Later when the Lord was on the cross, He saw His mother and His disciple John standing by, and He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son" (John 19:26). We should not forget that the Lord had the human nature and human feelings. For Him to be hanging on the cross and tell His mother not to look at Him but to look at John as her son was a death to the natural life.

Death is the threshold of resurrection. Whenever we enter into death, we should realize that we are on the threshold of resurrection. The sister who lost her job and her money could complain to God, but she could not forsake God. On the one hand, she was complaining to God, and on the other hand, she is still with God. At a certain point, she should be able to praise the Lord even though she lost all of her savings. She eventually should be able to declare to the universe that even though she does not have any savings, she is still living. She is living not on her savings but on her living God. The living God is resurrection. We are living by resurrection, not by any money which we have accumulated. When we do not have much money, we are released. Actually, people who have too much money are very burdened because they become anxious about losing it.

The parents need to consider what the difference is between having or not having children. Eventually, when we do the "mathematics" in the Spirit, we would say that it is about the same. On the one hand, we parents surely love our children, but on the other hand, our children cause us much trouble. Those who do not have any children do not have to experience this trouble. But God uses our children, the loss of our children, and even our not having children to break us that He might have the chance to work Himself into us.

As we are under the experience of the breaking of our outer man, we will learn to pray not by clear words. We would even tell the Lord that we do not know how to pray. Some saints are too bold to pray too much. They need to learn to groan according to Paul's word in Romans 8:26. Some sisters among us are female "psalmists." They have so much to pray and are so clear about what to pray. They need to learn to groan. Many times we do not know what to pray because we cannot figure out what is going on in our circumstances. We do know, however, that the apostle Paul said in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for our good.

Some of the brothers who come to me for fellowship tell me only the good things, not the bad things. But actually in the universe the night comes first and then the day (Gen. 1:5). If the news I get in my fellowship with the brothers is all in the "day," I am cheated in my realization of the real situation. If I know the real situation of the saints in the church, I can pray for them. But if I am told that everything is wonderful, everyone is practicing the new way, and everything is in the "day," I am not aware of the real situation. The Lord uses all things, both the things in the "day" and the things in the "night," to transform us and conform us to His image.