Abundant Living
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
Only those who have been truly converted to Jesus Christ know the meaning of abundant living.
The Bible teaches that worldliness is a force, a spirit, an atmosphere of the cosmos that is in opposition and in contradiction to all that is godly and Christian. Its goal is selfish pleasure, material success, and the pride of life. It is ambitious, self-centered. God is not necessarily denied; He is just ignored and forgotten.
Three times Christ designated Satan as the prince of this world. He said, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). In John 16:11, He again said, “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” In John 12:31, He said, “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”
Thus the Bible is clear that the world’s inhabitants are either under the influence of this world with its cunning, deception, and spell; or they are in Christ and under the direction of the Spirit of God. There is no neutral ground. The lines are drawn by the Bible.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. . . . Even when we were dead in sins [God] hath quickened us together with Christ” (2:2, 5).
Now the words “course of this world” carry the meaning of current or flow. There is an undertow, a subtle current, which runs against and in contradiction to the will and the way of God. Its eddies are deep and treacherous. They are stirred and troubled by Satan and intended to trap and ensnare those who would walk godly in Christ Jesus.
Satan employs every device at his command to harass, tempt, thwart, and hurt the people of God. His attack is relentless. Paul wrote, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
However, the Christian is not left defenseless in this conflict. God provides the power to give us victory over Satan. Paul said, “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37). And John wrote, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Our Father and our God, I know Satan is the prince of this world now. But I also know Your Son will come again and put Satan in his place for eternity. I long for that day, Lord. Please keep me near until then. And as that day comes, I will praise You for saving me in Your great mercy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).