"Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough in Him to speak as I should." Ephesians 6:19-20
I couldn't help but pause when I read these two verses. Paul is asking for prayer for two specific reasons. Two reasons that we should find ourselves in prayer for, concerning ourselves:
That God would give us the right amount of boldness and the right words to say as we seek to make known the beauty of the Gospel in the course of everyday life.
And within this prayer request is a three letter phrase that caught my attention: ambassador in chains. That is what Paul called himself. An ambassador is "an authorized representative or messenger" and the chains...well, that was what made up Paul's everyday life. (take some time to think about that!)
You and I may not be ambassadors in chains....but we are each ambassadors. 2 Corinthians 5:20 explains it beautifully:
"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, " Be reconciled to God."
Each one of us, who has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, represents Jesus Christ and is a messenger of the gospel that brings peace and forgiveness of sins. We are an ambassador right where we are. Maybe you are an: ambassador in sickness, ambassador in your neighborhood, ambassador in nurse scrubs, ambassador through suffering, ambassador in cleaning, ambassador at the park, ambassador in the grocery line, ambassador folding laundry, ambassador in the cafeteria, ambassador on the basketball court, ambassador in the classroom, ambassador to the frustrating boss, ambassador in the dead-end job, ambassador in diaper changing. Wherever God has placed us is where He calls us to be an ambassador of the Good News. To our family first and then to those in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, athletic teams, parks and even grocery stores and restaurants.
I don't know about you, but it's easy to look at my life and see a bunch of mundane tasks. Ordinary stuff. But, when I read God's Word and my mind is renewed...my life comes alive in light of the eternal. I'm an ambassador for the King of kings and the Lord of lords! You are an ambassador for the Creator and Sustainer of this whole entire world and the galaxies beyond!
And He has given us a message to share...to the little lambs in our home straight through to the cashier in our checkout line: There is one true God who is perfectly holy and cannot be around sin for even a minute. We are sinners separated from that holy God without any way to get to Him on our own. So God made a way. He sent His Son into the world to live the perfect life we could not live in our place and to take all our sin upon Himself on the cross and bear the wrath of God so that we might be reconciled to God forever.
May we, like Paul, pray for boldness and the words to say and, by God's grace, might we live each ordinary moment faithfully fulfilling our extraordinary calling as ambassadors of Christ!
I couldn't help but pause when I read these two verses. Paul is asking for prayer for two specific reasons. Two reasons that we should find ourselves in prayer for, concerning ourselves:
That God would give us the right amount of boldness and the right words to say as we seek to make known the beauty of the Gospel in the course of everyday life.
And within this prayer request is a three letter phrase that caught my attention: ambassador in chains. That is what Paul called himself. An ambassador is "an authorized representative or messenger" and the chains...well, that was what made up Paul's everyday life. (take some time to think about that!)
You and I may not be ambassadors in chains....but we are each ambassadors. 2 Corinthians 5:20 explains it beautifully:
"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, " Be reconciled to God."
Each one of us, who has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, represents Jesus Christ and is a messenger of the gospel that brings peace and forgiveness of sins. We are an ambassador right where we are. Maybe you are an: ambassador in sickness, ambassador in your neighborhood, ambassador in nurse scrubs, ambassador through suffering, ambassador in cleaning, ambassador at the park, ambassador in the grocery line, ambassador folding laundry, ambassador in the cafeteria, ambassador on the basketball court, ambassador in the classroom, ambassador to the frustrating boss, ambassador in the dead-end job, ambassador in diaper changing. Wherever God has placed us is where He calls us to be an ambassador of the Good News. To our family first and then to those in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, athletic teams, parks and even grocery stores and restaurants.
I don't know about you, but it's easy to look at my life and see a bunch of mundane tasks. Ordinary stuff. But, when I read God's Word and my mind is renewed...my life comes alive in light of the eternal. I'm an ambassador for the King of kings and the Lord of lords! You are an ambassador for the Creator and Sustainer of this whole entire world and the galaxies beyond!
And He has given us a message to share...to the little lambs in our home straight through to the cashier in our checkout line: There is one true God who is perfectly holy and cannot be around sin for even a minute. We are sinners separated from that holy God without any way to get to Him on our own. So God made a way. He sent His Son into the world to live the perfect life we could not live in our place and to take all our sin upon Himself on the cross and bear the wrath of God so that we might be reconciled to God forever.
May we, like Paul, pray for boldness and the words to say and, by God's grace, might we live each ordinary moment faithfully fulfilling our extraordinary calling as ambassadors of Christ!
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