Walking With Christ

Acts 19:13-20 (13)Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” (14)Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. (15)But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” (16)And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. (17)And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. (18)Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. (19)And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. (20)So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.(ESV)

For the record, each silver piece was equivalent to a day’s wage for a skilled worker at the time. Anyone interested in doing the math based on their own wages can. Using $100 as a round number to begin with would put the value at $5 million. This wasn’t a small event. Also not the thing I want to point out today.

Responsibility ends where authority ends. These exorcists borrowed authority and so borrowed responsibility. They borrowed the authority expecting to claim the blessings that grow from having the authority. The authority was stolen so the blessings became a curse and they each were beaten and bloodied by the experience.

Jesus gave His authority to the apostles. In doing so, He also gave them the responsibility to use that authority in a way that honors God. He told them that they even had the authority to forgive sins or withhold forgiveness. It was basically the same as if Jesus had done it. The apostles were not Jesus, obviously, so when they prayed they asked for things in Jesus’ name. They had been given permission to use His authority to make things happen. That’s why apostolic prayers invoking the name of Jesus worked while the exorcists prayers invoking the name of Jesus did not.

That said to say this, just adding “in Jesus’ name we pray” to a prayer does not automatically add authority or power to the prayer. It’s also the reason why a lot of people get disappointed when they pray. They think that just adding that little bit means the prayer will be more powerful. That’s simply not the case. While God hears every single prayer even if it is never spoken out loud, asking for something in Jesus’ name only works when the person praying has a personal relationship with the owner of that authority, Jesus. A prayer might still work without that relationship but that has more to do with the event being in the will of God and His good graces than the actual prayer. That complicates the understanding just a bit and gives the enemy plenty of room to sow the seeds of doubt.

We pray in the name of Jesus but someone still dies. An atheist prays to win the lottery and does. I’ve seen both. I won’t pretend to understand the full purpose for either case or any of the hundreds of other examples I could give. I just know that God is in control and will use these events for the glory of His kingdom and it is not my place to question why some of these things happen. I do not have the authority to control these kinds of things so I know that I am also in a limited responsibility position. This means that I can try to influence these events by exercising the authority that I have been given through personal and corporate prayer.

I love to pray over people even though I’m an extreme introvert. I love it because I know that wherever two or more people are gathered in His name and pray in agreement with each other on an issue then Jesus is there also and He will listen to that prayer. I pray for a thing knowing that if it is in the will of God that it will happen, but I also pray that if it is not in the will of God that He give wisdom and understanding that brings peace.

Father,
This was not the message I had planned for today. Thank You for that. You’ve shown me many things over the last few days and as these new thoughts change me the threads for how to connect these themes together are slowly forming. It’s amazing to watch how You work in and through our lives despite us. You, as always, work to show us Your heart and love for us through Your mercy and grace. There are truly countless examples of these in history even without the bible. We praise You for Your unchanging love that sent Jesus to the cross so that we could have this conversation today. Open our hearts and minds to Your voice and spirit. Help us to understand Your will or, at least, to lean into that will so that we can be closer to You. We desperately need a relationship with You through Jesus. If we are made in Your image, and we truly are, then we should strive to be in that image. Help us to overcome the lies of the enemy in our lives. Help us to see the works of the enemy who seeks to keep us from You and Your love. Tear down strongholds in our lives and remove barriers like You tore the veil when Jesus died on the cross. As we surrender to You, Lord, give us rest at the table You have prepared for us before our enemies. Let us always give thanks to You in our hearts, with our mouths, and through our actions. You name be praised.

In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.