Christ Sanctuary: Enemies at the Gate

Charles Thomas Studd better known as C.T. Studd was born in England in 1860. He had a great passion for cricket. In fact his older brother Kynaston Studd, was a member of the Cambridge cricket team. C.T. himself went on to become a household name in Great Britain and before long he captained of the Cambridge cricket team.

But God saved CT in 1878 when he was eighteen years of age. CT came to the point in his conviction to live fully for the Lord. He was challenged by the great missionary Hudson Taylor to reach out to the millions of people in China.

CT felt he had to give up the promising career and a life of relative ease that lies ahead of him. He had set his heart to go to China.

But as he came to experience strong opposition came from within his own family. His father had died and he felt family pressure to not abandon his mother. When he broke the news to his mother she was devastated. His brother was shattered too. In the ensuing months, Studd went through a deep struggle. He loved the Lord but he loved his mother too and it deeply troubled him to see his mother's heart break like it did.

But he was determined that he must obey the Lord. And on the day before he was to leave, his mother fell into a deep depression and Studd had to pull together all he had to brace himself to honour the Lord to the end. He decided to take a walk that evening and he went to a tram-station. And there, under the light of the lamppost, he took out his pocket Bible and it fell opened at Micah 7:6, "a man's enemies are the men of his own house." With that he was on his way.

There comes a time when the takeover bid on our lives is made by those who are closest and dearest to us; a spouse who will not release you to the Lord; a mother or a brother who has other plans for your life.

But as Studd has written, "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."

# posted by Andrew @ 4:59 PM

Comments:

Hi Andrew, i like the article,He said
"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell".
However, they endured many hardships in order to bear fruit in the work of God. The first house he shared with his wife had a bed that became infested with scorpions. For five years their neighbors greeted them with curses whenever they left the house. But eventually the power of the gospel melted many hard hearts and produced men who could overcome any persecution.
At the end of one message that Jesus is able to save [anyone], one Chinaman said, “I am a murderer, an adulterer, I have broken all the laws of God again and again. I am also a confirmed opium smoker. He cannot save me.” But they presented Christ and he accepted the good news. He said, “I must go to the town where I have done all this evil and sin, and in that very place tell the good [news]. He did so, was arrested and received 2,000 lashes with a bamboo cane. Yet, when he could escape from the hospital, despite their trying to stop him, he returned to the same town. They were ashamed to flog him again, so they imprisoned him. But crowds came and listened to him preach through the small open windows and holes in the wall. Finally, they gave up and set him free, because he preached more inside prison than out. The conclusion of C.T. and his coworkers, “Such men are worth saving.”
Im impressed.
greg

# posted by

Anonymous : November 11, 2008 1:53 PM

Thank you Greg for sharing your thoughts. Most encouraging. Andrew

# posted by

Andrew : November 12, 2008 10:49 PM

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