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Friday, September 19, 2008

Ambassadors

John 20:21
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”



Jesus was sent to earth from heaven. He was not from earth, He was sent here. Jesus sends His people. Where does He end us to? He sends us to the world to make disciples and glorify His name by good works. Where does he send us from? He sends us from Himself. Jesus is from heaven and is in heaven, He sends us from heaven.

2 Cor 5:20 tells us we are ambassadors for Christ. Phil 3:20 says our citizenship is in heaven. Eph chapter 1 and 2 speak of those who believe in Jesus as being raised up to the heavenly places with Him and in Him. The point is this: we who trust Jesus are not from this world. We were from here but the moment we held to God’s promise of salvation through Jesus Christ and professed true faith in Him, we defected. We defected from the world to heaven.

An ambassador is from a certain country and lives in a different country. This was our old country and is now the country we are serving in. We have been sent to serve God here but we are not from here. We are from heaven with regards to our citizenship and loyalty and with regards to our resources. We are from God in heaven and will return to God in heaven. Just as Jesus was from heaven and returned to heaven. Only we are not originally from there; we are the defectors serving our new master in our old home.

Why keep emphasizing the point of citizenship? Many of us seem to have forgotten where it is we have been sent from. For many there is the concept that we are FROM here and are one day going TO heaven. No, that has already been accomplished. How could we be ambassadors to the world if we were from the world? We are in the world not of it. If we are not OF the world, what are we OF? We are OF heaven. Not in the sense that we are angels or gods but in the sense that we belong to God, in heaven, we work for Him, we get all we need from Him and we will go to Him when we are through here.

Why is this so important to realize? This is why: we operate here with the authority of Jesus in heaven, we draw on the heavenly powers in Christ Jesus for all the work HE gave us to do. We ask for and receive supplies, resources, direction and our training from heaven. The Holy Spirit is resident with us and navigates our course for us. We cannot have the mindset that this is our home – even a temporary one. This is not a home but a place to stay; a place to work. There is a difference. If our belief is that this is our home for now and we simply go to a new and better home later, we will be too busy making this the best home we can. If we can realize that this is simply a workplace; although we have much to enjoy here; we will enjoy more freely, work harder at our REAL jobs and look forward to leaving it all behind.

Most importantly we must see that we are not randomly in any situation or place. In every circumstance, we have the power from God, direct from our heavenly home, to accomplish His work here. He has sent us and He will supply all we need. We have what we ask for when we are doing the work He has sent us to do. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. We have access to our heavenly Father at all times and our Jesus always watches over us and intercedes for us. God dispatches his angels at our call in prayer when we are faithfully engaged in His work. And when we are not? Well, if we behave as if we have returned to our original home or don’t act as if we have ever defected, then we will have to be content with what the world has to give; which is nothing good.
We are Christ’s ambassadors and now is the favorable time and this is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 6:2)

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About Me

I met Jesus in March 1997 and soon after I began the practice of writing things down that were happening in my life with the Lord. Over the years, in the rare times that I have looked back into older journals, I have found that the things the Lord was showing me then are the same things He is showing me now. This does not make them less helpful, on the contrary, it makes them more helpful. God is exactly who He says He is and is doing all that He said He would. We need to be reminded of God and His faithfulness. The intention of this blog is to encourage God's people to continue and to grow in their confidence in Jesus Christ. The things posted here are from my journal and are meant to be an example of God's love and help as He loves and helps me. I would expect that you would have reason to trust Jesus Christ with your life (and death) if you haven't heard about Him so I invite you to go to my page "About Jesus" to see why you can and should have every confidence in Jesus and Jesus only for all things.