That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (PHI 3:10) The words "That I may come to know Him" refer to occupation with Christ. Being occupied with Christ means He is in your every thought. It is one of the greatest ways that we can solve our problems and have happiness in this life. When you’re occupied with Christ, you’ve reached your highest goal as a Christian. It means you have studied Bible doctrine on a daily basis and by doing so, have advanced toward spiritual adulthood. Occupation with Christ  means you have  personal love for God the Son, because of your learning, believing and using (perception, metabolization, and application of) Bible doctrine.

            As you come “to know Him” better, you gain what is called a Personal Sense of Destiny. Your destiny is your purpose in life. A Personal Sense of Destiny is understanding that God has given meaning, purpose, and definition to your life. A Personal Sense of Destiny gives believers great confidence in their future because they know that Our Loving God has designed a unique plan for them.  This plan will result in great blessing for the believer and the glorification of God. A Personal Sense of Destiny includes all the things that God has designed for those who love Him - things which go beyond what the believer could even ask for.

            The purpose of a Personal Sense of Destiny is to lead us to a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. This will eventually lead to His being in your every thought. This will mean you are occupied with Him. As a believer, you will much more happy and content with your life when you mind is occupied with the thoughts of Jesus Christ. To REALLY know Christ, you have to know Him with such familiarity that you’re closer to Him than you are with anyone else on earth. And how do you get this familiarity or closeness? By studying His Word! Because we cannot have a conversation face to face with God, like we do with other human beings, He has given us the Bible to get to know Him. And even though you have not seen Him, you love Him [occupation with Christ]; and though you do not see Him now but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with inexpressible happiness and full of glory. (1PE 1:8)

Those who truly love Christ have made Him a role model. And so should you! Forget those sports heroes and movie stars! Without becoming occupied with Him you will NEVER be truly happy or spiritually strong. Happiness from occupation with Christ is something that will belong to you and you, alone. And no one can ever take it from you. The believer who is occupied with Christ is full of glory. This glory is invisible to man, but very visible to God and the angels. This is very pleasing to God!

Learning the Doctrine of the Church Age is very important in getting to know Him. Jesus began to reveal this doctrine to His Apostles during the upper room discourse, on the night He was betrayed. This is recorded in JOH 14-17. In the epistles of the New Testament. it is called Mystery Doctrine. The epistles are letters in the New Testament from the Apostles to other Christians - the Corinthians, for example. Paul referred to this doctrine as a MYSTERY because it had never been introduced to man before the Church Age (the age in which we’re living). In COL 1:26-27 he wrote: The mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.            Mystery Doctrine taught early Church Age believers to forget the rules and rituals of the Mosaic Law. The New Testament makes it clear that we can only bring glory to God if we understand His will for us. He made known to us the mystery [Mystery Doctrine] of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him. (EPH 1:9) The Mystery Doctrine is the thinking or the mind of Christ: For who has known the thinking of the Lord that he should instruct Him? But we have the thinking of Christ. (1CO 2:16) You cannot love Jesus Christ until you know how He thinks. When you think with the mind of Christ, it will lead to occupation with Him and it will take you away from being preoccupied with people! Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus. (PHP 2:5)

There are two divine commands concerning occupation with Christ. The first is HEB 12:2: Be concentrating on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our doctrine, who because of the exhibited happiness, He endured the Cross and disregarded the shame, and He sat down at the right hand of God." The second command is 1PE 3:15: But sanctify [set apart as more important than anything else] the Lord Christ in your hearts. God makes a direct demand on what we do with our choices. This demand is to be occupied with Christ. This is really an order to keep studying Bible doctrine.

Occupation with Christ is also described as fellowship with Him.  God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1CO 1:9) God invites the unbeliever to change his mind about Jesus Christ and believe in Him for salvation. Fellowship with the Holy Spirit is necessary for the execution of these commands. 2CO 13:14: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love for God [the Father] and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. 

                        {to be continued}