The Call for the Local Church to Transform the Community is Now

The primary purpose of the local church is never to stay within the four walls of a building.Since we are the light of the world, we must go out and take back the communities from the powers of darkness, demonstrate the transforming light of God and spread the gospel of Christ in the presence of all those whom they encounter. The emphasis should be on creating a community or neighborhood where the glory of God is demonstrated on a continuous basis. However, churches across American must be willing to discard their normal habits and routines and go beyond the four walls of the church.

Discarding Spiritual Differences

Churches within a community must put spiritual differences aside and design a divine strategy for restoring communities which have been corrupted by immorality, criminal activity, pain, hurt, depression, hopelessness and fear. That divine strategy involves a massive prayer assault. Using any other method ahead of prayer will prove futile. Government programs designed for community advancement have proved ineffective on many levels, especially in oppressive communities. Law enforcement service only provides a temporary release, if that.

The solution for failing communities across American lies in the spiritual realm. Communities and neighborhoods are under seige by the forces of darkness operating within environment. Hopelessness, despair, poverty, broken homes, drugs and gangs transform communities into psychological prisons in which people are tempted to do the unthinkable to escape. Sometimes this means suicide, robbery and murder, even if it involves the entire family.

The Responsibility of the Local Church

The responsibility of the church is take dominion of the demonic forces operating in the community. Church within the community must instill the knowledge of God's transforming light in every believer so each may go out into the streets and on the corners of neighbor hoods within their communities. No group of local churches should be found within a community that is overtaken by the kingdom of darkness. Any church not challenging and transforming the community in which God has assigned it does a grave dishonor to the kingdom of light.

The first step to taking authority and dominion in a community besieged by the kingdom of darkness begins with a number of strategic prayers, including prevailing prayer, binding and loosing, decreeing, neutralization, blessing and meditation. Each prayer has a specific purpose in bringing the forces of darkness operating within a neighborhood to divine justice. The application of these prayers will provide the ammunition necessary for local churches to go fourth demonstrating the glory of God throughout the community.

Prevailing Prayer

Prevailing prayer is a continuous prayer that grows in spiritual magnitude over time, usually performed by prayer warriors ordained within the church. These believers are assigned to pray continually while other believers are out in the streets and on the corners performing the works of God. The objective is to provide a constant state of grace for those working to bring God’s glory into a community environment. As prevailing prayer multiplies a little more each day, the atmosphere within the community begins to reflect the glory of God via love, peace and safety.

Binding and Loosing

Binding and loosing is a method of prayer that takes down the strongholds of the evil principalities and powers that are oppressing a community. This type of authority is ordained for all believers who desire chase the activity of the enemy out of a particular environment. Binding stops the persuasive power of demonic influences upon the residence of a community. Dangerous activities such as drug dealing, robbery and other criminal activities often come to a halt as the angels of God interrupts and bind the demons that are pushing this kind of dark activity. Loosing is a prayer designed to deliver people from demonic influences such as depression, hopelessness, fear, alcohol and drug abuse, and every other stronghold authorized by the kingdom of darkness. Once an individual is loosed from the oppression of the enemy his soul is ready for salvation. The prayer of loosing should be strongly executed due to the prevailing bondage of the kingdom of darkness within the community.

Decreeing

Decreeing is the act of manifesting a vision for the community. To decree a situation is to speak it into existence. The practice itself is an act of faith. When a believer decrees a vision, he uses the present tense. For example, a believer might speak authoritive-ly in these words: “I decree in the name of Christ Jesus that this community is full of peace, safety and love. Amen.” From this statement of decree, we see that decreeing is calling things as if they already exist. This is the essence of the practice of decreeing. Decreeing should be done with a sense of dominion and authority if it is going to be effective against the forces of darkness.

Spiritual Neutralization

The prayer of neutralization forbids demonic activity from reinterring an area that has been cleansed of the works of darkness. To neutralize the area is to seal the area with light by assigning it to the responsibility of angels. By the virtue of our oneness with God through Christ, we have been given authority to command angels to protect certain territorial binderies of a neighborhood or community. We neutralize the principalities and powers that are operating in the atmosphere of such territory and put angels in charge of it. This is the glory of God operating in the saints.

Blessing the neighborhood is the duty of every individual who calls himself a Christian. God has instilled His authority in born again believer. Therefore, there is no excuse to play the observer. We must be proactive if we are members of God's kingdom. Anything less is imposter-ship.

Blessing and Meditation

Blessing and meditation produces a sense of joy and peace for a neighborhood. Meditation on the power of God also brings supernatural strength to those believers who are out in the field harvesting souls. No believer should venture beyond the four walls of the church without a sense of peace within his soul. To do otherwise would be to yield to the kingdom of darkness. If we go out with anger, arrogance or reluctance, then we are subject to fall by the onslaught and ridicule of demonic influences. Having a strong sense of peace that passes understanding is the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Demons cannot shake a heart saturated with the peace of God. Instead, demons run from such a believer.

The Mystery of Blessing

Everything in a neighborhood or community should be blessed, including people, homes, businesses, automobiles, streets, corners, sidewalks, and alleys. Blessing a person or thing keeps evil at bay. When we bless anything we bestow the grace of Christ upon it and God watches over it. When we truly bless our neighborhoods and community, the peace and safety of the kingdom of God comes over it. Criminal activity and immorality cannot survive in such environments. Blessing and meditation are spiritual weapons that make a believer much more than a Conqueror. By sustained acts of blessing, a community is held in captive peace by the angels of the Lord. In such an environment, the kingdom of darkness must fall.

Going beyond the four walls of the church must be a priority for every local church across America. In these times of gathering darkness, local churches must stand in the oneness of God in order to demonstrate the light of God. The time is exceedingly short. Regardless of how many local churches are in a community or neighborhood, the time of selfishness and completion is over. Only those who are strong in the kingdom of God will be able to show fourth God’s glory in times such as these and those that are coming. Shame on all local churches which allow their communities to be overtaking by the powers of darkness, this is a grave dishonor to the light of Christ and the kingdom of God. Arise and Shine!