DEEPER KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST - PART 5

TUESDAY 16 JANUARY 2024

Reference: Philippians 3:10-11 New King James Version (NKJV)

"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.…"

The last versified statement based on the four segments that made up our referenced Scripture is:

"And so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead..."

Beloved, if there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, Paul would do it. Simply put, he wanted to know and experience Christ inside and out.

Personally, this is another prayer point I may not be able to present before the Lord, since the Bible already tells me that God raised me up with Christ and seated me with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (see Ephesians 2:6 NIV). If there is a Christ I want to know by reason of divine encounter, I would like to experience His unending glory in toto.

Now in Colossians 3:1 (NLT), Paul exhorted us saying: "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand." Beloved, you can craft or make a better prayer point from this Scripture, which is to be empowered to focus on spiritual realities with the right understanding.

Remember that this was Paul's personal prayer point, not for the entire body of Christ in his day, and for me, I know that I have attained resurrection from spiritual death in Christ because God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6 NIV). In a nutshell, no matter how you try to paint specific gospel truths by attaching a seemingly "underlying" spiritual connotation to them, some truths are very plain, as in black and white. God has raised me up with Christ: my present-moment actuality.

For instance, Jesus becoming poor for us to be rich is a "black and white" reality which implies that the saints have been strategically positioned to be overly prosperous and cash rich. This is a plain truth we can grasp by common sense, and it is one of the reasons God gave us brain too. Otherwise, when we became born again, He would've taken our brains away and left us to be "only spiritually minded" and then, become of no earthly good.

You may even hear an argument that the utterance, "through Christ's poverty, he could make you rich" does not include money, yet within the context of that very versified statement, Paul testified about the amazing gift of God's grace that was exerted by the churches in Macedonia who gave money generously to meet the crucial needs of saints facing severe anguish and hard times in Judea, and so, he watched as they willingly gave their "all" and even went beyond expectation, to give more, which denotes the wealth of their generosity. For this reason, he entreated the church in Corinth to invest richly in this gracious work too. Again, notice that it was money they were urged to give, not encouraging words of comfort.

Stop the act of rejecting what is good for you, in order to show that you're spiritually minded. Too much money or genuine financial gain is exceptionally good; amassing untold wealth in the right manner is great in the sight of God, especially when you are rich towards His righteous cause. Paul made a prayer point that expresses being conformed to Christ in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." Interestingly, it has already happened to me when I believed the glorious gospel and received Christ as Saviour and Lord.

Instead of going back to pray for what happened to Christ on the old rugged cross to be repeated in my life, all I have to do is to take the holy communion as often as possible in remembrance of His death (1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV), and walk boldly in the newness of life by living the life of the Spirit (Romans 6:4 ESV). Shalom!

Scripture Reading - 1 Corinthians 15:49; Romans 6:4-14; Ephesians; Colossians 3:10.

Exuberant Declaration:

I have been raised to new life with Christ, and I'm being conformed to His glorious image, as I set my focus on the realities of heaven, where I am seated with Him, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. Amen!