Friday, February 18, 2011
END TIMES READING PLAN: Psalm 2, 14, 24
SCRIPTURE READING
Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV); I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
It is so easy to say “I want to know Christ” without the entailments that Paul includes. It’s one thing to express your desire to know someone, say, your next-door neighbor, but it’s another thing to desire to know someone to such a degree that you take part in all aspects of their life, including joys and hardships. Paul knew that to know Christ was to understand Him and share in His experiences. The power that raised Christ from the dead was earth-shattering, and Paul wanted to know that kind of power. Christ’s sufferings were intense, and Paul desired to know Jesus so well that he could view his own sufferings as an opportunity to understand and know Jesus more fully. Paul knew that if he could faithfully endure as Christ endured, he would know the Jesus who rose from the dead – the resurrected Christ who sits at the right hand of God with all authority given Him. Paul looked forward to the day when he, too, will be resurrected and reign in authority with Christ.
These ideas put a whole know spin on knowing Christ, and they are not unattainable! These verses can become our reality, but we must look to see God’s design in every circumstance, and to trust Him when we cannot see it. We can cling to the hope that we have in Christ, the hope that those who endure to the end will be saved, and will be resurrected to reign with Christ forever and ever in His eternal kingdom!
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1) How does this verse change how you might have originally thought of the words “I want to know Christ”?
2) Go through each of the things that Paul mentions – the POWER of Christ’s resurrection, the FELLOWSHIP of his sufferings, and the ATTAINMENT of resurrected bodies. Do listening prayer: How can you grow to know Christ more in each of these areas?
3) Use these verses as a template for prayer. Spend 5 to 10 minutes praying the words of these verses to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to expand on them.
