THE PRINCIPLE OF DYING DAILY

The principle of dying daily is a description of the experiences Paul and his associates encountered in his days for preaching about the glorious of Christ and His resurrection. In today's message, Paul addressed an argument regarding the resurrection of the dead.

Reference: 1 Corinthians 15:31-32 Amplified Bible (AMP) "I assure you, believers, by the pride which I have in you in [your union with] Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily [I face death and die to self]. What good has it done me if, [merely] from a human point of view, I fought with wild animals at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised [at all], let us eat and drink [enjoying ourselves now], for tomorrow we die."

In this verse, Paul demonstrated a remorse of an affliction-burdened experience he witnessed with the people of Ephesus. He called them wild animals (beasts). This is a figurative term he labelled the furious crowd that rose up against Him in Ephesus.

Sometimes you get to a level where your message is misunderstood, yet you keep on preaching and not explain too much. Why? It is because the Holy Spirit can whisper to you, "don't do my own work, I will explain and bring it to their understanding later." Most times this is because you have collided with a spiritual wickedness in high places (see Ephesians 6:12 KJV).

For instance, Paul got to a point where His message kept on being misunderstood. Here the group in Corinth were arguing that there is no resurrection from the dead for those in Christ. It was as though all His teachings and preaching have become pointless because of so much opposition and misunderstanding, yet he continued his preaching. Paul reminded them that If he fought with "wild beasts" in Ephesus as a mere man, because of this same argument about resurrection, what would it benefit him? By wild beasts, he meant those people of Ephesus who argued with His teachings and made caricature of his messages.

Paul got to a point where He was fed up with the argument until he said, "If indeed there is no resurrection from the dead, then let us eat and drink, for tomorrow everybody dies!" Paul really found himself into his mesmeric gaze at Ephesus to the point of almost being disappointed by the argument. He was challenged by the people of Ephesus until he uttered an exasperated expression, "If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

Beloved we must die daily to flesh until we get to a point where nothing matters to us but Christ. If you are still in the realm of considering opinions and contrary ideas while fulfilling your assignment for the Lord, you are not dying daily. Your flesh is still active. In every given circumstance, you must do the work of He who has sent you no matter the challenge (John 9:4 NLT). Regardless of the criticism and in spite of open dislike, mockery and scoffing which is often mixed with indignation, Paul maintained His focus. This is what it means to die daily.

Paul said, "I die daily". Although he was boasting in Christians who receive his messages with a meek heart, he was an object of extreme disdain, which means he was intensively being faced by angry mobs. It got to that point where apostle Paul said enough is enough. If there is no resurrection after death for Christians and those he preached to, he would rather enjoy His life as though there is no tomorrow. So he quoted the later part of Isaiah 22:13 (NIV) which reads, "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!" Its like Paul almost saying, "let it be so", even though he knew the truth (resurrection is real).

Beloved, the idea of no resurrection at all is not true. Otherwise, that would mean that Christ was not raised from the dead at all. And if Christ was not raised, then the glorious Gospel is a fake gospel and our Christian faith would be worthless. Christ was raised from the dead and He is coming back again for the saints, including all who have died in Him. They will be resurrected to new life, as He was after the crucifixion. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - John 3:30; Galatians 2:20-21; Colossians 3:10; Galatians 5:25.

Exuberant Declaration: In Christ Jesus, I participate in the continual service of fulfilling God's purpose for my life and His blessings of peace, joy, and prosperity always attend to me. I die daily to flesh, while the life of God in me demonstrates an energy of greater influence over me. Thus, I daily identify myself with the reconciliation mandate of the glorious Kingdom, doing the work of the Lord that sent me, accompanied by results. Blessed be God!