tion power of God's Son. Through it one can overcome sin and spir itual death. Do you have this di vine energy working in your life today? It would be a tremendous thing if we found that as our consuming purpose for life we patterned our goals after those of Paul's ex pressed in Philippians 3:10-11. It is only by the power of God that a man could ever be brought into salvation. This is why we can now sing, He breaks the power of cancelled sin, Have you experienced the res urrection power of Jesus Christ over daily sin? It is the only way you can live a holy life before the Lord. The third thing Paul wanted was to know the fellowship of his suf ferings. He did not mean that he wanted to endure pain for human sin. Only the Saviour could do that. Paul wished to stand with Christ in such an indivisible union that when the abuses and persecutions the Lord suffered fell on him he would receive them in the same manner as did the Saviour. With such experience it would actually draw him closer to the Lord. Sufferings will always come to the believer (I Peter 4:12-13). We know that "all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecu tion" (II Timothy 3:12). Such expe riences need not be tragic. On the contrary they can draw us closer to the Lord if we allow His life to be constantly seen in us. Just as Jesus was careful to obey His Father, Page 41 He sets the prisoner free, His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.
ter. The Apostle might respond, "I did not say that I wanted to know about Him, but that I want to know Him!" There is a difference of all the world between these two state ments. The word "know" has sev eral different connotations. It could mean to have learned by serious study such as one learns geometry or algebra. It could also mean to learn by intuition. It can refer to understanding or simple head knowledge. The latter is what Paul told the Corinthians was detrimen tal to the Christian faith (I Corin thians 8:1-2). The Apostle wanted to know Jesus in the truest bibli cal sense: personally and experi- entially so that it would affect his day-by-day living before the Lord. After all, nothing is truly known unless it is really practiced in ev ery day life so that in some way it is allowed to control the conduct of the person involved. Do you have this same desire to know Jesus Christ intimately? He is the only One inexhaustible per son. He will never disappoint us. Paul's desire did not merely stop with the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He also wanted to know His pow er. He knew that a life lived with Jesus meant a life of holiness. Yet, such a life would be impossible if it depended upon an individual's fleshy, carnal, earthly nature. The unregenerate man cannot under stand spiritual things (I Corinthi ans 2:14). He longed for deliver ance from spiritual defeat in his Christian life. This could only be brought about through Christ's resurrection power. The second strongest power is sin because it holds man in a vice-like grip. The strongest power in the universe, on the other hand, is the resurrec
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