And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and
Paul I know; but who are you?”
Acts 19:15
Scripture reading: Acts 19:11–20
What is belief? Let me sum it up in a few sentences. To
believe is to have the knowledge of Him in whom you believe. It is not to
believe in the word Jesus, but to believe in the nature of Christ, to believe
in the vision of Christ, for all power has been given unto Him, and greater is
He who is within you in the revelation of faith than he who is in the world.
(See 1 John 4:4.) And so I say to you, do
not be discouraged if every demon has
not gone out. The very moment they have gone, do not think that is the end of
it. What we have to see is that if all it takes is using the name of Jesus,
those evil powers would have gone out in that name by the sons of Sceva. It is
not that. It is the power of the Holy Spirit with the revelation of the deity
of our Christ of glory; it is knowing that all power is given unto Him. Through
the knowledge of Christ, and through faith in who He is, demons must surrender,
demons must go out.
I say this reverently: these bodies of ours are so
constructed by God that we may be filled with the divine revelation of the Son
of God until it is manifest to the devils we confront, and they will have to
go. The Master is in; they see the Master. “Jesus I know, and Paul I know.” The
ministry of the Master! How we need to get to know Him until within us we are
full of the manifestation of the
King over all demons.
Brothers and sisters, my heart is full. The depths of my
yearnings are for the Pentecostal people. My cry is that we will not miss the
opportunity of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that Christ may be manifested in
our human frames (2 Cor. 4:10) until every power of evil will be subject to the
Christ who is manifested in us. The devils know Jesus.
Two important things are before us. First, we must surrender
the mastery of ourselves to God. Then the embodiment of the Spirit gloriously
covers our lives so that Jesus is glorified to the full.
So first it is the losing of ourselves, and then it is the
incoming of Another; it is the glorifying of Him that will fulfill all things,
and when He gets hold of our lives, He can do it. When God gets hold of
your life because you have yielded yourself to Him in this
way, He will be delighted to allow Christ to be so manifested in you that it
will be no difficulty for the Devil to know who you are.
I am satisfied that the purpose of Pentecost is to
reestablish God in human flesh. Do I need to say it again? The power of the
Holy Spirit has to come to be enthroned in the human life so that it does not
matter where we find ourselves. Christ is manifested in the place where devils
are, the place where religious devils are, the place where false religion and
unbelief are, the place where formal religion has taken the place of holiness
and righteousness. You need to have holiness—the righteousness and Spirit of
the Master—so that in every walk of life, everything that is not like our Lord
Jesus will have to depart. That is what is needed today.
I ask you in the Holy Spirit to seek the place where He is
in power. “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” May God stamp this
sobering question upon us, for the Devil is not
afraid of us. May the Holy Spirit make us terrors of
evildoers today, for the Holy Spirit came into us to judge the world of sin, of
unbelief, and of righteousness; that is the purpose of the Holy Spirit. (See
John 16:7–11.) Then Jesus will know us, and the devils will know us.
Thought for today: It is only when you are conquered by
Christ that He is enthroned.
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