“This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.”
Acts 16:18 (NLT)
I had to pause on this word today: exasperated. Paul watched the enemy work through that slave girl day after day, saying something true, but from the mouth of the enemy. It kept going on until it finally bothered Paul enough to do something about it.
Here’s what struck me most: Paul had to get annoyed enough with the enemy before he was willing to start a fight with him. If there’s no annoyance, we get complacent with the enemy hanging out near us. We have to notice what the enemy is doing, and then be bothered by it, to do anything about it.
Just like Paul, we have authority to cast out demons, if we believe (Mark 16:17). So we must notice what the enemy is doing, be bothered by it, and have faith to fight back by believing what God can do through us to silence the enemy. We have to walk it out in faith, even when we know there can be consequences to starting that fight.
And we’re not reaching for some authority that is only for the spiritually elite. Philip the Evangelist wasn’t an apostle, yet when he preached the good news in Samaria, many evil spirits were cast out in Acts 8:7. When the enemy is kicked out, joy and peace have room to come in like Acts 8:8 shows us.
If we don’t notice the enemy, or we don’t believe we can fight him through Jesus’ victory on the cross, we’ll just let the enemy hang out, grow, and do whatever he wants. I’m praying we won’t complain, whine, or cry about the enemy at work, but that we will use the authority given to us and command the enemy to leave. Moses told the people of God in Deuteronomy 18 to be blameless before our God by not participating in evil, which extends to us as believers today.