As we are being conformed to the death of Christ, we are in the fellowship of His sufferings. We are a real partner, a real companion, of the Lord in His sufferings. During the Lord's life on this earth, He did not have any peace in His environment. Every day He was suffering, so Isaiah refers to Him as a man of sorrows (Isa. 53:3). The apostle Paul was also a man without any peace in his environment. No doubt, Paul was conformed to the death of Christ by the inner, hidden, mysterious power of resurrection.

Some Pentecostals think you have to wait and pray for three days, and then suddenly you will receive power. This is a wrong concept about power. The real power is within us. How can this power be expressed? It can be expressed by our being conformed to Christ's death. When we are being conformed to His death, power comes out. Then we are a companion, a partner, of the Lord in His sufferings. This means that we are in the fellowship of the Lord's sufferings.

No matter what our circumstances are, we are still living, so we have to worship the Lord. We should tell the Lord, "Lord, as long as I am living on this earth, I am much blessed because while I am living, You have the opportunity to work Yourself increasingly into my being, to constitute my being with Your element."

Through our sufferings, we have the opportunity to gain more of God. Eventually, after passing through many sufferings, we have more of God in us. As long as we have more of God, this is what really matters. Whether or not we have a good promotion or whether or not we make money does not make any difference. Instead, all the losses become the increase of God in us. Therefore, we have to praise Him.