We Are Ambassadors

Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian church and tried to capture the idea of what God has done for them.  He was grasping for the best idea to convey how God saw them in the earth today, and of all the ways he examined, he decided that the best description of a Christian would be that of an Ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20).

Wouldn’t it be strange if the American ambassador to another country was afraid to stand up and say, “I represent America”?  What would the American government do if the ambassador was afraid to state its point of view?

An ambassador is the sent one of the U.S.A.  Do we think he or she is being arrogant if they declare that they are sent to a certain country on behalf of the U.S.A.? No!  That’s a good thing and we expect them to do that! So why do people in Christian circles accuse others of being proud or arrogant when they do the same thing acting as an ambassador of heaven?

As an ambassador I have a right to speak for the Kingdom as long as I am speaking the message of the Kingdom, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  These are the words of my country.

The devil knows you are an ambassador, and God knows you are an ambassador. When are you going to realize that you are an ambassador?  In Acts 19:15 the demon spoke to the seven sons of Sceva, “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?” The devil will know you if you take a stand.

An Ambassador does not have to pray to act as an ambassador.  He does not need to pray to exercise his or her authority.  All they need to do is act like who their government says they are.  They don’t need to pray to get their passports stamped or have their visits approved.  No, an ambassador has the power to act and they don’t wait around to do their job.  Don’t wait on heaven anymore.  Act today!

 

Find Yourself in the Word

There is a debate as to whether Jesus always knew who He was. Some think that Jesus was all knowing in the flesh, but think for a moment.  He was born a baby and had all the limitations of a baby.  For 30 years you only hear of Him once and that was in the synagogue talking about scripture.

Jesus was born a man and had to grow in wisdom like any person.  Did God have to give the revelation to Jesus, or did He already know it?  Scripture says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which GOD GAVE UNTO HIM, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John” (Revelation 1:1 author’s emphasis).

I believe that God had to give the revelation to Jesus of who He was, just like He has to give it to us.  He had to discover it in scripture, and He challenged the religious people to search the scriptures for they speak of Him.

Jesus found Himself in the Word, and you can find yourself in the Word.  Accept the letters to the church as personal letters to you.  Examine the lifestyle of Jesus in the Gospels as an example of your own lifestyle.  Read the commission to Jesus as God’s commission to you, because the world is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed.

We Are Like Him

Jesus came to reveal not only Who God is, but who we are! Here are a few revelations that the Scriptures give us about Who Jesus is and how much we—all of us—are like Him:

[Now] He [Christ] is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15 Amplified).

Jesus began a new species of god-men. He is the first-born so we are born of His family and likeness in the image of His Father who is now our Father.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:5). And when did our resurrection occur? The moment we were born again from death to life!

“…Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him” (2 Cor. 3:18 The Message).

We go from faith to faith, from love to love, from adventure to adventure!

You are a Miracle

Matthew 18:20 promises that where two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus —He is there in our midst. When the Word is preached, His presence is preached, and His presence fills the atmosphere around us.

In Luke chapter 4 Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, to declare freedom for the prisoners…” Mark 16 says that He sends us to do the same thing!

Declare with me today, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for He has anointed me; His Holy Spirit is upon me.” When we speak His Word, His power and His incorruptible presence is in that Word.

When we are born again He dwells in us, His presence is in us, and we have the mind of Christ. He is there wherever two of us gather together. His presence is here in our midst and upon us, dwelling in us and surrounding us.

Now what does this mean to Christians? It simply means that we are not seeking to find a manifestation of God; we are living in the manifestation of His grace and His presence.

I no longer have to beg God for a miracle, because I am a miracle; He’s come to dwell in me! I no longer have to beg God to show up and present Himself, for I know the miracle of His presence exists in His Word!

ALWAYS!

Second Corinthians 2:14 says, “Now thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ.” Hallelujah! He always causes us to triumph! Always! Always!

Not, “I win sometimes, I lose sometimes,” not, “well, I’ll see…maybe it will work, maybe it won’t work…” No!  Thanks be to God, who always causes me to triumph! Always! Always!

I don’t care what the government says, I don’t care what the people say, I don’t care what religion says, I don’t care what my finances say, I don’t care what the economy says!

Thanks be to God, who always causes me to triumph. ALWAYS!!

The Great Exchange

Moments of great exchange occur for the believer who is acting on the Word of God in the area of giving tithes and offerings. Predicting the exact moment of exchange is as difficult as   predicting the moment of rainfall on your property. But the rain always comes.

As the Israelites were leaving Egypt a moment of great exchange occurred. God released favor on His children and the Egyptians gave them all their silver and gold.

Peter was out fishing one day and Jesus showed up on the shore. Jesus directed him to throw the net on the right side of the boat. Peter obeyed and had such a harvest of fish that he had to call the other boats to help bring it in.

God is a God of more than enough if we will act consistently with His Word and expect the great exchange!

 

A Way When There is No Way

We were preaching in Mariupel, Ukraine, at the top of the Black Sea. There we stayed with a Pastor who had a church of four hundred people. I noticed that the Pastor had no phone and no car. In conversation I asked him, “How can you minister to your flock if you can’t talk to them or visit them?” He told me communication was very difficult and He spent much time on the trolley busses.

That night I challenged the church to pay to connect a phone in his home. All agreed, but with half of his church unemployed and the others only making fifty dollars a month it looked like the biggest miracle in the world to his congregation. Some waited for a phone for thirty years because they couldn’t afford to pay the required thousand dollars.

I encouraged the congregation to trust God to use them as a source to purchase the phone. I asked how many would allow God to use them as a channel of supernatural blessing, and most agreed.

The next night as we were about to begin preaching, a salty old sailor came up to us with big tears in his eyes and shouting, “I’m the one! I’m the one!” I watched him approach thinking, you’re the one? What does that mean? 

 He continued, “I’m the one to give the phone! I stood up last night and committed, and when I got home I received two phone calls from foreign shipping companies. They have asked me to work at European salaries for the next two years. I’ve been unemployed for two years!”

Only when more people will stand up in their faith and pledge to a Godly cause will we see more miracles of supernatural supply in the body of Christ!

Speak to Your Symptoms

By faith you can receive your miracle from God. Confess God’s Word over your life, “By His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). In faith come to God in prayer and say, “Lord, in Your Word You said that by the stripes of Jesus I am healed. I believe and I receive my healing from You!”

You know, sometimes I don’t feel well either. For example, if I have a cold and my throat is sore and I can hardly lift my head off the pillow, my flesh wants to be sick and stay in bed too. But instead, I start proclaiming the Word of God, “In Jesus’ name, I am healed by the stripes of Jesus! I strongly believe in it and I thank you, Lord, that You are touching me with Your healing power! And now, body, listen to me…” And I start speaking to my body, head, throat and to all the symptoms. I proclaim that I simply cannot be sick because I am already healed by the stripes of Jesus Christ.

This is my faith. This is what Jesus calls “faith,” and it’s very important!

One Word Changes Everything

Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you”(John 15:7 author’s emphasis).

He reveals that the power of His Word in your mouth is as powerful as rain upon the earth. When I lived in a desert for three months it became easy to appreciate a little rain. Hidden seeds that lay dormant for years under the sands would spring forth immediately when drops of life from above would fall.

We experience this in our crusade meetings all the time. A little word will bring to life a dormant dream hidden for years in the hearts of people. A word spoken releases a healing from above for those trapped by cancer, lameness, deafness and all types of disease.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it”(Isaiah 55:10-11 author’s emphasis).

God’s Word in your mouth on any subject carries the same weight as if Jesus Himself were speaking. Spoken in faith, it is never empty or ineffective. It brings the rain of blessing from heaven on a cloudless day.

Keep saying what God says and the earth will yield its abundance to you!

Super-Powered

Christians should be the leaders in the field of science, where discoveries are made. They should be the leaders in the business community, where favor is needed. They should be the leaders in the stock market, where having a hunch is often the key to success. They should be the top surgeons in the medical field, where skill and insight are required.

Why? Because Christians have the Anointed One living on the inside of them, giving them knowledge of clever inventions and showing them things to come. “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him”(1 John 2:27).

We are not left to our own intelligence or wisdom in this life. We have a living relationship with God, Who has chosen to live inside the believer!