Speak life

And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. –Acts 16:18

“And it came to pass, as we went to prayer …” (Acts 16:16). Let us not think it strange that our efforts to draw closer to Jesus are met with resistance. We find here that even the great Apostle Paul was heading to the place of prayer; he and his comrades were met with a slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination. To be possessed is “to be completely controlled by an evil spirit,” and divination is “the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.” She followed them for days saying, “These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.” She said this was not a positive thing but a mockery and taunting toward Paul.

To get a clearer picture of this journey, we must go back to the beginning of the chapter to get some background. Timothy was recruited to join Paul (verses 1-3), and their trip was spiritually profitable to people (verses 4-5). Something interesting occurs in verses 6-8 because the group had a destination in mind, but the Holy Spirit blocked them from going there and directed them to Macedonia instead. Paul had a dream that told them to go there, and as they traveled, a woman and her entire family were saved (verses 14-15). This would be an excellent place to pause and reflect if the Lord is leading us into an area where there may be lives we are supposed to touch.

So what we find is that God, who called Paul, has spoken to him in a dream and sent him on a ministry mission where he is confronted with a demonic spirit that has the assignment to mess with his future. Can I inject here that no matter what has come into your life attempting to shape your future, you are still in God’s will if you follow his lead? Perhaps the loss of a job has changed the landscape of your future. Maybe a doctor’s report says your future is limited, but can we examine Paul for inspiration? He looked the demonic spirit in the face and said, “I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” You need to speak life over your future just like Paul did, and you will get the same results that he called: “the [the evil spirit] came out the same hour.“