As God has sent laborers into His harvest, many of these men and women of God have found strength and fruitfulness in abiding in Christ.[1] Here are some of their words:

John McCarthy, Missionary to China

“Abiding, not striving nor struggling; looking off unto Him; trusting Him for present power; trusting Him to subdue all inward corruption; resting in the love of an almighty Saviour . . . this is not new, and yet ‘tis new to me. . . . Christ literally all seems to me now the power, the only power for service; the only ground for unchanging joy.”[2] (September 4, 1869 in a letter to Hudson Taylor).

Geraldine Taylor, Missionary to China

“There, are not two Christs—an easy-going one for easy-going Christians, and a suffering, toiling one for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are you willing to abide in Him, and thus to bear much fruit?”[2] (1918 in her biography of Hudson Taylor).

James O. Fraser, Missionary to China

“An earnest desire to save souls is on me, but prayer is rather unstable. I must regain my equilibrium in the prayer-life. I must maintain, also, my abiding in Christ, by prayer without ceasing (silent), which I am now finding blessedly possible. Romans 6 is not now my weapon, so much as John 15.”[3] (January 2, 1916. Journal Entry).

Amy Carmichael, Missionary to India

“So again and yet again we ask you to pray . . . for the Movement of the Breath of God, and far more for us His workers here, that we may abide in Him without Whom we can do nothing.”[4] (1905 in her book for supporters in England).

Jim Elliot, Missionary to Ecuador

“Haggai 1:13, 14. The realization of Jahweh’s presence in the midst of His people had the effect of stirring up their spirit to build. So with Christ’s word on abiding. If ye abide in me and I in you, ye shall bear fruit. Let me experience Thy nearness this day, Lord.”[5] (May 13, 1949. Journal Entry).

[1] Read more in my missions devotional, Daring Devotion, and its upcoming sequel.

[2] Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: The Growth of a Work of God (Singapore: OMF International, 1918), 169, 687.

[3] Mrs. Howard Taylor, Behind the Ranges: Fraser of Lisuland (London: Lutterworth Press and the China Inland Mission, 1944), 127.

[4] Amy Carmichael, Things as They Are: Mission Work in Southern India (London: Morgan and Scott, 1905), 54.

[5]Jim Elliot, The Journals of Jim Elliot, ed. Elisabeth Elliot (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 1978), 132.