God's Kingdom at the Local Level

One of the major problems Christians have concerning what appears to be an advance of evil that can't be stopped, is the tendency to focus on the international or national levels, rather than the local level.

When looking at what is happening around the world, it gives a sense it is what is happening right in our neighborhoods or cities. That's partly because of the communication age we live in, where geography and time have been compressed to the place it creates the sense of nearness and immediacy, even though that may be far from the reality.

That's important to understand because it can create the illusion of overwhelming victor for evil, when the outcome of the battle is far from being determined. And as to the overall war, Christians know the victory of God has already been declared.

As a matter of fact, the victory of God has already been established in the person of Jesus Christ when He died, was buried, and resurrected from the dead. From there He went to sit at the right hand of the Father until His enemies would be made a footstool for His feet.

Heaven rules, and Jesus Christ is the ruler in heaven, and the ruler from heaven, who now dwells within His people. He will make His enemies a footstool for His feet through His people whom He has called to Himself.

Back to the local focus. While the general and major victory has already been won by the blow Jesus delivered a Calvary, it is gradually being worked out on this earth.

This is why we need to center our attention and work on and at the local level. We can easily be discouraged and defeated by the forces of evil when we look how they are glorified by the media; meaning the reporting is primarily concerned with some type of evil or tragedy that has destroyed the lives of people. Most of the time there is no redemption associated with it, and just a feeling of loss and despair.

This is reduced when we look at ways to have an impact on the lives of people we touch in our neighborhoods and cities, rather than competing at levels we are intimidated and clueless how to engage when dealing with that type of power. It's limited power, and nothing compared to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has in fact received authority and power. With most people a national or international venue and ministry is beyond their calling. 

Even those that do have some influence will find that far more leveraged when imparting what God has given them to those that can work within their communities.

The point is we must learn to ignore most of what we hear and see with the various media outlets, and work at the local level to make meaningful change there.

Once true Christians start to do that at meaningful levels, we'll see things change, over time, around the world, because what is being done locally will spread throughout the earth.

Our job is to make sure we see the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ is growing and spreading across our local community.