The world we live in has an invisible system behind it. This system is governed by spiritual rulers in high places that are the embodiment of perfect evil. These powers and principalities have infiltrated the earth and have exacted their diabolical influence upon all the progeny of humankind since Adam’s initial transgression against God in Eden. Since Adam’s fall, these spirits have ruled the air with uncontested legal authority: they control the media, the latest fashion statements and vogue, world politics, the educational system, commercialism, the organized religious structures of the world, the militaries, the entertainment and popular music sectors.
These dark powers are pyramidal in structure and are ruled by Satan, their supreme commander and chief and god of this world. When Jesus Christ was manifested in Palestine some 2,000 years ago, these invisible legions were the driving force behind His crucifixion. If they could, they would murder their own Creator and establish the tyrannical throne of Satan upon the earth for all eternity. It is within this ruined realm that men are born into, bearing the fallen nature of devils; it is also within this realm where God has sent His Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.
The Christian is called today to mortify the alluring power of this spiritual system. The world is like a dark ocean with a tide that continually pulls you toward its center. The moment you cease to mortify its advancements, you begin to drift. As you continue to drift, you soon find yourself in water too deep to handle and unable to get back to the shore. This is an accurate picture of backsliding: the undertow of the world slowly pulling a disciple of Christ out to drown him in the depths.
When we mortify the world we resist this undertow. We fearlessly proclaim that the system, the evil tides have no pull over us. As others are sucked out into a sea of flesh, we are called to stand upon the dry rock of Christ and shine the light of eternal salvation and victory to those who are perishing. Dear believer, will you be such a lighthouse for Christ Jesus? Will you stand fast as beacon of uncompromised truth and righteousness, as a stalwart child of God?
If so, make it your life’s holy ambition to mortify the pull of those waves, the sin of the storms, the undertows of lust and selfishness that grip your soul with deceitful pleasure. Ask God for the grace to mortify the world to your flesh no matter the cost. Let no Satanic undertow grasp your mind to drown your heart. Have faith that even in the midst of the fiercest typhoon, Jesus is able to keep you from drifting and present you clean and dry before His Father’s presence with exceeding joy (Jude 1:24).
- Brother Paul
