Quite often last year (via Internet) I visited a church in southeast England called King's Church. This morning I ended up there again, not exactly intentionally, but clearly by the Lord's leading. The sermon I was taken to is by a speaker named Christen Forster. He is a gentle man with a strong message. So much of what he says here resonates with me.
I'd like to pass on a link posted last week by Rose McCormick Brandon ("Listening to My Hair Grow") to the short book entitled How I Know God Answers Prayer, written by the missionary Rosalind Goforth (1864-1942).
It is just what the no-nonsense title suggests: a series of stories documenting God's faithful answers to prayer. It's available online from Project Gutenberg, in various formats (html, plain text, Kindle, e-pub, etc.). Here's the link: How I Know God Answers Prayer by Rosalind Goforth ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul. ... Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. The Lord will accomplish what concerns me [.] Psalm 138:3, 7-8a A dear friend recently loaned me a biography of Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), one of the earliest missionary pioneers to China. It's no coincidence that God has me reading this book right now. Through Hudson Taylor's insights, I see that the critical issues He's been tackling in me recently are the symptom of a much deeper underlying work He wishes to do. I read and re-read this letter Hudson Taylor wrote to one of his sisters, which appears in the biography I'm reading but has also been reproduced online*: "The Exchanged Life" On my second and third readings of this letter, I became increasingly frustrated to read about Hudson Taylor's immediate grasp of the principles God revealed to him. Perhaps because we live in an information-oversaturated age, I can read the very same words he did and not be transformed in the way he was. It helped a great deal, therefore, to read the letters Taylor subsequently wrote to his children (at school in England) and to another sister, in which he expounds on these truths in plainer, but profound, terms: From a letter to his children**:
From a letter to another sister***:
This is part of a new beginning for me. It's not yet the reality of my everyday walk, but one day, before too long, I believe it will be. I have prayed God to make it plain to me, and to help me so to trust in Jesus.
_______________ Sources: * Found on the "Wholesome Words" website, under Worldwide Missions -- Missionary Biographies -- James Hudson Taylor -- The Exchanged Life. ** From page 181 of Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor (Howard and Geraldine Taylor), Chicago: Moody Press, 2009. (First published in 1932) *** From page 182 of the same book |
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November 2022
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Christ Jesus is
gold without alloy -- light without darkness -- glory without cloud -- "Yea, He is altogether lovely." Charles Spurgeon |