Who's Power?

God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul's hands, so that even face cloths or work aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to pronounce the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!" Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. The evil spirit answered them, "I know Jesus, and I recognise Paul- but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowering them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of the house naked and wounded. This became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. Then fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, while many of those who practised magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver. In this way the Lord's message flourished and prevailed. Acts 19:11-20

The Spirit of God is pure and undefiled. The Holy Spirit resided in Paul and worked through him. Others thought they could use the knowledge of Jesus and Paul for their own ends but found themselves in trouble.

The Spirit of God must reside the believer and His power is available to the believer to do His will. He enables us. At this time the Holy Spirit was demonstrating His power to win and purify the lost. He was setting captives free, he was healing the sick, not Paul.

Every time we endeavour to promote ourselves we stand to lose in the face of evil. Satan and his evil spirits know Jesus and recognise those who are His, it is His power they respect, not mans. Amen!