Our Being is Gradually and Continually Resurrected as we’re Conformed to Christ’s Death

For us to arrive at the out-resurrection indicates that our entire being is gradually and continually resurrected, from our spirit to our soul to our body; we need to be conformed to Christ’s death so that by any means we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. Amen!

This week in our morning revival our focus has been the matter of attaining to the out-resurrection.

This was Paul’s goal in Phil. 3, and this is the goal of our Christian life.

We need to pursue Christ, gain Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him so that we may attain to the goal for the prize of the high calling. God has called up upward; He has laid hold of us, He drew us to Himself, and we have seen something of His eternal economy.

Now we are pressing on, little by little and day by day, to pursue Him, open to Him, and allow Him to dispense Himself into us.

We do not want to build up or work out our own righteousness; we want to be found in Christ, having the righteousness which is out of God and which is through faith in Christ.

This righteousness is Christ Himself as our righteousness not only in an objective way before God to cover us, but in a subjective way being lived out of us in our daily life. Amen!

We are today in the process of arriving at the out-resurrection.

Our goal is not only to enjoy the Lord day by day but we pursue Him to obtain the prize.

We want to pay the price today by allowing Him to conform us to His death so that we may have His resurrection life being lived out of us little by little, day by day.

Like the apostle Paul, we are learning to count all things to be loss on account of Christ, even on the account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, our Lord.

On His account we have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that we may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having our own righteousness which is out of the law but the righteousness which is out of God through faith in Christ. Amen!

Our aspiration is that we would know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if perhaps we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.

We aspire to attain to this extra resurrection, this outstanding resurrection, which is Christ Himself as the reward to His overcomers.

So today we want to remain in the process of resurrection, having our whole being gradually and continually resurrected.

And we want to be conformed to the death of Christ so that by any means we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.

To Arrive at the Out-resurrection indicates that our Entire Being is Gradually and Continually Resurrected

Paul’s goal was to arrive, to attain to, the out-resurrection; in Philippians, he was not sure he had arrived, but in 2 Timothy he knew he was there.

It is possible for us to arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead in our lifetime; this indicates that our entire being is gradually and continually resurrected (1 Thes. 5:23).

As we open to the Lord and remain in the process of resurrection, the God of peace sanctifies us wholly, and our spirit and soul and body are being preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to make this our personal prayer, that the Lord would gradually and continually resurrect our being day by day, little by little.

We need to ask the Lord to keep our being open to Him so that, no matter what is happening outwardly, there will be an intrinsic work of resurrection going on within us.

In ordinary situations, in our daily living, in all kinds of matters, intrinsically something is taking place: our entire being is gradually and continually resurrected.

We need to pray this personally and corporately; the Lord wants to bring our whole being in resurrection for the sake of the Body.

First, God resurrected our deadened spirit (Rom. 8:10); then, He proceeds to resurrect our soul as we set our mind on our spirit, making our mind become life (Rom. 8:6).

Eventually, He will even saturate our mortal body with His life to make it like the body of His glory (Rom. 8:11; Eph. 2:5-6).

For us to arrive at the out-resurrection means that our entire being has been gradually and continually resurrected, from our spirit to our soul and body.

We are daily in the process of resurrection, for God is working in our being to impart His divine life into our soul and even in our body to fill us with His life and resurrect our entire being.

We are daily passing through this process in life and we are running the race until we arrive at the out-resurrection as the prize.

For us to experience this process, we need to be in resurrection.

Our whole being needs to be in resurrection.

If we are conformed to the death of Christ, every part of our being will gradually be resurrected; thus, the Christian life is a process of resurrection.

We have the resurrection life of Christ in our spirit, and this life is spreading from our spirit into our mind, emotion, and will; we cooperate by setting our mind on our spirit.

On the positive side, we set our mind on our spirit, and on the negative side, we are being conformed to Christ’s death.

When this happens, our inner being is saturated with the life of Christ a little more, and we remain in the process of resurrection.

As we daily remain in the process of resurrection, our entire being is gradually and continually resurrected.

The Christian life is the process of resurrection.

This is on the personal side; we are personally being brought into resurrection from our spirit to our soul and even to our body.

As we contact the Lord day by day to have a morning revival time with Him, contact Him throughout the day as we do this and that, attend the meetings with the saints, pray, fellowship, and simply remain in touch with the Lord, there’s the process of resurrection going on in us.

Our goal is the out-resurrection from the dead, and we are now in the process of resurrection.

We are in the process of having our entire being gradually and continually resurrected.

We can reach the goal only by living a crucified life (Gal. 2:20).

It is not by outward improvement or perfecting of ourselves; it is by living a crucified life that we can remain in the process of resurrection so that God would gradually and continually resurrect our entire being.

Lord Jesus, keep us in the process of resurrection today. Spread from our spirit into our mind, emotion, and will to resurrect every part of our soul. Amen, Lord, make our mind life as we set our mind on our spirit! Spread as resurrection life into our way of thinking, our feelings, and our decisions. Have a way, Lord, to gradually and continually resurrect every part of our being so that You may preserve complete our spirit and soul and body at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ! We open to You, Lord. Keep us in the process of resurrection. Bring us fully in resurrection in all the aspects of our daily life. May we daily live a crucified life so that we may be brought fully into resurrection and have our entire being gradually and continually resurrected. Do this in us for the sake of the Body! Bring all the saints through the process of resurrection for the building up of the Body!

Being Conformed to Christ’s Death so that by Any Means we may Attain to the Out-Resurrection

Some saints are naturally nice; they are nice to others, they are nice to their spouse, and they are nice to their family members and co-workers.

This is not what God is after; God is not after people who are nice in a natural way.

Others, however, are quite rough and frank, and they think they are genuine; if this is what they are in their natural man, God is not pleased.

What God wants is a people in resurrection who live in resurrection to have their entire being gradually and continually resurrected.

For this to take place, we need to be conformed to Christ’s death so that by any means we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead (Phil. 3:10-11; Matt. 16:18; Rev. 19:7-9a; 22:14, 20).

The Lord will bring us all the way to the out-resurrection, for this is the goal of our Christian life; we, however, need to cooperate with Him today by being conformed to Christ’s death.

Rom. 6:4-5 says that, just as we have been buried in the likeness of Christ’s death, so we will grow with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, and we will walk in newness of life.

This means that we will be resurrected in the likeness of His resurrection, which is the newness of life.

Another set of verses speaking of attaining to the out-resurrection is Rom. 8:10-11; here we see that, though our body is dead because of sin, our spirit is life because of righteousness.

Even more, the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead will give life to our mortal body so that even our body – which is moral and dying – may enjoy resurrection life.

We are in the process of resurrection today so that our entire being may be gradually and continually resurrected until we attain to the out-resurrection.

In 2 Cor. 1:8-9 Paul said that he was excessively burdened, beyond power, even despairing of living; he had the response of death in himself.

However, God who raises the dead, sustained him by the power of resurrection, and his trust was in God who raises the dead. He experienced Christ as such a One.

2 Cor. 4:10 similarly says that Paul bore about in the body the putting to death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his body.

Later in v. 16 he said that, though the outer man is decaying, yet the inner man is being renewed day by day.

This is the process of resurrection that we are undergoing today.

May we remain in the process of resurrection by being conformed to the death of Christ so that, by any means, we may arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead.

The only way for the Lord to go on in us in His recovery is by our being conformed to the death of Christ so that we may arrive to the out-resurrection.

Similarly, the only way for the Lord to build up His church, the only way for the bride to make herself ready, and the only way to bring the Lord back is for us to be conformed to the death of Christ so that, by any means, we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.

The way the Lord goes on in us is by conforming us to the death of Christ so that His resurrection life may spread in our inner being to gradually and continually resurrect every part of our being.

The way the Lord builds up the church is by gaining many saints who are willing to be conformed to the death of Christ so that they may attain to the out-resurrection.

The way the church is built up is not by merely having many activities, meetings, and coordination times; it is by each member of the Body being conformed to the death of Christ so that they may attain to the out-resurrection.

The way the bride is prepared to bring the Lord back is by some who overcome and are therefore ripened and prepared; they are willing to be conformed to the death of Christ so that they may attain to the out-resurrection.

Lord Jesus, we want to go on with You. Go on in us in Your recovery. Have a way to build up the church and prepare the bride. We give ourselves to You, Lord, to be conformed to the death of Christ so that, by any means, we may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. Have a way in our being. We want to grow with You and in You so that we may walk in newness of life, having our whole being in resurrection. Have Your way, Lord, to gradually and continually resurrect every part of our being. Impart life to our soul and to our mortal body so that our whole being may be saturated with Your life. Amen, Lord, though our outer man is decaying, may our inner man be renewed day by day! Keep us in the process of resurrection. Grant us to remain in this process until we arrive at the goal of the out-resurrection!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ,” pp. 480-483, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Enjoying Christ as Revealed in Philippians (2023 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 6, entitled, Attaining to the Out-resurrection.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The meaning of the out-resurrection, a portion from, The Experience of Christ, Chapter 19, by Witness Lee.
  – The Key to Experiencing Jesus Christ in Your Everyday Life, article via, Bibles for America Blog.
  – Conformed to the mold of Christ’s death, a portion from, The Experience of Christ, Chapter 17, by Witness Lee.
  – The significance and application of the resurrection of Christ, article by John Pester in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Conformed to Christ’s death for the release and impartation of life, a portion from, The Experience of Christ, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine; / Living with Jesus a new life divine; / Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine, / Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine. / Moment by moment I’m kept in His love, / Moment by moment I’ve life from above; / Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine; / Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine. (Hymns #486 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Crucified with Christ my Savior, / To the world and self and sin; / To the death-born life of Jesus / I am sweetly ent’ring in: / In His fellowship of suff’ring, / To His death conformed to be, / I am going with my Savior / All the way to Calvary. (Hymns #481 stanza 1)
  – Minding just the spirit, we the cross will know, / And His resurrection pow’r thru us will flow; / Minding just the spirit, Christ will live thru me, / And His life within will reach maturity. / In the spirit Christ is life and all to me, / Strengthening and blessing all-inclusively; / Living in the spirit, holiness I prove, / And the triune God within my heart doth move. (Hymns #593 stanzas 6-7)