• In May 1727, a group of Christians in Germany begins to pray for the souls of the lost and for missionaries to be raised up.  It continues without ceasing for 100 years, as members of the church take turns lifting up their voice in prayer 24/7.
• In 1793, William Carey, often called the father of modern missions, sets sail for India to begin his missionary work.  He arrives nine months later.  Tragedy strikes 3 years later when his son dies.  In 1807, his wife Dorothy also dies. Carey continues his missionary work for another 27 years seeing many come to faith and translating the whole Bible in whole or in part into Bengali, Sanskrit, and 44 other languages and dialects.

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”  William Carey

• In 1806, Samuel Mills and 4 other students decide to pray for missions around the world in a grove of trees near their house.  While praying, a thunderstorm overtakes them and they take shelter under a haystack.  This prayer meeting sparks a movement affectionately known as the ‘haystack movement.’ It sends over 20,500 missionaries abroad by 1948.
• In 1887, Amy Carmichael hears Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, and becomes convinced of God’s call on her life.   She goes on to pioneer missions work in Japan, Sri Lanka and India. She opens an orphanage and starts a mission that protects young girls from being forced into prostitution.  Amy serves in India for 55 years without furlough, and dies there at age 83.

“One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.”   Amy Carmichael

• In 1956, Jim Elliot goes to Ecuador to minister to the Huaorani people, a tribe of natives whose only contact with the outside world to date has been murder.  Jim, with his wife Elisabeth, Nate and Rachel Saint, and 3 other missionary couples move into the surrounding jungle to attempt to contact and reach the Hauorani with the Gospel.  On January 8th,  1956, all five men are speared to death by the tribe as they attempt first contact.  One year later, Elisabeth and Rachel, with their young children, move into the tribe to live with the families who killed their husbands.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”  Jim Elliot

• In 1732, John Leonard Dober and David Nitschmann hear of the suffering and lost condition of slaves in the West Indies and feel the call of God to go and preach the Gospel.  Leaving everything behind, they sell themselves as slaves to join those trapped on the islands with no hope for the Gospel.  With their possessions packed into coffins, they leave the harbour calling to those on shore, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.”

“Even if no one should be benefited, and no fruits follow my efforts, yet I will go, for I must obey my Saviour’s call.”  John Leonard Dober

“I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.”

 Hudson Taylor

(The following is the next entry in a 31-day blog journey through John Piper’s, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for a Radical Ministry [Broadman and Holman, 2002.] At desiringgod.org, online one can read the full text of “Brothers, Read Christian Biography”)

Christian biography, well chosen, combines all sorts of things pastors need but have so little time to pursue. Good biography is history and guards us against chronological snobbery (as C. S. Lewis calls it). It is also adventure and suspense, for which we have a natural hunger. It is psychology and personal experience, which deepen our understanding of human nature (especially ourselves). Good biographies of great Christians make for remarkably efficient reading (90).

I wish every Christian could read the biographies of Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Jonathan Edwards, and Martin Luther. Someone else might suggest Muller, Brainerd, Calvin, Whitefield, Lloyd-Jones, Singh, Carey, Moon, Studd, or Packer. But I have forever been encouraged by reading of men and women of great prayer, who trusted God for the impossible, lived under incredible circumstances, experienced incredible suffering, maintained an undying burden for the lost and remained faithful to the Gospel to the very end. 

            Judson, my hero among Christian missionaries, translated the Bible into Burmese and created the first Burmese dictionary – this while losing child after child to death. Edwards, the poster child for Christian resolve in the life of a hated-but-righteous-shepherd, endured through that halfway covenant controversy about the Lord’s Supper (and history has exonerated him) and was dismissed as pastor after twenty-six years of faithful ministry.  What hope and encouragement I have gained from these two during the toughest hours of ministry. The latter says to me, “hang in there; you can endure it.” The former says to me, “are you really having it that bad?” Both say, “keep proclaiming the Gospel, for you will be raised from the dead.” Their lives stand upon the eyewitnesses of the Resurrection and they witness to the authenticity of the message of Christ. The world is unworthy of them. When I grow up more in my faith, I want to be just like them.

            Find some heroes. Read Christian biography.

Hudson Taylor served as a missionary to China for many years, his ministry winning countless Chinese people to the Lord.  He later founded the China Inland Mission as well as translating the New Testament into the Ningpo Chinese dialect.  The following is adapted from Hero Tales, Volume 1, by Dave and Neta Jackson:

I was discouraged.  I had been preaching in the city of Ningpo for a year.  The Chinese were polite and enjoyed gathering to hear me speak.  Discussing new ideas was fun to them.  But no one seemed to take the Gospel seriously.  No one believed it.

And then, after one message, when I felt most like giving up, a respected man stood up and turned to his Chinese countrymen.

“I have been searching for truth a long time,” he said earnestly.  “My father and my grandfathers before me searched for the truth, but they never found it.  I have traveled far and wide looking for it.  I have tried Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, but I have found no rest.”

I looked at the man with new interest.  I knew that this man was a leading officer among the Ningpo Buddhists.  What was he saying? Was he saying that his religion gave him no peace?

“But tonight,” said the man honestly, “tonight I have found rest.  I have heard the truth, and from now on I am a believer in Jesus.”

I could hardly believe my ears.  Could it be true?

A short time later, the man proved his sincerity by taking me with him to the Buddhist meeting and giving his testimony.  Soon one of the man’s friends also became a Christian and was baptized.

However, a few nights after the man had accepted Jesus as his Savior, he asked me a very hard question.  “How long have the people in your land known about Jesus?”

“Oh, hundreds of years,” I told him.

“What?” said the man in amazement.  “You knew the truth for hundreds of years and didn’t come to tell us?  My father searched for the truth all his life and died without finding it.  Why didn’t you come sooner?“

It was a hard question.  Jesus had told His followers to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone, but too often Christians don’t obey Him.  This man knew the result.  He knew people who wanted to know the truth and were just waiting for someone to come and tell them.

Wanting to obey his newfound Savior, the former Buddhist leader spent the rest of his life telling others about Jesus.

I used to have a recurring dream that I was underwater.  At first I’d panic–”I cant’ breathe!”  But then,  I could, somehow.

Real life can sweep us off our feet in a strong current of despair; flood us over, and over.

Well, today I discovered — again– that by reminding myself of what’s true,  what’s  good, what’s noble, and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8) I can, in fact,  breathe underwater!

And Fernando Ortega helped, too.

(If you can’t hear the music as you scroll down my post, just double click on Fernando to open him in a new window. Oh, don’t forget to pause the screenon my page first or you’ll be hearing two Fernando’s playing over each other.   ) 

“  ‘Be still and know that I am God’…Be still and know that I am…Be still and know…Be still…”  ~ R. Rohr, from Psalm 46.

Did you catch that?  Richard Rohr distilled that awesome verse from Psalm 46 to an essential point — Be still…  God is in the stillness, in the quiet, behind the closed door.  That’s where we learn to see Him and know Him, and in His presence the darkness fades away, like in Fernando’s song.  “Till the sorrow and the darkness fade away…fade away.”

Joy awaits us there,  and peace… Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, said this about joy:

“It is the consciousness of the threefold joy of the Lord, [1.] His joy in ransoming us, [2.] His joy in dwelling within us as our Saviour and Power for fruitbearing and [3.]  His joy in possessing us, as His Bride and His delight; it is the consciousness of this joy which is our real strength. Our joy in Him may be a fluctuating thing: His joy in us knows no change.”  

Joy…“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for JOY and I will give thanks to him in song.”  Psalm 28:7

“ Do not be grieved, for the JOY of the LORD is your strength.”  Nehemiah 8:10b NASB

Real joy comes despite the pain, under the water.  John Calvin said, “…it seems David would glory in God in spite of seeming abondonment, and although there should be little outward appearance of help, David would rest contented with the simple security of God’s Word.” ~from “Suffering; Understanding the Love of God”

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:38-39

Been underwater too long?  Getting wrinkly skin? Click on the fish face above for a lifeline.  It’s a site full of hope for those who are suffering.

It does not matter where He places me

Or how.

That is rather for Him to consider

Than for me.

For the easiest positions,

He must give grace;

And in the most difficult,

His grace is sufficient.

So,

If God places me in great perplexity,

Must He not give me much guidance?

In positions of great difficulty,

Much grace?

In circumstances of great pressure and trial,

Much strength?

As to work,

Mine was never so plentiful,

So responsible,

Or so difficult;

But the weight and strain

Are all gone.

His resources are mine,

For He is mine!

-J. Hudson Taylor

HT: http://thoughtso.blogs.com

God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply. Hudson Taylor

Acts 5:38-39
“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men [the apostles] alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” [Gamaliel speaking]

There are really two messages here. One is for the believers, to trust that projects and plans, if truly within the will and anointing of our God, will remain. They will survive and even thrive. But if not, then it’s important to let go. There are plenty of good things to do. There are plenty of ideas. Move on.

Years ago, I had developed two shows that I toured to churches and para-church organizations. They were a labor of love but somehow, not of the right time. In that era, churches were not set up well for theatrical performances. Both of my pieces had to be adapted constantly in order to make them work in a traditional sanctuary setting. Just the idea of having theater lights was foreign to most church goers or to ask that everything be stripped from the altar area. Those who saw the shows, were moved by them, but it was an uphill battle to find churches willing to open their doors. In today’s more modern settings, my shows would have fit in perfectly. It was simply not the right fit and in the end, I retired them.

When I let go, it was hard. I felt I had failed and totally missed God. But, now, in hindsight, I think they achieved what they were meant to achieve. I learned so much from that process and my immersion in the scriptures during the research and preparation time has served me continually.

The second message of this story about Gamaliel and the Sanhedrin is critical for everyone. An anointed person or group cannot be stopped by “human” pressures or verbal attacks. An authentic faith and presence of God in a life is a bulwark and will prevail. Faith of this magnitude sustained people like Mother Teresa among India’s poor, Elie Wiesel in the concentration camps, Hudson Taylor in China, David Livingstone in Africa, and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Billy Graham in the U.S., to name a few.

But this is also true for well-meaning Christians who try to silence the voices of others in the name of “protecting” the faith. The Sanhedrin also felt they were protecting Israel from heresy.

Currently, there is a movement rising up called Emergent Worship and post-modern thought … some are flaying against these trends. Most of the people who are involved with these movements are under the age of 45… they are of a generation that needs and wants to ask questions, to have their faith be an intrinsic part of their culture and their lives. Personally, I think it’s a good thing. This same kind of ground swell happened when the charismatics and Pentecostals started up 20 and 30 years ago in the face of great consternation. And yet, those movements have been integrated into many churches and church traditions.

My message is simple: be wise and remember Gamaliel’s advice: “…if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Would that God would make hell so real to us that we cannot rest; heaven so real that we must have men there, Christ so real that our supreme motive and aim shall be to make the Man of Sorrows the Man of Joy by the conversion to Him of many.

- Hudson Taylor

1832 – 1905

HT: The Desert Pastor

“Many Christians estimate difficulty in the light of their own resources, and thus they attempt very little and they always fail. All giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and presence to be with them.”-J. Hudson Taylor

I love to sing with the Lord’s people.

I love to sing about the scene recorded in Revelation 7, when people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” will lift their united song of praise to God and the Lamb. We sing of it often in Edward Perronet’s All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name:

“Let every kindred, every tribe
On this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all!”

I wrote with a similar expectancy in Come Quickly, Lord:

“We want to hear the joyous cries
And join the ransomed throng:
“The Lamb is worthy!” praise will rise
From ev’ry tribe and tongue!”

I also love to sing hymns in which we pray for the Lord to spread the Gospel. My favorite by far is Isaac Watts’ How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place, which ends with these two stanzas:

“Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.

We long to see Thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May with one voice, and heart and soul,
Sing Thy redeeming grace.”

That’s all great stuff. Amen!

While we were singing these words this past Sunday, however, it occurred to me that to sing songs praying for and rejoicing in the salvation of people from all over the world without a commitment to the cause of world evangelization is gross hypocrisy. The Lord certainly will “send His victorious Word abroad.” However, He has chosen to do so through His church—it will not be sent abroad apart from our obedience. Hudson Taylor warned against such a disconnect between worship and evangelistic neglect when he spoke to the Perth Conference in 1865 of the needs of China:

“Before the next Perth Conference twelve millions more, in China, will have passed forever beyond our reach. What are we doing to bring them the tidings of Redeeming Love ? It is no use singing as we often do ‘Waft, waft ye winds the story.’ The winds will never waft the story; but they may waft us. “

Shall we stop using these wonderful texts? Of course not. Long for the day when we will sing alongside people from around the globe the praises of our Savior. Pray that the Word of the Lord will turn rebels to worshipers by His grace. But do more. Participate in the goal for which you long. Add to your enthusiasm obedience to the Great Commission, whatever that obedience may entail for you. Seriously, when is the last time that you honestly considered what the Lord would have you to do for the sake of His name?

Let’s be careful that our supposed praise isn’t just presumption.

_____

For further consideration on your involvement in world evangelization…

• Read John Piper’s Let the Nations Be Glad
• Read Dave Doran’s For the Sake of His Name (my review)
• Watch Dispatches from the Front (my review)
  
• Read some missionary biographies (one example)
• Read the “Missionary Motives” posts
• Listen to this message (from this series)
  

I mentioned in a recent post that my reading of missionary biographies has been lacking. I’m trying to correct that, and a number of the books recommended in the previous thread should arrive any day now.

While waiting for them, I’ve been reading John Pollock’s little book entitled Hudson Taylor and Maria. It hadn’t been recommended by anyone, but “it was there” on my shelf (part of my wife’s dowry, turns out), so I began reading it. It’s manageable—under 200 pages. My response?

You need to read this book.

Pollock is a gifted story teller and renowned biographer, and the Taylors’ is a tremendous story—one two counts. First, the romance story of their coming together is fascinating. Parts of the book (like Hudson’s two failed romances before his pursuit of Maria, the Victorian snobbery that followed their English co-workers all the way to China, the insistence on marrying at one’s own social level, and the Herculean efforts to split the pair by a 60-year-old guardian and her co-conspiring preacher) read like a Jane Austen novel. That’s no exaggeration. It’s riveting and would be comical if it weren’t true. (Obviously, they persevered. Here’s a great picture.) But the heartbeat of the book is the Taylors’ passion to see Christ brought to the Chinese, whatever the cost. And often, the cost was great.

Most convicting has been Hudson Taylor’s willingness to live in squalor and poverty for the gospel’s sake and his burden to see God awaken the hearts of the English to join him in the seeking of Chinese worshippers of Christ. Upon his return to England to regain his health (and finish his medical training, and revise a Chinese NT, etc.) at age 29, Taylor lamented,

“The Church is asleep; and armchairs and sofas and English comforts possess more attractions that perishing souls; besides which [the Chinese] are ‘half savages.’”

Though written in another century and of another people, his words should pierce our consciences as American believers today. Hudson would pray for the Lord to rouse Christians and send forth laborers into the harvest fields, and the Lord answered in a big way. May he do so today, as well.

Read this little book about a little man and his big God. (Non-history readers, don’t worry; it’s engaging, not dry; you won’t be able to put it down.) And while you’re ordering it, get a few extras to give out as gifts (as I suggested here, as well). Maybe the Lord will use it to awaken an unsuspecting reader. Soul-stirring stuff.

Here’s what’s brand spankin’ new:
• ACW Press features moi on YouTube
• Free sheet music: “Loving God and You”
• Gender is not black and white The South African “woman” track star
• Government offers “Cash for Flunkers”
• Help me! Use me! Love me! Confessions of an author/speaker
• How to pursue speaking engagements
• My virtual home theater: enjoy music and videos here
• Quotations from Hudson Taylor
• This month’s light touch for heavy times: Are you listening to God or Goliath?
• Top ten top great things about being in ministry (latest column from Rev.)
• Writing with Banana Peels: The Principles, Practices, and Pratfalls of Writing Humor Pre-order today with free postage!

“I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.”

~Hudson Taylor

Hudson Taylor has been one of my most favourite missionary of all time. I am particularly amazed by his maturity even at a very tender age. His trust in God through prayer has always been an example that often challenged my personal attitude also towards prayer.

“Perhaps one of the most inspiring and yet challenging story about demonstrative faith and sacrificial obedience in the life of James Hudson Taylor (the founder of China Inland Mission [CIM], now called OMF International) is that of young Hudson giving away the only money he had to a poor man.

Whilst preparing to go to China for missionary service, young Hudson Taylor was determined to learn trust God for all His needs. He worked for his father and still found time to study medicine, theology, Latin and Greek. He also resolved to live a simple lifestyle and not to solicit for finances. He resolved to learn to “move man, through God, by prayer alone”

After his 19th birthday, Hudson Taylor worked for Dr Robert Hardey of Hull. Although Dr Hardey had asked Hudson to remind him whenever his salary became due, the young man determined not to do so and leave things totally to God’s hands. On one occasion, Taylor met a family in destitute. Taylor was asked by a poor man to pray for his dying wife and “four or five half-starved children”. He looked at the family; he wondered how he could help them as his entire wealth at that time is one coin (1 half crown piece) which was to cover his food bills till his salary arrives. As Taylor prayed for that sick woman, he sensed God saying to him: “You hypocrite! Telling these unconverted people about a kind and loving Father in Heaven, and not prepared yourself to trust Him without half-a-crown.”

As Taylor rose from his feet, he took out the half crown from his pocket and gave it to the man. Taylor went home rejoicing that he had acted in faith and obedience. He did remind God before he slept that he would have nothing to eat from the next morning. When he woke up to a pleasant surprise – his landlady came in with a letter. On opening the envelope he found a sheet of blank paper and a half sovereign. “Praise the Lord!” he exclaimed. “Four hundred percent for a twelve hours’ investment!” “

Taken from an OMF letter

I am beginning a series on missions & evangelism.

“It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home.”

~James Hudson Taylor (1832 – 1905), a British protestant missionary to China, founder of China Inland Mission (CIM) which is now known as Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF)

Depend on it. God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply. He is too wise a God to frustrate His purposes for lack of funds, and He can just as easily supply them ahead of time as afterwards, and He much prefers doing so ~ J. Hudson Taylor

I remember my dad saying something very similar growing up. If there is a good idea, money is never an issue. And, God is full of good ideas. So if I’m working in the way I am called, why do I worry about cashflow?

Hudson Taylor’s “good idea” / God idea — his calling –  was to evangelize China. In the course of his 54 years of missionary work, this prayerfully directed man donned traditional Chinese garb (a novel idea in those days) and ultimately became what some historians have called an evangelist with wider vision and geographical impact than anyone other than the Apostle Paul. Taylor’s work was innovative, non-denominational, embraced the involvement of women, and fully dependent on God’s provision. And, God always provided. His founding of the China Inland Mission organization (now Overseas Missionary Fellowship) became the largest protestant mission agency in the world. Clearly, God was behind Taylor Hudson’s big idea for China (since China holds a pretty big note on the U.S. these days, maybe I should be, too).

My questions: Assuming God is the financier of every successful, God-led endeavor ever birthed, do I care about what God cares about? Am I rich enough in heart to undertake what God has for me to do? Do I care about the world at large? God is no “heavenly ATM” that we run to when we need quick cash.  He is the chairman of the heavenly Fed. He keeps good books, sets the interest rate in His favor. Heck, He can make more money if He wants!

Want an adventure? What have you felt drawn to throughout your life? — What good idea? — What calling to make a difference in the world? Money is just one of many tools to get the job done. If money were not an issue, what would your plan of action include? What is “God’s work done God’s way” in it? In some way, act on the plan and enjoy His smile upon your success.

So here I sit. I feel rather pathetic actually. It was the middle of the night and my head was racing with so many thoughts that I couldn’t sleep. So what did I do? The healthiest choice of course. I got up and make a grilled cheese sandwich and an iced chai. But it’s working! Somehow that grilled cheese is starting to clear the cobwebs in my head (even if it’s not helping me get back to sleep!).  So what’s pressing on my mind right now? Discipline! I just can’t seem to get a handle on it and it’s affecting every area of my life. For example:

- I want to take a photography course, but I haven’t started

-I want to walk for an hour a day, but as for right now, that’s just wishful thinking

-I want to enroll in a speaking and writing course, but I’ve yet to finsih the application

Etc., etc., etc.!!!! Growing up I read many amazing books about people who were extremely influencial in the Christian world. People like Gladys Aylward, Hudson Taylor and D.L. Moody. But how did they get from the point of wanting to serve God to actually doing it? The answer is pretty simple. They just DID what needed to be done! None of this going by their emotions silliness or procrastinating. I think sometimes I just need a kick in the butt to realize how incredibly silly I can be. I have all the tools in the world to succeed, and yet I leave them unused sitting right in front of me. How short life is! Jesus calls us to be good stewards of our time and that includes getting things done. I’ll never be perfect, but as of tonight I’m going to aim to do better. Along with my previous goal of weight loss, I’m going to add the goal of starting to live a disciplined life. It won’t be easy and I’ll probably hate it most of the time, but in the end I can look back on my life and know that I made it count. So thanks grilled cheese! You gave me some great insight tonight!

“How often do we attempt work for God to the limit of our incompetency rather than to the limit of God’s omnipotency.”  – J. Hudson Taylor

Hudson Taylor in 1865; Founder of China Inland Mission