When some Jews noticed the extraordinary miracles happening through Paul, they tried to drive out evil spirits by saying, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” But one time, the evil spirit replied to them, saying, “Jesus, I know, Paul I know, but who are you?” Then the evil spirit overpowered them and beat them in a way that caused them to run out of the house naked.
This passage teaches us a couple of things. First, you cannot rely on your pastor, mentor, or parent's relationship with God. You need to build your own relationship with Him. You can grow and learn from others, but you cannot use what they have to fulfill what God has called YOU to do. So many times, we depend on the pastor to give us a new word from God on a Sunday. But the pastor is there to confirm what God has already been speaking and revealing to you as you seek him. You need to learn to feed yourself. The second thing we can learn from this is that fakeness in the kingdom of God will always be exposed, and the title someone wears can be taken off of them in a heartbeat. Scripture tells us everything done in secret will be revealed.
So take this time, and self-examine yourself. Have you been relying only on the prayers and anointing of others? Have you been only relying on the pastor, minister, or preacher to give you a new and fresh word from God? Have you been living a life where you “fake it to make it”?
Prayer:
God, forgive me for the times I do not seek you and just rely on getting spiritually fed at church. Enable me to seek you wholeheartedly. Deposit a supernatural hunger and thirst to seek you, to read your word, and pray. Do not allow me to be a fake Christian or to strive for a title. I want to seek you, for you are not for what it will offer me. Speak to me and through me, for YOUR honor and glory. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.