The Real Dying Daily
Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 12:30 am
I Die Daily
The phrase comes from First Epistle to the Corinthians 15:31 where Paul says, “I die daily.” The context matters. In that chapter he is defending the reality of the resurrection. He is essentially asking, why would I constantly put my life in danger if there were no resurrection? He had just spoken of fighting beasts at Ephesus and of living under continual threat. On one level, “I die daily” means he lived with the real possibility of physical death hanging over him. But that is not all he meant.
Paul’s life was not glamorous from the inside. Yes, miracles happened, churches were born, and the anointing was real, but alongside that were beatings, rejection, betrayal, misunderstanding, loneliness, accusations, and relentless spiritual warfare. In Second Epistle to the Corinthians 11 he lists imprisonments, floggings, shipwrecks, hunger, cold, danger from false brethren. Then he says something more: besides the other things, what comes upon me daily is my deep concern for all the churches. That weight would make anyone “die daily.”
His comfort died. His reputation died. His right to defend himself died. His personal safety died. His ego died. His desire to be understood died.
And this is where it becomes deeper than persecution.
Paul also writes in Epistle to the Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Dying daily was not depression. It was surrender, and waking up every day to choosing obedience over self-preservation. The higher the call, the more daily surrender is required.
He was walking in probably the highest call on earth, but the higher the authority, the deeper the death to self. Power does not remove dying; it increases it. The supernatural flow does not eliminate pressure; it multiplies responsibility.
Paul was often uncelebrated in the moment. Many he helped later criticized him. Some churches he birthed questioned his apostleship. He would pour himself out and then defend himself against the very people he rescued spiritually. That is a kind of death most people never see. He died daily to the need to be validated or to be recognized. He died daily to the desire to withdraw and protect himself.
But dying daily is the exchange rate of resurrection life.
We ask what would make him say he had to die daily when miracles were happening. Why wasn’t life a blast? Because miracles do not remove the cross. They flow from it. The man raising the dead still has to surrender his pride, his timing, his comfort, his reputation, his right to retaliate. And that surrender is not once in a lifetime. It is daily.
When you choose not to defend yourself at the office, when you choose wisdom over reaction, when you allow misunderstanding without forcing correction, when you refuse to grasp at recognition, doesn’t that feel like a kind of death? That is the same path Paul walked in. That is where resurrection authority is born.
ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ
✿⊰ B e l i e v e ⊰✿
ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ
The phrase comes from First Epistle to the Corinthians 15:31 where Paul says, “I die daily.” The context matters. In that chapter he is defending the reality of the resurrection. He is essentially asking, why would I constantly put my life in danger if there were no resurrection? He had just spoken of fighting beasts at Ephesus and of living under continual threat. On one level, “I die daily” means he lived with the real possibility of physical death hanging over him. But that is not all he meant.
Paul’s life was not glamorous from the inside. Yes, miracles happened, churches were born, and the anointing was real, but alongside that were beatings, rejection, betrayal, misunderstanding, loneliness, accusations, and relentless spiritual warfare. In Second Epistle to the Corinthians 11 he lists imprisonments, floggings, shipwrecks, hunger, cold, danger from false brethren. Then he says something more: besides the other things, what comes upon me daily is my deep concern for all the churches. That weight would make anyone “die daily.”
His comfort died. His reputation died. His right to defend himself died. His personal safety died. His ego died. His desire to be understood died.
And this is where it becomes deeper than persecution.
Paul also writes in Epistle to the Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Dying daily was not depression. It was surrender, and waking up every day to choosing obedience over self-preservation. The higher the call, the more daily surrender is required.
He was walking in probably the highest call on earth, but the higher the authority, the deeper the death to self. Power does not remove dying; it increases it. The supernatural flow does not eliminate pressure; it multiplies responsibility.
Paul was often uncelebrated in the moment. Many he helped later criticized him. Some churches he birthed questioned his apostleship. He would pour himself out and then defend himself against the very people he rescued spiritually. That is a kind of death most people never see. He died daily to the need to be validated or to be recognized. He died daily to the desire to withdraw and protect himself.
But dying daily is the exchange rate of resurrection life.
We ask what would make him say he had to die daily when miracles were happening. Why wasn’t life a blast? Because miracles do not remove the cross. They flow from it. The man raising the dead still has to surrender his pride, his timing, his comfort, his reputation, his right to retaliate. And that surrender is not once in a lifetime. It is daily.
When you choose not to defend yourself at the office, when you choose wisdom over reaction, when you allow misunderstanding without forcing correction, when you refuse to grasp at recognition, doesn’t that feel like a kind of death? That is the same path Paul walked in. That is where resurrection authority is born.
ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ
✿⊰ B e l i e v e ⊰✿
ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ