Our Christian life has a goal, and this goal is the out-resurrection, the extraordinary resurrection; we need to be conformed to the death of Christ and remain in the process of resurrection to arrive at the out-resurrection.
In order for us as believers in Christ to attain to the out-resurrection, we need to know Christ in the power of His resurrection, know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings, and know Him by being conformed to His death (Phil. 3:10-11).
There is a process in which we must remain in order for us to arrive at the goal.
The out-resurrection is not just a special resurrection; it is the reward to the overcoming believers from the Lord. Actually, resurrection operates in our being day by day.
The more we allow the Lord to conform us to His death, the more we remain in the mold of Christ’s death in our daily experience, and the more resurrection life operates in us to resurrect every part of our inward being.
Outwardly the situations may not change for the better, but inwardly we allow the Lord to conform us to His death by the power of His resurrection, and we are in the process that causes us to arrive at the out-resurrection.
There is a cycle here, a cycle of knowing Christ, the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, and arriving at the out-resurrection from the dead.
The more we remain in this cycle, the more we allow the Lord to conform us to His death and therefore experience resurrection operating in our inward being, the more our inner being is in resurrection and we are arriving at the out-resurrection from the dead.
The Lord Jesus is our good Shepherd, as seen in Psa. 23; He leads us to waters of rest and to green pastures. He restores our soul. He leads us in the way of righteousness.
Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death (which is part of the cycle in our Christian life), we fear no evil, for the Lord is with us.
He comforts us, guides us, and leads us all the way through death and resurrection to the goal, the out-resurrection from the dead.
May we forget the things which are behind us and stretch forward toward this goal.
God has called us upward, so we need to forget everything else and stretch forward to pursue Christ, so that we may lay hold of the out-resurrection.
We have not arrived yet, and we may not arrive until the Lord returns; but until then, we want to pursue toward the goal of the out-resurrection for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called us upward.
Aspiring to be Conformed to Christ’s Death so that we may Arrive at the Out-resurrection from the Dead
![Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with [Him] in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be [in][ the] [likeness] of His resurrection. Rom. 6:3-5](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Or-are-you-ignorant-that-all-of-us-who-have-been-baptized-into-Christ-Jesus-have-been-baptized-into-His-death-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with [Him] in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be [in][ the] [likeness] of His resurrection. Rom. 6:3-5")
May the Lord cause us to realize that the goal of our Christian life is not to be a better Christian, to do a greater work for God, or to bring more people to know God; it is the out-resurrection, the extraordinary resurrection.
When we wake up in the morning and take care of the things we need to do throughout the day, we need to have this goal in view.
We may take a shower, have breakfast, and go to work; in all these things, we aspire to be conformed to Christ’s death so that we may arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead.
Our wise and sovereign God arranges many things, persons, and situations around us in order to help us be conformed to the death of Christ; we simply need to be willing to be conformed.
He will work it out both inward and outwardly, for He knows what situations and circumstances we need in order to be pressed into the mold of the death of Christ so that we may arrive at the out-resurrection.
We may have many difficult situations, one after the other, but these situations do not guarantee we’re conformed to the death of Christ.
There has to be an inward cooperation with the death of Christ so that the natural man is put to death and we live by another life, the divine life in resurrection.
May we keep our being open to the Lord day by day so that we may experience Christ in His death by the power of His resurrection, being conformed to His death, to arrive at the out-resurrection.
Paul aspired to be conformed to Christ’s death so that, by any means, he might arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead. By any means.
Our wise God arranges all things in our environment, in our family, and at work, so that, by any means, we would arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead.
He is disciplining us, He is discipling us, He is training us, and He is leading us little by little, day by day, through the experience of being conformed to the death of Christ so that we may live in resurrection.
The Christ whom we should live is Himself the out-resurrection (Phil. 1:21; 3:11; John 11:25).
When we contact the Lord, He is resurrection – He is even the out-resurrection.
He is waiting for the particular kind of prayer from us that cooperates with Him so that He may give us the specific experiences we need for us to be conformed to the death of Christ and experience the resurrection life of Christ.
When we have such an experience, though we may not realize it at the moment, we will know Christ as the out-resurrection.
We will have a taste, a foretaste of the resurrection life.
![If perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I pursue, if even I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing [I do:] Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called [me] upward. Let us therefore, as many as are full-grown, have this mind; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, this also God will reveal to you. Phil. 3:11-15](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/If-perhaps-I-may-attain-to-the-out-resurrection-from-the-dead-2-jpg.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "If perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I pursue, if even I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing [I do:] Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called [me] upward. Let us therefore, as many as are full-grown, have this mind; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, this also God will reveal to you. Phil. 3:11-15")
Resurrection will not be merely a doctrine to us; it will be a reality.
We will realize the overcoming resurrection, the victorious resurrection, the resurrection that leads to a prize; we will have a foretaste of the out-resurrection.
We can only worship God and offer Him many thanks and praise for all that He is arranging and assigning to us in our daily experience.
He knows the condition of all His children and He has a plan for every one of them to reach maturity in His way and in His time, and by any means, He will bring us to the out-resurrection.
We all are on the way to the out-resurrection, for the out-resurrection is the goal and destination of our Christian life (Phil. 3:11-15).
This should be the goal. We are not puppets or robots; we have a will, and we can choose, like the apostle Paul, to have the out-resurrection as the goal of our Christian life.
The destination of our Christian life is the out-resurrection from the dead.
May we open to the Lord in prayer concerning our personal Christian life, not being anxious about where we are and what is next but just opening to Him to give Him the best cooperation we can for Him to bring us through death into resurrection.
Lord Jesus, we open to You. We want to cooperate with You so that we may be conformed to Your death by the power of Your resurrection to arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead. Oh Lord, the out-resurrection is our goal in our Christian life! We aspire to be conformed to Christ’s death so that, by any means, we might arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead. Bring us on with You, Lord, Bring us through the process of death and resurrection until we arrive at the out-resurrection! We want to know Christ, know the power of His resurrection, know the fellowship of His sufferings, and be conformed to His death, so that we may arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead! Grow in us today. Expand in our inner being a little more. Make Your home in all our hearts. Bring us through death and resurrection all the way until we arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead in our experience!
Arrive at the Out-resurrection by the Process of Resurrection, being Conformed to Christ’s Death
The way toward the out-resurrection is the process of resurrection (Rom. 8:11).
When we hear of the out-resurrection, we may think that only Paul and other more spiritual saints can arrive at this because we are not that spiritual or mature.
But we need to realize we are all in the process.
We are on our way, we are in a process, and we should not compare where we are with others.
It is silly for a child to compare himself with his parents, and it is silly for a high-schooler to be where his grandparents are.
We all are at different stages, having different ages, in one big family, and we all are going in the same direction.
For us to arrive at the out-resurrection, we need to remain in the process of resurrection.
As long as we remain in this process, God will arrange a series of events, experiences, and things that will affect us both inwardly and outwardly so that we may arrive at the out-resurrection.
This process of resurrection began on the day that we were baptized and will conclude when we arrive at the outstanding resurrection (Rom. 6:3-5).
We were put into the death of Christ by baptism, and we need to be conformed to His death day by day.
We need to remain in the reality of our baptism daily so that we may be conformed to His death by the power of His resurrection to arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead.
As we move toward the goal, we are in the process of being resurrected; eventually, every part of our being will be in resurrection (1 Thes. 5:23).
We are daily moving toward the goal. Little by little, we are starting to realize that we’re in the process of being resurrected.
Our mind with all its thoughts, our will with all its decisions, and our emotions with all its feelings are in the process of being resurrected.
We need to allow the Lord to resurrect our mind and renew it.
We need to let Him resurrect our emotions so that His feelings may be expressed through our feelings.
We need to let the Lord saturate our emotions and bring our feelings our love and joy into His feelings.
He needs to have access to every part of our inner being.
Daily, we need to come to the Lord and open to Him, apply His precious blood, and be an open vessel to Him.
We can come to Him as we are, take Him as the reality of all the offerings, and let Him reach the depths of our being.
When He touches something of our mind, emotion, and will, we need to simply let HIm touch our inner being.
May we open to Him in a personal, private, and intimate way so that He may keep us in the process of resurrection until we arrive at the out-resurrection.
We will continue in this process until we arrive at the goal of the out-resurrection.
In every aspect of our being, in every aspect of our daily living, we need to learn to open to the Lord and allow Him to touch us.
He wants to touch the natural man, bring us through death and resurrection, and resurrect every part of our inner being so that we may arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead.
From our side, all we need to do is open.
Like Paul, we need to aspire to be conformed to Christ’s death to arrive at the out-resurrection.
We need to open to Him in prayer and learn to keep our whole being open to Him so that He can operate in us everything that He needs for us to be brought to the out-resurrection, where He is and which He is.
Lord Jesus, we come to You as we are through Your precious blood. We apply You as the reality of all the offerings. We open to You. We want to be an open vessel to what You want to do. Do what You want in us and go where You want in our inner being. Have a way to reach the depths of our inner being. Resurrect every part of our being during our lifetime. We open to You. We want to learn to just be open vessels to what You want to do in us. Keep us in the process of resurrection, being conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection so that we may arrive at the out-resurrection. We open our vessel to You. We want to be filled with You. We want to be saturated with You. Dispense all that You are into us and keep us open to Your dispensing until You bring our whole being into resurrection! Amen, Lord, do this in us for the Body and do this in all the saints for the Body!
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,” chs. 7, 9, 18-19, 21-23, 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:
– Remaining in the death of Christ, a portion from, The Experience of Christ, Chapter 21, by Witness Lee.
– Attaining to the Out resurrection, a message by brother Ron in the 2023 Southeast Blending Conference (video).
– A life full of forbearance but without anxiety, a portion from, Life-Study of Philippians, Chapter 56.
– Arriving at the Goal of the Out-Resurrection, a portion via, The Church in Los Angeles.
– The meaning of the out-resurrection, a portion from, The Experience of Christ, Chapter 19, by Witness Lee.
– Attaining to the Out-resurrection, outline via, The Church in Chicago.
– The Significance and Application of the Resurrection of Christ, article by John Pester in, Affirmation and Critique. - Hymns on this topic:
– 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. (Hymns #593, stanza 6)
– Death cannot hold the resurrection life, / All of God’s fulness it will manifest; / God’s righteousness and holiness it yields, / His glorious image by it is expressed. / Oh, may I know this resurrection life, / In every kind of death its pow’r outpoured, / In my experience ever realize / This life is nought but Christ my living Lord. (Hymns #639 stanzas 5-6)
– Life out of death—oh, wondrous resurrection! / Seed sown in conscious weakness, raised in power; / Thy life lived out in days of toil and friction, / “Not I, but Christ” in me from hour to hour. (Hymns #640 stanza 2)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ,” pp. 475-477
The way to arrive at the out-resurrection is through the process of resurrection.
We need to be willing to be conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection so that all the inward parts of our being would be resurrected.
May we learn to open to the Lord again and again so that He may bring us all the way through this process of resurrection.
Amen Lord. We open to You. Conform us to your death and keep us in the process of resurrection. Amen
Amen Lord keep us soft and open to you 🙏🏽 keep us in this process 🙏🏽
Aaaaameeen! Because we are so natural, the process of death and resurrection must continue!
Amen, do it Lord 🙏
Grace upon grace
Amen brother. Our christian life should have a goal — the goal of the outstanding resurrection.
Death is the condition for attaining this glorious goal.
Arriving at the goal is the result of being conformed to Christ’s death. May the Lord grace us to remain always in His death.
If we remain in Christ’s death, every part of our being will be gradually resurrected.
If we remain in the likeness of His death, we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.
The living word of God in Phil.3:10 told us: “To know Jesus and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
Rom. 6:4-5 also told us: “We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death…For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.”
All of this is for the purpose of experientially knowing Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings and also of being conformed to His death in order to arrive, by any means, at the out-resurrection from the dead.
This is a long process started from regeneration of our spirit instantly and (termination of the old nature and germination of the new man – creation) transformation of our soul takes place slowly and finally reached at the glory of our fleshly body.
Praise the Lord for His calling to be with Him eternally!
Praise the Lord! 😃🙋🏽🙏
Amen brother!
Paul first received the revelation of Christ, then sought the experience of Christ — to know and enjoy Christ in an experiential way.
To experience the power of Christ’s resurrection, we need to live a crucified life, as He did. Our conformity to His death affords the power of His resurrection a base from which to rise up that His divine life may be expressed in us.
Hallelujah!😃
Our Christian life is a long process with a long way.
It began with baptism into Christ’s death – the termination of our old, natural man, with our germination to live in resurrection.
The goal of our life therefore is the out-resurrection from the dead, having been in the likeness of His death, to walk in newness of life, in the likeness of His resurrection, so that our spirit, soul and body would be preserved complete at His coming.
Listen to the audio version of this article at,
Amen! Excellent portion. It truly blessed me. Thank you brother.
The out resurrection is the goal. Indeed. The out resurrection is the resurrected life in victory, continually. We are all going there. We will all get there.