Have You Made the List?

“A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!’ Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, ‘I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?’ Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.” (Acts 19:13-16 NLT)

If you’re a follower of Jesus, does anyone know? And if not, why not? What’s the point of being a “closet Christian”, if there is such a thing? Do we not understand that choosing Christ is choosing death to ourselves and life to those to whom the Lord sends us? Is this not the pattern of Paul’s Missionary journeys?

Paul explained to his friends from Ephesus, in Acts 20:18-24: “You know that from the day I set foot in the province of Asia until now I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews. I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes. I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike – the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.

And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.”

We exist to invest ourselves in the pursuit of Christlikeness, resulting in the selfless pursuit of sharing God’s love and life with others. When we do that our name lands on at least two lists – God’s list in the Lamb’s Book of Life and the devil’s list, marking us for Satanic attack seeking to stop us from our efforts to win others from the life he has planned for them.

You see, God isn’t the only one who has plans for us and just as our efforts for the Lord disrupt Satan’s plans, our lack of effort on the Lord’s behalf forwards the devil’s plans. Hell’s highest compliment is when the enemy chooses to attack us to keep us from spreading God’s Word with those headed to a Christless eternity. If the enemy isn’t bothering us, perhaps it’s because we’re not bothering him.

It’s interesting to me that the demons in the verses above knew Paul. Jesus is a no-brainer, but if they knew Paul’s name, my sense is they know the names of many others. I’m reminded of the effective men of God who have fallen because they yielded to temptation from which they never recovered. Pride is a terrible enemy with whom to do battle, but is the logical result of an effective satanic attack.

When we put more confidence in our own ability to live the Christian life than we do in the power of the Holy Spirit, we’re destined for failure. It’s never a question of “if”, only a question of “when” we’re going to fall prey to the enemy’s attacks. To believe we are invincible in our own strength and “spirituality” is to lay down the banner of Christ and succumb to the enemy’s advances.

Have you made God’s list? My prayer is we’ve got targets on our backs the size of China that are identifying us as agents of the Holy God who are major threats to Satan and his devilish emissaries.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊