PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Acts 19:11-20 Do not attempt this at home.

Time to reflect: Most of this passage is outside of if not against our experience. For the passage to be useful at all to us we need to look past concerns about historicity or science and focus on the purpose of the passage which is to say that healings were not manic and the shear mechanical invocation of Jesus's name is not only not enough, but dangerous. God cannot be manipulated.

Moving through the day: Think about situations where we may be tempted to assume that a set, ritualized action (worship, a particular prayer, a particular spiritual practice, use and misuse of the Bible, etc) will automatically gain God's favor or action.

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 and the evil spirits left them.

 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." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. (One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 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.

 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. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. 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.In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.