The Authority of Being Clean - Living Beyond the Enemy’s Reach (EP 356)

Spiritual attacks and temptation are inevitable—but domination isn’t. Walking in the light, staying aligned with Christ, and cleansing our hearts gives the enemy nothing to grab onto. We uncover practical steps to remove footholds of sin and operate in Christ's authority in everyday life.

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See the full episode transcript below.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT - The Authority of Being Clean: Living Beyond the Enemy's Reach

I want to start with a personal moment. There were many seasons in my life when I realized that the enemy of our soul—Satan, the devil, the adversary—had too much access into my life. He had ways and avenues to influence my thoughts, shape my emotions, and steer my decisions toward compromising choices that could have consequences.

I could see patterns, subtle patterns of compromise and sin in my life, and I could feel the weight of the foothold. I could feel the weight of the ground that I had given away. I wasn't falling into egregious sins or earth-shaking major mistakes, but small stuff.

And I could sense that I was being positioned for the potential of further compromise. Sin will take you farther than you want to go and faster. The Holy Spirit, prodding and bringing conviction, was a wake-up call.

A Jesus Tactic for Spiritual Victory

That's what I want to explore with you today—a real Jesus tactic for how to walk in the light and remove footholds from the enemy so that we can live and operate in the authority and success that God has given us.

Spiritual attacks and temptation are inevitable. As John Eldredge says, when you're born again—even when you're born the first time—you're born into a war.

And when you're born again, you're redeemed and saved, placed on a trajectory where you can become Christlike and victorious and share in the inheritance of Christ. You're still in a war, and maybe in a more heightened sense at that point.

Here's the good news: when we're talking about sin and compromise and temptation, domination—you being dominated, me being dominated by that—is not inevitable. It's inevitable that we will encounter it, but I'm talking about being dominated and controlled by it.

Jesus Had Nothing for the Enemy to Grab

Jesus knew, I think it was the evening before His crucifixion in John 14, the enemy was coming. And here's what He said: "The ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me." There is no ground in me, Jesus was saying.

If we follow this Jesus tactic, we can really cut off the enemy's opportunity. Like Jesus, if we can say, "He has nothing in me." If Jesus could live with zero access for the enemy to penetrate His life and dominate and control Him, we can follow that same principle. The enemy only has as much access as we give him when we are in Christ.

Walking in the Light

There's an important passage in 1 John 1:5-9. If we can get...