Fellowship of Suffering

"That I may know Him and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering..."

OK, what does the word 'fellowship' mean? It
means: 'A joint interest; companionship; association
of persons on equal terms; the state of being
together.'

Equal terms, companionship, a state of being
together--with God--in suffering????

Papa, I hate to suffer. I turn down the AC; I raise
the heat. I avoid conflict. I moan and groan over
being misunderstood. It is death to me. I want to
explain, fix, heal. Jesus did not shy away from his
humanness but in every way He was tempted as
I am, yet, He laid it all down; became like one of
us. He shared our suffering so He could have
fellowship with us, with me. But, what if I refuse
the path laid out before me which includes suffering?
Well, I will know about your Son, but I won't know
Him intimately. Suffering deeply ties us together.
Lord, I am not yet at that point of letting You call
the shots in this. It is hard for me to surrender, to
truly surrender.

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Resurrection Power

What do we need resurrection power for? Why
does Paul put it before 'the fellowship of His
suffering?'

Here is the whole verse:
"That I may know him and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
bing made conformable unto his death."
Phil 3:10

As I have been mulling this over, I have come
to the conclusion that we need to know the
power of his resurrection for two reasons:

1 We need power, this power, in order to live
our daily lives. It helps me to surrender to
whatever comes next--like the next moment.
Life comes at us fast.

2 I never understood why Paul did not put
resurrection power at the end of the verse.
Well, I don't think we are able to enter into
the fellowship of his suffering without first
coming into an understanding of the power
of his resurrection.

Well, dear reader, what do you think?

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New Story is UP!

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Questions

I am still in Philippians 3:10 just in case you are
lost!

Paul wants to know Jesus and 'the power of his 
resurrection.' In Ephesians the first chapter, Paul
prays that God will give revelation to these
believers so that they would know--

'what is the immeasurable greatness of the 
power toward us who believe, according to 
the working of his great might, that He 
worked in Christ when He raised Him from 
the dead...'

You know what, reader? I have to sit with
this for a season and see what God shares
with me. Right now all I have are questions:

Paul suffered greatly in every way. Did he
know this power in his life? How?
Is this immeasurable power something we
need in order to live the Christian life?
Do we need resurrection power in this
country, or is it only for those who are
being persecuted?

Paul's Cry

"...that I may know Him,"

What does it mean to know the unknowable God?
But is He unknowable? Jesus is the exact image
of His Dad. The Father heart of God is expressed
through His Son. To know the Son is to know the
Father. Paul counted all his gains and came up
short. He had met Jesus and everything else fell
away. His goal in life was to gain Christ, to know
his Savior, his Lord.

Papa God--to know your Son is of top priority for
me. I want to lean on Him, lean into Him; to know
Him as you know Him. Right now in this moment
I am like Martha, busy with the details of life and
trying to gain control. Mary turned away from the
pressure of trying to make life work. She received.
You want me to lay down the control thing. I fall
before you today. I am so needy.

The Promise

Joshua is going into the Promised Land. It
is a new beginning for him. He has been
with Moses from the beginning and was
with Israel for their tour in the wilderness.
They saw God do many miracles, but they
also saw the previous generation die. There
was suffering, battles, losses and victories.
The church that was birthed 2,000 years
ago has witnessed great things, but there
have been many battles with both victories
and losses, 'through much suffering...' We
are at the end of the age and we wait for
the promise of His coming. The birth
process is never easy, but, Oh the glory
that awaits us!

'Hope deferred makes the heart sick.
But, when the desire comes,
It is a tree of life. (Pro 13:12

Be Still My Heart

I am afraid. Something triggers fear and I  know
it is happening because I disappear into the
kitchen to look for food-- food that will settle
the gnawing. If I stop, recognize what is going
on, and take up my Bible, my heart has a good
chance of becoming still. Today's reading
comes out of Joshua 1:

'I will not leave you or forsake you.' (Wow,
what a promise. Is that not enough?)
'Be strong and courageous!'
'Have I not commanded you? BE STRONG
AND COURAGEOUS.' (Twice)
'Do Not Be Afraid'
'Do Not Be Dismayed' (God is reading me!)
'for the Lord God  (two Names)
    is with you wherever you go. (I'm covered!)

Papa, You did two things today that told me
how close, how present You are to me. First,
I opened to the reading marked out for today,
which gave to me the very words I needed.
Secondly, You showed me where I had put
my journal so I could write it down, found in
such an obscure place. I have no control over
my emotional responses, or the events that
overtake me, but, You, the most wonderful,
magnificent, shining, glorious You, do!