POSSESSED BY CHRIST
October, 2003
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. (Philippians. 3:12-13 KJV)
Apprehend:
1. to take into custody; arrest; 2. to become conscious of,
through the emotions or senses; to perceive;
3. to understand something
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It is easy for those of us who have spent some time in "churchianity" to become
overly-familiar with Biblical passages and terminology. At the same time, we
may have no experiential understanding of what we are reading or hearing.
Let's take a closer look at what Paul was touching on when he used this strongly
descriptive language to convey to the Philippian believers the nature of his
relationship with Jesus. Paul deliberately chose the Greek word "katalambano"
(Strongs 2638), translated in the KJV as "apprehended", to reveal in the strongest
possible terms the extent to which his life was now possessed by Christ. This
word means "to lay hold of and make one's own", and more specifically, "to seize
upon and take possession of." We know from the scriptures that Paul had experienced
a terrifying and overpowering encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to
Damascus, resulting in his dramatic conversion and spiritual transformation
(see Acts 9). However, none of us should conclude that unless we have a similarly
dramatic conversion, we cannot know Jesus on this same level of intimacy as
Paul did. The deepest depths of what the scriptures call the " knowledge of
Christ" are available to every believer who, having counted the cost, sets out
to pursue Him above all else. God is no respecter of persons and His promise
is that we will find Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts. (Jeremiah
29:13).
How do we then begin to express the mystery of having been apprehended by Christ?
This deeply rich relationship cannot be spoken of in terms of a certain Christian
lifestyle, or a single spiritual experience, or even in terms of spiritual gifts
and callings. As important as all of these are, none of these come close to
explaining the sheer wonder and power of an "apprehended" life. There is available
to every believer a level of intimacy and communion with Jesus Christ that is
vastly different to the everyday religious routine that many call Christianity.
This difference is the difference between a life lived in His church, and a
life lived in His fullness.
It is the difference between daily striving to live by Christian values, and
living IN, BY AND THROUGH Christ.
It is the difference between law and grace.
It is the difference between the disciple and the bondslave.
It is the difference between His Church and His Bride.
One needs firstly to be born again to enter this apprehended life, but becoming
born again is not a guarantee we will find it. It is simply the gateway. I was
born again for over thirty years before I knew I had been apprehended by Christ.
Was I saved? Yes, but still striving to earn salvation. Was I living a righteous
life? Yes, but never to my satisfaction. Was I serving Him? Yes, but for all
the wrong motives. Was I free? No, I was plagued day and night by fear, anxiety
and insecurity.
According to Dictionary.com this word "apprehend" can be defined in three main
ways. Firstly, it means "to take into custody, or to arrest". Does the thought
of being seized, taken into custody and arrested by Christ make you a little
uncomfortable? Well, perhaps it should. Because you can be sure that when you're
apprehended by Christ life as you've known it will change radically. That's
because when Jesus seizes hold of you, He has no intention of taking a backseat.
You may have vaguely once acknowledged that the flesh and the Spirit are at
war, but you will now become more intensely aware of that fact than you have
ever been before. When Christ apprehends you, your flesh nature will know it's
days are numbered, and will make its protests known loudly, clearly and painfully.
The more you determine to ignore your flesh and live only for Christ, the more
you will find yourself doing just the opposite, until you cry out in desperation,
as Paul did, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24)
Praise God and shout for joy when you find yourself at this point of breakthrough!
Because that's when the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to you that Christ in you
is more than sufficient for any situation you can face. In fact, you will find
a sufficiency in Him you could never have found while you were still clinging
to your previous independence. In your desperation, you will begin to learn
the strength of His grace toward you, the depths of the riches of the wisdom
of God, and the altogether loveliness of the One who loves your soul as no other.
You will find that not only does the Beloved belong to you, but you indeed belong
to Him. (Song of Songs 2:16).
To "apprehend" also means "to grasp mentally; to become conscious of, as through
the emotions or senses; to perceive." So, it's not only a matter of Christ apprehending
us, but we also now begin to apprehend for ourselves how full life becomes when
it is lived IN Him.
A place of intimate communion and fellowship with Jesus exists, where we can
consistently live in the conscious knowledge of Him. Now, note that I didn't
say the consciousness of what He said, where He went, or what He did. Though
these are all important, to be conscious of Jesus is to be aware of Who He is
rather than what He can do.
Do you know when He's smiling and when He is brokenhearted? Have you heard Him
laugh, or share a joke with you? Have you ever been in a gathering of believers
and felt your spirit leap when He walked in the room? Have you felt His Hand
wipe away your tears, or resting lightly on your shoulder to steady you and
remind you that He's close? Are you content to sometimes simply sit quietly
with Him in unbroken silence, pleased just that He is manifesting Himself to
you because He enjoys your company? Do you value His opinion, not just on major
life decisions, but mundane everyday things?
Is He the first Name you speak when waking each morning, or your last conscious
thought before you fall asleep? Do you listen for Him, look for Him and place
His friendship above every other relationship? Does He sometimes say things
that make you laugh out loud and feel silly in a crowd, or blush because He's
singing you a song no-one else can hear? Are you coming to know Him in such
a way that you are sensitive to His moods? Are you aware He can be outrageously
extroverted, extroadinarily wise, extravagantly generous and the kindest Person
you will ever meet? Or that He is both a regal King comfortable in His authority
as well as a romantic Bridegroom? Does all of this sound a little irreligious?
I hope so! This Jesus we follow is a Divine Personality, not a religious institution.
Have you met Him as your faithful Shepherd, or your princely Warrior? Have you
been brought to your knees in awe before the fearful risen Lamb? Have you ever
sought His Face and found the eyes of a Lion gazing back at you? Or have you
felt His comforting arms around you while you sobbed away your broken heart?
My point is this: He may have come to you in any or all of these ways, but if
you are more self-conscious than conscious of WHO He is, you risk missing Him
because you have not recognised Him.
Not so long ago, a good friend and I sat having a coffee in a small seaside
cafe, talking unselfconsciously about the Lord and some things He had been doing.
Without warning or any expectation on our part, in one single instant we both
knew beyond any shadow of doubt He had joined us at the table. There was no
need for either one of us to speak what we both knew - we were each perceiving
His manifested Presence in our own spirits and, once we adjusted ourselves to
the initial shock, the conversation became a three-way interaction. The King
of Kings joined two of His servants as they sat together talking lovingly about
Him. Why? Well, I believe He longs to fellowship with His disciples tangibly
at times, just as He did as the Son of Man. What was so wonderful about this
particular occasion, though, was that my friend and I were allowed to perceive
Him in a way I''d never before experienced.
Unbelievable? Incomprehensible? Jesus does not do things like that these days
you say? Well, perhaps that's because you're still the one in charge. When you've
been apprehended by Christ, He seizes you, takes you into His custody and life
becomes abundant rather than mundane. Instead of expecting Him to be with you
every day, you start asking Him to take you with Him! (Warning: Please don't
equate an "abundant" life with an "easy" life. That's not what I said. )
To perceive Jesus we must willingly spend time in His Presence, and we must
willingly give Him pre-eminence in all things. He must pervade our consciousness
until being consciously with Him is more natural to us than anything else. When
Christ apprehends you, He does not come to live in a little room in your soul.
He rules the house, and His personality and fragrance permeate every part of
it. He takes possession!
Finally, apprehend means to "understand something." When Christ apprehends you,
the first thing you will understand is that you understand absolutely nothing.
Everything that once seemed crystal clear and beyond question becomes shaky.
Up becomes down and yes becomes maybe. Jesus is in the business of transformation,
and the first thing He must do with us is clear out all we thought we knew about
who He is and what He's like, so that He can fill us with what the scriptures
call the "knowledge of Him". And so He will place us in situations that test
our religious preconceptions about Him to the extreme. We will find, to our
surprise and discomfort, that there is much more we DON'T know about Him than
we know.
It is the knowledge of Him that brings His fullness (Eph. 4:13). Do you desire
to be filled with the fullness of Christ? Then you must be laid hold of and
possessed by Him. Only as you give up your life, will you find it. Only as you
become conscious of Him will you become unselfconscious. Only as you are filled
deeper and deeper with the knowledge of Him will you begin to understand that
in Him we live, and move and have our being.
This knowledge of Him is not knowledge ABOUT Him. Volumes have been written
and countless documentaries have been made about Jesus Christ by people to whom
He will one day say "I never KNEW you." No, the knowledge of Him is an abiding
one-ness with Him that grows until you no longer know how to live apart from
Him. Your heart beats so in tune with His that His needs are your needs, His
Life is your life and His will increasingly becomes your will. This is what
it means to be "hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3)
It is the expressed will of the Father that we ALL may come, not only to unity
of faith, but to the "knowledge of the Son of God." (Eph. 4:13)
My prayer is that in these days, as the glory of God rises on the earth, His
people might be powerfully and irrevocably seized, laid hold of, and apprehended
by our Lord Jesus Christ; that He may so fully possess us that the knowledge
of Him oozes out of us as an irresistible fragrance to the world around; and
that we may be granted the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of Him so that the eyes of our understanding will be enlightened to know the
hope of His calling, the riches of His glory, and the greatness of His power
toward us - the FULLNESS of Him who fills all in all.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and
count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Phil. 3:8
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us
diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
Cheryl McGrath
Great South Land Ministries
www.greatsouthland.org
southland@greatsouthland.org
Copyright Cheryl McGrath, Great South Land Ministries, 2003 This article may
be distributed freely with copyright intact. Permission is needed for reproducing
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Website: www.greatsouthland.org
Email: southland@greatsouthland.org