August 18, 2011 - Acts 19:16

“Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” Acts 19:16.
Seven brothers, whose father was a Jewish chief priest in the region around Ephesus, attempted to cast out an evil spirit from a person. They had seen Paul doing this and thought that they could do the same by using the name of Jesus. The spirit turned on the brothers, overpowered them, and beat them, leaving them naked and bloodied. Seven brothers overpowered by one spirit. These men obviously did not go forward with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and in dramatic fashion, they were beaten up.
One of the by-products of spending time getting to know and be known by God is that we can potentially know more clearly God’s timing on advancing His kingdom. Not only will we be in a better position to know what God desires for us to do, but we will know better His timing on doing it. One big mistake we make as followers of Jesus is to presume on God. By this I mean that we sometimes presume we know His timing for doing His work. We may hear the direction that He desires for us to go, but we haven’t been patient enough to wait on His timing. Because these seven brothers may not have had any understanding of God’s direction and timing, it is easy to see why they got into the mess that they did.
Questions to consider: Have you ever had direction from God, yet had wrong the timing for what He wanted done? What was that like for you? How willing are you to wait patiently for God’s proper timing?
Prayer: Father, I desire to do Your will, but I have been impatient and haven’t waited to do those things in Your timing? Forgive me, and help me to wait patiently for Your will to be done in Your proper timing. Amen.