"When Jesus had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall save it." (Mark 8:34 & 35)

Here is a great secret. If a man learns this secret and applies it, he multiplies his usefulness very much. But this principle is very contrary to our carnal nature. Who likes to lose himself? Who likes to lose his pleasures? Who likes to lose his rest? Nobody likes to lose anything. But here is Jesus telling us that when we lose ourselves for the Gospel, then we save ourselves. We not only save ourselves, the Lord Jesus tells us, "He shall receive a hundred fold."

Now this is a matter of increasing ourselves 10,000 times. Let us look at Matthew 19:29. "Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Is it easy to give up any one of these things? When a man has a house does he want to lose it? Does he want to give it up? Does a man want to go far away from his brothers and sisters or a father or a mother or a wife or children? None of these things is easy. But there is a call upon our hearts to love our Master more than all these things. The world says, "He has lost his chances; he has lost his houses; he has lost his friends; he has lost his parents." But God will multiply those things. Learn to lose yourself for the Gospel. Sometimes you feel very tired in the body. Sometimes it is pure laziness. You look at the other fellow at ease, so you feel like lying down. Some people think, "Well, I am very tired; let me sleep early today without prayer." What happens? Your sleep is terribly disturbed. You will see this in your practical life. Instead of gaining your sleep you lose that sleep. You can see it in the lives of people. People think, "I must get this, I must get that. I will give up my prayer life. I will give up my prayer time." But they lose everything.

The Bible says, "He gave them meat for their lust, but He gave leanness in their spirit." What is the use of bringing on leanness in your spirit? Be very careful. Today there is a very dangerous atmosphere around us. Ours is a world which is demanding. "I must have this; I must have that." And we blame everybody- the Government and all around for what we do not have. But we Christians are completely different. If God denies us something, we feel it is a great blessing. We are willing to give up a hundred times for our neighbour. We love our neighbour. We do not covet any part of our neighbour’s land. But we think, "What shall we give?" Now this lesson has to be learnt step by step. Otherwise, we cannot give our lives for Jesus. We must begin with small sacrifices. Then when it comes to offering big things, we will be able. Are we prepared to lose some sleep, and endure hardness for the Gospel? If not, we can never build God’s work. Those who try to save themselves will destroy themselves. Their lives will be ruined. Those who learn to lose themselves will see great multiplication. This is a basic principle we must learn. Without learning this principle, the Kingdom of God cannot be built.

The first four Bishops who went to India were brilliant men. They had great compassion. Within nine years all four of them died because of severe hardships. We sing the song of Bishop Heber "From Greenland’s Icy Mountains." Bishop Heber died in Trichy. He spent a long time dwelling with the people trying to help them. He fought against the caste system. He died early. When the next Bishop was called, some of those big pastors in London were afraid to accept it. But one Bishop came forward. When he came to his house, there was hardly any proper furniture. He asked the officer in charge, "Why did you not take the trouble of furnishing this place?" The man said, "I felt this furniture is enough for six months." It meant he expected this new bishop to expire within six months. But God spared him for 22 years. It is not possible for us to imagine the sacrifices those men made. It really is not possible. Those conditions were different- their toil, hardship and sacrifice. Our sacrifices are nothing compared to theirs. They literally learnt to lose themselves for the Gospel. Brilliant men! They laid good foundations.

Now we have to lay new foundations. Our newspapers do not speak of pleasant times. They are full of advertisements of material things. But we must not allow these things to move us. "What more shall I do for my Lord?" How shall I lose myself for the Gospel? – that is the only way to build God’s work. We must produce men who will lose themselves for the Gospel.

-Joshua Daniel

When Hudson and Maria stored away their meager worldly goods, bundled up little Gracie, and boarded the ship headed for England in 1860, they had no idea it would be nearly six years before they returned to their beloved China. As delighted as they were to be among friends and family in England, their thoughts and hearts were always far away in Shanghai and Ningpo and other places where their work had taken them. They had come home to England to refresh their health and to appeal for others to join them in their work. Without any hard feelings on either side, Hudson had separated from the Chinese Evangelization Society which had originally sent him to China. The Society, with its strict procedures and limitations, confined itself to the coastal towns of China. The burden burning in the hearts of Hudson and Maria was to evangelize the inland areas of that country.

Their time in England was well spent. Together with a Chinese Christian, who had accompanied them on their voyage, Hudson worked on a revision of the Chinese New Testament. He was also invited to write various articles about China and its needs. He was very glad to do this since his articles and the talks he gave would surely interest others in the work being left undone in China. During these years, five workers were recruited and sailed for China even though the Taylors could not yet return themselves. Hudson and Maria also added three little sons to their family during these years.

Despite progress in all these areas, in 1865, after being in England for five long years, Hudson was discouraged, wondering if there would ever be enough missionaries for China. Rather than increasing, the number of Protestant missionaries in China was dropping every year, and those who were there generally stayed close to the coastal towns. Very few ventured into the heart of the country.

Maria could only stand by and watch her husband withdraw. She tried to let him know in quiet ways that she would gladly listen if he wanted to talk, but he only seemed to keep to himself more and more. For several months, he slept only an hour at a time during the night. Maria tried to keep the four small children from bothering their papa too much and continued the family’s routine as cheerfully as possible.

When the invitation came for them to spend time at Brighton, a sea town, Maria was delighted. Surely this was just what Hudson needed!

As soon as they arrived at Brighton, little Gracie ran squealing across the sand. "Papa! Papa! Take me to play in the water! Please! Please!"

Hudson could not help smiling down at his adorable daughter. But he did not feel ready to play in the water with the children. He stroked her fine hair as he explained, "we’ll have plenty of time for that, Gracie. Right now, Papa wants to take a walk by himself. Would that be all right?"

It was a bright Sunday morning when Hudson yanked off his shoes and socks, rolled his pants, and let the sand ooze between his toes and be washed away by the gentle tide pulling back out to sea. It was a perfect, peaceful picture- except that Hudson did not feel peaceful. Even coming to Brighton had not eased his inner torment. His steps quickened and he began to run along the edge of the water.

Over and over again, he reminded himself that he had no funds to support the missionaries he wanted to send to China. If he asked people to go, they would face danger and perhaps starvation. Was that fair?

He knew he was too ill to try to run in the sand. Maria would surely scold him if she saw him. Yet he kept moving, his thoughts churning and swirling constantly. Even if the missionaries did die of starvation, they would go straight to heaven, and if just one Chinese was saved, wouldn’t that be worth the sacrifice? But could he really ask missionaries to make that sacrifice?

Exhausted, Hudson sank down in the sand and rested against a piece of driftwood. The sun was shining brilliantly, and he closed his eyes and leaned his head back. The warmth of the day seeped into his skin and he almost felt that he could give in to his desperate need for sleep.

Suddenly he sat bolt upright. If these missionaries went to China, it would not be because Hudson Taylor asked them to go. It would be because God himself asked them to go. Sitting in the sand with no one to hear him, Hudson said aloud, "Why, if we are obeying the Lord, the responsibility rests with Him, not with us!"

He raised his hands and looked to the sky. "The burden is Yours, Lord! As Your servant, I will continue to work, leaving the results to You!"

Hudson now felt immense relief. The burden was no longer on his shoulders - it never had been! The five missionaries whom he had sent to China were doing the work of the Lord, not the work of Hudson Taylor. The conviction he felt about evangelizing inland China was a conviction from God Himself.

With the ocean waves breaking at his feet and the sun beaming down on his shoulders, Hudson took a pencil and his Bible from his pocket. He found a clean spot in the margin and wrote simply, "Prayed for twenty-four willing, skillful laborers at Brighton, June 25, 1865." Twenty-four new missionaries, including those recently gone to China, would work in teams of two to reach the remote parts of the country.

With renewed energy, Hudson took long strides in the sand toward the house at Brighton where his family and friends were waiting for him. When Maria saw him coming she knew immediately that something tremendously important had happened. They stayed up long into the night talking in excited, hushed voices about what this experience would mean for their family and for the work in China.

First thing in the morning, Hudson went into London and, with a small deposit opened a bank account in the name of China Inland Mission.

Maria and Hudson stayed in England for almost another year, spurred on by their goal of returning to China with enough teams to reach into the inner areas rather than staying in the safety of the coast. Hudson completed work on an influential book, China’s Spiritual Needs and Claims, which attracted many people to his cause. The bank account opened in such a humble manner grew through generous contributions at a rate more rapid than anyone could have imagined.

On May 26, 1866, the Taylors and their four children were accompanied by one married couple, five single men, and nine single women when they boarded the ship called the Lammermuir and sailed once again for China.

The China Inland Mission had been born of faith on a sunny Brighton day.

- Excerpt from Hudson Taylor, by Susan Martins Miller. Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, Ohio, 1993.

“Growth Through Pain”

     Diamonds do not dazzle with beauty unless they are cut. When cut, the rays of the sun fall on them and make them shine with wonderful colours. So when we are cut into shape by the cross we shall shine as jewels in the Kingdom of God.

In Switzerland a shepherd broke the leg of a sheep. When asked why he had done so, he said that she had the bad habit of leading other sheep astray and taking them to dangerous heights and precipices. The sheep was so angry that when the shepherd came to feed her she sometimes tried to bite him. But after a time she became friendly and would lick his hands. Just so, through sorrow and suffering, God leads those who have been disobedient and rebellious to the path of safety and eternal life.

-Sadhu Sundar Singh

“Early Will I Seek Thee”

The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, he will be in the last place the remainder of the day.

Behind this early rising and early praying is the ardent desire which presses us into this pursuit after God. Morning listlessness is the index to a listless heart. The heart which is behindhand in seeking God in the morning has lost its relish for God. David's heart was ardent after God. He hungered and thirsted after God, and so he sought God early, before daylight. The bed and sleep could not chain his soul in its eagerness after God. Christ longed for communion with God; and so, rising a great while before day, he would go out into the mountain to pray. The disciples, when fully awake and ashamed of their indulgence, would know where to find him. We might go through the list of men who have mightily impressed the world for God, and we would find them early after God.

A desire for God which cannot break the chains of sleep is a weak thing and will do but little good for God after it has indulged itself fully. The desire for God that keeps so far behind the devil and the world at the beginning of the day will never catch up.

It is not simply the getting up that puts men to the front and makes them captain generals in God's hosts, but it is the ardent desire which stirs and breaks all self-indulgent chains. But the getting up gives vent, increase, and strength to the desire. If they had lain in bed and indulged themselves, the desire would have been quenched. The desire aroused them and put them on the stretch for God, and this heeding and acting on the call gave their faith its grasp on God and gave to their hearts the sweetest and fullest revelation of God, and this strength of faith and fullness of revelation made them saints by eminence, and the halo of their sainthood has come down to us, and we have entered on the enjoyment of their conquests. But we take our fill in enjoyment, and not in productions. We build their tombs and write their epitaphs, but are careful not to follow their examples.

We need a generation of preachers who seek God and seek him early, who give the freshness and dew of effort to God, and secure in return the freshness and fullness of his power that he may be as the dew to them, full of gladness and strength, through all the heat and labor of the day. Our laziness after God is our crying sin. The children of this world are far wiser than we. They are at it early and late. We do not seek God with ardor and diligence. No man gets God who does not follow hard after him, and no soul follows hard after God who is not after him in early morn. 

-E.M. Bounds