But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” – Acts 19:15
When it comes to operating in the Spirit realm, what you do and what you say don’t matter nearly as much…as who you are.
Who are you?
In other words, you’ve just jumped into the swimming pool but you haven’t caused any ripples in the water.
What’s interesting is that the evil spirit uses two different Greek words for the English word “know”.
In speaking of Jesus, the word “know” is the Greek word ginosko which means:
to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel
to become known
to know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of
to understand
to know
Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman
to become acquainted with, to know
In speaking of Paul, the evil spirit uses the Greek word epistamai which means:
to put one’s attention on, fix one’s thoughts on, to turn one’s self or one’s mind to, put one’s thought upon a thing
to be acquainted with, to understand
to know
The evil spirit was intimately acquainted with the person of Jesus. The evil spirit had put its attention and fixed its thoughts upon the person of Paul.
But when it came to the seven sons of Sceva who were merely imitating the outer actions of Paul without understanding the power that he carried within him…the evil spirit didn’t know who they were and wasn’t even thinking about them.
In other words, they weren’t registering on the radar, despite being Jews (religious) and sons of a Jewish high priest (celebrity status).
Your religion and your celebrity status don’t count for anything when it comes to the world of the spirit. All that matters is what you carry on the inside…who you really are.
You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
You are the wonderment which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. (Colossians 1:27)
You are a joint heir with Christ. (Romans 8:17).
You are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:26).
You are…much more than your religion, background, celebrity status (or lack thereof), bank account, or accomplishments.
None of those provided any defense against the evil spirit.
Evil – ponēros – toils, annoyances, hardships,pain and trouble
Spirit – pneuma – the vital principle by which the body is animated
And the result of the lack of defence can be seen in Acts 19:16
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
While the world gets terrified and swept up by shootings, killings, acts of terror, wars and rumours of wars, don’t forget that even though the fruit may be seen in the physical realm…the root is always in the spiritual realm.