About a year or so ago, we had received some visitors for the day. We knew that they wouldn’t be there very long, so we wanted to take them out to see a part of our city, especially some of the parts we have frequented on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it is probably the worst area of the city where there is prostitution, drug dealing, and just generally a lot of bad some happening. In addition, though, it is also one of the areas where you find concentrations of the west and north African immigrants in town, so we have gone there to pray for people or spend some time with them.
We went out to pray, and as we passed through this area, I saw a couple of men that I knew, so I turned and left the group for a moment to say Hello and ask them if there was anything for which we could pray since we were there to pray alongside of our friends and visitors.
We were just talking for a few minutes when, from my behind me, and then beside me, I heard this a couple of times…
These men are Christian missionaries who are here tell you about Jesus.
It was a woman’s voice, which is strange in that area to say the least. You rarely hear a woman’s voice except amongst the prostitute ladies, and they don’t speak English, only Spanish and Italian.
It didn’t really register with me the first time that she said it, at least not enough to make me turn around and look for her. The second time I heard it, I turned and looked. My friends were with me as well and we began to look around to understand what was happening. The visitors that we had with us started looking at us quizzingly as well.
She went on to say it 2 or 3 times, so as we walked away from the conversation with the people we knew, I looked for the lady. I hadn’t seen her before, nor have I seen her since. I asked her her name and she told me and asked her how she knew what she knew. She said she could just tell because she knows Jesus.
I asked her what she knows about him and she said that she knew that people called him the Son of God. I asked her if I could share a story with her and began to share the Gospel with her. Several times she interrupted me and lead the conversation in another direction, so it was clear that she didn’t want to hear what I was trying to say to her. We then simply asked if we could pray for her, so she was willing to quiet herself for a few moments while we did that.
I wish I could say that we drove a demon out of her that day. Aside from spiritual revelation, I have no way of knowing how she would have known who we were or what we were doing. It isn’t as if there aren’t many different types of people from around the world here where we live. You can’t necessarily just look at us and know who we are.
I was reminded of this story this morning as I read Acts 16, the story of Paul and his companions as they traveled to and from Philippi:
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She 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 annoyed 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.
Acts 16:16-18
Paul spoke directly to this spirit, driving it out from this young lady. Unfortunately, that action actually led Paul to be thrown into prison as the woman was a slave and her owners no longer had a way to make money from the spirit that possessed her. But the woman was free from her possession and Paul’s word about Christ was confirmed by the work of his hands.
I explored the situation that day, having recognized what was happening. Looking back, I wish now that I would have stayed longer with the young lady that called us out in front of the rest of the group that stood around listening to the conversation we had with our friends. Honestly, I was thinking about other things. I was thinking about the visitors that we had with us. I was thinking about the schedule that we were keeping for the day, and it is a lesson that I need to remember so that as we see these types of situations in the future, they can be addressed for what they are, a spiritual confrontation and likely a cry for help.