It is always helpful to us to fix our attention on the God-ward aspect of Christian work; to realize that the work of God does not mean so much man‘s work for God, as God‘s own work through man.
One of the fears I had with leading the St James Town Mission in August is that no one will show volunteered. God, as always, surprised me. For the past few weeks, there were a number of people in my congregation came and asked me for this mission trip.
To be honest, I haven't advertise as much as I should. I had a lot of temptation to ask others to join. Though I do not want to guilt trip them into coming. This is God's mission...granted we all should partake in it...Great Commission...at the same time, one's heart should be right..and come from a clear calling from Him.
I was thinking of making a video and showing it before the congregation. Among many things, I was rushing and trying to get done. I remembered one Fri night I was so tired. Instead, I just pray for God to provide workers.
Two Sundays ago, after service, an aunty came over and asked me about the mission trip. She told me that her son was interested. After introducing me to her son, we exchanged contact and I passed him an info package. It was great. I don't even know who he is.
I read Hudson Taylor's book last Friday. I transfered the PDF version into my phone and read it while I was out. I finished the book in one day. It is only 100 pages. Quite a short read.
What was amazing is how much faith Hudson Taylor has in God. The two things that strike out is his dependence on God to provide and his prayer life.
Hudson Taylor was one of the first missionary to go to China to shared the gospel in the late 1800s to early 1900s. He had such a heart for Chinese and for the lost. In order to train himself to be a missionary, he would voluntarily live in the poor neighborhood to train him to have faith and rely on Him.
There was one time his boss forgot to pay him. He purposely not remind his boss and chose to pray instead. He had one last coin left and would have nothing left for next day's lunch. He even gave it away to a family with a dying mother. And God provided. This is examples of someone who fully depended on God. A lesson which I had to learn myself.
Time and time again, lessons like these would be the corner stone of him relying on God. When I read his writing, I can see his gentleness and care for Chinese, a group of people he had nothing in common. Not only that, he was sensitive to their culture and lifestyle. He wore their clothes, learnt their language and even change his hair to match them. From his book, there was only one focus. Shared the gospel!!
He later started China Inland Mission (CIM). China Inland Mission became Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF).
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After reading about Hudson Taylor, I realized I need to train myself to have more faith and rely on Him. This St James Mission trip will be a good starting point. In situation where I can choose to say more or do more, I will choose to pray instead.....
God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.
1 comment:
We are blessed because WE need him!
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