No Place
John 14:30 “..for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in
me.”
It’s not that Satan didn’t
try. It is the “something” in us that gives our Adversary “something” to
work with. The evil one needs a place to land. When he encountered Jesus
in the wilderness he found someone unlike anyone (or anything) he ever
experienced outside of heaven. There was something very peculiar about
this stranger, who was passing through his territory. In Jesus there was
no sin and no guile. There was nothing for the devil to work with,
nothing to grab hold of. “Devil” means liar. He was powerless before the
Truth.
Archimedes is called the father of integral calculus. He developed a
formula to measure the volume of a solid object as well as many war
machines. He died in 212BC when the Romans sacked Syracuse. Perhaps he
is most famous for his statement about the use of the lever. He said
"Give me a place to stand on, and I can move the earth." Such is the
amazing relationship of the fulcrum and the lever. Archimedes developed
elaborate machines that used ropes, pulleys, levers and fulcrums that
made men capable of doing super-human feats.
Likewise Satan is looking for leverage. First he is looking for a place
to stand in our lives. Second, he needs to find “something” to use
against us. Unfortunately, we have given the evil one a solid footing
with every sin, and every sin gives him leverage to use against us. Paul
said “give no place to the devil.”
The wonderful thing about Jesus is the devil can search forever and find
“nothing” to use against him. The accuser has “nothing” to accuse Christ
of. By faith in Him, I am forgiven. The cross is the lever God used to
move us. The blood of Christ is the legal standing to buy and save us.
In Christ, Satan does not have a place to stand. The enemy still looks
for a landing zone. Anger, resentment, bitterness, and wrath will do
just fine. Faith “waves him off,” but faithlessness is lit up like a
runway of an international airport at night. It is inviting trouble.
Confession and repentance gives everything we are and have to God, and
then there is nothing left that Satan can use against us. Because of
Christ, Satan has nothing on us, it is up to us to make sure he has
nothing in us. Our prayer should be that God would search our hearts and
cleanse us, and that we, at the end of each day, would make sure we have
left nothing in us for the enemy of our soul to use. At the dawn
of every day, may we be fit for the Master's use
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