BECOME A HEAVENLY AMBASSADOR WHO CARRIES KINGDOM SOLUTIONS
ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
If you have been in the Church for any amount of time you could probably say the Lord’s prayer in your sleep “Our Father who art in Heaven hallowed be thy name…..may your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” It can almost become a tune that we hum and a phrase that we mumble; a hallmark sentiment that we wish for, but don’t really expect to happen.
The truth is, we often place God in a box, tradition becomes religion and loses its meaning and significance — we imagine Him in a high lofty place dictating our lives down on earth and separate from the challenges that we face. We even fall on our knees begging Him to be the solution to the problems at hand and don’t realize there is no divide between Heaven and Earth. The truth is, you carry His Presence in every room, season, and atmosphere you walk into — we are citizens of Heaven on earth; ushering in a different ecosystem than the natural world.
What I am getting at is we live in a world desperate to experience the closeness of His Presence, hungry to encounter Him, and eager for divine solutions and we carry this within us. I’d like to propose the answer isn’t God reaching down from a far away place, with a snap of a finger fixing all our frustrations, but rather it’s Him working through us by the power of the Holy Spirit to change culture, shift circumstances, and break principalities.
GOD CARES ABOUT YOUR JOB
Now, you might be wondering what does it practically look like to be an ambassador of Heaven in a world desperate for Jesus? Well, I used to have the same question. I didn’t always work in the Church; for over 20 years I was in the automotive business and dreamed of working in “ministry”….But, one day in particular I realized God didn’t see the divide between “work” and “ministry” the same way I did at the time.
Many many years ago when Kathy and I opened an auto part shop we bought an old computer and a generic retail program to do our invoicing that had three price levels: cost, retail and a discounted price. The only problem is that auto parts had five price levels. We went along for six months with these three price levels and the program was working okay for us, but we started to get repair shops stocking our parts. This was a problem because the system didn’t have a price level for this.
Every time the part went out the door my guys had to remember to override the system to fix the pricing. Of course, they often forgot because it was often one part out of five hundred of them.This resulted in customers thinking we were stealing from them. Six months had passed and several times a week our main customers were screaming at us.
I was really bothered one night and right before I went to bed I prayed and asked God for an answer. You have to understand that I knew nothing about computers. I went to bed after praying and had a dream. In the dream I saw four or five lines of letters (which I now know is program code.) I woke up and it was burned in my memory. I grabbed my journal and wrote it down.
I woke Kathy up (it was 3am) because I knew she knew how to turn the computer on, and I told her the Lord gave me the code to fix the computer. We went to the shop, she turned on the computer, and I gave her the code. We went to build out a part in the system and it had 5 price levels, which was exactly what we needed!
I realized, God cared about my auto parts store and He provided me the solution for it! I want to encourage you today, He cares about the job, task, circumstance you are in. Every aspect of your life is important in carrying the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth and He wants to colabor with you in the process.
My good friend, Dr. John Jackson stated in our recent conversation “There are no spare parts in the Body of Christ - nobody is a benchwarmer.” If that doesn’t stir your spirit and excite your soul to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth in every sphere I am not sure what will. You have been chosen to royally rule from Heaven to earth, to shift atmospheres and transform the world around you.
BREAKING THE DIVIDE
I want to challenge you to break the mental line of sacred vs. secular divide. The truth is, when you are a Believer all things are sacred. The Spirit of the living God lives, moves, and works through you no matter where you are or what talents you uphold. I encourage you to be expectant to watch Him move in and through your life this week!
