Author: Hal Hollister Ministry

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:10-11

The question is how can you attain the resurrection from the dead and what is the price tag?

First of all, you have to come to know the Living Christ. This will happen when you make a decision to live for Him above all else. At this moment, you become born again and are sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the life of Christ. 

You build a relationship with Jesus through prayer, meditating on His Word and listening for His voice. 

As a believer, you have the mind of Christ and He desires to speak to you and teach you the values of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the source for the resurrected power of Christ. This power will enable you to do the works of Christ.

The fellowship in the sufferings of Jesus is dying to self to become Christ like. This is painful and very costly. You have to give up personal ambitions and your autonomy. 

Jesus was selfless. You and I are self driven people. 

This fellowship will be similar to what Jesus endured on the Cross. You will suffer at times, face afflictions, eventually die and then be raised up to live with Jesus forever. 

As a Christ follower, your body is a living sacrifice dedicated to God. 

The most important thing you can do is seriously seek out the will of God every day of your life.

Jesus is asking you to be open to “any means” He desires to employ so you can attain the resurrected life. Remember, it is not your will but God’s will be done.

Why would anyone with a sane mind submit to the lifestyle of a Christ follower?

You must have a relationship with the Living Christ to be able to respond to this question with spiritual understanding. When you discover who God is and how insignificant you are there is no question in your mind or heart about giving it up for Jesus.

The promise from God can be found in the gift of salvation which begins with your decision for Jesus and lasts forever. 

“Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James 1:15

The word from God today is seeking out Jesus for help with your insatiable desires or compulsive behaviors.

We all have these behaviors ranging from an addiction to something less potent.

Your insatiable desires can lead to destruction and death if they are not dealt with by God.

They grieve the Holy Spirit and weaken your relationship with Jesus. They affect your family and friends and can do unrepairable damage to those around you.

The apostle Paul had to deal with this problem. He did exactly the thing that he knew was wrong. He had no control over this behavior.

The starting point is to seek out Jesus for wisdom and the resurrected power of the Cross to change this behavior. 

Most believers open the door to Satan by giving in to the lusts of the flesh. They entertain thoughts from Satan and allow the desire to be conceived in their soul. 

At this point you have given Satan control over an aspect of your life and a stronghold has probably been established. Strongholds are very difficult to break and exercising your will power is futile.

Jesus broke the power of these insatiable desires on the Cross. This power has to be lived out in your life. 

Ask Jesus to forgive you and pour His blood over you. Pray to Jesus to break the power of this insatiable desire in your heart.

Listen for the voice of God. He might direct you to get professional help or seek out prayer and deliverance from mature Christ followers.

Most importantly, walk by faith believing this sin has been broken by Jesus and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus. 

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

The workmanship of Christ begins with your decision to live for Him above all else.

At birth you are a hollow vessel void of the life of Christ. 

The gift of salvation is the beginning of His precise workmanship.

This was prepared beforehand by God through the sacrifice of Jesus.

God has to change you from a self seeking person into a new creature in Christ.

This work is accomplished through the Holy Spirit who baptizes you into the crucified and resurrected life of Jesus.

The crucified life is about dying to self. You have to be willing to give up your independence and personal ambitions.

The Holy Spirit teaches you the values of Christ and how to apply them in your life. 

Gradually, you begin to think and act like God.

God creates a strong bond of companionship with you. Your works will come out of this friendship with God and will be your way of thanking Jesus for what He has done for you. The works of God are not burdensome; they are uplifting to your soul.

The works of God are accomplished through the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. The difficult part is getting out of the way and keeping your ego and pride from interfering in His workmanship. 

It is important to delineate between a calling from God into a specific ministry (like a pastor or evangelist) and a lifestyle ministry. 

The calling from God into a specific ministry comes from the Holy Spirit. You have to be equipped with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and anointed by God. 

Most believers are called by God to be a beacon of light in a lifestyle ministry. The purpose of this ministry is to touch others with the Living Water. The Holy Spirit works through your demeanor, words and actions to be a strong witness for Christ.

Religion encourages you to jump into a ministry to please God. They reject the importance of the Holy Spirit and debase the workmanship of Christ. 

The point is you do not have to go looking for a ministry or feel compelled to participate in religious activities.

The secret to doing good works is allowing the Holy Spirit to do the work through you. This work will be eternal and bring glory to Jesus.

The workmanship of Christ is a lifelong process and transcends through different seasons with God.

Commit your works each day to God and pray for His perfect wisdom. Listen for the voice of God. The Holy Spirit will instruct you concerning good works which are pleasing to Him. 

Waiting on God is a common occurrence in the life of a believer. Moses waited forty years before he was prepared to begin a ministry for God.

God tends to come across as black and white. Honor My commandments or perish in hell. 

God created humanity in His image but things went sideways in the Garden of Eden.

God knew this would happen and allowed Satan to corrupt human nature. 

The commandments of God are perfect but no one can keep them. 

You and I cannot understand the logic of God but we do know that He hates sin and will not tolerate anyone to come near Him who is unclean. 

God is motivated by unconditional love so He created a perfect solution for dealing with sin.

God kept this solution hidden for many years as He dealt with sin through animal sacrifices and punished mankind for their abominations.

God made it very clear no one could keep His perfect laws.

Finally, God commanded Jesus, His only son, to be a sacrifice for sin. 

This sacrifice is perfect in the eyes of God. The blood of Christ forgives all sin and restores you to God. 

The leniency of Christ allows you to live in perfect oneness with God. 

God wanted more for you than just forgiveness for sin and restoration to Jesus.

He wanted you to have a method to be filled with the righteousness of God and live with Him forever.

God created the gift of salvation for all who confess with their words and believe in their heart Jesus Christ is Lord.

This decision gives you the ability to live with God forever and He seals you with the Holy Spirit who is the life of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is how you can live a life pleasing to God and do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven.

We live in troubling times and all have to face the judgments of God. There is no security in the world. Your only hope is to live with Jesus under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the way the truth and the life!

“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.” Romans 3:10-11

Salvation is a calling from God on your life. This precious gift was predestined by God before you were born.

The salvation of your soul is motivated by the unconditional love of God.

The Holy Spirit awakens your soul about sin and righteousness. He writes His laws on your heart.

As a believer you are under the microscope of God every day of your life and are accountable to Him for all your actions.

The Holy Spirit takes away any thread of personal holiness and makes you face God as an unworthy and undeserving individual.

This is the beginning of salvation for an unbeliever.

Salvation is coming to God seeking repentance and forgiveness for your sins through the blood of Christ.

Easter is your only hope for having a robust life with God. He can do for you what you can never do for yourself.

The Cross makes you presentable to God and allows you to stand blameless before Jesus.

The Christ follower is baptized into the death and resurrected life of Jesus. Your life will mirror the character of Jesus in many ways.

You have to die to self to be useful to God. And, the Christ follower operates under the resurrected power of the Cross.

Salvation is the transformation of the inner man from a sinner into a perfect replica of Jesus. This precise work of God has nothing to do with your own efforts.

You can meet the Living Christ today. He will accept you with all your blemishes and without any condemnation.

The beauty of Easter is exemplified in the words of the angel of the Lord as he was standing by an empty tomb; “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

Jesus is alive and wants to share His life with you. There is no one like Him!

“But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:16

The word from God today is understanding your conscience and how to live in oneness with the Spirit of Christ. 

The definition of conscience is an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior.

Your conscience is a reflection of your soul. It is developed by many factors in life. It will relate to the highest standards of morality alive in your soul. 

Your conscience is influenced by many factors including your parents, religion and the standards of society.

If you are a believer, your conscience will relate to your views of the principles of God. 

Your conscience can also be influenced by the works of Satan. 

Your conscience is very important because it affects your thoughts and decision making. 

The Christ follower must be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus. 

The conscience of a believer will change as you walk with God and increase in spiritual maturity. 

You enrich your conscience through prayer, meditating on the Word and listening to the voice of God. 

Most importantly, invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your inner conscience. Ask God to filter out all evil influences and the subterfuge of Satan. 

The goal is to have a spiritually healthy conscience. This will enable you to live and move and have your being centered in Jesus. 

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13

Can God change a sinner into a righteous man?

This is really the beginning of a ministry. Forget about religion. It can never do the work of God to transform a depraved soul into a new creature filled with the life of Christ.

What changes someone into a new creature in Christ Jesus? They simply make a decision by faith to live for Christ above all else. 

Everything with God originates by faith. Your faith in the Living Christ will create your works.

The approach for most believers is to immerse themselves into religion and do work to please God.

This is so much easier than trusting God. 

You have to be identified with the life of Jesus if you want to help others.

There are very few believers who understand the spiritual principle that we have been created by the workmanship of Jesus for His good works. 

The question is are you working for God under the authority of the Holy Spirit or are you just one of the multitude of believers striving to please God?

God wants to take you to the place where you trust Him implicitly to create a ministry. You have to take your ego and own ideas out of the picture. 

The powerful ministries of God all start by faith and are created by the work of Holy Spirit. 

God wants to give you a ministry that you can never create on your own. If you attempt to create your own ministry it will become corrupt and motivated by personal ambitions. 

The birth of a ministry for the Living Christ begins with those who have seen their despicable inner nature and understand nothing good can happen apart from the love and purity of Jesus.

“Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” Colossians 1:24

This narrative is about the intercession of God to bring down strongholds and set people free from the bondage of sin.

Intercession started with the death of Jesus on the Cross and continues today through the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.

Intercession is a vicarious identification with Jesus about sin. You unconsciously experience the actions of Jesus fighting off darkness in our world. It is agonizing work to be an intercessor. 

You come into the inner sanctum through the blood of Jesus. The credentials of an intercessor are humility, a contrite heart, and understanding your unworthiness before God.

Intercession in a believer begins and ends with God. Jesus chooses those who have laid down their lives for Him to participate in this cataclysmic work.

Intercession is the agenda of God dealing with sin. It might be for an individual, an organization or a nation. 

Intercession is allowing the Holy Spirit working inside you to make groanings to deep to understand to bring down strongholds of evil. 

Intercession is living in a different world. You are participating in a war between light and darkness.

Forget about trying to understand intercession or how God works to bring down strongholds. 

You are like a bystander as God does His mighty work. He may give you some glimpses of what He is doing but most of this work is hidden from your eyes.

Intercession is how God builds His church through the work of the Cross. 

Intercession is the action of the Cross laboring in the lives of believers. 

Intercession is an expression of the unconditional love of God for those in bondage to sin. 

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” Philippians 2:6-7

Last night God spoke this verse to me along with the title for this narrative.

To understand the role of a Christ follower we have to look at the life of Jesus. 

Jesus was the equal of God but in the likeness of man. 

Jesus did not come to exploit the world for personal advantage. 

Jesus did not try to create a reputation but humbled Himself in the role of a servant. 

Jesus performed signs and wonders in the likeness of man with the authenticity of God. 

Jesus came to offer Living Water to the unsaved and free those in bondage to darkness. 

The legitimacy of a Christ follower begins with your decision to live for Him. 

This decision is to walk humbly with Jesus simply seeking to His will for your life. You are not entitled to exploit God for personal advantage. Your purpose is to serve Him. 

Many believers get into trouble when they attempt to define the boundaries and terms in a relationship with God.

Your motive is to bring glory to God and should never be focused on building a reputation or fame for yourself.

Your purpose is not to take from the world but to dispense the Living Water to those around you. 

The Christ follower operates under the authority of the Holy Spirit. This will attract people to the authenticity of the Living Christ. They will see you have no hidden agendas or motives.

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” Philippians 3:10

If you are a believer you will have the markings of Christ in your life. This is unavoidable for those who come to know the Living Christ.

We live in a narcissistic society and are self driven people.

God has no ego and is motivated by unconditional love to save souls.

God designed the Cross to breach the gap between human nature and the life of God.

The Cross causes you to deny yourself and live for Christ.

You become a new creature in Christ Jesus and old things pass away and all things become new.

This causes pain and suffering as you have to be crucified to the things of the flesh and learn to walk with the values of God.

God creates hardships and sorrow in your life. They are purposed to strengthen your faith and train you in the ways of God.

The spiritual man faces all kinds of afflictions dealing in the war between light and darkness.

Fortitude is a mark of a Christ follower. Jesus gives you His courage as He faced the Cross to deal with pain or adversity. 

The Cross creates the character of Jesus in your personality. You become a humble and gentle person esteeming others above yourself. You have no desire for boasting because God is your provider and keeper.

The Cross teaches you to walk by faith believing in the promises of God. You live in the world but you are not motivated by the machinations (or schemes) of the world. 

The Cross makes you see yourself for who you are and identify with your abject unworthiness to God. 

The Cross gives you the Holy Spirit. He is the life of Christ and your navigator through life. He is the source of the resurrected power of Christ which helps you meet all the challenges of life.

The Cross gives you the ability to have an embracing and vibrant relationship with the Living Christ. Jesus speaks to you and teaches you how to live with His values.

The Christ follower is marked with a brazen quality. When you fall, God picks you up. He fills you with boldness and erases the shame with the blood of Christ. 

The most significant marking of the Cross is waking up each day with an attitude of “Not my will but Yours be done.”