DAY 196

MISCHIEF

Psalm 10, 11 & 12 and Acts 19:1-20

“But you (God) do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands.” Psalm 10:14.

There is “mischief afoot” and as Paul labors for two years in Ephesus the sons of Sceva, Jewish Exorcists, try and cast out demons in the Name of Jesus. Things go terribly wrong, but God used it for good because “many who were believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them…” in fact so many people that the value of all that was collected was fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Consider a few observations from this reading of Acts. There is first of all the part about “which baptism did you receive?” and then the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” which led to them speaking in tongues and prophesying. Then there is the part where he first spent three months in the synagogue, and then a total of two years in the city. We have the part about how “handkerchiefs or aprons” that touched Paul’s skin were carried to the sick, and their diseases left them and evil spirits came out of them. Finally we come to the “sons of Sceva” and the story I commented on above.

Wow, where to begin? Do you understand all that is taking place? Certainly “God is seeing mischief,” but there are so many things taking place in this early church that many of us do not see today, and because we don’t see them, we wonder a few things. Some of us wonder if we have somehow missed something (like baptism in the Holy Spirit) and that are faith isn’t quite where it is suppose to be. Then there are some of us who just conclude that this happened in the early church, but that day-and-age has long past. Finally there are some who just “write off the Bible,” or parts of it, because of these hard to believe stories – after all, Jesus walking on water is one thing (he is Jesus) but mere humans doing these things is quite another. So let’s jump into a few of these topics.

Today when we do baptisms, we baptize in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is a specific part of the service that anoints the candidates head with oil and in my tradition we say a beautiful prayer about them receiving the Holy Spirit and it ends with “you are sealed with the Holy Spirit…” No one that I have baptized immediately began speaking in tongues. What do I make of this situation? I don’t. I don’t try and figure it all out. Jesus did not say go and get people to speak in tongues…He said, “Go and baptize in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” So that is what I (and we) do. I cannot explain what was going on in Paul’s day and I have seen people speak in tongues and in a later blog I will write more about that subject. Please know that the Scriptures say there is “one baptism, one faith and one Lord” (cf. Ephesians). You do not need another baptism. There can be times in your walk with Jesus where you ask God to pour out his Spirit upon you. One person describes it this way, “I am a vessel, but I leak and need refilling,” and another says, “I am a vessel, a cracked pot, and I leak and need refilling.” The “cracked pot” is not “crackpot;” the point is that we all have some brokenness in us. Ask God to fill you up – “don’t stand far away O Lord, come near!” (Psalm 10:1 a bit modified by me.)

The next thing I want to comment on is how the “believers” had a pile of stuff that was not godly. Yes it was magic, but the point is that followers of Jesus don’t just “magically” (sorry about that) become perfect. We are “followers,” we walk along the way trying more and more each day to become like Jesus (we do this knowing our salvation is secure). There are some moments in our walk when, all of sudden we realize we need to deal with something that has been hidden, we realize we need to get rid of some junk – for we are all mischievous to one degree or another, no one is perfect.  

What about the power of God that flowed out of Paul and even his aprons? Well that is a tricky one in this day and age. Maybe you have had your fill of TV Evangelists. You know, the people who say, “Send me $50 and I will pray for you and God will heal you.” Those folks give Christianity, the Church and Jesus a bad name. Those folks make us skeptical on anyone who talks about God’s power flowing out of them. Yet “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” I have had some people put their hands on me and pray to God and it has been amazing – God’s Holy Spirit flowed through them in real and powerful ways. The point – God’s power still flows.

Lastly there is the bit about evil spirit and exorcisms – like the subject of tongues I will provide a separate blog on that subject. This entry is already a little long and I don’t want to rush either of those subjects.

For today, I am struck by the “mischief” and asking myself what do I need to bring to God and have it burned…how about you? Maybe today is one of those moments when we realize there are a few things we are treating as “hidden.” I say “treating as hidden” for “the Lord’s eyes see” (cf. 11:4). Don’t panic that He sees – remember His love and bring them to him, asking him to remove, maybe even destroy them so they are no longer a part of your life…or mine.