A Certain Damsel's Distraction

In my most recent men's bible study group session this past Wednesday, we read & discussed Acts Chapter 16 vers 16 - 34, which is the story about Paul and Silas being thrown in jail for exorcising a demon from one of the villagers. I found one part of this to be very interesting...

To paraphrase the story, Paul and his boys were were walking to a "place of prayer", and ran into this "certain damsel" who was possessed with a demon or "spirit" that allowed her to predict the future. She was being pimped by some of the locals as a way of making money off this 'talent'. Anyway, she started following Paul and his peeps, and the demon thru her was telling everybody, "These are God's servants! They'll tell you how to be saved!" (I guess even demons have to speak the Truth when it comes to God's Word).

The interesting part is that Paul lets this go on "for many days" before he finally turns around and speaks to the demon (not the girl) and says, "In the name of Jesus I command you to come out of her!" And the demon comes out.

What's interesting about that for me is that Paul and his boyz endured the wailings of this demon for several days before doing anything about it. (Even tho the demon was speaking truth, there's a problem when that truth comes of out of a demonic vessel)

I wrestled with that for a while - why would Paul let this possessed woman follow them for days like that? Is this a lesson in patience?

My conclusion: you can't let the Devil keep you off balance by reacting every time he throws a distraction your way. Paul had a mission; a ministry. If he stopped walking every time somebody came up talking some bull, he'd never get to where he was going! So I can't slow down my Christian walk by letting a bad day, or a bad word out of someone's mouth, keep me from 'making it happen'. I've gotta use the Holy Spirit to know whether I need to call somebody out and set them straight, or when I just need to "keep on truckin', baby!"

Industry rule #4080

Is it possible that the PPC 6700 is like the best phone ever??? I found another use today - using the flash on the phones camera to help me see inside my computer case while I changed my hard drive. I feel just like MacGyver!!! :)

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