EMMDEV 2011-08-18 [Ephesians] Intro 7: Faith by proxy

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." 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16 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. Acts19:13-16

While God did healing by proxy through Paul's prayers and the hankies and scarves that were brought to Paul, it is impossible to have a relationship with Jesus by proxy.

The seven sons of Sceva thought that they could reduce Christianity to an incantation or spell - they thought they could go into a hairy situation with second-hand faith. They thought that name-dropping would be enough. They learned (big time!) that it wasn't!

While the story seems comical - seven guys beaten up and deprived of their clothes by one guy - it is a very sobering reminder that we should not tackle the powers of darkness with second-hand faith.

The name of Jesus is not a lucky charm or the way to end a spell - using the name of Jesus requires that we know Him and love Him. We need to have Him as Saviour AND Lord in our lives...

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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/