November 17 - Daily Message - Acts 16:17

I believe this is a message to us from God, written from His perspective – Sherri 

Acts 16:17 NLT “She followed Paul and the rest of us shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”
 
The story continues with Paul getting exasperated by this going on and casting a demon out of the slave girl who was about to tell the future. Her owners no longer had the ability to make money off of her and were angry.
 
There are a few interesting aspects to this verse…
 
1.They were making a lot of money off this girl’s fortune telling…the amplified version states the
 
“…servant girl had a spirit of divination [[that is, a demonic spirit claiming to foretell the future and discover hidden knowledge], and she brought her owners a good profit by fortune-telling.” Acts 16:16
 
The only way they could be making money off of this evil spirit is if it had some knowledge that isn’t readily available. Knowledge that rings true to the recipient. How is this possible? Can demons see the future?

2.Evil spirits have no problem proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God (Matthew 8:29) or people going to teachers (church) who knew the way to be saved. They know God is one (James 2:19) yet that is not enough!
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3.Paul got exasperated by her following them and yelling out “they know the way to be saved”. You would think Paul would appreciate the endorsement, but he gets frustrated and casts the demon out of her. Notice that! She didn’t ask for it to be cast out; it was speaking the truth – but distracting people from the One who could save them – Jesus.
 
Every time a demon speaks, look for the lie (or tell it to leave and stop lying). If what they say is true or from the Bible, check the context (Matthew 4:1-11)! This demon wanted everyone to look to Paul as some sort of god and that is part of the distraction. But also notice that Paul is training others and one of the dangers of being new to signs and wonders is to try to justify or prove yourself or put the attention onto yourself. The demon is encouraging this through this girl’s voice…trying to “puff up” Paul and the newer believers to focus on themselves being “greater” than other people and to lose focus on the message which is to know Jesus personally as your savior.
 
Paul saw what the demon was doing and stopped it – whether the girl wanted this or not we do not know. We also see that he did not fill her with the Holy Spirit, and we don’t know from this passage if she was saved or if something worse happened to her (Matthew 12:45) we only know that he cast out the demon and it left that very hour.
 
The point of this is to not give power or credence to what demons do or say even when they appear to be speaking truth. There is always a lie. Even if they know the future and mysteries – do not listen to them. They want you so focused on the future and where you are going that you forget to take Jesus with you on the journey. They want you on your own without Him where they can isolate and distract you even further…taking you further and further away from Me! 

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