Don’t be deceived by the spirits who challenge your peace and walk.
It is written by The Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 16:
16 One day, as we were going to the house of prayer, we encountered a young slave girl who had an evil spirit of divination, the spirit of Python. She had earned great profits for her owners by being a fortune-teller.
17 She kept following us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Great High God, and they’re telling us how to be saved!”
18 Day after day she continued to do this, until Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit indwelling her, “I command you in the Name of Jesus, the Anointed One, to come out of her, now!” At that very moment, the spirit came out of her!
In the religious context of Greek mythology, she was an “oracle,” a medium who had the spirit of the gods speaking through her to foretell the future. The Python spirit was the epithet of Apollo, known as the Greek god of prophecy. An individual (often a young virgin) who became the oracle of Apollo was known as the Python, or Pythia.
Paul exercised the power and authority given to him by Jesus Who also gave us that same power and authority. Note that the girl did speak the Truth about Paul and Silas yet she was interrupting their ministry.
This is the authority Jesus spoke of when He declared in Mark chapter 16:
15 And He said to them, “As you go into all the world, preach openly the wonderful news of the Gospel to the entire human race!
16 Whoever believes the Good News and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe the Good News will be condemned.
17 And these miracle signs will accompany those who believe: They will drive out demons in the power of My Name. They will speak in Tongues.
18 They will be supernaturally protected from snakes and from drinking anything poisonous. And they will lay hands on the sick and heal them.”
Do you see yourself driving out demons yet and healing the sick? If not, you have yet to reach full maturity. Perfect Love casts out fear and so we should not be reluctant to cast out demons when confronted by them. They know who is fearful and who isn’t. As The Word permeates our soul, Love will remove all reluctance to confront the enemy. That power and authority will be activated and rise up. Further, we will be more compassionate to people being plagued by those demons and look to set them free. Amen!