Christianity teaches that we are imperfect creatures: we have all fallen short of the glory of God. In our struggles, it is natural to feel frustrated at the disorder of the world and the disorder within us: the desire to overcome sin and the desire to do evil.

Christians, called to carry out the works of Christ, are tasked with bringing His kingdom to those who are afflicted in mind, body, and spirit. In order to be effect, we must rely on the Spirit and be open to whatever God wishes to reveal to us about the present case or ourselves. Without Truth, we cannot hope to bring Christ’s kingdom into this world: for He is the Truth, and apart from Him, we can do nothing.

Christ’s kingdom will come in its fullness when He returns, but in the meantime, we are called to make disciples of all nations, and to us He is giving a foretaste of the powers of the Age to Come. Part of the mission is to bring the healing that characterised Christ’s proclamation of the Gospel. He came to destroy the works of the Devil and to inaugurate the New Eden, a world in which there is no sorrow or disorder, only peace, joy, and love.

Our current world displays a great deal of disorder in the minds of people. Humans rebel against the Truth, exchanging it for a lie. Those not in covenant with Christ may find themselves demonised. Sorrow accompanies us when we witness evil, and our own sinful natures lead us into evil.

God wants to transform us. He wants us to become like Jesus Christ. Christ showed us how to live. He spent a great deal of time communing in prayer with the Father; He forgave those who sinned against Him; He accepted that grief was a part of life in our natural world; and He knew that there was the joy of the resurrection on the other side of His suffering.

Learning to live like Jesus will, of itself, help to bring light to the darkness of our fallen world. I believe, however, that we must also renew our prayers for God’s kingdom to break out in our world in miraculous ways too. The Apostle Peter, in his Pentecost message, quoted from the Prophet Joel, saying that God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh before the great and terrible Day of the LORD.

The Day of the LORD is coming. The mental anguish of our time and the spiritual deception are signs that this current world order is coming to an end. Now is a time for prayer as individuals and as the Body of Christ, in order to fortify ourselves and bring the kingdom into the world.