Scripture: Philippians 3 v 8 - 11: "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
The great apostle Paul had one strong desire - to know the Lord and the power of His resurrection. If anyone should have known the Lord it was Paul. He saw Jesus in His resurrection body while on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians.
The glory of this encounter partially blinded Paul, which became his thorn in the flesh, the weakness he tried to be free of in 2 Corinthians 12. Jesus said to him, My strength is made perfect in weakness. Thankfully, it stopped his persecution of Christians as he was now one of them!
This is a revelation because in the world it is always survival of the fittest and strongest. The Lord within us allows a weakness so that His strength can be added. In Paul's case, his short-sightedness added to the deep sight of Jesus, which gave him extraordinary revelations and abilities.
The power of Jesus' resurrection is applied to us in water baptism. There is a divine exchange made under the water when our old sinful nature is killed off and replaced by the righteous nature of Jesus who has now come alive in us. From the creation of man His nature was alive in us but when Adam fell under the Dominion of the Serpent, it died and the result was the utter corruption of mankind. Many churches teach that water baptism is your outward acknowledgement of salvation, but it is so much more than that.
That is why Jesus said in John 3 v 3 that we must be born again, not of flesh but of water and spirit. He has to breathe that life back into us when we recognize Him as our Lord and Saviour and repent of our sins. We should immediately be baptized in water and the Holy Spirit. This complete salvation restores us to the stature Adam had with God before the fall.
We can never fully know Jesus. He is all things to all people. Even if we possess the mind of Christ, our finite mind can only begin to grasp the magnitude of His grace and power. We have to constantly think out of the box to begin to comprehend the big picture.
Paul thoroughly knew all this too, so what else was he wanting to experience? I believe its the final defeat of Satan at the Battle of Armageddon. After the Rapture all the saints, alive or dead, come back with Jesus to Earth. That includes Paul and all the apostles, all the great men and women of faith. What a shock for Satan and his armies. Resurrected for the purpose of God and to see the overthrow of our deadly enemy.
These are things Paul wanted to know more about. He knew they would come at the time of the end. Nothing is impossible to those that believe in Jesus and the power of His resurrection. He resurrected us from death to live in Him and let Him live through us. It takes complete surrender to His will to achieve becoming nothing so He can be everything.
I share these things to encourage you to be bold and brave in these days of turmoil and change. Many are weary of the constant battle against unseen forces causing disease, violence, war, nuclear threats, migrants, deadly terrorists, and their random attacks on soft targets. Everyone is wishing the Rapture would happen now. But there is still much to do and too few doing it. There is a revival from Heaven that will come, the last one before Armageddon. Pray for that day of glory and be patient for His coming.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we do pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on all flesh to give everyone a chance to know You and the power of Jesus' resurrection. What a time of rejoicing it will be. I thank You for the extreme privilege of being your handmaiden and the wonderful experiences I have enjoyed sitting at Jesus' feet. May all those who read these words be uplifted in the everlasting arms of Jesus. Amen.