Resurrection Now

When Paul said that he considered all things to be lost in order to know Christ, and that he only wanted to “know Christ…and the power of His resurrection”, [Phil. 3:10] he wasn’t talking about gaining more Bible knowledge.

On the contrary, he had just spent the previous six verses expounding upon all of the great Bible knowledge he once put so much stock in and then declared that he considered all of that to be  “dung” or “crap” [literally].

Why so? “So that I may gain Christ and be found in Him..” [v. 8-9]

There’s almost an "if/then" wording here where Paul is suggesting that anyone who wants to gain Christ and to be found in Him – anyone who wants to “know Christ and the power of His resurrection” – must first consider everything else to be garbage in comparison.

Take the juxtaposition of “knowing Christ” and the phrase “the power of His resurrection”. You can’t have a resurrection until you first have a funeral. If no one dies, then who will be brought back to life again?

This dovetails beautifully with the Gospel that Jesus proclaimed saying, “If anyone would come after me, let him first deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me”. 

In other words, if we want to experience the “power of His resurrection” we must first die to ourselves daily. Once we die, then we can begin to receive the marvelous power of His resurrection life within.

We don't have to wait until we die to begin experiencing this resurrection life, we can know it right here and now.

What’s even more amazing, is that Paul is talking here about an actual reality. This isn’t a metaphor. This isn’t some spiritual platitude. He is talking about being truly able to know Christ and to experience that resurrection life today. He is talking about a transcendent reality whereby he is capable of knowing Christ the way you and I know our own voices.

Think of it! You and I can experience the living, breathing, presence of Jesus right here and now.

“The Lord is near”, as Paul says in Philippians 4:5. Therefore, let us “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Drawing nearer to Him is not only possible, it’s practically mandatory for every single person who is found in Christ.

-kg

Are You Dead Yet?

When Jesus wanted to defeat the Enemy and rescue the planet from the power of death, how did He accomplish this? He died.

“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:8)

How are we able to follow Jesus? We die.

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

How did Paul minister? He died.

“I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:31)

How did Paul receive the power of Christ? He embraced his own weakness.

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9-10)

What does all this mean? Let me ask you something – Can you defeat an opponent who gains power when they die?

The genius of God’s way of fighting and winning (duh) is to lay down and die so that the love and power of Christ might be revealed through our weakness.

The lower we get, the greater Jesus becomes.

The more we die, the more Christ lives in us.

The more we get out of His way, the more God can accomplish through our submission.

Jackie Pullinger once said “The Gospel is always life for the one who receives it, but death for the one who brings it.” If we are not in the act of dying daily, then Christ is not alive in us.

What’s your mission? To be like Christ. What did He do? He died. The Apostles died. You and I are also called to die so that Christ may live through us.

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24-25)

Conversatio Morem! Death to my status quo.

As John the Baptist declared, “He must increase. I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

-kg

NEW EBOOK: THE POWER OF WEAKNESS

I've published my first Amazon-exclusive ebook for the Kindle called "The Power of Weakness." It's available for $2.99 at this link>

About The Power of Weakness

In his second letter to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul described an encounter with God that taught him a valuable lesson about humility and perspective.

The author, Keith Giles, explores this Kingdom principal of weakness in the lives of people like Moses, Gideon, Samson, Solomon and even Jesus to help us understand how we can unleash the “power of Christ” in our own lives.

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If you have a Kindle please download the book and read it. If you would, I'd like to ask you to publish your review on the site to share your thoughts.

Thanks,
kg

LOVE BEYOND KNOWLEDGE

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Notice how many times Paul talks about "Power" in this passage, and in what context the word is used.

What Paul is praying for the church in Ephesus is, first, that the power of God would be exerted in the hearts and lives of the followers of Jesus "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."

It takes God's power working in us to reveal Christ in our hearts and to empower us to have an ongoing relationship with Jesus.

Secondly, Paul prays that the power of God would lead us "to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

I love this verse because here Paul confesses a bit of his inability to express with words the incredible love of Christ for us. Notice the phrase, "to know this love that surpasses knowledge". How can we know something that is beyond knowledge? If there is a concept that "surpasses knowledge" can it really be known? Not in the natural world, but supernaturally it is possible, and only through the miraculous power of God working in us by His Spirit.

Lately I must admit I have forgotten this. I've been very busy with a lot of "Christian activity" but I've neglected to simply come to my dear Lord Jesus and sit at His feet and love Him. Not only to love Him, but to allow Him to love on me.

Re-reading this passage reminds me that what I need most is the power of Christ to be made alive in me so that I can "grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge".

Do you think it's possible for us to know something that goes beyond knowledge? Is the love of God really greater than our ability to absorb or comprehend without an upgrade to our spiritual software?

Paul seems to think so. And he spends a lot of time in his letter to the Ephesians trying to express something with words that cannot be understood through words. He struggles to communicate to us in this epistle that God's love for us is beyond comprehension, and then he prays that we might have an ability to understand it, and to receive it, and to be empowered by it in our everyday lives.

God's love transcends information. The Gospel is not about information, it's about a tranformation of the heart by our Creator who comes to live within us as we humbly submit to Him as our King.

One of the ways that we can be empowered to know the love of God that surpasses knowledge is through suffering. Paul affirmed this when he talked about his "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7) and said that it was given to Him by the Lord "so that Christ's power may rest on (him)" (v.9) because "(God's) power is made perfect in weakness" (v.9).

Over the last few days my family has endured a lot of suffering. In fact, at almost every level we have been under attack, and I think this is why I was able to realize last night that I had been neglecting to remember that I am called to love Jesus and cling to Him no matter what.

Today, in my weakness, I am thankful for the power of Christ at work in me. This power reminds me that I am loved and treasured beyond words and that the love of God is greater than I ever fully know with my natural mind.

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

Peace,
kg