In this message we want to conclude our fellowship on our need to live and walk under the crucifixion of Christ.
In Philippians 3:10 the apostle Paul said that he desired to be conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection in the fellowship of His sufferings. Who can say what the conformation to the death of Christ and what the power of Christ's resurrection are? Christ's death and resurrection are great mysteries.
Recently, I received some news about a sister who passed through certain sufferings. If we consider the issues which she is facing in her spiritual life, this will help us to realize what it means to be conformed to the death of Christ. This sister was forced to resign from her job because the work she was doing had a harmful effect on her health. After her resignation, she considered that she should use some of her savings to start a business. She saw an advertisement in the newspaper from a man who was looking for an investor for his business. This sister and her husband were convinced by this man to invest their money in this business. They put all of their savings into that man's hands. Eventually, he cheated them and they lost all of their money.
As a result of what happened to her, this sister became very bothered. First, she wondered about the Lord's faithfulness. She said that for many years she prayed every day and honestly trusted in the Lord for everything. She wondered why the Lord did not help her since she had prayed so much and had so much trust in Him. She said that she had dedicated her time to study the Bible with the help of the Life-studies and the books we have published. Since she gave herself to the Lord in this way, she wondered why the Lord did not do anything for her and why the Lord would not protect her. She lost her health, her job, and then her savings even though she had prayed and trusted the Lord.
She pointed out that in one of Brother Nee's books, he said that the Lord does not care whether we are successful or mistaken. What the Lord desires is to work Himself into us. She asked if this meant that the Lord wanted us to neglect all the practical matters and only take care of God's desire to work Himself into us. She said that she had been dedicating herself and her time to reading the Bible and the publications of the ministry every day. She was wondering how her spiritual seeking and her care for practical matters could be reconciled. It seemed to her that she trusted in the Lord to no avail. What could she tell her children about this? In this message I would like to address these issues.