what the demons said

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Acts 16:16-40. Here we see that Paul and Barnabas cast a demon out of a girl who had previously earned her "keeper" alot of money by telling the future.

The interesting thing to notice is that the demon tells the truth. It says that Paul and Barnabas are men of God, and that they've come to tell everyone how to be saved. Haven't you noticed that the demonic does that? It tells the truth, but in a way that makes you doubt. It also lies, but in a way that makes you believe it. Whenever Jesus met demons throughout His ministry, if you read what they said, it was always the truth. "We know who you are!" they would shriek. "You're the Son of God!" But of course, hearing demons say this made people doubt it, rather than believe it. They're good at using facts against us. Twisting the truth to make it sound wrong. Sending false messiahs so that when the real Messiah came, people didn't believe Him because they had "already been fooled."

But let's notice something else in the reading. Paul and Barnabas were in prison after this, and they were praying and singing hymns. And you might notice something important here. The other prisoners "were listening to them." That's a little snapshot of our lives, you know? We're here in this life, and sometimes it feels like we're in a prison. We don't always like where we are, or what we're doing. But people are listening. They're watching us. And if we live our lives the way He calls us to, praying and singing hymns even in the worst of it.... well, they're going to pay attention to that. And it might just change their lives.

God, thank You for teaching us that demons try to trick us - and that people are watching how we respond. Help us to shine Your light in the darkness.