The Ministry

When you grasp your divine destiny, you realize that “blending in” with the world leads to the loss of both spiritual identity and ambassadorial authority. To be chosen by God is to be delivered from the systems of society and culture. He pulls you out so that you can live as one set apart.

An ambassador embodies kingdom living. By definition, an ambassador is a foreign representative conducting diplomatic business on behalf of a nation. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have become foreigners in his world (2 Cor. 5:20; 1 Pet. 2:11; Heb. 11:13). We represent one nation—the Kingdom of God—to another—the kingdom of this world. Our responsibility is to manage the relationships and negotiations (or non-negotiations) between these two realms.

We carry no authority of our own; our authority rests entirely in the One who sends us. As long as we operate in that role, we walk in Christ’s authority. We have been appointed by the government of God and dispatched into this foreign land to conduct kingdom business, often under apostolic or prophetic grace. We do not merely present ourselves—we re-present God’s Kingdom in the earth. In the realm of foreign affairs, every ambassador is given a territory, typically an embassy, which is designed to reflect the nation it represents. In the same way, the Church functions as heaven’s embassy on earth, called to look, sound, and operate like the Kingdom from which it was birthed.

Ambassadors are faithful to their mandate. It is vital to distinguish between “ministry” and “mandate.” Ministry can involve many activities, but your mandate is the assignment you must fulfill in order to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:23). Sadly, many live their entire lives without discovering or completing their mandate. Without a clear mandate, it is nearly impossible to stand with courage on biblical convictions. Mandates are not subject to human will. They are God-given and cannot be reassigned or reshaped to fit human imagination or desire. They are entrusted to divinely created individuals and institutions, designed to expand the Kingdom of God in the earth. The mandate is given to the spirit-man the spirit-man (non-gender), but it is carried out in the earth through the body formed in the womb (gender-specific).

Even now, an army is rising—a new breed of men and women who refuse to compromise the standard of God. Dominion cannot be exercised from a place of inferiority, whether born of ignorance or intent. If we are to rule the earth over Satan, as God desires, we must do so from the position of superiority that Christ has secured for us.