LIFE SCRIPTS

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. 19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Acts 16:16‭-‬24 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/act.16.16-24.NIV.

The message of the gospel is bound to ruffle some feathers at some point. The life of a believer bears witness to the doing of Christ in his/her heart. If they choose to conform, then they will be at peace with the masses. But if they choose to live out their Christian life for all to see, then a time will come when all ‘hell’ breaks lose. Paul and Silas engaged the community through sharing of God’s word and prayer. But behind them lurked a young lady imprisoned with a foul spirit. She was a slave and was being used by her master to bring money through fortune telling. But what made this episode even more interesting was her reference to Paul and Silas as men of God. She spoke the truth about them evidently. And she did so day by day until that point when Paul rebuked the foul spirit from her. Immediately she gained sanity at her master’s expense and this didn’t go down well with him. So he mobilized a crowd to accuse Paul and Silas for being trouble makers. They took them to the magistrate who prescribed flogging before imprisonment. This scripture speaks of several things. First it speaks of a God who desires to free us from our shackles…our bondage to evil spirits. Paul ministered to this lady deliberately to free her from the demonic influences she was having. This scripture also reminds us of the importance of the spirit of discernment. For a layman, one would ask why it took long for Paul to realize this. Demonic influences often manifest in very deceptive ways. At times, they masquerade as good voices which could confuse us initially. But if we choose to walk in prayer, the Spirit of God reveals to us the truth. So a time came when Paul became so annoyed with the utterances of this lady. Inasmuch as they seemed positive, Paul saw the distraction they were creating and immediately discerned that it was a foul spirit. God’s no author of confusion. If He leads us in one direction we must not heed to the confusing voices around us even if they are saying what we want them to say. Lastly, unleashed truth leaves others out of cash. I mean literally, when the truth of the gospel transforms people, sorcerers, magicians and the like lose out big time. But not only them. Those who thrive on people’s misery also lose out. The gospel brings freedom to all who choose to believe.