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Daily Devotion: Philippians 3:9-11

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Philippians 3:9-11    "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."

If I may connect a couple thoughts, it might give some understanding concerning this.  Today's verses are a continuation of a thought. Paul had expressed a desire to "win Christ.. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness..."  He goes on to say, "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection." It seems to me that this is something that we all too often neglect in our everyday lives. The Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, has given us "the power of the resurrection" to be victorious in our lives. We do not have to give in to temptations that are presented to us. We do not have to live our lives with our heads hung low because of the weakness of the flesh.

We often hear it said, "I'm only human." That sentence is usually said after the fact of having given into our weaknesses, whatever they may be. It is true that we are human and we still must deal with our own carnal minds. But that is only half the truth for the child of God. Being born again of the Spirit of God, we have been given the power to overcome temptations and endure the struggles of life. We have been given the power of the Resurrected Saviour as the Spirit of God is within us. Therein lies the battle that you and I must face each day. Yes, we have the Spirit of God, but we also still have the carnal mind and attitudes that go along with it.  The struggle comes in which one do we listen and follow? The carnal mind loves the things of the world. The mind of Christ (which we wrote about in an earlier devotion) directs us away from the glitter and glamour of the world to the peace and joy that is only found in Jesus Christ.

We must exercise ourselves to be able to listen to the Spirit of God instead of the noise and clamour of the world. God spoke of it in the writings of David by saying, "Be still, and know that I am God." Yes, it is an exercise of the heart and mind to be able to shut out the things of the world in order to experience the peace of God. But it is well worth it. The Apostle Paul said all the things that the world gave him are as nothing in comparison to the sweet peace of God that comes through the "power of his resurrection." Yes, we have the power of Jesus Christ within us to help us overcome all the things that would draw us away from the place of peace and joy through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Let us avail ourselves to that power in order to experience that abundant life that was promised us through Jesus Christ.

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