BLESSINGS EVEN IN THE PRESENCE OF EVIL SPIRITS

My Dear Precious Child,
     There were Jewish exorcists who tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in authority over demonic spirits by saying that they charged the evil spirits in the name of Jesus, of whom Paul preached, to come out of people.  There were seven sons of a Jewish chief priest who were doing it.  Upon coming out, one evil spirit told Paul that it knew who Jesus was and who Paul was, but who in the world was he?  Then the man in whom the evil spirit lived jumped on the exorcists, subduing two of them and the exorcists ran out of the house stripped naked and wounded.  The testimony of that encounter became well known in the area and the name of Jesus Christ was glorified and magnified in the area to both Jews and Greek Gentiles.  Many men came forward with confessions of faith in Jesus Christ, repenting of their deceptive and evil practices.  Many people gathered up their books on evil magical arts and threw them into a fire, the value of them being over 50 thousand pieces of silver. (Acts 18:12-19)
    The Word of the Lord grew immensely when that testimony became known, prevailing mightily. After those events Paul, by the leading of My Holy Spirit, traveled through Macedonia on his way to Jerusalem and then to Rome, too.  After sending Timothy and another disciple to Macedonia Paul decided to stay in Asia for a while.  In Ephesus a man named Demetrius was a silversmith and he made idols out of silver to the goddess Artemis, making lots of money from his art work.  Demetrius sent word to other craftsmen that Paul was a danger to their trade and their fortunes, and also that the goddess Artemis was very upset and degraded and was falling into contempt in the minds of people.  The listeners were filled with rage and shouted glories to the goddess. 
    Paul wished to go into the crowd but his followers persuaded him to avoid the rioting, if possible.  A great divide started between the worshipers of Artemis and the worshipers of Jesus Christ.  The crowd was so excited nobody knew whom they were yelling about.  Paul again tried to intervene but his followers would not allow him to enter into the confusion.  Alexander was called upon by the townspeople to speak and he just increased the confusion.  The town clerk calmed them down and spoke about the history of the idols, that Ephesus was the guardian of the temple of their goddess Artemis and the sacred image of her that fell from the sky.  He said that the disciples had neither robbed their temple nor had they blasphemed Artemis.  He said the courts were open and if any of the artists had charges against the disciples, then let them be handled by the proper authorities.  He let the rioting people know that they were all in danger of being charged with rioting if they continued in their behavior of harassing the disciples of Jesus, there being much evidence of it.  He took a chance and just dismissed the entire assembly, which worked.  The people had forgotten what they were angry about anyway. 
   It was the unbelieving town clerk who reasoned with the rioting crowd and saved the lives of the disciples.   Without Paul's interference in the riot, per the disciples' wisdom and actions, that town clerk had brought peace to a volatile situation that could have escalated to more violence until people were killed.   Instead, lives were saved and word spread about the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ being the Savior, the much anticipated Messiah brought to earth in the Kingdom of God for the first time on the day of Pentecost.  As a result more and more people believed and had confidence in My plans and in the words of My apostles and disciples.
    Each situation is different and unique.  Being led by My Holy Spirit is the secret because being led by My Holy Spirit results in your being overcome with My blessings that come into your life as a result of My favor and grace. 
    Your  Father of Unique Solutions for Unique Problems