“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” (Philippians chapter 3 verses 10)
You can’t genuinely encounter God without a proof
There is a revelation behind Paul making such cry. It was not a usual cry. This is a cry that is backed with a deep revelation of man’s place with God. Paul was the one who persecuted the Christian body. He was zealous about persecuting the body of Christ. He led the troops that executed the death of Stephen. To as much as he could understand, he was doing the work of ministry which he was to. He was following his father Judaism and he was encroached by the zeal of Judaism.
When he took permission from authority to go after the Christians at Damascus, he was so eager to get such responsibility accomplished. Nothing in this life could stop him if not that the supernatural intervened. He was advancing with such enthusiastism and diligence to see the Christian movement drain into the mud. There is this burning fire in him that is pulling him to do something for what he believes in.
Your life passion should be in alignment with God’s will
He understood the legal way of doing things, that is why he went to the high priest demanding of letter so that he could driven with his threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. He was after both male and female as many as proclaiming the name of the Lord Jesus. He was faithful to the call about dragging Christian to jail. Of course he had a full back up and no one could restrict him.
Humanly possible he knew nothing could elude him, little did he know there is a supernatural of a kind. As he journey to Damascus seeking to visit the synagogues, he was trapped on the way. The glory from the Lord Jesus Christ, the light from heaven caught him and that was able to prevent his movement. He never believed such an occurrence will occurred, not until that very moment. All he knew at that moment was that he was on the ground and he began to hear the master voice.
4 -“And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”
5 – And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6 – And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
7 – And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
8 – And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.” (Acts chapter 9 verses 4 to 8)
When you encounter God, it comes with deep transformation
Paul encountered Christ on his way to execute a major assignment, and his life was suddenly turned around. He was humbled at the very point he encountered Christ that he never discussed about the assignment that was taking him to Damascus. The men who were with him were also astonished on the new development about the change in plans. They understood that something was going on, but they cannot really figure out what was going on. But all they knew was that their mission was trapped at that moment.
The whole scenario changed the perception of Paul coming to discover true purpose through having an encounter with Christ Jesus. He discovered all the while he was zealous about religion, he did it out of blindness. But now his eyes were opened to the true meaning of life and living. His zeal of going about fulfilling responsibility never changed, he channeled such zeal in the hunger to know God through Jesus Christ.
In one of the occasions, he made his mission agenda known when he declared aloud that to live is Christ and to die is gain.
20 – “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
21 – For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians chapter 1 verses 20 to 21)
In conclusion
Many of us may have proclaimed we have encountered Christ Jesus, but the question remains are you becoming like Him. There should be a proof that you have encountered Christ. There should be this burning fire in you stirs up on daily basis going after becoming like Christ. No one genuinely have an encounter with Christ and remain the same. If your encountered with Christ left you the same, that means you never encountered Him in the first place.
Paul personal encountered Christ on his way to accomplish a mission that had this burning desire in his heart. It would have been his ever greatest joy to see Christian jail for their believe and he knew nothing could stopped him. For him it was already mission accomplished. But when he encountered Christ, the whole story about his mission and life changed. That is why he was ever eager to know Him that has the capacity to changed his personality.
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