DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT – WEDNESDAY WARRIOR! #40. ALL FOR CHRIST- C.T. Studd.

Over a hundred years ago, in February 1885, a group of young men set sail from England to become missionaries in China. They included graduates and ex-army officers and were known as the "Cambridge Seven" because they had felt called to the mission field after attending meetings at that University. The leading member of the group was Charles T Studd, the son of a wealthy indigo- planter who had retired from India to a large country house at Tidworth in Wiltshire. His father had been converted in 1877 when a friend took him to hear D. L. Moody preaching in London and he immediately gave up his pastimes of racing and hunting, and used his home for evangelistic meetings until his death two years later.

Charles and two of his brothers, Kynaston and George, were all at Eton when their father was converted and they were far from pleased by his efforts to interest them in the gospel. However, unknown to each other, all three were also converted when a visiting preacher went to stay with the Studd family during the summer holidays of 1878. The three brothers excelled at cricket both at Eton and later at Cambridge where they achieved a remarkable record of each captaining the cricket team in successive seasons from 1882 to 1884. The exceptional skills shown by Charles gained him a place in the England team in 1882 which lost the match to Australia which originated the tradition of the "Ashes" between the two countries.

The following winter he toured Australia with the England team that recovered the trophy but in 1884 his brother George was taken seriously ill and Charles was confronted by the question, "What is all the fame and flattery worth ...... when a man comes to face eternity?" He had to admit that since his conversion six years earlier he had been in "an unhappy backslidden state." As a result of the experience he stated, "I know that cricket would not last, and honour would not last, and nothing in this world would last, but it was worth while living for the world to come."

From then onwards Charles began witnessing to his friends and fellow players and helping his brother Kynaston who had started organising missions amongst students. Soon he had the joy of leading others to the Lord and he prayed for power to be more effective in proclaiming the gospel. Through the promise contained in Acts 1:8, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me....unto the uttermost part of the earth," he realised that his own zeal and energy were not sufficient and that he had to rely entirely upon God.

Up until that time he had felt content to witness amongst his own associates but after hearing a missionary speaking about the need for workers in China. Charles was increasingly burdened and convicted by verses such as "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." (Psalm 2:8). Although his friends and relatives tried to dissuade him, Charles knew he was being called to the mission field and he sought an interview with Hudson Taylor, the director of the China Inland Mission and was accepted as an associate member.

Studd's decision was followed by six others within a few weeks and as they prepared for the mission field, members of the "Cambridge Seven" spoke at meetings up and down the country with remarkable results. In addition to numerous conversions a great wave of missionary zeal swept through the students of Edinburgh, London, Oxford and Cambridge which was to have profound effects throughout the world in later years.For C. T Studd those future years were to see him giving away his family inheritance to help the work of George Muller, D. L. Moody, Dr. Barnardo and others and spending ten years in China where he suffered great hardships to reach remote areas where the gospel had never been heard before.

On returning to England he was invited to visit America where his brother Kynaston had recently arranged meetings which had led to the formation of the Student Volunteer movement. During this tour he experienced powerful blessing upon his ministry and the spiritual life in many colleges, churches and other bodies was radically transformed.

From 1900-1906 Studd was pastor of a church at Ootacamund in South India and although it was a different situation to the pioneer missionary work in China, his ministry was marked by numerous conversions amongst the British officials and the local community.

However, on his return home Studd became concerned about the large parts of Africa that had never been reached with the Gospel and in 1910 he went to the Sudan and was convicted by the lack of Christian witness in central Africa. Out of this concern Studd was led to set up the Heart of Africa Mission and when challenged as to why he was preparing for a life of inevitable hardship he replied, "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."

On his first venture into the Belgian Congo in 1913, Studd established four mission stations in an area inhabited by eight different tribes. Then a serious illness to his wife required his return to England, but when he returned to the Congo in 1916 she had recovered sufficiently to undertake the expansion of the mission into the World Evangelism Crusade with workers in south America, central Asia and the middle East as well as Africa. Supported by his wife's work of home, Studd built up an extensive missionary outreach based on his centre at Ibambi and although she made a short visit to the Congo in 1928 that was the only time they met again since she died in the following year.

Two years later, still labouring for the Lord at Ibambi at the age of seventy, Charles Studd died, but his vision for China, India and Africa had expanded to reach the whole unevangelised world.

Loving Father, help me by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be a warrior like C.T. Studd. I ask all of this in the mighty and wonderful name of Jesus, for His glory, and for the extension of His Kingdom. Amen.

Be encouraged!
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSIC TESTIMONIES… MILDRED CABLE. Part 2.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

By way of encouragement, I would like to devote Tuesdays to classic testimonies which have brought great blessing and glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These are of men and women, who have faithfully served for the Kingdom of God. My prayer is that you will be blessed, encouraged, and inspired by these testimonies as I was. Enjoy…

With “toiling beasts and bulging baggage,” laden with hundreds of Bibles, books and tracts in local languages, nine months later at the edge of the vast expanse of nothingness that was the vast and perilous Gobi, Mildred was asked by the young city-gate keeper: “Must you go into the Gobi?” “Yes.” They quietly replied. “We must. For we seek the lost, and some of them are out there.”

By the end of the decade, their decision to go had been vindicated. The country was ablaze with forest fires of revolt. Descent into anarchy, brutal civil war and feudal warlord-rule, closed all doors to the Gospel. But by that time, after 15 years of crisscrossing the most inhospitable desert known to man in a donkey cart, thousands had heard the gospel who would never again have a chance to hear it from human lips.

“Only a fool crosses the great Gobi without misgivings,” she was to write later. But with every painstaking step she took she was to see parables for life … a life that embraced the message she had come to bring. “In this trackless waste, where every restriction is removed and where you are beckoned and lured in all directions …. one narrow way is the only road for you. In the great and terrible wilderness, push on with eyes blinded to the deluding mirage, your ears deaf to the call of the seducer, and your mind un-diverted from the goal,” she urged the reader while writing of the Gobi Desert.

The vast network of trade routes crisscrossing the area to spread gossip and political intrigue, captured Mildred’s imagination. In her mind’s eye she saw trade routes “captured for Him.”

From their first base in Suchow, the City of prodigals, she wanted to see the Good News catapulted out to every untouched crevice of this remote land. “With such a glamorous task ahead,” wrote Mildred later, what mattered torrid heat, revolting flies and the accumulations of stinking oasis filth? For them, the “terms of service” for the master included not only suffering, but deep joy. “For Christ’s sake it is worth it a thousand times over.”

Mildred and her companions were uniquely placed to reach Chinese women whose homes and heartaches had been barred to male missionaries. Traveling slowly they stayed in filthy inns and caves, frequented by opium addicts. They made a point of visiting the lonely, the rejected and the poorest of the poor, feeding orphans, healing the sick, and educating girls. Given haunted houses to live in, because no-one wanted to host the “foreign devils,” their children’s meetings attracted suspicious mothers, who wooed by the message of love found their prejudices melting as they “crept out at dusk to join the throng.”

They were soon privy to family confidences and sharers of family sorrows. Countless women and girls were rescued by the Trio. Some had been male playthings, discarded in old age. Others were forced to give sexual favours in the Temple, and there were many driven by marital unfaithfulness or cruelty to opium overdoses. Others had narrowly escaped being sold to opium lords, one, so tortured and underfed looked more like a sick monkey than a child, and the most famous of all, a deaf and dumb beggar girl “Little Lonely,” was renamed Topsy and eventually adopted by the Trio. All were launched into new lives where they were valued and respected.

At the mercy of psychopathic bandits and generals at whose whims they could have been annihilated, prey to cholera and typhus, tormented often by questions and doubt, and with paralysing fear lurking in the crevices of every ravine and mountain pass, the strain often proved intolerable and the task hopeless. But their calling to open a window in the darkness, through which Jesus would shine as the Light, spurred them on, and the feeling that the “night when no-one could work,” would soon be upon them, gave them the urgency they needed to complete the task.

1936 saw the hated “foreign devils ” chased out of China and with them of course Mildred, Francesca and Eva with Topsy in tow. They laboured tirelessly until their dying day writing, spreading the needs of China’s millions around the world from their base, a little stone cottage in Devon where “baths, beds, good lighting and an easy chair” were theirs for the taking. Mildred Cable and her friends pushed back the frontiers for women pioneer missionaries of the day. Treading where no white woman had ever trod to bring the gospel to those who had never heard, they trampled the fears and suspicions that made male missionaries a threat to local people.

Their impact on conditions for Chinese women and children was incalculable and the value of their educational work became a pivotal building block in the China of the day. They were often misunderstood by their own, and criticised for their decision to stride out into uncharted territory. Single and celibate, they embraced loneliness, sacrifice and hardship with a vigour and single-mindedness impossible for married men with families. They shattered every stereotype of dowdy spinster missionary-hood with their fun, their zest for life and love of the absurd.

When Mildred Cable died at the age of 74 in 1952, Francesca said at her funeral: “Was her death the end? No rather the beginning, for the hand of God can never lead those who follow to anything but life, growth, expansion and attainment beyond human imagining.” “We have been gloriously happy,”

Mildred had written on returning to London. “We have proved the truth of Christ’s words “Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world. We have known joy unspeakable as men and women came from darkness into light and from the power of Satan unto God.”

"In one house we found an old lady of 70, trembling with excitement at the prospect of seeing us for the news had reached her that we were preaching the forgiveness of sins…tell me how my sins can be wiped out. I have kept all my vows, and made many pilgrimages; now tell me what more I can do?…With an interest into which the whole endeavour of a lifetime was concentrated, she listened as we spoke to her of a Saviour, who has taken upon Himself the sin of the world.”

A lama came towards us who had traveled barefoot from the sacred mountains of Shansi, prostrating himself at every few steps…..we handed him a copy of St John’s Gospel in which he at once read aloud the opening words: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God..”…he listened with profound attention while we preached unto him Jesus. “I know about this,” he said. “This Jesus of whom you speak has been greatly troubling me late-ly in my dreams. I know I shall have to believe in Him!” - Through Jade Gate and Central Asia by Mildred Cable and Francesca French

"It looked as though all that was required was the courage to step into the unknown for whenever they did so, doors seeming-ly shut yielded to a touch. Perhaps they were marked with the word “push”. " - Something Happened by Mildred Cable and Francesca French

“On a beautiful May morning, when the lilac was in bloom, there was put into my hands a letter in which was written that which made a goblin of the sun….unless I was to deny my vocation, I must pursue my pathway alone…In one hour the high-est things of life burned themselves to ashes.” - Mildred Cable wrote this when her deter-mination to continue to China even after the Boxer massacres, caused her fiancé, a fel-low candidate at mis-sionary school, to break off their engagement.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes and give your all to win the lost to Christ? Then like, the Mildred Cable, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Mildred Cable and her companions, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by their testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used the Mildred. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSICAL TESTIMONIES… THE CHINA TRIO.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

By way of encouragement, I would like to devote Tuesdays to classical testimonies which have brought great blessing and glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These are of men and women, who have faithfully served for the Kingdom of God. My prayer is that you will be blessed, encouraged, and inspired by these testimonies as I was. Enjoy…

In 1923, the China Trio, three English women, veteran missionaries, all of them, headed for Gansu Province in Central Asia, hauling a cartload of Bibles and literature. Their aim was to visit every city of the Gansu Province located beyond the Great Wall. They knew that other women missionaries were in the hands of bandits, but went anyway. Before their adventure was over, they would endure hunger, thirst, pain and sleeplessness; they would be robbed, arrested by a warlord and stoned. They would live lives of gruelling adventure and make journeys that no other European woman had made.

Evangeline French was the oldest of the three women. In her youth she had been daring, rebellious and angry. One day she had exploded to her amiable sister Francesca, "If I could take upon myself the world's misery, I would--and jump into the sea with it."
"Eva, there is no need to do that. It was done long ago, on the cross," responded Francesca. Her sister's reply sobered Eva. Two weeks later, she slipped into a chapel, sought Christ and began her transformation.

Mildred Cable was the daughter of a draper. As a young woman she had heard a missionary speaker tell of China's spiritual need, and become eager to serve as a missionary. She studied nursing and chemistry, sure that healing hands and practical skills would open doors of witness for her. The young man she was to marry dumped her when she stayed true to her determination to go to China.

Francesca French was last of the trio. Although she was the quietest of the three, she once debated the witty Catholic journalist G.K. Chesterton, who joked that she ought to be burnt as a heretic for opposing him. Trained as a nurse, she was sensitive and sympathetic.

They traveled slowly, visiting China's people in their markets and homes, speaking to as they could, turning every conversation to Christ and "gossiping the gospel." They cooked over camel dung.

The three women had been in Gansu for only a few days when Dr. Kao, a Chinese Christian who had moved to Gandjou so that he could act as a witness in that pagan city, sent them a letter pleading for their help. Years before, they had heard him speak and decided to honor his invitation.

After great hardship they arrived. Dr. Kao and the Gandjou Christians had begun praying for weeks that the Lord would send experienced Christians to them. Now three had arrived. Dr. Kao made the Trio an offer. If they would stay and teach the Christians of Gandjou, the Christians would send a band of men and women with them to spread the gospel in the surrounding region. The Trio agreed.

Thus began one of the most extraordinary gospel adventures in history. Five or six times over the next thirteen years, the three women (Pictured right, with Topsy,) visited every oasis town and village that lay outside the Great Wall in the province of Gansu. Everywhere they went they saw the terrible effects of opium and proclaimed that God could deliver people from the drug. They gave lessons in the phonetic alphabet, treated diseases and astonished everyone by rescuing babies who had been thrown away.

Returning to England in 1926 for a vacation, they traveled down the old silk road. On this day, March 22, 1928, the trio returned to China and settled again in Sudjou. But in 1936, all foreigners were ordered out of the city. Tired and old, the three admitted that their work in China was over. They said their final farewells and returned to England, rejoicing that this time they were able to travel part of the way by air. Over the years, Mildred and Francesca had recorded their adventures in books--twenty altogether.

Mildred was the first to die in 1952. Eva lived to be ninety, and during her last illness, Francesca slept on the floor beside her to care for her. Scolded for sleeping on the floor, Francesca replied, "I've been sleeping on floors all my life." She outlived her older sister by only three weeks.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes and give your all to win the lost to Christ? Then like, the China Trio, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Eva, Mildred, and Francesca, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by their testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used the China Trio. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

For the next few Tuesday's, I will post more of Mildred Cable's Testimony.

Be encouraged.

GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSICAL TESTIMONIES… John and Betty Stam: Martyred Missionaries.

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

By way of encouragement, I would like to devote Tuesdays to classical testimonies which have brought great blessing and glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These are of men and women, who have faithfully served for the Kingdom of God. My prayer is that you will be blessed, encouraged, and inspired by these testimonies as I was. Enjoy…

The year 1934. Americans John and Betty Stam were serving as missionaries in China. One morning Betty was bathing her three-month-old daughter Helen Priscilla Stam when Tsingteh's city magistrate appeared. Communist forces were near, he warned, and urged the Stams to flee. So John Stam went out to investigate the situation for himself. He received conflicting reports. Taking no chances, he arranged for Betty and the baby to be escorted away to safety if need be. But before the Stams could make their break, the Communists were inside the city. By little-known paths, they had streamed over the mountains behind government troops. Now gun shots sounded in the streets as looting began. The enemy beat on the Stams' own gate.

A faithful cook and maid at the mission station had stayed behind. The Stams knelt with them in prayer. But the invaders were pounding at the door. John opened it and spoke courteously to the four leaders who entered, asking them if they were hungry. Betty brought them tea and cakes. The courtesy meant nothing. They demanded all the money the Stams had, and John handed it over. As the men bound him, he pleaded for the safety of his wife and child. The Communists left Betty and Helen behind as they led John off to their headquarters.

Before long, they reappeared, demanding mother and child. The maid and cook pleaded to be allowed to accompany Betty.
"No," barked the captors, and threatened to shoot.
"It is better for you to stay here," Betty whispered. "If anything happens to us, look after the baby."

Betty was led to her husband's side. Little Helen needed some things and John was allowed to return home under guard to fetch them. But everything had been stolen. That night John was allowed to write a letter to mission authorities. "My wife, baby and myself are today in the hands of the Communists in the city of Tsingteh. Their demand is twenty thousand dollars for our release. . . . We were too late. The Lord bless and guide you. As for us, may God be glorified, whether by life or by death."

Prisoners in the local jail were released to make room for the Stams. Frightened by rifle fire, the baby cried out. One of the Reds said, "Let's kill the baby. It is in our way." A bystander asked, "Why kill her? What harm has she done?"
"Are you a Christian?" shouted one of the guards.
The man said he was not; he was one of the prisoners just released.
"Will you die for this foreign baby?" they asked. As Betty hugged Helen to her chest, the man was hacked to pieces before her eyes.

Terror in the Streets

The next morning their captors led the Stams toward Miaosheo, twelve miles distant. John carried little Helen, but Betty, who was not physically strong, owing to a youthful bout with inflammatory rheumatitis was allowed to ride a horse part of the way. Terror reigned in the streets of Miaosheo. Under guard, the foreign family was hustled into the postmaster's shop.

"Where are you going?" asked the postmaster, who recognized them from their previous visits to his town. "We do not know where they are going, but we are going to heaven," answered John. He left a letter with the postmaster. "I tried to persuade them to let my wife and baby go back from Tsingteh with a letter to you, but they would not let her. . . ."

That night the three were held in the house of a wealthy man who had fled. They were guarded by soldiers. John was tied to a post all that cold night, but Betty was allowed enough freedom to tend the baby. As it turned out, she did more than that.

Execution

The next morning the young couple were led through town without the baby. Their hands were tightly bound, and they were stripped of their outer garments as if they were common criminals. John walked barefoot. He had given his socks to Betty. The soldiers jeered and called the town’s folk to come see the execution. The terrified people obeyed. On the way to the execution, a medicine-seller, considered a lukewarm Christian at best, stepped from the crowd and pleaded for the lives of the two foreigners. The Reds angrily ordered him back. The man would not be stilled. His house was searched, a Bible and hymnbook found, and he, too was dragged away to die as a hated Christian.

John pleaded for the man’s life. The Red leader sharply ordered him to kneel. As John was speaking softly, the Red leader swung his sword through the missionary’s throat so that his head was severed from his body. Betty did not scream. She quivered and fell bound beside her husband’s body. As she knelt there, the same sword ended her life with a single blow.

Betty

Betty Scott was born in the United States but reared in China as the daughter of missionaries. She came to the United States and attended Wilson College in Pennsylvania. Betty prepared to follow in her parents’ footsteps and work in China or wherever else the Lord directed her. But China it proved to be. At a prayer meeting for China, she met John Stam and a friendship developed that ripened into love. Painfully they recognized that marriage was not yet possible. “The China Inland Mission has appealed for men, single men, to work in sections where it would be impossible to take a woman until more settled work has commenced,” wrote John. He committed the matter to the Lord, whose work, he felt, must come before any human affection. At any rate, Betty would be leaving for China before him, to work in an entirely different region, and so they must be separated anyhow. As a matter of fact, John had not yet even been accepted by the China Inland Mission whereas Betty had. They parted after a long tender day, sharing their faith, picnicking, talking, and praying.

Betty sailed while John continued his studies. On July 1, 1932, John, too, was accepted for service in China. Now at least he could head toward the same continent as Betty. He sailed for Shanghai.Meanwhile, Betty found her plans thwarted. A senior missionary had been captured by the Communists in the region where she was to have worked. The mission directors decided to keep her in a temporary station, and later ill-health brought her to Shanghai. Thus without any choice on her part, she was in Shanghai when John landed in China. Immediately they became engaged and a year later were married, long before they expected it. In October, 1934 Helen Priscilla was born to them. What would become of her now that her parents John and Betty were dead?

Pastor Lo In the Hills

For two days, local Christians huddled in hiding in the hills around Miaosheo. Among them was a Chinese evangelist named Mr. Lo. Through informants, he learned that the Communists had captured two foreigners. At first he did not realize that these were John and Betty Stam, with whom he had worked, but as he received more details, he put two and two together. As soon as government troops entered the valley and it was safe to venture forth, Mr. Lo hurried to town. His questions met with silence. Everyone was fearful that spies might report anyone who said too much.

An old woman whispered to Pastor Lo that there was a baby left behind. She nodded in the direction of the house where John and Betty had been chained their last night on earth. Pastor Lo hurried to the site and found room after room trashed by the bandits. Then he heard a muffled cry. Tucked by her mother in a little sleeping bag, Helen was warm and alive, although hungry after her two day fast.

The kindly pastor took the child in his arms and carried her to his wife. With the help of a local Christian family, he wrapped the bodies that still lay upon the hillside and placed them into coffins. To the crowd that gathered he explained that the missionaries had only come to tell them how they might find forgiveness of sin in Christ. Leaving others to bury the dead, he hurried home. Somehow Helen had to be gotten to safety.

Pastor Lo's own son, a boy of four, was desperately ill -- semi-conscious after days of exposure. Pastor Lo had to find a way to carry the children a hundred miles through mountains infested by bandits and Communists. Brave men were found willing to help bear the children to safety, but there was no money to pay them for their efforts. Lo had been robbed of everything he had.

From Beyond the Grave

But from beyond the grave, Betty provided. Tucked in Helen's sleeping bag were a change of clothes and some diapers. Pinned between these articles of clothing were two five dollar bills. It made the difference.
Placing the children in rice baskets slung from the two ends of a bamboo pole, the group departed quietly, taking turns carrying the precious cargo over their shoulders. Mrs. Lo was able to find Chinese mothers along the way to nurse Helen. On foot, they came safely through their perils. Lo's own boy recovered consciousness suddenly and sat up, singing a hymn.

Eight days after the Stams fell into Communist hands, another missionary in a nearby city heard a rap at his door. He opened it and a Chinese woman, stained with travel, entered the house, bearing a bundle in her arms. "This is all we have left," she said brokenly.

The missionary took the bundle and turned back the blanket to uncover the sleeping face of Helen Priscilla Stam. Many kind hands had labored to preserve the infant girl, but none kinder than Betty who had spared no effort for her baby even as she herself faced degradation and death.

What Happened to Helen?
Kathleen White has written an excellent and very readable biography John and Betty Stam, available from Bethany House Publishers (1988). She reports that Betty's alma mater, Wilson College in Pennsylvania, took over baby Helen's support and covered the costs of her college education. She added: "Helen is living in this country (USA) with her husband and family but does not wish her identity and whereabouts to be made known."

Are you willing to do whatever it takes and give your all to win the lost to Christ? Then like, John and Betty Stam, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the lives of John and Betty Stam, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by their testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used John and Betty. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSICAL TESTIMONIES… Eric Liddell; Finishing His Race!

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

By way of encouragement, I would like to devote Tuesdays to classical testimonies which have brought great blessing and glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These are of men and women, who have faithfully served for the Kingdom of God. My prayer is that you will be blessed, encouraged, and inspired by these testimonies as I was. Enjoy…

Athletes all around the world dream of winning Olympic gold. It is the ultimate achievement, the pinnacle of success. Imagine you are at the top of your game, the best in the world, if only for a short while. But what do you do next? How do you top an experience that exhilarating? What else can command the single-minded focus and energy that was once given over to the dream of winning Olympic gold?

Few Olympians have responded to these questions as did Eric Liddell. Millions have seen the story of his Olympic triumph portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire, but the movie tells only a part of Eric's heroic story. Following his stunning victory in the Olympic 400-meter dash in Paris in 1924, Eric chose to follow God's call as a missionary in China. Here is the rest of his story...

After the Race
Eric returned from the Paris Olympics a national hero, but he did not choose to live the life of a professional athlete. The following year, at the age of 23, he returned to China, the land of his birth, to join his parents and his older brother Rob on the mission field. After 14 days on the Trans-Siberian Railway, Eric arrived at his destination. His first assignment was teaching at the Anglo-Chinese College in Tientsen. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he was also Sunday school superintendent at Union Church, where his father was the pastor.

Marriage in Mind

Before long, Florence Mackenzie caught Eric's eye. Under normal circumstances, Eric would have probably begun a traditional courtship, but circumstances were not normal. Florence was only seventeen years old (Eric was 27 at the time) and a senior in high school. Because he did not feel he could single her out, Eric befriended the whole senior class at Florence's school. This way, when he invited them to tea or an outing, his attentions to Florence would not appear suspicious.

That year, affection grew into love, and Eric asked Florence to marry him the following summer. She accepted, but the wedding would not occur for several years. That fall, Florence returned to Canada to begin her training as a nurse. While Flo was pursuing her education, Eric returned to Great Britain on furlough and was ordained as a minister in July of 1932. Following his ordination, he spent six weeks with Flo and her family in Toronto, and their wedding date was set for March 1934. By September of 1932, Eric had returned to Tientsen.

Two Names in a Hat

Two years passed quickly, and Eric and Flo were married at Union Church in Tientsen on March 27, 1934. Patricia Liddell was born about a year later, and Heather joined her older sister Patricia within two years of her parents' marriage.

Florence Liddell was fond of recounting the story of how Heather got her name. Although Eric wanted to name his daughter Heather after the purple flowering shrub that grew in his native Scotland, Flo was less than enthusiastic about the name. Eric offered to solve the dilemma by putting both his choice and Flo's into a hat. They agreed that their daughter's name would be whichever was drawn from the hat. When the name "Heather" was drawn, Flo stood by their agreement and announced that would be their daughter's name. But Eric could not keep a straight face. He reached into the hat and withdrew the other slip of paper, which also had "Heather" written on it!

What is sometimes missed in talking about Eric the athlete or Eric the missionary is his sense of humor and deep devotion to his family. His oldest daughter, Patricia, once stated that the most important thing she remembered about her parents was their great sense of joy together.

Increasing Danger in China

Although the Liddell family's happiness shone brightly for all to see, around them clouds of unrest and threats of war darkened the horizon. As China sought to control her own destiny, fighting ensued between Communist and nationalist factions. In addition to internal conflict, there was also the threat of an invasion from Japan.

The London Mission Society approached Eric about the possibility of leaving the city and ministering to those in the war-torn Chinese countryside. Siao Chang on Northern China's Great Plain was one of the hardest hit areas. Eric's brother was already working in the hospital there, and Eric agreed to join him. It was not an easy decision, however. Eric knew that it would be unsafe to bring Flo and the girls to Siao Chang, so he reluctantly parted with them.

Challenges at Siao Chang

In December of 1937, Eric boarded a boat to make the ten-day journey to Siao Chang. There, he stayed in the mission compound he had once lived in as a small boy when his parents ministered in the area. The Chinese called him by the same name they had once called his father‚ Li Mu Shi. Li was a shortened form of his last name and Mu Shi was the Chinese term for "pastor."

Upon his arrival, Eric was faced with the enormity of the task to which he had been appointed. Siao Chang was the center for mission activity in the surrounding area of over ten thousand villages. Eric's responsibilities included traveling from village to village, encouraging the Chinese Christians and holding evangelistic meetings for those who had never heard the Gospel. Eric and his interpreter, Wang Feng Chou, traveled the countryside on bicycle. Often, however, the road was rough and potholed, and it was not uncommon for Eric to return from a trip with his body covered with bruises from falls sustained on the rough roads.

Eric's influence was quickly felt in this war-torn area. Before his arrival, the London Missionary Society Hospital refused to treat Communist and Japanese soldiers for fear of angering the Chinese government. But Eric helped anyone who needed help, regardless of their affiliations. When asked why he helped "the enemy," Eric answered simply that they were loved by God. Others soon began following his example.

Parting from Family

In 1939, Eric and Flo left China on furlough. They took Heather and Patricia to meet family members in both Canada and the UK. But when they returned to China the following year, they found that unrest and violence had increased while they were gone. Siao Chang was now occupied by the Japanese military, and conditions had deteriorated considerably. It was soon evident to Eric that he and his family were not safe in China. He was shot at on the road, and when he witnessed a doctor being beaten by a Japanese soldier, he realized that even the hospital was not safe.

A mere five months after his return to Siao Chang, the Japanese ordered all foreigners to evacuate the area. Returning to Tientsen to be with his family, Eric realized that conditions were not much better there. Flo was expecting their third child, and they reluctantly decided that it would be safer for her and the girls to leave China. Eric would stay in China and continue his ministry, but the rest of his family would travel to Canada and remain there until the war ended.

Ministry in Captivity

By 1942, it seemed to Eric that he could no longer minister effectively in China. The Japanese had banned meetings of more than ten people and quarantined foreigners with electrified fences. Eric had hopes that he would soon be able to join his family in Canada, but in March of 1943, all foreigners that Japan considered its enemies were ordered to prepare for detention in the Weihsien Internment Camp. Eric never saw freedom again.

Rather than resenting his captivity, however, Eric found numerous ways to serve others, especially the young people, and make their captivity lighter. When one of the teenage girls expressed an interest in chemistry, Eric took it upon himself to organize a chemistry class. Since there were no textbooks or equipment, he spent hours sketching equipment and detailing the results of experiments they could not perform. Eric also organized athletic events for the children, and his door was always open to any of them who needed him. His fellow prisoners would remember Eric as a man who did whatever he could to help people, and they were especially impressed by the way he lived out the Sermon on the Mount.But while Eric was helping the children of Weihsien, his own children were missing him, almost as much as he was missing them.

Florence gave birth to their third daughter, Maureen, after leaving China, and it bothered Eric greatly that he never held his youngest daughter in his arms. Eric poured his heart out in his letters to his family, and he told Flo in a letter on March 27, 1944, that she seemed "very near today." Eric's oldest daughter, Patricia, often asked tearfully why her father was not with her. This question remained unanswered in her mind until she met the children her father helped in the internment camp. Many of them were separated from their parents, and as Patricia realized, God used her father to help ease their suffering.

A Final Request

In the winter of 1944, Eric's friends began to notice changes. His quick and witty repartee slowed, and he thought before speaking, something they were not used to. Eric was not one to complain, but he mentioned severe headaches with increasing frequency. It became evident that he was severely ill. He was soon confined to the infirmary, and his health quickly deteriorated. Knowing this, some of his friends who had formed a Salvation Army Band stood outside his window to play for him. Eric requested to hear Sibelius' tune "Finlandia," usually sung with the text "Be Still, My Soul." The lyrics to this song are especially poignant, considering that Eric died just a few weeks later.

Be Still, My Soul
Be still, my soul! The Lord is on thy side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide.

In every change, He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul! Thy best, thy heavenly friend,

Through thorny ways, leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul! The hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord.

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul! When change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Eric's Legacy

Although Eric was acclaimed as a national hero because of how he ran his Olympic race in Paris on July 11, 1924, this is not why we remember him as a hero. Dozens of other Olympians won gold in the 1924 games, and few, if any, are remembered today. The athletic heroes of yesteryear are seldom considered heroes by succeeding generations, since they are often quickly replaced by the newest sports sensation.

Eric Liddell remains a hero today because of how he ran the race of life. He did not live his life to earn prizes or the applause of other people. Rather, he lived his life and ran his race to glorify God. His legacy lives on in the people he influenced for God and the example he leaves for all of us to follow.

Are you willing to do whatever it takes and give your all to win the lost to Christ? Then like, Eric Liddell, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Eric Liddell, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by his testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way, as you used Eric. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - CLASSICAL TESTIMONIES…GLADYS AYLWARD (1902 - 1970)

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. – Revelation 12:11.

By way of encouragement, I would like to devote Tuesdays to classical testimonies which have brought great blessing and glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These are of men and women, who have faithfully served for the Kingdom of God. My prayer is that you will be blessed, encouraged, and inspired by these testimonies as I was. Enjoy…

Missionary to China…
Gladys Aylward stands out as an example of how God can use someone of meager means and abilities when they give themselves over to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Born into a working class family in Edmonton, London on February 24, 1902. Daughter of a mailman and oldest of two sisters and 1 brother. Unlike many famous Christians in history, she didn't excel scholastically or set her self apart based on her exhaustive knowledge of the Bible and the classic languages, rather her early life was marked with a propensity for play acting and a willingness to serve. God prepares those He calls for the roles they are to play and these propensities would come to be contributing factors in her success as God put them to good use.

Though raised in the Anglican Church, she was not a particularly religious person in her early years and her "adequate" education and working class social position left her with few options. She became a parlor maid at the age of only 14. Her call to missions came about when she attended a revival at when she was 18 in which the preacher expounded on giving ones life over to the service of the Lord.

The message struck a cord in her heart and an awakening desire to serve on the missionary field began to blossom. Having spent the last four years serving others surely gave her a unique insight to a servant's heart. She gave her life to Christ willing to be used in whatever way He sought fit. Some sources indicate that her decision to pursue a missionary assignment to China may have come about from having read a magazine article about China, a nation where millions of people had never heard the Gospel.

She continued her work as a parlor maid with little chance to realize her calling. In her mid-twenties, she applied and was given a probationary position with the China Inland Mission Center in London but this endeavor didn't bear fruit. At the age of 26 her probation ended in failure. She had fallen short of their expectations and was rejected for service as a missionary to China. However, no one can frustrate the will of God or reject for service those who are called of God "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (Rom 11:29)

Determined to follow God by whatever means available, she continued to work and to save her money and after four years, at the age of 30, her opportunity came in the person of an aging missionary, Mrs. Jeannie Lawson,1 who was looking for a young assistant to carry on her work. Gladys was accepted but Mrs. Lawson didn't have the means to assist her with the passage to China. Adding to the difficulties, save as she might, Gladys lacked the funds to travel by ship, the preferred method of travel to distant lands. So she put her affairs in order and with only her passport, her Bible, her tickets, and two pounds nine pence, set off for a perilous, overland journey to the inland city of Yangchen, in the mountainous province of Shansi, a little south of Peking. An area where few Europeans visited and the people didn't trust foreigners.

The two women set about planning the best way to attract an audience to hear the message of Jesus. Knowing that the city in which they lived was an overnight stop for mule caravans and that the building in which they lived has once been an Inn, they determined to do some repairs and restore its original purpose offering food and care for the mules along with hospitality, food and a warm bed for the drivers at a fair price. It is reported that Gladys would run out and grab the halter of the lead mule and lead it into their courtyard. The other mules followed and the drivers went along for the ride.

In the evenings after serving a meal and before bed, the women would gather their guests and tell them stories about a man named Jesus. In this fashion, the Gospel message began to be proclaimed, not only at their Inn but by the drivers who carried the stories with them to other stops along their journey. It also served to open Gladys' mind to the new challenge of learning the language as she sat and listened to these stories, participating as she was able. She spent many hours each day learning to communicate in the vernacular of the locals until she finally was competent, something the China Inland Mission Center thought beyond her ability.

Shortly after this, her mentor, Mrs. Lawson fell and was seriously injured leading to her death a few days later. Gladys, along with the Chinese cook, who was a Christian, determined to continue the work. Fluent in the language, she began to share the Gospel in surrounding villages and through circumstance, became aware of the many unwanted children. Her missionary work turned in a different direction, care for these unwanted little ones. But her care wasn't limited to children only. During those years China was under attack by Japan and many Chinese soldiers were wounded. So she added their numbers to those for whom she provided succor. Her Inn became a refuge for 20 orphans and as many as 30 to 40 injured soldiers at a time.

The war intensified and her children charges now numbered around 100. She had become a citizen of China in 1936 and her activities in support of the local populace, including a bit of spying on the Japanese made it unsafe to remain in Yangchen. Being warned of a bounty for her capture, dead or alive, by Colonel Linnan a member of the local Chinese resistance, she gathered up the children and narrowly escaped the city.

Unable to use roads or transportation, she was forced to lead her children, on foot, over the mountains to the safer province of Sian some 100 miles distant. The trek took twenty seven days in which they had to endure the elements and many hardships. She herself had become ill en route and when they finally arrived safely, she collapsed. The doctors were amazed by the feat as she was suffering from typhus, pneumonia, a relapsing fever, malnutrition, and supreme exhaustion.

She regained some strength but never recovered totally from her illness yet this didn't stop her from continuing her ministry, now located in Sian. She started a church and once more she was sharing the Gospel in the villages, prisons and among the sick and helpless. Her ministry continued until 1947 when the new Communist regime told control. Gladys and other missionaries had to leave China and her choice of destination was decided because she had a burden for the spiritual condition of her native England.

She wrote, "England, seemingly so prosperous while other countries passed through terrible suffering at the hands of Communist domination, had forgotten what was all important - the realization that God mattered in the life of a nation no less than in that of an individual."

In 1958, after ten years in England, she left for Taiwan and started another orphanage. She remained here for the rest of her life serving God by serving His children. She died January 3rd, 1970.

She was known as 'Ai-weh-deh', (Virtuous One) by the Chinese who grew to love this foreigner they initially distrusted. She lived her life before God and for God and is an example of what He can accomplish using the least of us.

She gained some fame among Westerners in 1957 when the move 'Inn of the Sixth Happiness' was released. Although it was…
"a well-produced, heartwarming movie starring the great actress Ingrid Bergman it was a thorn in the side of Gladys Aylward. She was deeply embarrassed by the movie because it was so full of inaccuracies. Hollywood also took great liberties with her infatuation with the Chinese Colonel Linnan, even changing him into an Eurasian. But Gladys, the most chaste of women, was horrified to learn the movie had portrayed her in 'love scenes'. She suffered greatly over what she considered her soiled reputation."

Are you willing to do whatever it takes and give your all to win the lost to Christ? Then like, Gladys Aylward, put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water, and dare to follow Jesus wherever He leads you?

Loving Father, I thank you for the life of Gladys Aylward, and I pray that anyone reading this may be inspired by her testimony to give their life to you, and that you would use them in the same way as Gladys. By the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to be a person of like faith, that I may bring glory to your name. In the wonderful and mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged.
GBYAY

DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT – WEDNESDAY WARRIOR! #6.

When we are in hand-to-hand conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil himself, neat little Biblical confectionery is like shooting lions with a pea-shooter; God needs a man who will let go and deliver blows right and left as hard as he can hit, in the power of the Holy Ghost. Nothing but forked-lightning Christians will count. – C.T. Studd.

Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well; - 1 Timothy 1:18.

There should be no doubt in any Christians mind, that we are at war with Satan, for the souls of men, women, and children. It is a war that must be fought if we are to stand before Jesus, and hear His wonderful words… "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' - Matthew 25:23.

One of the best examples of a good and faithful warrior is… C.T. Studd.

Wealth and luxury surrounded C.T. Studd as he grew up in the 1870's on the family estate in Wiltshire. C.T. received the finest education, attending Cambridge University, where he also enjoyed an illustrious athletic career. As captain of the cricket team and best all around player of the Cambridge Eleven, C.T. Studd was considered by many to be, "England's greatest cricketer." But God had a different plan for the life of C.T. Studd, one that would require him to sacrifice wealth and prestige and to dedicate his life to foreign missions.

One night C.T. Studd went to hear D.L. Moody speak, and following the message C.T. made the decision to devote his life to missionary service. His decision created a sensation, and he with six other students, who were dubbed the "Cambridge Seven", sailed to China together to serve under China Inland Mission. "Never before in the history of missions," wrote a newspaper reporter, "has so unique a band set out to labor in the foreign field." To many people the decision of the "Cambridge Seven" was a rash move and a tremendous waste of intellect and ability. But to Studd and the other six it was using their ability to the fullest.

Studd's tenure in China was less than a decade, but it was filled with activity. He met and married Priscilla Steward; and had four daughters born to him on Chinese soil. "For five years", wrote Studd, "we never went outside our doors without a volley of curses from our neighbors." But their ministry tarried-Priscilla with her evangelistic work with the women and C.T. in his work with the opium addicts.

Illness forced Studd to come back to England in 1894, and for the next six years he spoke throughout the United States and England. His words were spoken in conviction to students, and according to J. Herbert Kane, "… student by the thousands flocked to his meetings, sometimes six a day… and hundreds, caught up in the revival movement, volunteered for missionary service." Studd then moved to India for six years and again back to England where spoke to thousands of students.

But while he was in England, Studd heard that there were hundreds of thousands of tribal people in Central Africa who had never once heard the gospel because, "no Christian had ever gone to tell of Jesus." "The shame," according to Studd sank deep into his soul. So, Studd, against the advice of his doctors left for Africa. He preached the gospel and won many to the Lord and his efforts opened the doors for missionaries to reach those remote peoples.

C.T. Studd sacrificed his life for the work of the Lord and stood for the conviction of his spirit. He was a man who served God and lived to bring hope to the hopeless.

What a powerful man of God C.T was, what a great example to follow into battle!

Here are further quotes from the mighty warrior…

Funds are low again, hallelujah! That means God trusts us and is willing to leave His reputation in our hands.

Christ's call is to save the lost, not the stiff-necked; He came not to call scoffers but sinners to repentance; not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home in which to rock Christian professors to sleep by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers, and artistic musical performances, but to capture men from the devil's clutches and the very jaws of Hell. This can be accomplished only by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered devotion, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the Lord Jesus Christ.

A lost reputation is the best degree for Christ's service.

We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism... To your knees, Christian! And to your Bible! Decide at once! Don't hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God, quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying, and cowardly excuses. Enlist! – C.T. Studd.

Loving Father, help me by the power of the Holy Spirit to be a mighty warrior for you, and for the extension of your Kingdom, help me to follow the example of great warriors like C.T. Studd. I ask this in the wonderful Name of Jesus. Amen .

Be encouraged!
GBYAY