“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 5:20
We desire to understand the seriousness of this commission of being Christ’s ambassadors so we can rise to the occasion as ministers of reconciliation. God has called us to function, even as Christ functioned, in a three-fold ministry in the earth. He was prophet, priest, and king. He operated in that prophetic realm, seeing those things that could not be seen with the natural eye but only be viewed by the spiritual eye.
In the old covenant, it was the priest who brought the blood and laid it on the altar, and stood as mediator between God and man. In that same manner, Jesus served in the spiritual office of a priest.
He was a king on the cross when they mocked Him and they labeled Him King of the Jews; but He proved Himself as King of kings and the Lord of lords when He defeated death, hell, and the grave and triumphantly arose on the third day.
Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
That word “quicken” means to give life.
Whenever I leave the house, I believe in my heart that I’m going to make it back alive, well and in one piece, but countless hundreds of things could happen on the way that could easily snuff out my life.
Life, like a candle, can burn so brightly and yet so easily be extinguished. However, if we have been saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost, then somewhere on “the inside of the inside” there is more life in me than this little natural breath of life. There is a life that’s dwelling inside of me that is not temporal. It is eternal and cannot snuffed out. It does not appear like a vapor on a glass that the warm wind can easily take away.
Zoe, the eternal life of God in me, will never die because it was never created. It has always been. That life has been placed in us by the power of the Holy Ghost. That’s why we must have the Holy Ghost.
One day, when this temporal life ceases, that eternal life will raise us up and we shall dwell eternally with Him. Eternity can’t be measured by time. It just stretches out there and never ceases to stretch.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ… An ambassador is an accredited diplomatic agent of the highest rank, appointed as the representative of one government or power. America has ambassadors in many nations of the world, and with that responsibility there comes some authority to act on behalf of this nation as a representative of our President, perhaps in social and economic circles. This authority is limited, yet with power to represent our country.
We must recognize that if God has commissioned us to be ambassadors, He has placed within us the authority to act on His behalf.
We must recognize that if God has commissioned us to be ambassadors, He has not only given us the title, but He has placed within us the authority to act on His behalf. If we know the will of God, then as an ambassador of Christ we have been given the authority to carry out the will of God in the earth. With every authority comes a responsibility, and with every responsibility God gives authority.
It’s not optional. He didn’t say, “If you would like to be My ambassador, you may. If you don’t have anything else to do, and you’re not too busy living your own life, then perhaps you might save a little time to be My representative in the earth.”
“…as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
Those are serious words. “We are acting in the stead of Christ. As He would compel you, we compel you.”
In the same way that Christ would reach out to the sinner, you and I have been commissioned to reach out. In the same way that Christ would minister to those who are weak and sick, He has given us that commission, along with the authority and responsibility, to do as He would do.
Insomuch as God would deliver the oppressed, He has called you and me, in His stead as His ambassadors, to work the same works that He worked while He was here on the earth. You are Christ’s extension of salvation, healing and deliverance. (John 6:28)
Years ago in meetings people would testify. “I was lost and Brother Shelley saved me. I was lost and I went to that church and they saved me.” Of course we were quick to jump in and say, “Oh no, the church didn’t save you. Oh no, Brother Shelley didn’t save you. Oh no, the evangelist didn’t save you, Jesus did.”
We cannot save the lost, but we are called to extend salvation to those who are lost. We are the ambassadors of Christ. Christ has saved us and given us salvation, therefore He is giving us a commission to save others. (Jude 23-24) We couldn’t do it if we didn’t have what it takes. He has applied His precious blood to our lives. It’s not our blood, our power, or our ability but His. He’s commissioning us, “Take the salvation and deliverance that I have wrought in your life, and extend it as a gift to somebody else who has need of it.”
We have the power to live a new life that is to be an example. We have the power to invite somebody to a place where perhaps they can find deliverance for their soul. In doing so, we are working the works of Christ in the earth. As the Apostle said, “You are compelling in the stead of Christ.”
If Christ were here in his earthly body, He would be offering salvation to the lost. How long has it been since we invited somebody to hope and to find the grace that we have found? We may have questions, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t realize that God has done something glorious in our life. So we must tell it. If we are a follower of Jesus Christ, we have been called as His ambassador.
We’ve also been given the responsibility to pray in the stead of Christ because Christ was a prayer warrior. He was the eternal Spirit of the Father, condescending to come down and dwell in a body made of flesh. He had communication by prayer with the Spirit of His Father that dwelt in Him. (Colossians 1:15, 2:9)
When the disciples asked the Lord to teach them to pray, He said:
“Pray, ‘Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’” Matthew 6:9-13
All the way through the Lord’s Prayer, He speaks in the plural. It was not only a prayer that He wanted us to pray, but He wanted to be identified with us in that prayer. He said, “Our Father,” because we have been called to operate with Christ, in His position, in His stead in the earth.
“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 5:20
In the Greek where it said, “We pray you in Christ’s stead,” the Greek word for “stead” is huper, and it means in the place of, or instead of.
Looking a little deeper into that verse we realize that in the Bible, the two times the word “you” is used in that verse, italics are used. If a word is italicized in the Scripture, it means that it was not a part of the original manuscript, but it was added by King James’ translators for the purpose of clarity. It gives even greater authority to us if we remove the word “you”. Then it says: God did beseech by us: we pray in Christ’s stead.
Prayer is not an option. It is not something that we can live without. Prayer is a vital and integral part of being a child of God. So since Christ is no longer in the earth praying to the Father, and that very important and serious job is no longer being done by Him, the Apostle is saying, “We are praying in the stead of Christ.” Christ has given every one of us the commission to pray as His ambassador in the earth, in His stead.
We should be calling out to the Father, in Christ’s stead, about whatever the Spirit puts in our heart. If anybody could have the attention of the Father, it would be the Son. If the Father would bend His ear to hear the Son, then because of the authority He has given us, He bends His ear to hear us as a son of God, as a child of the Most High. When we pray prophetically, knowing the will of God, it is as though Christ were standing on the earth, calling the Father on the scene. (John 14:10,13)
We must spiritually step into the place of authority that Christ had with the Father while He dwelt on earth. There is only one way that this is possible, by adoption. If we want to be adopted and a part of the manifestation of the sons of God, we have a responsibility. We must yield ourselves to be adopted because we’re of age. A person cannot even legally adopt someone who is of full age unless they surrender to that legal process.
Spiritually, we’re no longer babies, nursing the mother or sucking the bottle. But we have now cut our teeth on the meat of the Word, and we should be spiritually-mature adults. The only way that we’re going to come into that place of spiritual adoption, where our name on the check is as good as His name, is if we yield ourselves and surrender our will.
Back to the altar. Back to Bethel one more time, to lay our face before God and say, “God, my will has to die. My ideas and priorities have to die so that You can come and spiritually fulfill the work of adoption in my life.”
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8: 22,23
Notice that the working of miracles, signs, and wonders is not a prerequisite. When we come to that place of adoption, we will recognize our authority with the Father, and when we pray, we will not doubt.
When Jesus asked the Father for something, He knew it was going to be done. We need the kind of faith that says, “All I have to do is ask it of my Father and believe, because I have been sent here to pray in the stead of Christ. When I pray, it carries the same authority and has the same pull as if Christ Himself were standing on the earth calling to the Father.”
We should speak as He spoke. We should pray as He prayed. We should weep as He wept. We should know as He knew, and see as He saw. It means that we should feel as Christ Jesus the anointed Son of God felt.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” I John 3:2
One of the reasons this revealed truth is so important is because it has given us the understanding that we can and must be identified with Christ — moving and speaking in His authority. It’s carrying out the works of the Father in these last days on the earth. Our commission becomes the same as His commission: Set the captives free. Speak life to those that are spiritually dead.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18
We carry within us the power of healing. We can’t heal, but we become a pipeline that the healing virtue of Jesus can flow through. By holy impartation we can take healing to the world. We can take salvation and deliverance to the world. It’s not an option. It’s a responsibility. That’s the reason God speaks to us sometimes when we are too busy, B-U-S-Y, being under satan’s yoke. We go from one project to another, and then on to something else. We need to be making time to operate as Christ’s ambassadors in the earth.
God has told us, “We’re getting ready to step into the season of answered prayer.” It means the fulfillment of whatever we’ve been believing God for. When we pray the next time, we should pray differently, not asking for what we want. We are praying in the stead of Christ. If Christ was praying, what would He ask for?
I know we sometimes struggle to know what to pray for, but when the Holy Ghost comes it’s easy. I’d rather pray in tongues because I don’t have to know what I’m praying for.
Romans 8:26 says, “The Spirit itself maketh intercession to the Father for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, or in other words understood.”
It’s easier when the Holy Ghost prays through us. Sometimes when we have to pray in our own language, we struggle because then we have to know what to pray for. If we could kneel down and realize that we are praying in the very Spirit of Christ, in the very stead of Christ, we would be asking for what He would ask for. We would declare and prophesy and believe God as He would. To get to that place, we’ve really got to know Him.
Christ certainly functioned prophetically. Praying in His stead might be called prophetic proxy. Proxy means the authority to act on behalf of another.
Revelation 19:10 tells us that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. That Greek word for “testimony” is marturia, meaning evidence or witness committed to the prophets testifying of future events. The evidence of Christ, the witness of Christ, is the Spirit of prophecy.
We know that everything that the Father was He poured into the Son, Jesus Christ; and everything that Jesus was He poured into the Church, His Bride. Everything: prophet, priest, king, son of God, intercessor, divine physician, and overcomer.
We can overcome because He was the overcomer. Because He poured all that He was into the Church, we have the authority that was given to Him by the Father in us as well. It’s moving in us, and we must claim it if we want it to raise up in us.
“Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2
“Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.” Luke 10:3
“And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” Luke 10:9
“He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me.” Luke 10:16
In summary, we must begin to function as Christ’s ambassadors in the earth. Our commission becomes the same as His commission. As He healed, we should also carry healing virtue and set the captives free. We should speak life to those that are spiritually dead. This is our responsibility and He has given us His authority.