COV LIFE BLOG

Acts 19:11-20 The Power of Word of God

So in this city full of magic, full of humours and systems and incantations and exorcisms, God wrought special miracles; and people, taking even the garments Paul wore in his work, their sick were cured, and evil spirits were cast out. God condescended to work not on a higher plane, but on a lower plane. The greater triumphs were not the healing of these people, but the spiritual wonders wrought in those who were made children of God, and brought to high morality of life. Yet for the capture of these people, and their convincing, it was shown them that the wonders that they associated with an evil form of religion, could be wrought, and were wrought, in the Name, the holy Name, which this man taught and preached.

These victories created a crisis. There were exorcists who now attempted to work with Paul’s method. These men found that they could not traffic with the name of Jesus. That which impressed the city, and filled it with fear, was not the wonders wrought by Paul, but the fact that when some one else tried to work with his tools or implements, or Name, they were defeated.

Thus through the victories won over these forces of evil by the Spirit through His servant, the Name was magnified, and the Church was purified. “So mightily grew the Word of the Lord, and prevailed.” That was the impression made upon Luke as he heard or knew the story of these years at Ephesus, and committed it to those brief pictures. The word “mightily” means with resistless and overpowering strength. All kinds of facts and forces were pressed into the service of the Word, and made tributary to the carrying on of the work; the synagogue of the Jews, or the school of a Greek teacher; special miracles wrought; imitation mastered; the anger of demons. All these things were made tributary to the victory of the Word, and led up to the final statement; all must be included within it; “So mightily grew the Word of the Lord.”

If we have Paul’s vision, Paul’s conception, we shall not say, There are many adversaries, therefore we must abandon the work; but rather we must stay until Pentecost, and prosecute His great enterprises, “Buying up the opportunity, because the days are evil.” That is the spirit of this story. The days were evil days. Evil days created the opportunity for God-sent men.

If we would see the Word of God grow mightily and prevail in our own city, we need to ponder this story carefully, and find out the secrets here revealed; to yield ourselves to this Spirit of God; to serve this same Lord with equal lowliness of mind, and sincerity, and sacrificial earnestness, as did this man Paul. Then the Word of God to-day as ever, will grow mightily, and prevail.

G. Campbell Morgan

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Heart Preparation
Read Acts 19:11-20. Where are you tempted to give lip service to God and not truly trust in him and his power? What else are you tempted to trust in? How can you begin through Christ to defeat these temptations?