark 12:31) then we know Him and are known by Him, and apparently by the daemons too.

It is interesting to me to note that the very first temptation the Devil brought to Jesus after His baptism, concerned His identity. He starts with “If You are the son of God ...” (Matthew 4:3).  Since it is about knowing and being known, the Evil one also targets our identity. Is it any wonder we live in the most orphaned age ever?  And it's not just fatherless homes, the orphan spirit is alive and well (or not so well) in the Church.  But note “to those who believed, He gave the authority (same Greek word as in Luke 10:19) to be the children of God (John 1:12). So then if I am a believer,  I have it on the authority of the Word of God that I am His child, thus known by Him and by the daemons too. And You can be sure the Devil will do  everything in his power (power not authority)  to cause us to doubt. Remember we are in a war to the death,  with the enemy of our soul.

Father, greater are  You who is in me, than he that is in the world. I believe Lord, help my unbelief in Jesus Name Amen