He Has No Hold Over Me
Satan is a created being (Isaiah 14/Ezekiel 28).
He does not have unilateral power or authority over any of God’s creation.
The most he was able to do was tempt the Lord, and then orchestrate but not control the events of Jesus’ betrayal and crucifixion… which God turned around for Satan’s undoing and eventual destruction.
He attacked Job, but only when summoned and challenged by God concerning Job’s righteousness, and even then for the ultimate purposes of God in Job’s life.
When he wanted to attack Peter, he was able to do so only when given persuasion by Jesus, and again, only for God’s ultimate purpose of refining Peter for a great work to come.
In the middle of teaching His disciples about His representation of the Father, about obedience being the test of our love for Him, and the about the coming Holy Spirit, Jesus stopped abruptly and said, “I will not say much more to you for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me” (John 14:30).
Of course Satan had no hold over Jesus.
Jesus was and is God.
And while on this earth in human form, Jesus had no sin in Him.
No sin… no place for Satan to land and have the authority to establish a base of his evil operations.
The same can be said of us.
The second half of Ephesians 4 is a rapid-fire set of commands…
- put off your old self
- don’t be greedy
- be renewed in your thinking re: sin
- put off lying
- put on your new self
- speak the truth
- don’t let the sun go down on your anger
- don’t steal
- don’t let corrupting talk come out of your mouths
In the middle of this call to radical obedience, Paul says, “and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:27).
Sin gives the devil a foothold.
Satan has no authority over you or me…
- …unless God has granted him permission, in which case, like Peter, the result will be the refining of our faith, which is more precious than gold.
- …unless willful, unrepentant sin gives Satan a foothold, a base of operations in our lives. And then we have no one to blame but ourselves.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to stay that way. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Don’t give Satan an inch of ground!
Be able to say, by the Spirit, “He has no hold over me!”