The Triumphant Churchcome out of her. AND HE CAME OUT THE
SAME HOUR.
An evil spirit was using this woman to hinder the
disciples' ministry in this city. This woman had a spirit
of divination or fortune telling, and the spirit in her
knew who the disciples were.
But notice that Paul only dealt with the spirit that
was causing this woman to continually cry out and
cause a disturbance—he didn't deal with any
strongholds over the city.
That woman followed the disciples many days, and
the spirit in her proclaiming everywhere, "... These men
are servants of the most high God, which shew unto us
the way of salvation" (v. 17). What she said was so, but
who wants the devil testifying for him!
It was vexing to have the devil advertising for them,
so why didn't Paul rebuke that foul spirit the very first
day? Or the second day? The reason he didn't is that the
gift of discerning of spirits didn't operate when Paul
wanted it to operate; it operated as the Holy Spirit
willed (1 Cor. 12:11). Until the operation of the gift of
discerning of spirits came into manifestation, Paul was
just as helpless as any of us would be to deal with that
particular situation.
Paul waited until the Spirit of God gave him insight
into the spiritual realm before he did anything about
the evil spirit that was causing the disturbance. You
see, Paul wasn't just binding the evil spirit in his
operation against him and the work of the gospel—he
was casting an evil spirit out of a person. Paul had to
have the anointing and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in
operation to get the woman delivered of that demon.
When the gift of discerning of spirits came into