Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl 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." She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled 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.
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When this girl met Paul and his companions going to the place of prayer, she followed them – for days. She would find them, follow them, and announce to all who could hear that Paul and his companions were God’s servants, telling people the way of salvation.
Ironically, this girl herself didn’t know the way of salvation. She was bound more tightly than most people. Not only was she bound by her own sinful ways, but she was in the grip of an evil spirit, controlled by another person. She was also owned by men who delighted to make money off of her oppression. Rather than seeking her good and trying to deliver her from the evil spirit, her human owners made a profit off of her. She was bound by her own sins, by an evil spirit, and by men. Yet this slave girl cried out that people could find the way of salvation through Paul’s message.
It may have been this very thing that frustrated Paul so much. The text doesn’t say. But without anyone bringing this girl for freedom and spiritual relief, the way so many people were brought to Jesus to have demons cast out – without being asked, Paul turned to the spirit and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” And the spirit left her.
Luke doesn’t tell us whether this girl found salvation from her own sins or whether her owners ever set her free. But through Paul, Jesus saved her from the spirit that plagued her. She lost an ability that many of us at some time have wished for – telling the future – but she gained the freedom to be herself again. She gained the freedom to see through her own eyes and hear through her own ears. She gained the freedom to encounter life-transforming truth rather than to be blinded by Satan’s lies. She gained the freedom to have faith. Her human owners could still control her physical activities, but she was now free spiritually to be adopted by God through faith in Jesus Christ. I hope she came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior so that she was saved from her own sins. To some extent, at least, she was introduced to the way of salvation that she had been telling everyone else to find out about. She was saved from an evil spirit.
Father, may we also be troubled by people testifying that we bear the message of Jesus’ salvation when those very people haven’t been saved. May we long to see them saved. May we hear from You. Teach us what to say and what to do so that people see that Jesus really saves. Set people free from human oppression. Set people free from evil spirits. Most of all, set people free from their own sins so that they never face God’s wrath. Those of us who are free from our sins and have a relationship with You can look forward to a day when neither men nor spirits will oppress us ever again! Thank You for saving me.
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