Hudson Taylor's prayer

    

     In 1866 Hudson Taylor and his wife and four children, along with fourteen other missionaries set sail from England to China as the first missionaries of the China Inland Mission that the Lord had directed Mr. Taylor to birth. It involved a four-month trip by sailing ship and then the start of a completely new work of God in Inland China. The party had spent much time in prayer, as had many other faithful prayer warriors, to not only provide for their needs in China, but for safety in travel, and conversion of the ships crew. Mr. Taylor’s biographer stated, “Much prayer had been made beforehand, not only for safety by the way but for a crew to whom God would bless His Word.”

    As they traveled the missionaries held classes in Chinese in the morning and afternoon even though, at times, everyone present was seasick. In the closed quarters of the ship, character was tested and the crew could see clearly whether these missionaries were godly men and women or not. There were mistakes, but always followed by repentance and asking of forgiveness of the others. Doing all they could to minister to the needs of the crew they prayed and waited. “Then the sailors themselves asked for meetings and by the time they had reached China the majority of the crew had been converted!”

   Then Satan, seeing that he could not wreck the usefulness of the group, attacked with the weather. For fifteen days they were battered by typhoons until the ship was almost a total wreck. But even as the ship was taking water daily they finally arrived at Shanghai and not a soul was lost of the crew or the passengers!  (Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor. pp. 127 -129)

  How wonderful to be completely in the hands of the Lord and trusting Him to provide for all your needs. But you may be saying, “How can God be interested in my needs? I am not doing great and dangerous things for Him.” He is the same God that took care of Mr. & Mrs. Hudson Taylor, the same God that healed the sick and raised the dead when Jesus walked on the earth. He cares for you because you are His adopted son or daughter and you belong to Him. Tell Him your needs and problems today. He wants you to crawl up into His lap and tell Him all the details. He loves you with a love that cannot be broken!

Pray:

1.     Lord, remind me today of all the times You have answered my prayers in the past and that I can have confidence that You will answer my prayers today.

2.     Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit today that I may be used by You to answer the prayers of others around me who need encouragement and prayer.

3.     Lord, help me to see clearly how much I need you in my life and that I cannot survive without time with You in prayer and in the reading of Your Word.

      4.    That I will be revived by Your Holy Spirit  completely today! Open the eyes of my heart and the ears of my soul to be receptive and obedient to You and your commands.