How They Prayed Volume 3: Prayer—the work of the future!

Posted on by

Words spoken by saints about to depart for their heavenly Home often affect us deeply. John Sung, who did so much to establish God’s work in China, had a dying message for the Church today. “The work of the future is to be the work of prayer,” he gasped.

“There is no way that Christians, in a private capacity, can do so much to promote the work of God and advance the Kingdom of Christ as by prayer,” said Jonathan Edwards.

“Prayer, unceasing and earnest,” comments William Burns, another laboror for God in China, “is that wherein the great strength of a revival of religion lieth. Who among us has the spirit of prayer?” he continues. “They are mighty who have this spirit, and weak who have it not . . . . The great fundamental error as far as I can see, in the economy of the Christian life, which many, and alas! I for one commit, is that of having too few and too short periods of solemn retirement with our gracious Father and His adorable Son, Jesus Christ.”

“Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees,” wrote Hudson Taylor to a fellow-missionary who had asked his advice regarding pioneering in China.
“God Himself is the great source of power,” Mr. Taylor continues. “Power belongeth unto God. . . . Further, God’s power is available power. We are supernatural people, born again by a supernatural birth, kept by a supernatural power, sustained on supernatural food, taught by a supernatural Teacher from a supernatural Book. We are led by a supernatural Captain in right paths to assured victories.”

And still another missionary concludes: “The invisible results are, I verily believe, far greater and far more important than the visible. The growth of our work is similar to that of a plant. The root of a plant takes a longer time to grow than the stem; but maturation takes more time than either. The giant oak is wrapped up in that tiny acorn; but to develop it, the acorn must have time to strike its roots, and the sapling must be exposed to the necessary influences. Summer and winter, spring and autumn, the stormy winds and soft breezes have all had a share in, and were all necessary to, the development of the baby-oak into the fair tree you see today. So it is with our work. All great work requires time.”
– Griffith John

All the above quotations are taken from How They Prayed Volume 3, written and compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, and published by Harvey Christian Publishers. This book is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

“
These quotations have been taken from How They Prayed Volume Three which is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

Continue reading...