Let us first have a word of prayer.
Lord, we thank Thee that Thou hast gathered us together. Thou wouldst speak to us the things that are in Thy heart and show us the path ahead, how we are to go.
Thou hast already finished everything for us. Lord, we are those who enjoy the finished work of Thy hand. Yet we must confess that, even though Thou hast completed all things for us, because of our own foolishness many times we do not know how to appropriate Thyself.
But we thank Thee that Thou still dost work upon us. In every circumstance Thou dost teach us, so that we may know how to be brought into Thy fullness.
May we be quickened and live as Thou revealest to us the work of Thy hand. Through the sovereign movement of the Holy Spirit, mayest Thou rule over this meeting, so that we will not see any particular person, but Thy own work.
We look to Thee here. Lord, mayest Thou glorify Thine own name. We look and pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We thank the Lord that He has given us three afternoons to look practically into the work of the cross. This year’s workshop is a continuation of last year’s workshop.
Therefore, if there are words that we shared last year, we will not repeat them this year. Perhaps some brothers and sisters did not attend last year’s meeting and may say, “I do not know what you shared last year.” But do not worry. There are recordings and transcriptions of last year’s meeting, and the brothers and sisters will have a copy before the end of this conference.
This particular workshop concerns the cross in our daily lives. How does the cross actually work in our daily living? More specifically, how do we receive the work of the cross upon us?
In the hour and a half that we have together each afternoon, the first half will be a general sharing. Afterwards, brethren will share practically, either through fellowship or testimony, how they have learned the daily lesson of the cross. If time allows, we will have a summary each afternoon; otherwise, on the third afternoon, we will have a brief conclusion of what has been shared.
Last year, the sharing focused on the work of the cross in our personal lives and in the family. This year, the focus will be upon the work and careers of brothers and sisters.
I ask the brothers and sisters to turn with me to a few passages. The first is found in 2 Timothy 2:20-21.
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some unto honor, and some unto dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use, prepared unto every good work.
Please also turn to Romans 6:12-14.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof:
neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.
We have also read this morning from the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 9. If you are able to recite it, let us remember it together.
Lastly, let us turn to Ephesians 2:10 and Ephesians 2:19-22.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone;
in Whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord;
in Whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
We thank God that, as we are gathered together, we may look into how the eternal purpose of God is accomplished. I believe that brothers and sisters already have some understanding of what the eternal will of God is. This afternoon our focus is on how that eternal purpose is accomplished.
We may put it another way: How does God work upon us to accomplish His eternal purpose?
In 2 Timothy, we read that in a great house there are many vessels. Regardless of the nature of those vessels, we must take note of what kind of vessel they become when they are placed in the hand of God.
In God’s heart, He is mindful of one thing: when a vessel is placed in His hand, is it useful to the Master or not? If it is fit for His use, God will use that vessel. If it is not fit for His use, then we can understand how God regards that matter.
In order for God to gain a vessel that is meet for His use, He must prepare us to do what He has ordained for us to do. This is the good work that the Lord wants us to do.
Do not misunderstand this. You may think that God has many particular things to do. Certainly, God can use one vessel to do one thing and another vessel to do another thing. But as God uses different vessels to do different things, it is all according to that one eternal purpose.
Therefore, when Scripture says that we are prepared to do the good works which God has prepared for us, we do not need to ask how many kinds of good works there are. We must ask, “What is that good work?”
Ephesians gives us a very good answer. It says that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
If we read on from Ephesians 2:10, we see what God desires us to do. Verse 11 begins with the word “wherefore.” This connects what follows with what the Lord has already said in verse 10: we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
All the good work which God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in is related to His own work. It is the Lord Himself who accomplishes the work that God desires to accomplish.
If we return to 2 Timothy, we find what it means to be a useful vessel, meet for the Master’s use in God’s hand. God has already accomplished the foundational work of the cross through His Son. But that is only the beginning of the eternal purpose of God.
According to His own will, God works step by step. First, through the cross, God opened the way of salvation and brought us into salvation. Then, for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, He continues His work upon us through the cross.
His purpose is to make us into vessels—not merely vessels, but vessels meet for the Master’s use. A basic requirement is that the nature of the vessel must be right.
Therefore, if we want to be a useful vessel to the Lord, we must purge ourselves from those things that are dishonorable. If we are vessels that are not sanctified, if we are not purged from those things that are base, then we may indeed be vessels, but we are not vessels fit for the Master.
What are the things from which we must be purged? First, we must understand that things which are base are not necessarily the same as sins. In our hearts and minds, we often unconsciously put an equal sign between what is base and what is sinful.
Certainly, some things that are base are sinful. But not everything that is dishonorable has to do directly with sin. We must be clear about this.
The issue is whether a particular thing hinders the vessel from being meet for the Master’s use. Sin includes many things that are dishonorable, but something dishonorable may not be sin in itself.
Perhaps the standard I set may seem very high. But if we are to be vessels meet for the Lord’s use, then we must set the standard very high. Yet, regardless of how high that standard appears, it will never surpass the requirement of God Himself.
Let me give a practical example. Last year I shared about a fellow student who broke all of his records. In those days, it was difficult to obtain good records, and these were top-notch classical recordings.
I asked him, “If you did not want them, why not keep them for me? Why did you have to break them?” In those days, records were costly. A complete symphony required many large records, recorded on both sides.
He replied, “These records are a harm to me, so I do not want to keep them as a harm for you.”
Why did those records harm him? They were classical music; they were not bad music. The issue was that our brother had become a fanatic. He had become obsessed with those records.
Because I had not become a fanatic about records, they did not have that same effect on me. But for that brother, they had become harmful. They had damaged his fellowship with the Lord and hindered his greater desire for the Lord Himself.
The item itself was neutral. But because the man’s relationship to it was wrong, that item became dishonorable to him. It had taken the place of the Lord in his heart.
May we have such a sensitive spirit before the Lord. We cannot make a general statement that, because something is harmful for me, it must be harmful for everyone else. It may be acceptable for you but not for me; or it may be acceptable for me but dishonorable for you.
The question is not simply whether something is acceptable in general. The question is: what function does this particular thing have upon you personally? If it has become dishonorable for you, then the issue arises.
May the Lord show us this very clearly. Many times, when the Lord gives us spiritual lessons, we ask, “Lord, why dost Thou work so heavily upon me? Why can another brother keep such things while Thy requirement upon me is different?”
It is because the Lord desires you to be qualified as a vessel meet for His use.
A vessel is not only required to have the proper nature; it must also have a proper character. The character of the vessel is to obey and submit to the Master without reservation.
To be purged from dishonorable things is one aspect, but submission is another. The former is passive; the latter is active. We need to understand authority and sovereignty.
Brothers and sisters, do you remember the story of the potter in Jeremiah? The clay comes from the same source, yet the potter can make one vessel unto honor and another vessel for a different purpose.
Do we protest to the potter? Do we say, “Why hast thou made him so honorable? Why hast Thou not made me a vessel that might taste of that honor?” If we truly understand what a vessel is, such a protest is meaningless. Indeed, it should not even exist.
How can a vessel protest to the Master concerning how He uses it? The vessel must submit to the Master.
I do not remember whether I have shared this before, but if you have heard it, please listen to it again. When I first consecrated myself to the Lord, I had conditions before Him.
I said, “Lord, Thou hast urged me to serve Thee full-time. I answer Thy call, but Thou must also agree to some of my conditions.”
This was over fifty years ago, and you must understand the background of China at that time. I said, “Lord, if Thou wilt agree to my conditions, I will answer Thy call without any withholding.”
My conditions did not seem high to me. I said, “Lord, if Thou dost use me in any particular place, first, there must be electric lights; second, there must be running water. Apart from these two conditions, Thou canst use me however Thou wilt and send me anywhere.”
Brothers and sisters, fifty years ago in China, those two things were luxuries. It was a joke before God.
From that time, the Lord allowed me to understand one thing. His answer was, “Who is sending whom? Am I sending you, or are you sending Me?”
This is a basic requirement of the vessel: we do not question the Master. We must be those who do not withhold ourselves from His authority.
There is only one thing which God wants to do: He desires His own Son to have the preeminence in all things.
Before this is fully realized, God seeks a group of people who first partake of who His Son is. God will use this group of people to manifest His Son. That group of people today is the church of God.
The church is made up of individual Christians. If the church is to become a vessel that fulfills the eternal purpose of God, then the individual members who make up the church must be brought to a place where they accomplish the will of God.
Ephesians shows us that God accomplishes this through the cross. The cross breaks us down and brings us into the glorious riches of Christ. It brings us without reservation into the Lord’s presence.
The cross is not for our own benefit alone. We must pay attention to the will of God. We may sing that it is not for our gain or loss, but for the will of God; yet we must ask ourselves whether this is truly our condition.
Are we those who do not pay attention to our own gain or loss, but solely look to the Lord? We must confess that we are not naturally that way. But the Lord brings us, little by little and point by point, from that condition into conformity with Himself.
The Lord slowly removes those things that are dishonorable to Him. Gradually, He removes people, events, and things that hinder His work in us. We thank the Lord that He works upon us with such patience because He loves us.
He is saving us to the uttermost—not only delivering us from the power of sin, but bringing us back to His original purpose. Through the working of the cross, He makes us into vessels useful in His hands.
The question is whether we have this desire in our hearts. In the lessons of the Lord, one by one, we decrease; and one by one, the glory and riches of the Lord increase in us. Until one day, the Lord may say that we are meet for His use.
When we consider the work of the cross, we should not think that it is merely mysterious and unfathomable. In its spiritual riches, it is indeed profound; but when we experience it practically, it is not beyond understanding.
Throughout our whole life, through our work, our careers, and every interaction we have with people, the Lord is working to conform us into vessels meet for His use.
We may say that certain matters are merely issues between people. Yet may the Lord have mercy upon us so that we may see circumstances from His perspective and according to His desire.
Sometimes the difficulties that the Lord allows us to encounter are blessings in disguise. May the Lord show us the cross in our daily living so that we may truly live in the riches of the glory of the cross.
We must not see only one side of the cross. If we see only one side, we see sorrow and suffering. But this side of the cross brings us to the other side: resurrection.
The cross is the boundary between death and resurrection. May we have this clear understanding, so that in our daily living we may practically receive the lessons which the Lord has prepared for us.
This afternoon we have asked a brother from San Francisco to share practical lessons from his career and the work of the cross.
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters. I have been asked today to share my experience with the cross. It is my desire that what I share will bring glory to our Lord. May all the glory be given back to God, that He alone may be exalted.
I have been saved for about fifteen years, and during those years my Lord has been beside me all the way. I would like to tell you a little about myself.
I was a very ambitious person in my younger years. I wanted to be a successful businessman. Like everyone else, I wanted to become rich and retire early. Even after I accepted the Lord, I was still very success-oriented.
At about the age of thirty, I took over my father’s successful produce business. It had been in operation for twenty-seven years. About two years after I took over, I decided to start a company of my own, dealing in exotic produce and fruit.
The company consisted of myself, my brother, my godbrother, and my brother-in-law. With the four of us investing a small amount of money, we grew that tiny investment into about ten million dollars’ worth of business in approximately three years.
Some might call it a Cinderella story: you put a little seed in the soil, and it grows into a very large flower.
Because I was the only one with a produce background, I showed them how to purchase produce, where to sell it, and whom to contact. I basically showed them how to run the business.
We were so successful and grew so quickly that people in the industry were amazed at the amount of growth in such a short period of time.
But because our initial startup was small, our accounts payable always exceeded our accounts receivable. We had plenty of business and plenty of customers, but our cash flow was always tight.
We knew that we needed either to put in more money or to take on new partners. My godbrother suggested that we consider his two brothers and a friend as possible partners.
I was not comfortable with that, but at the same time my father’s business was financially stretched, and we seriously needed a cash infusion for expansion. So we made them partners.
Because my father was experiencing difficulties, the partners and I considered merging the two businesses together. We tried to see whether we could restore my father’s business.
An agreement was reached, and I was made a manager under the company payroll to help offset some labor costs. I could then manage my father’s store as an employee.
To make a long story short, we were trying to keep my father’s business alive. My father had a very prominent reputation in the community, and we did not want to let the business go to the wayside.
But as business became difficult, the new company later withdrew its offer to purchase my father’s business. As a result, I was forced to sell the store at a loss.
The parties were upset because the sale affected funds that were due to them, and those funds were lost. A few days later, I was asked to attend a board of directors meeting at the other company. At that meeting, they voted me off the board.
I could not believe it. I was surrounded by family members, and not one could give me a legitimate reason for removing me. My brother, godbrother, brother-in-law, and even a lawyer who had been my friend and whom I had asked to represent the business at the beginning were all part of this conspiracy.
I felt totally betrayed. They kept saying that it was not personal. I said, “This is a family business. How could it not be personal?” I did not understand it all. Ultimately, I lost both businesses.
They came looking for me and demanding money. They even made remarks concerning our safety. My wife was eight months pregnant, and we were both out of work. It was like a nightmare.
To make matters worse, accusations were made against me. They said that I had done something criminal and had been negligent in managing the store.
My own family accused me of wrongdoing, yet my father’s partner had been cooking the books, and my mother had been taking money from the till. My father’s side and the partners had abandoned us. Everyone had his own agenda.
They turned against me. No one wanted to acknowledge any wrongdoing or negligence, and I was left to shoulder all the responsibility alone.
On top of all that, they wanted to take legal action against me. People say that when money is involved, there is no such thing as family. They wanted to sue me, and I was consumed with anger.
I could not sleep at night. My wife later confessed that she thought I might have wanted to commit suicide. But, to be honest, I wanted to shoot all of them. I was not going to kill myself—I love myself too much.
I asked God, “Why did this happen? I gave them their start. I gave them my thoughts and my ideas. I started that second business. That was my dream. I did not embezzle any money, and I was being falsely accused.”
I thought, “If they sue me, all I have left is my house. What am I going to do to protect my own family?” I spent time worrying about this situation and, to be honest, doubting God at the same time.
Then I began to ask God to search me. Why did He give me such a harsh lesson? Why was what I desired stripped from me? I wanted status, position, recognition, and worth. I was hurt that they did not want me as a partner.
I was no longer a boss. I no longer called the shots. I realized that I was prideful and too outspoken. It was a very humbling experience. I had to take a good look at myself and say, “None of these qualities resemble Christ.”
I did not realize that those men were being used by God to humble me. The lesson had to be this severe because God knew my heart. I was only concerned about what I could gain from this world, and God had to start somewhere with me.
I consulted an attorney, partly to protect myself and partly to see whether I could get even. I wanted justice—man’s justice. The attorney said that I had a case against them and could win, but it would be costly.
So I consulted with the elders. They told me that if I sued my family, not only would my family hate me, but because of that hatred I would never be able to bring them to the Lord. I was the only believer in the household.
The elders asked me, “What do you want? Is it what God wants?” It did not seem fair. I asked, “How can the just be made unjust? How can the righteous be made unrighteous? Who will stand by me? Who will stand for me?”
Sometimes I woke up in the middle of the night and asked, “How can I be made whole again?” Yet during this whole ordeal, the covering of Christ’s Body was with me. Members of His Body stood by me, prayed with me, and stood for me in the Lord.
We never sought revenge, because we knew that winning was not the answer. After all, it was only money.
When we were first married, I knew that my family was envious of us. We seemed to have blessings in rich abundance. But even now, they seemed to enjoy seeing our downfall. They never offered to help us financially, comfort us, or even ask whether my family and I were all right.
God had allowed this to happen—not by chance, but by design.
In Psalm 33:20, it says:
Our soul hath waited for the Lord:
He is our help and our shield.
And Psalm 91:4 says:
He will cover thee with His pinions,
And under His wings shalt thou take refuge:
His truth is a shield and a buckler.
I really felt like David in the Bible. During that period, the book of Psalms was a great comfort to me. I knew I could not take revenge. I had no rights. I am but a sinner myself. Though I did not steal any money, I knew that I was only a sinner saved by grace.
The Lord seemingly brought me to the end of myself. I had no strength or ability to fight my enemies. Even trying to maintain the testimony was challenging. I felt completely helpless and hopeless, but the Lord alone kept me and preserved me through all those trials.
This was when my Lord began to make me see His work. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says:
My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake:
For when I am weak, then am I strong.
At that time, we had very little financially. We had to use what little we had left to pay the back rent for the store. If I did not pay the back rent, I could not sell my father’s store; and if I did not sell it, I would have had to file for bankruptcy.
My wife, Amy, had just given birth to our second child. We named him Zachary because we knew that God had seen all that had happened. The name Zachary means, “God has remembered.”
I applied for unemployment. I had been working for over twenty years and had never applied before. But I was denied. I could have lied on the application, but I did not. I came home devastated.
A few days later, my father came to my house. He complained that my application for unemployment had affected the company’s unemployment insurance, and he asked me to withdraw my application.
I asked my father, “Who is going to feed my family?” My wife was recovering from childbirth, I had no help, and no one seemed to care. They insisted that I was putting them in a difficult position.
They offered to buy us out of our shares. The amount was ridiculously low, but we still agreed because we knew they had no intention of being fair. We simply wanted to separate from them.
I knew that Satan was attacking and trying very hard to hurt us and destroy my trust in God. But I also knew that my Lord had provision for me.
A month passed, and I began to look for work. The Lord provided me with a job in the very first week that I went looking. It was part-time, but it was sufficient.
Another amazing thing was that when I went to the union for work, they told me that I was literally days away from losing all my pension time. Since I returned and was reinstated, I could continue to add to my existing pension.
At that time, I decided that I would never work another weekend. My previous businesses had made worship very difficult, and now that they were over, I did not want to be a slave to another job.
I said, “I will work for a living, but I will never work on the Lord’s Day. I will worship on Sundays.” I asked the Lord to deliver me, and He granted my prayer. He gave me a schedule that allowed time for my family and for worship.
I promised Him that I would remain faithful and follow Him. Such wonderful mercy.
At this time, I was still working part-time, but Amy found full-time work. She had to take a rather large pay cut. These were the doors that the Lord opened for us.
There were many uncertainties, but He gave us faith to rely upon Him, that He alone would provide for us—and He did. We also received the continual support of the Body. Brothers and sisters prayed constantly for Amy, me, and our family.
It seemed that we were just able to make ends meet every month. We did not have much, but there always seemed to be a little extra. Amy and I were always concerned about how we could give back to the Lord, and somehow, regardless of our situation, we were always able to make an offering to the Lord each month.
The Lord provided for us in this way for a whole year. We were amazed at His grace, mercy, and wonderful abundance. We praised Him.
My desire to retire early in life seemed to be over. I now live day by day from the Lord’s provision. I feel rich in every way and every day, because His presence is upon my household.
There was also the lesson of forgiveness. I would be lying if I said that I was not still hostile toward my family at that time.
Even though a year had passed, everything was still fresh in my mind. I was quite content until I had to write this testimony, because I had not thought about these things in a long time. Yet Satan can bring those feelings back as if it were yesterday.
But the Lord’s greatness spoke to me throughout the whole situation. He said, “If you love Me, you must learn to forgive.”
We never thought about forgiveness because we felt that we were the ones who had been wronged. In fact, they should have been apologizing to me. But that is not God’s way.
He requires that we forgive seventy times seven, if necessary. That is stated in Matthew 18:22.
How else could we bring those who are not saved to salvation? Even though they may have wronged us, how could we justify not bringing them to the Lord?
I was reminded of the gospel. I was reminded that if we harbor a grudge—or worse, hatred—against our fellow man, that is sin.
Nevertheless, this was a very difficult lesson and a long struggle. I believe that we ourselves are incapable of loving our fellow man. Only Christ in us can enable us to love even the vilest of sinners.
We all have family members whom we love, and perhaps some have not yet accepted the Lord. If you ask me personally, I do not naturally love my family after what happened. I am still angry inside. But Christ in me loves them.
We thank God for His amazing grace and mercy because He never allowed us to lose our position in the midst of our enemies.
We struggled in the beginning, but as time went on, we realized that the Lord had planned this all along. He allowed all these events to take place. He was shaping me and changing me into a person who would rely upon Him.
Our Lord ultimately prepares His best for those who have faith in Him. By His grace, I have been walking by faith and holding steadfastly to His promises.
I realized that God had been making good His promise to me. He has given me peace and rest in Him. If I have faith and believe in Him, He bears my burdens and gives me peace and rest. That is His promise.
I can say that we have never been in lack. Our Lord has always provided for our needs as they arose, time and time again.
My wife Amy has always said, “If you give to the Lord with your whole heart, He will return tenfold to you.” I did not understand that before, because until this situation I had always had something to give.
Then suddenly things change, and you are faced with having nothing or having everything taken away. You are either humbled or broken.
I am so glad that the Lord chose to humble me, because I cannot imagine what being broken is like.
It is amazing that so many brethren looked at us and never imagined our difficulties, or even thought that we had struggled financially. But it was truly the Lord’s blessing that He upheld us in the face of our darkest times.
He never allowed us to be ashamed for being steadfast for Him. Today my godbrother’s business may be considered successful, but I am the one who is truly blessed.
I am the one who can say that I have experienced God and that He deemed me worthy to walk in His way. I am the one who is truly rich, but my riches are not of this world.
I must continually acknowledge Him and give Him all the honor and glory. I know that the Lord will never give us more than we can bear. If we are willing to bear His cross, we will be those who receive much blessing.
In the example I have shared today, we cannot merely look at difficult circumstances. We need to be willing to go through the fire and take hold of what the Lord has prepared, so that we may receive His great reward: Christ revealed.
I would like to read 1 Peter 4:12-14, 16, 19.
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you:
but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of His glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.
If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.
For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters:
but if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.
Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator.
May we continue to witness for Christ, and may all glory, praise, blessing, and honor be given back to Him.
We thank the Lord because He does not work upon only one individual. He works upon each one of us because He desires to gain for Himself many vessels for His eternal purpose.
We can see God’s hand upon our brother. According to man, what he experienced is something difficult to express. Yet we thank the Lord that within our brother he was able to see the hand of the Lord at work.
According to man, he lost everything he had obtained from the world. But thank God, he gained God. He did not only gain the Lord as Savior; he gained the Lord as his riches.
We cannot help but think of the words in the Gospel:
If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
You may say, “It is the cross for us to take up daily. I cannot even bear it for one day. How can I bear it daily?” Brothers and sisters, this word “daily” means throughout our entire life.
When we see the wonderful manifestation of the cross, we are excited. But thank the Lord, the cross is not merely for us to admire. The cross is for us to bear.
The Lord allowed our brother to learn such a lesson in life. He lost his ambition and all the things in which he had self-assurance. But all that he lost was exchanged for the glory and riches of God Himself.
It is through daily living that the Lord works in us daily, little by little, to conform us into vessels meet for His use.
I believe that brothers and sisters can be renewed by the Lord in this way, so that in our daily living we may decrease our grumbling and learn to be filled with more praise and thanksgiving.
We are able to see that, in our daily lives, God is conforming and molding us to become vessels meet for His own use.
What our brother went through was not easy. But this does not mean that during the rest of his life he will not encounter similar difficulties in degree and in principle. Otherwise, it would not be a daily taking up of the cross.
Brothers and sisters, let us not be frightened by these conditions. Our Lord has His own measure, and He has a purpose in His work. It is not that He takes pleasure in our suffering. When we suffer, He suffers with us.
Yet He allows us to go through sorrow and suffering, whether they seem bearable or unbearable. If brothers and sisters are able to see the Lord’s work through the cross, then we can see the Lord Himself in the work of the cross upon us.
Then we can be joyful, because He sees us and deems us worthy to be vessels that can be molded into something useful in His hands.
Lord, may Thy Spirit awaken us more greatly within. Allow us to understand all the work that Thou dost do upon us today, even though we may not understand it now.
One day Thou wilt show us, and we will realize the fruit of Thy work upon us. We ask that Thou wouldst open the eyes of our hearts, that through all things we may see Thy working hand.
Under the working of Thy cross, may we be led to a place that is meet for Thy use. Our hope is in Thee.
Lord, we thank Thee because Thou hast called us and art building us according to Thine own eternal will. May all the work that Thou desirest to do upon us be fulfilled.
May Thy name be exalted even more, and may Thy glory be seen. Lord, we worship Thee. We love Thee. We desire to follow after Thee without any reservation.
Hear our prayer in the Lord’s name. Amen.