The Authority of Agitation
There’s a beauty in 2023 that allows people newfound freedom to process past trauma, invest in mental health, and be honest about hard things. But I’ve noticed my own ability to sometimes extend these seasons beyond their rightful timing, and even prevent me from moving on to what God has for me next.
This past Sunday I was taken back to a story in scripture where Paul is heading somewhere, but there are a few verses that have always seemed odd.
In Acts 16, as Paul and Silas work to discern where God would have them take their missionary journeys, an eerie passage appears:
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
Not only is the imagery of a demon-possessed slave girl who won’t stop following you the plot of an early-century horror film, but verse 18 has always perplexed me. “Finally, Paul became annoyed…”
The atmosphere around spiritual warfare, depending on which camp you’re in, always seem to feel a bit elevated, serious, formal, holy, and often far away. And while I believe spiritual warfare is serious, I never used to think that something like a little irritation would send the demons running.
Yet, after reading this story again, I now know what Paul felt. I finally get it a little more.
I’ve been dealing with demons in my own life, and it wasn’t until I was agitated that things started to shift.
Let me explain.
If the enemy’s chief desire is to steal, kill and destroy, then he’s undoubtedly aiming to knock you and me off center. He wants us to get our eyes off the ball. And he’s typically pretty successful.
When the enemy sews contempt in your family, you turn to sadness and bitterness.
When the enemy gets in the way of your calling, you question if you’re called.
When the enemy distracts you with temptation, you take on shame.
We’ve spent so much time thinking the tools the enemy uses against us are the issue when in fact his power lies more closely with our weak response. But not so with Paul. He doesn’t let the presence of the devil’s ploys distract, slow or refocus him.
I am admittedly often immobilized by what ails me, but I naturally solve what irritates me.
When the smoke alarm goes off because my husband burned the steaks, I jump into action to clear the air.
When the dog won’t stop barking I move swiftly to shush it.
I respond differently to what annoys me than to that which hurts me, maybe because I believe one of them, I have the power to change.
I used to believe in a theology of desperation, but now I feel I was selling short the authority that’s been placed on me as a child of Child of God (John 14:12). I was taught that if we really want God to move, we have to be desperate, and while I believe that the best place I can be in terms of God is utterly dependent on Him, He is actually willing and able to move on our behalf when the devil is trying to knock us down.
A close mentor of mine asked me one day why I was crying for the 100th time, in my wrestle with spiritual warfare. She offered a new idea: instead of falling to tears every time the enemy had a hay day in my life, I could instead brush off my knees and become appalled that he dare speak to me that way. Annoyed. Like Paul.
I in fact am a child of God, much more than he can say.
I know this isn’t easy, the pain caused by sin in our lives can create real hurt. But when I started to lay down the comfort of self-consolation and instead pick up the authority of agitation, we started getting somewhere. Not only in clearing out the demons that were hanging around, but in taking on the identity of a true co-heir with Christ.
If you keep reading in Acts, Paul is heading for some bigger troubles ahead. This was merely an earmark moment. If your battling right now with hard things, I get it. But don’t let the Devil convince you this is the climax of the story. Don’t let discouragement take residence where there should only be agitation. Walk in the sonship and daughtership God has given you, and send the demons that won’t leave you alone running. You, like Paul, have somewhere to be.
