But who are you?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”
(Acts 19:15 (NIV))

Think about that question for a moment.

“But who are you?”

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.
(Acts 19:16 (NIV))

Simply invoking the name of Jesus does not work!

Let’s back up just a bit and look at the beginning of this passage.

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.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
(Acts 19:13-14 (NIV))

These men did not know Jesus. They did not know His power and authority. They had heard about it through what they had heard about Paul. They thought that they could simply mention the name of Jesus and the evil spirits would leave.

Think about that for a moment. This sounds like people who claim that they can get a “celebrity” because a friend of a friend’s aunt went to school with the celebrity’s mother. In other words, they know nothing of the person. There is no relationship there. They are basically name dropping.

These men who were invoking the name of Jesus to drive out evil spirits were name dropping. There was no relationship with Jesus that they could call upon and the evil spirits new this. Keep in mind that the evil spirits used to be angels and they knew Jesus. They cowered at His name, yet, when confronted with someone that they knew did not know Jesus, they took full advantage of it.

Jesus is not a magical name that you can simply pronounce and all evil will flee. Jesus is not a genii who will do your every bidding.

Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Evil spirits tremble at His power and name. If you invoke the name of Jesus, make sure that you have a personal relationship with Him. Accept Him as your personal Lord and Savior. Spend time in God’s Word. Become intimate with what Jesus said and did. Learn how to mature into the image of Jesus. Know His heart and seek to walk in His Light. If your heart longs for the things that are of God, then the evil spirits will know your name. They will see the evidence of His presence in your life. They will see the touch of the Holy Spirit upon you and will know that you are not just dropping names.

The evil spirits will not respond with “but who are you?”

They will know that you have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

But who are you?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Have you allowed the potter to reshape you?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
(Jeremiah 18:1-4 (NIV))

We are all flawed in one way or the other. There is a good chance that we are all flawed in more ways than one. Ever since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, our human nature is a flawed, sinful nature. It is a nature that chooses things it shouldn’t even when we supposedly know better. We are not capable of doing good in the eyes of God, yet He loves us anyway. God has always had a plan to redeem us from our sinful nature. It is a plan that allows Him to remake us from the inside out!

What is the purpose of a pot? The purpose is the same whether the pot is large or small, ornate or plain. A pot is made to be a vessel that will hold something of importance to the owner of the pot. When this passage was written, pots could hold oil, water, wine, wheat, corn or a number of other items that were essential for day to day life.

God designed each of us to hold something essential!

We were designed to hold a part of God in our hearts. That design, and the contents of what we were to hold, made us a creation above all other of God’s creations.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
(Genesis 1:26 (NIV))

Sadly, in our sinful nature, the vessels that we were made to be have been marred. In order to be able to begin to have a chance to hold anything of value for God, we have to be shaped into something different than our sinful shape. We have to be made right with God and by God. We have to be molded into the image of Jesus. We have to be tested through the fire just as a potter uses a fire to prepare his creation for its intended use. Just as the master’s hands shape the pot, God’s hands shape us. God is the master potter.

Have you allowed the potter to reshape you?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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