I Have Decided

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)


"I HAVE DECIDED..."
Over 150 years ago, missionaries from Great Britain and Germany travelled to northeast India to preach the gospel. During this time, a man, his wife and two children were converted to Christ. Their spontaneous faith spread throughout the village, angering the leader of the community. He summoned the man before the village and demanded that he renounce his Christian faith or face execution. The man, facing this crucial decision, sang a song that is now sung around the world,

“I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” 

Enraged, the chief ordered the archers to shoot the two children. As both of the boys lay twitching on the ground, the chief asked, “Now will you renounce your faith? You have lost both of your children. You will lose your wife as well.”  The man replied by singing,

 “Though no one joins me, still will I follow. Though no one joins me, still will I follow. Though no one joins me, still will I follow. No turning back, no turning back.” 

The chief was beside himself with rage and he ordered the wife put to death. Now he asked for the final time, “Now I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live. There is no one for you in the world.”  The man then sang,

“The cross before me, the world behind me. The cross before me, the world behind me. The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back, no turning back.” 

Eventually the courage of this man and his family would lead to the conversion of this chief and the entire village, but he didn’t know that at that time. His call was simply to be unashamed of the gospel. Their death (as is the death of all His saints) was a tragedy and not something that God allows lightly (see Psalm 116:15). Yet, God was able to cause something beautiful to come out of it.

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)

Maurice Reuben of Pittsburgh

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)

MAURICE REUBEN OF PITTSBURGH – The Rich Young Ruler of the 20^th Century

Matt. 19: 16- 26 Amp

¹⁶ And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what [essentially] good thing shall I do to obtain eternal life [that is, eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom]?” ¹⁷ Jesus answered, “Why are you asking Me about what is [essentially] good? There is only One who is [essentially] good; but if you wish to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ He said to Jesus, “Which commandments?” And Jesus answered, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false testimony; ¹⁹ Honor your father and mother; and love your neighbor as yourself” [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others]. ²⁰ The young man said to Him, “I have kept all these things [from my youth]; what do I still lack?”²¹ Jesus answered him, “If you wish to be perfect [that is, have the spiritual maturity that accompanies godly character with no moral or ethical deficiencies], go and sell what you have and give [the money] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me [becoming My disciple, believing and trusting in Me and walking the same path of life that I walk].” ²² But when the young man heard this, he left grieving and distressed, for he owned much property and had many possessions [which he treasured more than his relationship with God].

²³ Jesus said to His disciples, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, it is difficult for a rich man [who clings to possessions and status as security] to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man [who places his faith in wealth and status] to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were completely ^[c]astonished and bewildered, saying, “Then who can be saved [from the wrath of God]?” ²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said, “With people [as far as it depends on them] it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

•           Maurice Reuben was a Messianic Jew who lived in America.
•      He belonged to a wealthy Jewish family and had the best the world could give him
•           He was a director of Solomon and Reuben, one of the largest stores of Pittsburgh.

Everything seemed to be going on well with this ‘rich young ruler’ before he asked one of his regular buyers whose life put him under deep conviction: ‘You must have been born happy’, to which the customer replied, ‘. “Yes, in my second birth. I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and was born of God. In my first birth I was no happier than you!”

Reuben was so moved by this testimony that he bought a New Testament, and there he was impressed with the fact that all those who followed Jesus were Jews: John the Baptist pointing to Him as the Lamb of God; Peter, James and John, the chief disciples; and to a Jew the Saviour had said, “On this rock will I build My Church.” Then he came to the story of the rich young ruler. It was a dramatic moment — a rich Jew of the twentieth century and under conviction, reading of the Saviour’s dealings with a rich Jew of the first century! The way that Reuben saw it was that if Jesus had told that young man to sell all to inherit eternal life, how could he, Reuben, inherit the same gift, unless on the same condition? It was his supreme test. If he became a disciple, he knew that he too stood to lose all. But it was too late to go back; he had seen it, and he must follow;

Reuben faced it fairly and squarely and counted the cost. His wife might leave him, his brother put him out of the business, and not a single Jew follow him, but he had made up his mind; if he lost everything, he meant to do it.
(Let us pause for a brief moment of reflection here: There is a cost for following Jesus, have you counted the cost? Are you prepared to lose everything for HIM? – Luke 14: 26-33)

Then one day, on the way to the store, Reuben heard a voice repeating to him the words of John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” The truth flashed upon him — he accepted Christ and entered into life that moment, he then told his brother and others. According to his father’s will he was to forfeit every penny if he changed his religion, but his brother offered to give him $70,000 — his share of the business — if he would cross U.S.A. and retire in Montana. But Reuben replied, “I have had the light in Pittsburgh, and I am going to witness in Pittsburgh.”

Late that Saturday night detectives came and took him to the police station. On Monday two doctors visited his cell and asked him about the voice he had heard. “Do they question my sanity?” he thought.

Two hours later warders came from the asylum and took him to a room where there were twenty-nine mentally deranged people. The bitterness of his position overcame him. He had victory in the lock-up, but this seemed more than he could bear. He fell on his knees by his bed and poured out his heart to the Lord. He did not know how long he was there, but he seemed to lose himself, and a vision of Calvary appeared to him. He said he witnessed every stage of the crucifixion. He forgot his own sufferings in the sufferings of the Saviour, and as he gazed on the Cross, the Master Himself said to him, “And must I bear the Cross alone, and all the world go free?” From a broken heart Reuben answered, “No. There’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.”

From that hour he was a new man. Instead of complaining at being in the asylum, he began to pray for the other twenty-nine, and to the Saviour he said, “Let me suffer for You. Whatever You allow me to go through, I will never complain again.”

(Pause: Think of people going through whatever challenge you might be facing right now and spend a moment to forget about yourself and pray for them)

Two weeks later, Reuben’s brother came to see him, and reproached him for his folly in getting himself into such a place. “Why won’t you be wise?” he said. “Get out of here and go to Montana.” “Does that offer still stand? Then it is not a medical condition but something else that is keeping me here!” said Reuben with all the keenness of his logical mind.

Some Christian friends he was in touch with caused inquiries to be set on foot. In six weeks his release was procured. It became a court case, and the test was on the voice.

The judge called the doctor and asked why this man had been certified as insane. “Because he heard a voice,” said the doctor. “Didn’t the Apostle Paul hear a voice?” countered the judge, who was a Christian man. “This is a disgrace to the American flag,” and he told Reuben to prosecute everyone who had anything to do with it.

“I shall never prosecute one,” answered Reuben, “but I will do one thing — I will pray for them.” He crossed the court and offered his hand to his brother, but he turned his back on him. He went to his wife, but she did the same. But what a victory he had in his own soul!

He rented a small room in Chicago, where he lived alone with the Lord and won many converts, though for two years he hardly ever had a square meal. A year later his wife came to hear him in a camp meeting and was converted, and for the first time he saw his little boy who had been born after his wife had left him. She was willing to make her home with him again, if only he would earn a living as other Christians did. His heart went out to his little boy, and this test was even greater than the first. Her request seemed so reasonable, but he knew that the Lord had called him from the world into this life of faith. He pleaded with the Lord, but the only reply he received was, “Back to Egypt!”

It was enough, and once more Reuben embraced the Cross. He went to see his wife and child off; it was a costly experience; but as the train steamed out of the station it seemed that God poured the joy of heaven into his soul. He literally danced on the platform. He did not see his wife for another three years. Then, in another camp meeting, she too had a revelation of the Cross, as a result of which she testified, that whereas before as a believer she had not been willing to share the sacrificial life of her husband, if it would be for God’s glory, she would now be willing to beg her bread from door to door. They were reunited and she became a wonderful co-worker with him in his ministry.

LET US PRAY:

• Mark 8: 22-25:   ²² Then they came to Bethsaida; and some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged Him to touch him. ²³ Taking the blind man by the hand, He led him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴ And he looked up and said, “I see people, but [they look] like trees, walking around.” ²⁵ Then again Jesus laid His hands on his eyes; and the man stared intently and [his sight] was [completely] restored, and he began to see everything clearly. 

• Dear Lord, thank You, I have seen something (still seeing) since You brought me to Calvary. Like Maurice REUBEN I cannot go back now, I have seen it and I must follow on.
• Thank You Lord, for the evacuation of my old man at Calvary. I have seen that at least and it’s glorious.
• Thank You for taking Your abode inside of me, and the decluttering that You are effecting inside my vessel to make it meet for Your ultimate use.
• But LORD, I need a second touch, a fresh revelation of Calvary. Let me witness every stage of Your crucifixion, let me ‘see’ and have a fellowship of Your suffering henceforth without complaining. All the heroes of faith SAW something that I must see.
• Dear Lord, please forgive me for all the missed opportunities to bear my cross – complaining and seeking pity during moments of discomfort (lack, loss, etc), mistaking such encounters as ‘enemies’ troubling my life. (Read ‘The Price, Plight and Perils of the Anointed’ by Gbile Akanni.)
• Lord, I am ashamed of some of the contents of my prayers….. how I have grieved Your heart those moments You sent me grace to embrace the Cross. Please forgive me, I repent very deeply for my foolishness today.
• You must not bear the Cross alone LORD, there is a CROSS for me.

Lord, when You came into Reuben, You became his wife, son, store, riches and the world. I embrace You today as my EVERYTHING!!! MARANATHA!!!!

Maria Jane Dyer

16 January 1837 – 23 July 1870

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)

Maria Jane Dyer

Proverbs 31:10-31

¹⁰ A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.
¹² She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
¹³ She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”

³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Maria Jane Dyer, the youngest child of pioneer missionary Samuel Dyer and his wife Maria, was born in Penang, Malaya. Her father died in 1843. Her mother, Mary Tarn Dyer, married fellow missionary J.G. Bausum in 1845 and remained in Penang. She died the next year, however, so Maria and her older sister Burella were sent back to England to live with their uncle, William Tarn, a director of the Religious Tract Society, and his wife, who were their guardians. The sisters were inseparable, so Maria accompanied Burella when she went to college to train as a teacher, and again when she set sail for China in 1852 at the invitation of Miss M.A. Aldersey to help in her school for girls in Ningbo.

She had been brought up as an Anglican, but her religion was merely formal until sometime during the voyage to China, when she placed her trust in Christ alone as Saviour from sin. The girls were taught Chinese during the journey, having learned a bit when they were children in Penang. After arriving in Ningbo at the age of sixteen, she pursued language study and became quite fluent in the Ningbo dialect, able to read straight from an English book, translating it into Chinese for her students as she went. In addition to helping in Miss Aldersey’s school, she ran ‘an infant school’. Three years later, she was described as “vivacious, witty and intelligent, a very attractive nineteen-year-old with her fine, warm light-brown hair and slim figure.” Like most educated women of her time, she played the piano-forte.

What did Maria see in Hudson Taylor that made her choose him above all her suitors? The young missionary impressed her as having longings like her own, after holiness, usefulness and nearness to God. He seemed to live in such a real world and to have such a real, great God. Other missionaries disliked his wearing Chinese dress, and did not approve of his making himself so entirely one with the people.  His Chinese dress - how she loved it! Or what it represented. His poverty and generous giving to the destitute - how well she understood, how much she sympathized! Did others think him visionary in his longing to reach the great beyond of untouched need? Why, that was just the burden of her heart, the life she too would live, only for a woman it seemed if anything more impracticable.

They were married on January 23, 1858, one week after Maria turned twenty-one. Maria immediately became Hudson Taylor’s indispensable companion and partner in ministering to Chinese of all sorts, but principally the poor. She continued visiting Chinese women and receiving them in their home in Ningbo, while he engaged in preaching, medical work, and constant interviews with inquirers and new believers. The congregation soon grew.

“Her hand wrote for him, her faith strengthened his own, her prayers undergirded the whole work and her practical experience and loving heart made her the Mother of the whole Mission.” Their home began to fill up with candidates for service in China, while Maria not only ran the household but served as Hudson’s secretary. On the four months’ journey to China on the Lammeruir with the first batch of new missionaries, Hudson Taylor taught them Chinese in the mornings and Maria in the afternoons, though she was ill most of the time. After arriving in Shanghai in October, 1866, they all changed into Chinese dress, Maria helping the women make the adaptation, though at first wearing Chinese costume was a real trial to her. A keen observer of the Chinese, she knew the additional responsibilities which this change would entail: I feel there is considerably more danger of our offending Chinese prejudice in the native costume than in our own. Things which are tolerated in us as foreigners in foreign dress could not be allowed for one moment in (Chinese) ladies. . . The nearer we come to (the Chinese) in outward appearance, the more severely will any breach of their notions of propriety be criticized. Henceforth I must never be guilty, for instance, of taking my husband’s arm in the street. And in fifty or a hundred other ways we may most inadvertently shock the Chinese by our grossly immodest and unfeminine conduct.

They moved up the Yangzi River in houseboats, finally stopping in Hangzhou, where the party of missionaries moved into what had been a mandarin’s residence. A dispensary, a chapel, and the usual activities of missionary work commenced. Maria began an “Industrial School for Women.” “While the women worked, mostly at sewing, Maria talked and read to them, with the result that they became familiar with the gospels. Several were among the first to be baptized.”   The Taylors commenced their practice of having one or more unmarried missionary women attached to their household for training as well as to help them. Frequently, Maria kept things going while Hudson made pioneer trips into the interior. “Though ‘always ailing,’ . . . Maria was the one to whom others turned.” 

After two months on houseboats in the summer of 1868, they settled in Yangzhou. Initial friendliness gave way to murderous hatred as a vicious crowd, stirred up by the local literati, threatened to storm their house. When the mob finally stormed the house, Maria and others held off the rioters. Some missionaries escaped from the second story when the house was set on fire. An assailant tried to throw one of the men off the roof, “Mrs. Taylor and I together caught hold of him and dragged him into the room. The man (then) snatched an immense brick from the wall which had been partly broken down in the scuffle and lifted his arm to dash it at Mr. Rudland’s head.” Rudland continued the narrative: “Mrs. Taylor put up her hand and stopped the blow; whereupon the man turned to strike her with the brick, but she said to him, ‘Would you strike a defenceless woman?’ The man, hearing her speak his own language and with such beautiful calmness, was amazed and dropped the brick.” Finally she and the others jumped out the window to the ground, about fifteen feet below. She was six months pregnant with their fourth son, Charles Edward. She received some injury to her ankle, was almost faint from loss of blood, and feared she might have a miscarriage, “But God was our stay, and He forsook us not. That confidence He gave me - that he would surely work good for China out of our distress.”

A CIM missionary who visited them wrote, “When I saw them  Mrs. Hudson Taylor was sitting down in the middle of the room amidst all this confusion as composedly as possible, going on with the composition of the Ningbo Dictionary. She had a wonderful power of concentration. Mr. Taylor lay sick on a bed in the same room . . . She struck me as remarkable for her Christian faith and courage. She had a delicate, sweet face - a fragile body, but a sweet expressive face of indomitable perseverance and courage.”

She had suffered permanent injury, however, and became more and more frail and sickly. Still, when Hudson Taylor traveled she occasionally went with him, especially when he was called upon for help with the delivery of a child. She “sometimes joined him at his patient’s home to nurse the mother and infant after Hudson’s work was done.” Always, she kept up his correspondence along with Emily Blatchley.

At a time when Hudson Taylor was going through the intense spiritual struggle that would lead to his learning of “the exchanged life,” a missionary wrote of Maria, “Only Maria was unmoved, wondering ‘what we are all groping after,’ . . . an experience she had long been living in the enjoyment of. I have rarely met as Christlike a Christian as Mrs. Taylor.” Another said, “It gave her that beautiful calmness and confidence in God (in which) up to that time she so surpassed her husband.”

In 1870, with the approach of the heat of summer, the Taylors saw that their children were suffering from the heat and the privations of life in China, and decided that they must be sent home to England. Miss Emily Blatchley offered to care for them. Even before they sailed, however, the chronic condition of the youngest son Samuel, who was five years old, worsened dramatically. He was buried in a cemetery in Zhenjiang, on the Yangzi River upstream from Shanghai, whence the others departed shortly thereafter.

Others in the Mission became sick as well, and had to be tended by the Taylors. When the wife of one worker was desperately ill and Hudson Taylor could not leave another patient, Maria went herself, arriving in the middle of the night in a wheelbarrow (a most uncomfortable conveyance). Her husband recalled: Suffering though Mrs. Taylor was at the time and worn with hard travelling, she insisted on my going to bed and that she would undertake the nursing. Nothing would induce her to rest. “No,” she said, “You have quite enough to bear without sitting up at night any more. Go to bed, for I shall stay with your wife whether you do or not.” Never can I forget that firmness and love with which it was said - her face meanwhile shining with the tenderness of Him in whom it was her joy and strength to abide.

Their eldest daughter, Grace, died during their first year in China. Maria felt the loss deeply, and poured out her emotions in poetry, as she had done earlier in life after the death of her parents. Amid the struggle of the first year back in China, she wrote: “As to the harsh judgings of the world, or the more painful misunderstandings of Christian brethren, I generally feel that the best plan is to go on with our work and leave God to vindicate our cause.”

Of Maria's and Hudson's nine children, three died at birth and two in childhood. The four who reached adulthood all later became missionaries with the China Inland Mission. In 1897, Hudson's & Maria's only surviving daughter, Maria Hudson Taylor, the wife of John Joseph Coulthard, died in Wenzhou, leaving four little children and her husband in sorrow. She had been instrumental in leading many Chinese women to Christianity during her short life. Later in the summer, another son, Noel, was born, but Maria was stricken with cholera and could not adequately nurse him; he died after only one week, on July 20, before a suitable Chinese nurse could be found. Maria’s condition, tuberculosis enteritis, worsened and soon she was dying also.

Years later, Hudson Taylor wrote this: When I said, “My darling, do you know you are dying?” She said, “I am so sorry, dear,” and paused, as if half correcting herself for venturing to feel sorry. I said, “You are not sorry to go to be with Jesus, dear?” I shall never forget the look she gave me, and as looking right into my eyes, she said, “Oh, no, it is not that; you know, darling there has not been a cloud between my soul and my Savior for ten years past; I cannot be sorry to go to Him. But I am sorry to leave you alone at this time.”

It was July 23, 1870. She was thirty-three, and they had been married twelve and a half years. To the end, their love remained strong, even passionate. Despite many separations, they were always one in heart and spirit. Sometimes, to preserve privacy, Hudson sent her letters in the Romanized Ningbo dialect to express his tenderest thoughts. They wrote to each other constantly, letters “full of business details interspersed with love.” “My heart yearns for you,” Hudson wrote often, and she was no less affectionate. The four children who survived her - Herbert Hudson, Frederick Howard, Maria Hudson, and Charles Edward - went on to become CIM missionaries.

PRAYERS

Hebrews 4 :1 - 3a
“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ² For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. ³ Now we who have believed enter that rest,”

Lord, that I may enter into Your rest in simple child-like faith and know the pleasure of serving you effortlessly and accomplishing much in my day in Jesus’ name.

Help me to always remember that someone like Maria Hudson Taylor gave so much of her life in such a very short space of time, Amen.

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)

Frances Ridley Havergal

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-1.30pm (UK time)

Psalm 30:12 -"That my heart may sing to you and not be silent. 
O Lord my God; I will give you thanks forever."

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) was a Christian devotional writer, poetess, hymn writer and musician. Havergal was born into an Anglican family, at Astley in Worcestershire. Her father, William Henry Havergal, was a clergyman, writer, composer, and hymn writer. Her brother, Henry East Havergal, was a priest in the Church of England and an organist.

As a child, she did not attend school as other children did, for she was advanced far beyond her age level.  She was read­ing by age four, and be­gan writ­ing verses at age se­ven. She studied English, German, French, Hebrew, Latin and Welsh, and mem­o­rised the Psalms, the book of Isai­ah, and most of the New Test­a­ment. "Beside the rich chords and tuneful songs in our home," she wrote later, "there were wise and holy influences. Our parents' prayers and their fine example for living which they gave us, were the keynotes of our child life."

When Frances was eleven she was called to her dying mother's bedside. The mother urged the girl to give herself and her talents wholly to the Lord. "You are my youngest little girl," she said. "And I feel more anxious about you than the rest. I do pray for the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you. And, remember, nothing but the precious blood of Jesus can make you clean and lovely in God's sight." A little later she added, "Fanny, pray to God to prepare you for all that He is preparing for you." These words remained with the girl throughout her entire life. At the age of fourteen she was sent to a select school for girls at Belmont and it was while she was at this school that she took a definite stand for Christ.

"The sunless ravines were now forever past," she wrote of the experience of salvation, "and henceforth peace and joy flowed outward, deepening and widening under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It was the word "cleanseth" which opened a door of very glory and hope to me. Not a coming to be cleansed in the fountain only, but remaining in the fountain, so that it may and can go on cleansing. "The utterly unexpected and altogether unimagined sense of its fulfilment to me, on simply believing in its fullness, was indescribable. I expect nothing like it short of heaven."  She was bap­tised by hym­nist, John Ca­wood.

She became a brilliant singer and piano-player, and a glittering career in society was open before her. But she considered all her talents to be only loans from the Lord, to be used in His service. She would not even sing, except sacred music, and for the purpose of winning souls. She lavished her strength upon work for the Master, teaching in Sunday schools, writing letters, writing many leaflets and books, conducting religious meetings, and making public addresses. She was often sick, and her life was short, but she accomplished a wonderful amount of noble work. She does not occupy, and did not claim for herself, a prominent place as a poet, but by her distinct individuality, she carved out a niche which she alone could fill. Simply and sweetly she sang the love of God, and His way of salvation. To this end, and for this object, her whole life and all her powers were consecrated. She lives and speaks in every line of her poetry. Her poems are permeated with the fragrance of her passionate love of Jesus. The burden of her writings is a free and full salvation, through the Redeemer's merits, for every sinner who will receive it, and her life was devoted to the proclamation of this truth by personal labours, literary efforts, and earnest interest in Foreign Missions.

She led a quiet life, not enjoying consistent good health; she travelled, in particular to Switzerland. She supported the Church Missionary Society. At the close of 1873, Miss Havergal came to long for a deeper knowledge of God. On Sunday, December 2, of that year she was brought to see, as by a flash of light, that she could not have the full blessedness of a Christian without a full surrender to Christ. On the first of February, 1874, Miss Havergal was visiting in a home where there were ten persons, some of them not converted, some of them Christians but not very happy ones. A great longing seized upon Miss Havergal that all of these might, before she left, come to know her Saviour as joyfully as she had just come to know Him. That prayer was granted, and before she left the house. On the last night of her stay, February 4, she was too happy to sleep, and spent the night writing this hymn, closing with the triumphant line, "Ever, ONLY, ALL for Thee!" Miss Havergal made the hymn a standard for her own living. Years afterward she wrote in a letter, "I had a great time early this morning renewing the never-regretted consecration." 

Frances took an active part in church work and taught a Sunday school class in her father's church for fourteen years. She kept their names, birthdays, something about their home conditions and the impression each child made on her in her roll book. A school-girl wrote the following account of a visit which Frances made to Celebridge Lodge, Ireland, in 1856. We were in a great state of delight at the thought of seeing "the little English lady." In a few seconds Miss Frances, carolling like a bird, flashed into the room! Flashed—yes, I say the word advisedly—flashed in like a burst of sunshine, like a hillside breeze, and stood before us...her eyes dancing and her great sweet voice ringing through the room. I sat perfectly spellbound as she sang, chant and hymn, with marvelous sweetness, and then played two or three Handel compositions which thrilled me through and through. When she finished, she said with a merry laugh, "The next time I come to Ireland, we will get up a little singing class, and then you can all sing with me."

Another of the class thought that there must be the music of God's own love in that fair singer's heart. There was joy in her face, joy in her words and joy in her ways. And the secret cry went up from that young Irish heart, "Lord, teach me, even me, to know and love Thee, too." "Take my voice, and let me sing, always, only, for my King" and she sang nothing but sacred music of the love of God and His way of salvation. Her life's mission was to sing and work for Jesus. She had both a great taste for music and a good knowledge of harmony, a natural and inherited turn for melody, a ringing touch on the piano, a beautiful and well-trained voice. These gifts she now entirely devoted to Christ; whether at home or in mixed society she always "sang for Jesus." Her prayer, "Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold," in the same hymn, was not lightly stated. In August, 1878, Miss Havergal wrote to a friend, "The Lord has shown me another little step, and, of course, I have taken it with extreme delight. 'Take my silver and my gold' now means shipping off all my ornaments to the church Missionary House, including a jewel cabinet that is really fit for a countess, where all will be accepted and disposed of for me ... Nearly fifty articles are being packed up. I don't think I ever packed a box with such pleasure.

Frances Havergal was a contemporary of Fanny Crosby (1820-1915). Although these two gifted women never met, each was an admirer of the other. In a letter sent by Miss Havergal to Fanny Crosby, she wrote:

Dear blind sister over the sea—
An English heart goes forth to thee.
We are linked by a cable of faith and song,
Flashing bright sympathy swift along
One in the East and one in the West,
Singing for Him whom our souls love best.
Singing for Jesus! Telling His love
All the way to our home above,
Where the severing sea, with its restless tide
Never shall hinder and never divide.
Sister, what shall our meeting soon be
When our hearts shall sing and our eyes shall see?

When Frances was sixteen, her father remarried. In 1870, her father died suddenly. Frail in health all of her life, Miss Havergal, one day, caught a severe cold which caused inflammation of the lungs. When told that her life was in danger, she exclaimed, "If I am really going, it is too good to be true!" At another time she responded, "Splendid to be so near the gates of heaven." At the very end, it is reported that she sang clearly, but faintly, another of her hymns, "Jesus, I Will Trust Thee, Trust Thee with My Soul." Then, according to reports by her sister, she looked up steadfastly, as if she saw the Lord; and surely nothing less heavenly could have reflected such a glorious radiance upon her face. For ten minutes we watched that almost visible meeting with her King, and her countenance was so glad, as if she were already talking to Him! Then she tried to sing; but after one sweet, high note her voice failed, and as her brother commended her soul into the Redeemer's hand, she passed away.

Frances Ridley Havergal died of peritonitis near Caswell Bay on the Gower Peninsula in Wales at age 42. She is buried in the far western corner of the churchyard at St Peter's parish church, Astley, together with her father and near her sister, Maria Vernon Graham Havergal, and on her tombstone is engraved, as she herself wished, her favourite text: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." She wrote over Ninety songs and books. Some of her songs, so famous worldwide are:

Lord speak to me that I may speak
I could not do without Thee
Take my life and let it be

PRAYER 

1. Father, thank You that Frances Havergal made the Lord Jesus her pursuit, her objective in life, and her focus. She reaped the immense joy of knowing and being with the Master. Her life and works reaped great harvest of souls when she was alive and is still doing till this day, over hundred and thirty years after her death. Please make us Your people worthy of Your calling and help us to understand that we have only but a short space of time to spread Your love and make you known as she did.

2. At the close of 1873, Miss Havergal came to long for a deeper knowledge of God. On Sunday, the second of December of that year, she was brought to see, as by a flash of light, that she could not have the full blessedness of a Christian without a full surrender to Christ, so she surrendered all her life to serving the Master.

HOW DO I ENTER INTO THE FULL BLESSEDNESS OF A CHRISTIAN?

a) If I abide in Him, I bear much fruit.  If I abide in Him, I keep His commandments, and if I keep His commandments, I abide in His love. His joy will remain in me and this joy will be great.

John 15:4 -“Abide in Me, and I in you.” 

John 15:8-11 -“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Lord, open my eyes to see that a full and complete, glorious and blessed life has been prepared, waiting for every child who will, by faith, come to abide in Christ.  Let grace bring me to a full and total surrender to Jesus, and to continuously abide, in Jesus’ name.

b) John 10:10 - “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Frances Havergal said ‘No’ to the thief and all his purpose and said ‘Yes’ to abundant life in Christ. 

Lord, may I know that life; that even weak and sickly, she accomplished great work for Your kingdom in a very short life; that life that is strengthened by the joy of the Lord.

c)  She gave away all her gold and gems, trinkets and all, for mission work; she sang, wrote hymns and books; taught in Sunday schools and held meetings for her Master Jesus. 

Lord, may I value nothing else on this earth save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

3. Daniel 6:3 KJV – “Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.”

Lord, give us homes where every parent is strongly rooted in Christ to give the correct guidance, direction and indoctrination to their children, that they will have a clear sight and understanding of who Jesus is, just as the parents of Frances did.

Lord, let our children be set apart from their childhood like Frances Havergal; given an excellent spirit like Daniel; an intelligent heart, full of wisdom, knowledge  and learning, in whom the Spirit of God dwells, and consecrated to God Almighty all their lives.

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-1.30pm (UK time)

James Hudson Taylor

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)

PSALM 90:12 - So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom
 

James Hudson Taylor was taught of God how to number the days he was given here on earth and he really glorified God by a life of total surrender to serve God in missionary work in China under harsh and difficult conditions and situations.  He walked with God in his day and finished the work given him victoriously and now resting with the Father.

He was born on 21 May 1832, the son of a chemist (pharmacist) and Methodist lay preacher. As a young man he ran away from the Christian beliefs of his Parents, but at seventeen he got converted after reading an evangelistic tract entitled ''Poor Richard''.

 In December 1849, same year he professed faith in Christ, he committed himself to going to China as a missionary.
There were tutors and guardians that God provided him with who taught him the way of the Lord.

He learned mission faith principles, especially depending on the Lord for one’s everyday needs. He moved to a poor neighbourhood to be a medical assistant with Robert Hardy, distributing tracts, preaching, etc.

His was a total conversion to Christ, he took Christ the way he saw Him: 

• Christ the truth, he embraced it
• Christ the life, he lived it.
• He had no other ambitions, goals or gains, he sought Christ only and His kingdom.
• He borrowed a copy of China’s history- it's state and prospects, devoured it and began studying languages of Mandarin, Greek, Hebrew and Latin. 
• As preparation for working in China, he enrolled for medicine in 1852 at Royal London hospital in Whitechapel, London.
•  He left England before completing his medical studies, arriving in Shanghai, China on 1 March 1854. Five months of a nearly disastrous voyage, he landed in China with the civil war raging on.
• In 1855, as the war ceased, Taylor made 18 preaching tours, made a decision to adopt the traditional Chinese clothes, had his forehead shaven bald as is the Chinese custom with pony tail at the back, here he was just a man of 22yrs old.
• He distributed thousands of Chinese gospel tracts and portions of scriptures in and around Shanghai, adopted Chinese children. At the age of 26 (1858), he married  Maria Jane Dyer, a pioneer missionary to the Chinese in Penang, Malaysia.
• He had eight children which all died in missions and away from mission.
• Their last surviving daughter died at the age of thirty on mission field leaving behind 4 children.
• In June 1865, at Brighton, Taylor dedicated himself to God to the founding of a new society to undertake the evangelisation of the unreached in the Mainland China. 
• China Inland Mission was formed under a deep sense of China's pressing need: with an earnest desire, constrained by the love of Christ, and the hope of His coming, to obey His command to preach the gospel to every creature, It's aim is to bring the Chinese people to the saving knowledge of the love God in Christ

METHODS

• Duly qualified candidates for missionary labour should be accepted without restriction as to denomination, provided there was soundness in faith in all fundamental truths,
• That all missionaries should go out in dependence upon God in temporal supplies.
• James Hudson Taylor spent 51 years in China, the society that he began was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to the country who began 125 schools which resulted in 18.000 Christian conversions, as well as the establishment of more than 300 stations of work with more than 500 local helpers in all 18 provinces. 
• Taylor preached in several varieties of Chinese dialects.
•  He helped prepare a colloquial edition of the New Testament.

• Historian Ruth Tucker summarises the theme of his life: No other missionary in the nineteen centuries since the apostle Paul has had a wider vision and has carried out a more systematised plan of evangelising a broad geographical area than Hudson Taylor.

• Taylor said, ''oh, for eloquence to plead the cause of China, for a pencil dipped in fire to paint the condition of this people''  He wrote to his sister Amelia Hudson, ''if I had a thousand pounds, China should have it, if I had a thousand lives, China should have them. NO! not China, but Christ. Can we do too much for Him? Can we do enough for such a precious saviour?”
• He travelled as far America to bring even 14 missionaries from there.
• James Hudson Taylor was completely sold out to God in the matter of Chinese people’s need of salvation and also their physical needs. 
•  He travelled to and fro between China and England amid sicknesses, violent attacks and loss of lives of those close to him, mishaps, etc, seeking out missionaries and working relentlessly, each time the journey taking 5 months.
• God had mercy on Hudson in 1869 as he was influenced by a passage on personal holiness from a book called ‘Christ is all' by Henry Law, which says, ''The Lord Jesus received is holiness begun, the Lord Jesus cherished is holiness advancing,;  the Lord Jesus counted upon as never absent would be holiness complete.”
• This new understanding of continually abiding in Christ endured for the rest of his life. He said to his friend, 'Oh! Mr Jude, God has made me a new man!''
• Hudson died suddenly on his eleventh trip while reading at his home in Changsha, China and was buried beside his first wife.

PRAYERS

Acts 17:11-12 ¹¹ These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.¹² Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

• We can see that our brother received the word with much readiness of heart, he opened his heart to the word of God and it made a permanent change in his life.
• How is your heart? How is your life now? Did you receive the word of God and ran to sell all you have but on the way, the things and cares of the world clogged up your heart?
• Have you decided to throw in your all for Jesus?
• What will you say on that day to one that at 21 years old he left mother ,father ,friends ,home, relations country to make a perilous five months journey by sea unto a country he never knew, and never ran back home because of a civil war but set his heart to preach Jesus?
•  Can we repent and plead with God to help our hearts again to surrender to him?
• Please let us remember that from day one of Taylor's conversion, God provided tutors and guardians, mentors (labourers in God's kingdom) that taught him, gave him direction and focus.
• So your being here today as a disciple or for prayers is not by chance. Can we commit our lives into God's hands today and ask the Lord to have full control.
• Raise me up Lord like you did Taylor and put me in the hands of those that will raise me up for you.

Luke 12:49-50 49 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! 

• Lord, let me catch the same fire Taylor caught that never waned with time but grew until it consumed him to claim a whole Nation for you. 

Matt.13:44-46.  44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

• Lord, open my eyes to see the field where I must sell all that I have and buy, just like James Hudson Taylor sold all that he had and bought the field of China. Cause that same fervency that burned in him from an early age to burn in me, that which made him to take the whole China for you.

2 Cor.5: 14,  Col. 1:26-27,  Phil.2:13,  Heb.4 :16.

• Thank you Lord, for a life you upheld by your mercies and faithfulness, for having worked in him to will and to do of your good pleasure, thank you for revealing Christ in him the hope of glory.
• We thank you for the comforter that was with him in difficult times.
• Thank you Lord, for teaching him to live by faith and thus all the (missionaries) who lived and worked in China.
• Father, that I may receive such grace that you poured out upon Hudson Tailor’s life and ministry. AMEN.

He bought the whole field for joy

He bought the whole field for sheer joy

A man found a treasure it was hidden in the field

He bought the whole field for joy

Hudson Tailor was British by birth

He left his land to inherit China

He sowed God’s Words and the seeds gave yield

In the hearts of a few he bought the whole field

He bought the whole field…

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)

God's Image-Bearers

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)

1st John 3: 4 – 10

In the beginning, we were created in the image of God – Genesis 1:27. Due to the wrong choice made by the first earthly family in the garden of Eden, we lost touch with God's image in us – Genesis 3. God chose to restore us into His family through divine adoption, and this gives us the opportunity to inherit His life.

• Prayer – Lord, I thank You for choosing to restore me into Your family. Thank You for giving me the opportunity to inherit Your life that is eternal. Thank You for counting me in among those that are adopted to achieve Your divine purpose.

We received God's life through the salvific journey that Jesus Christ took all the way to CALVARY; this journey implanted us into a new nature and we became the bearers of the image of God here on earth. There is therefore, a need for us to have a deep and convincing knowledge of our divine nature - 2nd Peter 1:4.

• Prayer – Lord please do not let the journey Jesus took to CALVARY be in vain in my life. Grant me the grace to align my life with the result of Jesus' journey for my redemption. Help me live to fulfil the cause of Heaven concerning my life. Please open my eyes to a deep and convincing knowledge of my divine nature.

Living contrarily to the dictates of heaven affects our divine authority and our conformity to the image that we inherited. As God's image-bearers, we are not expected to indulge in all the things that Jesus came to destroy - 1st John 3:8.

• Prayer – Lord, do not let my life reject my authority in You. Keep working on me until I fully conform to the image You desire to see. Let me keep abiding in Your light that is capable of shielding me from all forms of darkness, and help me not to trade Your light for anything.

As divine image-carriers, our spiritual position automatically breaks the forces of sin and the fullness of sinful acts – Romans 6:14. We are restrained from all forms of disobedience and Heaven has placed embargo on the power/dominion of sin in our lives.

• Prayer – Lord, please immune me against any form of inspiration from the pit of hell. Let me not be careless to the extent of shifting the embargo You have placed on the power of sin in my life. Let not my life disrupt Your Order and Your purpose for my life.

We have been regenerated to carry God's holy nature by the power of the Holy Spirit. We carry Godly seed that lives forever - 1st Peter 1:23, together with the renewing grace that destroyed the signature of the devil in all that concerns us. Nothing is capable of breaking our fellowship with God, our Father unless we allow it – Romans 6:16.

• Prayer – Lord, let my life agree with the divine power that is working in me. Please do not let me allow anything that will destroy Your Godly seed in me, grant me the grace that will increase the control of this seed in every area of my life.

• Lord, please help me to live according to the image that I bear in You. Let not my life neglect or reject Your divine orders. Multiply Your seed in me greatly until You are fully formed in me.

Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)