Devotion: Be Heaven’s Ambassador

Do you know that you are “an ambassador?”  Most people do not realize that they themselves are in fact “ambassadors.”

According to the Merriam- Webster Dictionary, “an ambassador” is

“a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment.”

Basically, “an ambassador” is “an authorized representative or messenger.”

“Don’t you realize that you can choose your own master?  You can choose sin (with death) or else obedience (with acquittal).  The one to whom you offer yourself—he will take you and be your master, and you will be his slave” (Romans 6:16 TLB).

Non-believers believe that since they have not formally committed to following God and do not subscribe to any form of religious authority or religious belief system, they see their non-belief as being “independent free-moral agents,” not representing anyone or anything.  They believe they are working independently of any commitments or obligations to any supreme or governing entity but we see from this passage that this is not exactly the truth.  According to this scripture, the one to whom we choose to be our master is the one to whom we become a slave or “an ambassador.”  For the non-believer, because they have made the conscious choice not to serve God, have unknowingly chosen to become slaves to sin and are “ambassadors” to principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, which includes the master puppeteer, Satan.  For the believer, because they have made the conscious choice to serve God and follow Christ, have  chosen to become slaves of righteousness and are its “ambassadors.”

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God” (II Corinthians 5:17-20 TLB).

Through what Christ did on the cross, God made peace and brought us back to himself.  And in doing this, God gave us “the ministry of reconciliation,” entrusting us with his message of reconciliation.  But this honor of preaching this news of peace belongs to those who are in Christ.  Those who are in Christ be a new creature, a new creation if you will.  Remember, it was through his death that Jesus took two groups (Jew and Gentile) and made them part of himself.  And in making them a part of himself, Jesus was able to fuse the two together into a new creation, into a new man.  It is this new creation, this new man that are “the ambassadors for Christ, his representatives.”  God uses this “new man” to urge others to come into his favor, to be at peace with him, and to be reconciled to him.

“We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain” (II Corinthians 6:1).  “For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building” (I Corinthians 3:9).

We are God’s coworkers, workers together with God.  We are God’s partners, working side by side with God.  We are “the authorized representatives or messengers” of God.  We be “Heaven’s Ambassadors,” ambassadors for Christ, entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation, preaching the news of peace, urging others to come into God’s favor, to be at peace with him, and to be reconciled to God.  The question that you have to ask yourself is “Am I good ambassador or am I bad ambassador?”

We trust that today’s inspirational message will give you a new perspective on your role of being “Heaven’s Ambassador.”  We pray that this message will bless you, as well as inform you, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If you are blessed by this message, please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW

Devotion: You Are A Spirit

As we look at the creation of man, we can actually see man being created with three distinct parts; spirit, soul, and body.  We know that man was created in the image and after the likeness of God.  According to the first chapter of Genesis, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26).”  Many people have a hard time reconciling the fact that mankind is “created in the image and after the likeness of God,” but the original man and the original women were “created in the image and after the likeness of God (Genesis 1:27).”  And since each of us are a copy of the original man or the original woman, then we too were “created in the image and after the likeness of God.”  Now, when God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” he was not referring to the image that you see when you look in the mirror.  Jesus tells us “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24), which means you must be a spirit as well.  Wow!  You are actually a spirit being, created in the image and after the likeness of God.  Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite told Job and his two friends that “there is a spirit in man” (Job 32:6-8).  This statement implies that the spirit, which is in man and man himself are not the same.  However, this does not mean that your spirit is not similar to the form that you see in the mirror because throughout the Bible, God is described as having features such as “hands, arms, face, and back parts” (Exodus 33:22-23), but you are a spirit being first.  What you see in the mirror is your physical body.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7).

We see from scripture that God formed, molded, or shaped man’s body from the dust of the ground.  We also see this fact strongly emphasized by God after the fall of man.  God tells man that he is but dust; “for it was out of dust that he was taken and it is to dust that he will return” (Genesis 3:19).  Now we have the physical body, formed from the dust of the earth, but there is no life in this body.

“… and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7).

Now we have the lifeless body, which God breathed the breath of life into and the body comes to life.  This breath is the same breath that God “gives to all living things” (Numbers 27:16).  When we die, we see the creation process in reversed.  We already know that our bodies return back to the dust from where it came, but “our breath,” the breath that God breathed into our nostrils, “returns back to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

“… and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).

Then, there is the soul, the thing that man became.  Man became a living soul after God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.  The soul is defined as the nonphysical aspect of a person, which contains person’s most important feature, his or her essence.  This is where the deepest and truest nature of a person can be found.  It is here that the most complicated human attributes can be found, such as a person’s consciousness, thoughts, feelings, and will.  The soul is where a person’s emotional and moral nature and be found.  This is a place where the most private thoughts and feelings are hidden.  The soul is the thing that gives each person his or her distinctive character.  It is also believed to be the one part of man that continues to exist after the body dies.

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thessalonians 5:23).

In this passage, Paul makes mention of our whole spirit and soul and body.  Paul has described man as “a tri-partite being,” made up of three individual parts, asking that our “entire spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  So the reflection that you see in the mirror, that physical body that you see, is made of dust and to dust is where it will return.  However, within the reflection is that real you; a spirit being that has a soul, all living inside of that image in the mirror.

“... This message is from the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit” (Zechariah 12:1 NLT).<

To summarize, you are a spirit created in the image of God that became a living soul, all living inside of a body.  We pray that today’s inspirational message will give you a new perspective on what it means when it is said, “you are a spirit being.”  We also pray that this message will bless you, inform you, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If blessed by this message, please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW