Bill and I were led by Brandon Heath's song, "I'm Not Who I Was" in our morning musings today. Life involves change. Change involves loss. Loss involves death of some kind.
I can declare "I'm not who I was" and "I like who I am" but I'm on the road to "who I will be". So am I to expect to journey through more loss or more death? Paul writes about wanting to know Christ and the power of his resurrection (I like that) AND the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. Whoa . . . that doesn't sound like a club I want to be a part of, let alone paying the "dues"!
Again, I can say "I like who I am, right now" (I'd love to be who I am at present but 10 years younger) but 10 more years from now I will say "I'm not who I was". But it is the development of the fellowship that creates all of this 'becoming'. Change. Loss. Death. Paul proclaimed it his determined purpose to know Christ progressively more deeply and intimately--to perceive, recognize and understand the wonders of His Person. The fellowship creates important works in our life, masterpieces actually.
Praying with someone recently for the severing of soul ties, we sat by their side as they experienced a tearing away, a loss, a death . . . but because of the fellowship, what followed (and is continuing to follow) was a returning to purity, a restoration, a cleansing, freedom to be made new and able to risk love again. It was an experience of the power of the resurrection of Christ. Now that is a club I want to be a part of.
Jesus said, "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." If you're dying, the resurrection and LIFE are on the way as you choose to fellowship with Him in the midst of it.
. . . and if we can sit by your side, we want to do that.
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Going through a time when I feel weak, when my own strength is not enough, I am left dying. I am left, feeling like I'm slowly dying. And not in the way that I'm dying with Christ, in a way that I'm dying apart from Him. And this isn't okay. We are called to remain in Him. When we are apart from Him, we do die. So, especially in our weakness, when we're being attacked, when we can’t see clearly, when we feel like we don't know how or why to keep going, this is when we need to remain in Him, need to partner with Him the most. The fact is, He doesn't NEED us to partner with Him, WE need HIM to partner with us in order to go on. And He desperately LONGS to be with us, desperately longs for us to be with Him, for us to partner with Him. He definitely knows greater than we do the extent of which WE need HIM. He knows how detrimental it is for us when we don’t come to Him, fellowship with Him in jubilee AND suffering. And so, I greatly appreciate this blog, especially the reminder that
Jesus said, "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." If you're dying, the resurrection and LIFE are on the way as you choose to fellowship with Him in the midst of it.
So, thank you for the encouragement to remain close to Him even in and even especially through our sufferings.
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