Even More on the Resurrection and Sanctification
The narrow path may seem hidden in the fog, but it leads to resurrection life.
Based on Day by Day by Grace by Bob Hoekstra – March 24
Photo credit: Unsplash.com
Paul’s longing in Philippians 3:10 wasn’t about chasing spiritual experiences or acquiring theological head knowledge—it was about knowing Jesus more deeply, more personally, more fully. And the arenas through which that kind of knowing deepens? They aren’t always what we might expect. They include the power of His resurrection (life out of death), the fellowship of His sufferings (walking with Him in hard places), and being conformed to His death (entrusting ourselves entirely to the Father as Christ did on the cross).
This third aspect—being conformed to His death—isn’t often at the top of our prayer list. But it’s here that the mystery unfolds: what looked like defeat at the cross was actually God’s sovereign plan in motion. Likewise, when we walk through seasons of apparent loss or powerlessness, we are often being brought into a deeper sharing in Christ’s own experience of surrender. As Jesus committed His spirit into the Father’s hands, He trusted that resurrection would follow. And when we walk that same path—entrusting our lives, our reputations, our outcomes into the Father’s hands—it’s there that we meet Him in a knowing we would not otherwise have.
So often we want the power of the resurrection without the dying. But the dying is what makes room for the power to be displayed. The cross wasn’t the end. It was the doorway to glory. And so it is for us.
Personalized Journal Entry in the Voice of the Holy Spirit
Beloved, you have asked to know Me more deeply, and I have answered by walking you into places that look like endings. But these are not endings—they are invitations. As I brought My Son through death to resurrection, I bring you the same way. When you find yourself weak, emptied of options, unable to fix or fight or flee, know that this is where the greatest fellowship unfolds.
You were crucified with Christ. That old self-life, the one striving to maintain control, the one determined to protect itself at all costs—that was nailed with Him to the cross. Now, you live, yet it is not you, but Christ who lives in you. The life you live now, you live by trusting Me, the One who loved you and gave Myself for you.
Don’t be alarmed when I lead you to surrender. You are being conformed to the likeness of His death—not in pain for pain’s sake, but that you may know the joy of dependence, the peace of relinquishment, and the power of resurrection life made real in you.
When you entrust yourself into My hands, as Jesus did, you are not falling into a void. You are resting in the faithfulness of the One who raises the dead. And when you walk through moments that strip away your ability to “do,” let it remind you that this has never been about your doing. It has always been about My life in you.
This is how you come to know Me—not in theory, but in truth. Not just in mountaintops, but in quiet tombs where new life stirs. Be still. Watch Me unfold what only I can do.
Philippians 3:10; Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:6; Romans 8:11; Luke 23:46; Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 1:9-10
Prayer of Confident Trust
Father, I know I’ve been brought into union with Christ—not just in His life, but in His death. Thank You for allowing me to walk through situations where my own strength is laid down and Your power is made known. I trust You to bring resurrection where I see none. I rest in the certainty that You are faithful, and I no longer see these crucified moments as loss, but as the very place where intimacy with You deepens. Thank You for always being my way through and my life within. I yield to Your perfect process with joy.