Eric Liddell, a great Scottish runner who won an epic race at the 1924 Olympics, left an even greater legacy for Christ in China.
Many people know about Liddell today because of the 1981 film Chariots of Fire which tells how he sacrificed his chance to win the 100 metre race at the Olympics because it would mean running on Sunday, contravening his beliefs. He did run the 400 metre race and won against the favoured Americans, coming from behind with a final burst.
But Liddell's story is much more than that.
In his book Praying Backwards, Bryan Chapell talks about Liddell's prayer life and its impact on his work as a missionary in China. He prayed persistently for Chinese to come to faith in Christ - and wound up in a Japanese prison camp where he died in 1945.
On the surface, his hopes would seem to have been dashed. Instead of multitudes coming to faith, he died in an internment camp.
But Liddell's selfless service to others in the camp had a profound impact on others and Christian efforts in China.
A camp survivor said that without his cheerful and faithful support, many would have given up and died. One of them said he was about to take his life when Liddell gave him courage and he later wound up training "hundreds of ministers and missionaries who have taken Christ's hope throughout Asia".
Other young men later rose to leadership of great mission societies in Asia, reaching many throughout the continent.
Chapell says: "Eric Liddell repeatedly prayed that God would use him to bring many in Asia to a saving knowledge of Jesus. God did."
Chapell's point is that persistent prayer pays off. If we are praying as God wishes us to pray, we can be certain that God will bring forth fruit from our prayers - eventually.
It is the word "eventually" which bothers us - including me. I want results I can see now. But God is calling me to trust that he will use my prayers for good - in his own time and for his own purposes.
Chapell reminds me that the Israelites prayed for hundreds of years to God, pleading with him to free them from Egyptian slavery. God answered that prayer spectacularly through Moses long after many of those pray-ers had died.
Jesus calls us to be persistent in prayer and to leave the results in his hands.
Despite my impatience, I find that encouraging. I can count on God to do what he says he will do.
Many people know about Liddell today because of the 1981 film Chariots of Fire which tells how he sacrificed his chance to win the 100 metre race at the Olympics because it would mean running on Sunday, contravening his beliefs. He did run the 400 metre race and won against the favoured Americans, coming from behind with a final burst.
But Liddell's story is much more than that.
In his book Praying Backwards, Bryan Chapell talks about Liddell's prayer life and its impact on his work as a missionary in China. He prayed persistently for Chinese to come to faith in Christ - and wound up in a Japanese prison camp where he died in 1945.
On the surface, his hopes would seem to have been dashed. Instead of multitudes coming to faith, he died in an internment camp.
But Liddell's selfless service to others in the camp had a profound impact on others and Christian efforts in China.
A camp survivor said that without his cheerful and faithful support, many would have given up and died. One of them said he was about to take his life when Liddell gave him courage and he later wound up training "hundreds of ministers and missionaries who have taken Christ's hope throughout Asia".
Other young men later rose to leadership of great mission societies in Asia, reaching many throughout the continent.
Chapell says: "Eric Liddell repeatedly prayed that God would use him to bring many in Asia to a saving knowledge of Jesus. God did."
Chapell's point is that persistent prayer pays off. If we are praying as God wishes us to pray, we can be certain that God will bring forth fruit from our prayers - eventually.
It is the word "eventually" which bothers us - including me. I want results I can see now. But God is calling me to trust that he will use my prayers for good - in his own time and for his own purposes.
Chapell reminds me that the Israelites prayed for hundreds of years to God, pleading with him to free them from Egyptian slavery. God answered that prayer spectacularly through Moses long after many of those pray-ers had died.
Jesus calls us to be persistent in prayer and to leave the results in his hands.
Despite my impatience, I find that encouraging. I can count on God to do what he says he will do.
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